Tripping main power breaker to house, isolate home from power grid?

I'm sorry. What is your question?

Is your main breaker tripping? If so calling an electrician is definitely your best bet.

No, breaker is not tripping. I'm planning on wiring a generator up to my power panel, but everything I'
Ve seen says if I don't have some special breaker installed, I could be sending electricity back through the main power grid. I would think that if I trip the main power breaker, it would be impossible for that to happen, and vice versa, when the power came back on it could not enter my power panel and ruin my generator. If that's not the case, I don't understand the purpose of the main power breaker.
Shagg

If you do not use some sort of mechanical means of preventing power to be sent out to the gird, you may injure or kill a linemen. The 120 and 240 volts you have in your homes comes from a transformer that steps down high voltage, anywheres from 2400 up to 4100 volts typically in a residential area. If close to a commercial area the voltage can be as high as 13,000 volts.

The power you send out onto the grid will get stepped up to that higher voltage. A linemen working on those lines, fortunately they work on dead lines as if they were live, may come in contact with that voltage.

Linemen are constantly checking for power coming back at them on a line that should be dead. If they see voltage for no good reason, they will track it down, and cut the lines to your home.

You will be the last person to get power back, and they will have the local inspector with them, to inspect your system. And you will effect any repairs or eliminate any code violations before power is restored.

This is assumes no one gets hurt. Then criminal charges are in order.

There are manual transfer switches, automatic transfer switches, and devices that are simple interlocks between the two input breakers from utility and generator.

Either one must be used when connecting a generator to a system.

Look up your utilities website and look for their service requirements and it will explain about using these devices.

Thank you. It would have been great if all this information was in the original post.

TK has you covered for the answer. Not much I can add.

Thanks stanfortyman. First time user here and original post kept telling me my question was too long so I kept chopping it down.

Thanks TK, but still seems like if I tripped the main breaker before starting my generator no power could get to the power grid. Guess I'm applying too much common sense here, go figure. Thanks again.

Sorry Shagg. I had no idea the board would tell you that. I know there is a new format and folks have had posting issues.
No problem.

Yes, opening the Main will, or should, stop sending out power to the grid. The issue is this action must rely on human intervention.

Humans forget things.

Everything.

Someone life cannot rely on betting each human that connects a generator without a mechanical means to open a breaker.

I brought the issue of question being too long to admins attention.

You will need to stop using the comment feature, you actually answer your own question, use the "post quick answer" at the bottom of the page,

The comment feature is not to be sued for follow up info