Did you folks know that, generally speaking, portable generators cannot legally be connected to the internal wiring of any building?
Most all portable generators have the neutral and ground wires bonded together. It is required to bond the frame of the generator to the equipment grounding conductor (250.4). It is also required to run a separate conductor for the neutral (250.30). The utility power source, at the service, has the neutral and equipment ground bonded together (250.26). There is no way to avoid having a parallel path on the conductors that carry the neutral and the equipment ground to the portable generator: they are bonded permanently at both ends (violation of 250.30(A)(1)).
Only a hard wired generator with the neutral NOT bonded to the frame is acceptable as a standby or emergency generator. Most all portable generators have this bonding done at the factory and they cannot be undone. Portable generators are to be used only for cord connected loads, plugged into the outlets provided at the generator.
