It's interesting - there are some comments that have the same basic thread:
As I am an electrician and know what I am doing it's OK to go ahead and attach the generator in an electrically equivalent manner to a coded installation, just so long as I am aware of the risks and am in control of the situation. Is that the key here?
Ann, I think you've summed up my feelings pretty well. There is electrically nothing wrong with a properly hooked up dryer backfeed for a typical small home generator- the cable can handle it, the outlet can handle it, and the breakers will protect it. The issue is that the homeowner hooks this up correctly and that the main breaker is opened before starting the generator. I don't know if we should be trusting ourselves to do this (complacency can kill, too!), but if the DIY knows what they're doing and knows the risks and carefully manually isolates himself from the grid, there is nothing inherently wrong.
The real problem we see is that of safety and risk to the linemen- I can go into one of my electrical plants and jerry-rig a temporary backfeed and feel perfectly confident, as I have complete control over every possible power source in the building and I KNOW my circuit isn't going to be accidentally energized. The lineman can tag out breakers and do everything right, but still get killed if joe homeowner (who may or may not know what they're doing) makes 1 tiny mistake. Which is why the codes are written like they are, and why we're required to stick in idiot-proof isolation devices.
[This message has been edited by SteveFehr (edited 01-05-2007).]
