This is a good example of why I keep saying ... be careful of information shared on social media ... unless you have all the details including pics ... design criteria ... etc of the installation ... dont assume anything.

Let start with the generator ... after many hours of reading the regs (the new ed 3 regs I finally got around to buying) ... everything was taken into consideration ... including my experience and the person who has 100 times more technical experience in the industry than I do.

The generator on this site is not a V-O-V type generator ... however in saying that ... who says the owner doesnt burn out the generator and upgrade to a new one that might be a a V-O-V ... there is no way for you as the electrician to stop that ... just like you cant stop the home owner from plugging a suicide cord into your electrical installation that you signed off as "reasonably safe" 2 hours ago.

I have taken all the regs into consideration and designed the system to be a safe as possible.

Earthing and earth spike where installed as required.

The socket outlets are suitable for the full load of an 8 KVA generator.

The plug top and socket outlet is selected ... taking into consideration the generator is the source of power ... something I have noticed people dont take into consideration ... they put a plug male top on generator and a female socket on the wall ... eeeeeeish.

Cables sizes calculated and short circuit protection taken into consideration.

Type of cabling used due to environment conditions where taken into consideration.

Change over switch as per regs.

Indicator lights for both mains power and generator power (different colors) ...

Even a volt meter and current meter ... visible from both the main DB and changeover panel.

Combo breaker/isolator with overload protection and short circuit protection installed in the change over DB/panel.

Even the location and the fumes from the generator while running was taken into consideration ... something we are looking to improve ... because we want the generator to run inside a garage without having to worry about fumes from the exhaust ... fuel in the tank ... refilling the generator with fuel etc ... all these this must be considered before we can position the generator inside the garage ... I thought a stainless steel exhaust out the building and up 3 m would do the trick ...but it is not good enough ... for now it has wheels and must be moved to the specific location while in use.

The bottom line ... generators are dangerous ... make sure you take precaution ... because at the end of the day when something goes wrong ... you will be asked a lot of questions during the hearing ... you can only do what you think is right with the resources ... information and experience you have gain over the years ... just remember sparkies dont wear and dont have super powers.

I had a situation recently with an insurance assessor ... I was grilled for more than 2 hours ... he was trying to find a loop hole to get out of paying 2 claims making up around R 300k ... eventually they managed to use the fact that there was no storm on that day and therefore were not liable for claim and the claim had to be directed to the council ... however because we had made provision for every single type of event ...

There is lightning protection at the meter box and every DB ... there is under voltage/over voltage ... leakage current ... overcurrent protection ... even a device to protect against neutral being cut or stolen ... you name it ... it has the device ... they used the weather and said it was a surge from an external means other than the weather and ther ewas a clause to protect them for that scenario ... in short you pretty screwed unless they building takes a direct hit.