If you didn't know, your gas furnace will most likely not run if it's getting power directly from an inverter generator without a grounded neutral. Most inverter generators have floating neutrals, so you need to make an adjustment for it to work.

The easiest way is to buy a plug like the one linked below and put it into one of the free outlets on your generator and it will be grounded. I'm not an electrician but didn't know about this so thought I'd share .

More info from YouTube

Amazon link

Home Depot and Lowes should also have something similar.

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Posted by bapple

Capital City

Member since Oct 2010

12130 posts

Posted on 1/19/25 at 10:03 pm to urtoosmall

Completely overlooked this when suggesting my friend run his furnace on a portable. Thanks for the reminder.

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Posted by Spankum

Miss-sippi

Member since Jan 2007

58431 posts

Posted on 1/19/25 at 11:26 pm to urtoosmall

This is a very good pointer…many folks will be cold in the next few days because they don’t know about this!

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Posted by Tigerpaw123

Louisiana

Member since Mar 2007

17625 posts

Posted on 1/20/25 at 7:25 am to urtoosmall

So guess someone could take an old extension cord, cut off the male end with a few inches of pig tail wire, cap the black , and connect the white and green ? Would be same thing

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Posted by BigBinBR

Baton Rouge

Member since Mar 2023

7373 posts

Posted on 1/20/25 at 8:35 am to Tigerpaw123

quote:
So guess someone could take an old extension cord, cut off the male end with a few inches of pig tail wire, cap the black , and connect the white and green ? Would be same thing

Yes. Neutral ground bonding plugs as used a lot for RV's. Here is a video on how to make them at home.

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Posted by Cotten

Tennessee

Member since Jan 2018

1544 posts

Posted on 1/20/25 at 9:13 am to Tigerpaw123

quote:
So guess someone could take an old extension cord, cut off the male end with a few inches of pig tail wire, cap the black , and connect the white and green ?

Yes. It’s just tricking the furnace with what’s usually called a bootleg ground.

This post was edited on 1/20/25 at 9:14 am

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Posted by Trout Bandit

Baton Rouge, LA

Member since Dec 2012

14446 posts

Posted on 1/20/25 at 11:48 am to Cotten

Instead of cutting an extension cord, can I just buy a male plug and connect some Romex to it and tie the neutral and ground together??

ETA I just rigged this up. $5 plug and 6" of Romex. Thoughts??