Installed a transfer switch for my generator

[boomhower]

We got hit pretty hard by Matthew last year losing power for several days and lost a fair bit of food. Most winters we lose power due to ice storms. After Matthew I had enough and bought a 8KW Generac portable generator. With hurricane season upon us and winter not far I went ahead and purchased a 10 circuit Reliance Controls transfer switch.

I am far from an electrician but I can get by. Install took me a couple hours with the most difficult being getting the switch mounted and the wires into the fuse box. My fuse box is flush mounted so had to go into the dry wall which made things more difficult. Had planned to mount it in wall underneath but a conduit is there. So just chilling with a hole in the wall I will patch. No room to mount on either side, would have to go through a corner which is way beyond my capabilities.

Ten circuits gets 90% of my house minus central heat/air, stove and a couple small light circuits. With my home theater, two other TV's, hot water heater, three ceiling fans and a bunch of lights runs 2,000 watts leaving room for the microwave and a window AC unit. Have a fireplace for heat in the winter.

All in all I am very happy with the result. Based on load and average daily use of the generator 20 gallons of gas should get a week easy, and that's longer than we've been out since I've lived here. Not the cheapest project but gives a lot of peace of mind for the family.

 

[pcgeek11]

Good on you. I have always wanted to do this, but I never have time.

 

[boomerang]

A transfer switch is how it should be done and how we had it in Michigan with a 7K peak wheeled gas generator. No A/C, no stove but heat, a lot of lighting circuits and the well pump. H/W heater and furnace ran on natural gas.

We just survived Irma having moved to FL earlier this year. I hate to have to deal with another gas generator and was thinking whole house but there is no NG at our location. I was told that I might be able to bury a propane tank. I never knew that they could be buried and am not sure I believe the source of that information.

 

[iRONic]

Here's the Generator panel from the house we just bought. (closing in ~28 days);

The white panel above it is the house panel.

At this point I think I need to get an electrician to tell me if this set up is safe... It's in the garage of a Bullitt County KY home. The home inspector has zero info about it on our report.

 

[NutBucket]

That is awesome!

 

[iRONic]

The installation 'looks' professional but I'm not sure how to test the transfer switch since I don't have a genny yet.

Here's the outside of the wall where that panel is;

 

[Red Squirrel]

Nice. Something that I've thought of too. Though personally I'd like to just do a big 100a transfer switch that does the entire panel, that way I can power everything (maybe not at same time but at least it's all wired in). Avoids needing to split circuits up on different panels, and since wires may not reach I'd end up having to pig tail in the old panel etc. Just messier imo.

Though I also want to do a small solar setup, so I think I will end up doing that instead and kill two birds with one stone, it could act as backup power too. We don't get natural disasters here so don't have to worry about stuff like a hurricane ripping the panels off the roof etc. Major power outages are typically caused by oddball stuff like car accidents or random equipment failure. Maybe the oddball wind storm that will end up knocking tons of trees on lines. but hopefully not enough to damage the panels. Idealy a small portable generator and transfer switch would maybe still be a good idea to at least connect straight to battery bank and charge them up.

 

[boomerang]

The installation 'looks' professional but I'm not sure how to test the transfer switch since I don't have a genny yet.

Each circuit on the transfer switch has a three position switch. Line, Off and Gen. The wording might be a little different on yours.

They should all be on 'Line' now. Those circuits are being fed from the utility company with the transfer switch allowing the current to pass through. Flip the switches to 'Off' and those circuits should be dead. Switch to 'Gen' and the circuits will be fed by the generator. If the circuits are live on 'Line' and dead on 'Off', that is as much as you can do right now but you can pretty much be assured that the circuits will be powered with the generator in place. The wiring on transfer switches is pretty simple and straightforward.

You will need a heavy cord to connect the generator to the small gray box on the outside wall. I'm sorry but I don't know the gauge of the conductors used in it. You will also need the appropriate connectors for that cord. The cord and one connector you could pick up now. When you need to use the generator, these components could become scarce. We're over two weeks past when Irma went through here in south Florida and Lowe's and Home Depot are still out of a lot of items that got grabbed up.

The time to buy the generator, cord and connectors is when they aren't in high demand. Gas cans, stocked up and full, etc. When a disaster strikes these things become scarce.

 

[Joe C]

Nice. Something that I've thought of too. Though personally I'd like to just do a big 100a transfer switch that does the entire panel, that way I can power everything (maybe not at same time but at least it's all wired in). Avoids needing to split circuits up on different panels, and since wires may not reach I'd end up having to pig tail in the old panel etc. Just messier imo.

If your panel is supported, you could use an interlock kit. How it works is the main breaker must be in the off position to allow the generator breaker to be turned on. I think its a little pricey for a piece of metal but its nice to have all circuits available for use.

https://www.interlockkit.com/

 

[Red Squirrel]

If your panel is supported, you could use an interlock kit. How it works is the main breaker must be in the off position to allow the generator breaker to be turned on. I think its a little pricey for a piece of metal but its nice to have all circuits available for use.

https://www.interlockkit.com/

Yeah heard of that too. Would be a cheaper way to do it.

 

[iRONic]

Each circuit on the transfer switch has a three position switch. Line, Off and Gen. The wording might be a little different on yours.

They should all be on 'Line' now. Those circuits are being fed from the utility company with the transfer switch allowing the current to pass through. Flip the switches to 'Off' and those circuits should be dead. Switch to 'Gen' and the circuits will be fed by the generator. If the circuits are live on 'Line' and dead on 'Off', that is as much as you can do right now but you can pretty much be assured that the circuits will be powered with the generator in place. The wiring on transfer switches is pretty simple and straightforward.

You will need a heavy cord to connect the generator to the small gray box on the outside wall. I'm sorry but I don't know the gauge of the conductors used in it. You will also need the appropriate connectors for that cord. The cord and one connector you could pick up now. When you need to use the generator, these components could become scarce. We're over two weeks past when Irma went through here in south Florida and Lowe's and Home Depot are still out of a lot of items that got grabbed up.

The time to buy the generator, cord and connectors is when they aren't in high demand. Gas cans, stocked up and full, etc. When a disaster strikes these things become scarce.

Awesome!

I really appreciate the info.