a wiring question

[stxrus]

with storm season here, again, we decided to invest in a 8K generator for the house. now the house was setup with a transfer switch and an existing cable (26feet of 6/3). from the switch this cable has a 4 pin twist lock plug. they ony use 3 of the lugs. upon disassembly several pieces of plastic fell to the ground. time to replace the plug. the excisting plug is wired (looking at the lugs with the green/ground lug on botton) green wire on green screw, white wire to the brass screw on the left and the black wire to the brass screw on the right.

my aim is to replace the plug with a 4 pin twistlock and make a pigtail/extension cord with 10/3 to go from the generator 220V (aprox 20 foot run) to the 4 pin at the switch.

my question is: is the 4 pin currently on the switch wired wrong? shouldn't the white wire go to the silver screw, the black to one of the brass screws (to correspond with the brass screw on the 3 pin plug at the generator side), and the green to the green?

sorry for the ramble, but i tried to get all of the facts together to help prevent confusion

thakns in advance

steve

[PLUMBER RICK]

sounds like the cord set was a standard 3 wire configuration. black, white, and green. it also sounds like the white wire is actually a 120 volt hot leg. what you need to do is to test the point of connection for voltage at the black to white. it probably will read 240 volts. also the white to ground and the black to ground should each read 120 volt. this is assuming that i'm picturing it as stated.

typically a generator should have a ground connection at the base and you need to properly ground this unit. the cord set on the generator is a 4 wire that will give you 2 different 120 volt legs, a neutral and a ground. this allows for both 240 volts and 120 volts.

i would change the exisiting cord to the house with the proper 4 wire design and connect it to the 4 wire generator set.

better check what the sparky's say, i'm just a plumber:D

rick.