Plugging in a Generator Backwards

[James Brady]

If I had a generator which created a voltage in a standard household male-type plug

...But had the positive and negative terminals of the plug switched, could the generator run the other appliances in my house if I just plugged it into the wall?

 

[russ_watters]

AC power doesn't have positive and negative, it has hot and neutral, but in any case, a generator gets connected so that its hot matches the hot of what it is serving. Some appliances care about that, some don't.

 

[Windadct]

Technically Yes - but this is dangerous, not just for the person doing the connections, but everyone that then uses the appliances in the house if this is not done correctly - and then guaranteeing that there is no connection to the Utility