Weekend - Get ready for the inevitable project - Furnace Transfer Switch

[HoosierBuddy]

Hey guys,

Looks like my Furnace Generator Transfer Switch is going to get here in time to install it this weekend. Best price I found was here at $79.99

https://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200196724_200196724

This seems to be the absolute cheapest way to pre-plan hooking a generator directly to a gas furnace that doesn't involve a code violation.

I'm going to look at it after I get it and see if it looks like I can also use it to power my power-vent natural gas water heater.

If money were unlimited, I'd just bite the bullet and get a whole house NG generator....but for no more than our power has been out in the 25 years or so we've lived in this house...it just doesn't rise to the level of "need it". I do like the idea of being ready in an emergency though.

Phil

 

[D45]

Interesting idea

So the transfer switch gets wired in to the furnace or the panel/breaker for the furnace?

 

[LS6 Tommy]

It has a 15A breaker built in. 15A is about 1650 to 1800 watts depending on if the voltage is 110 to 120 volts. 745 watts = 1 horsepower so I'd say that it would most likely be able to power both.

No Bueno. They have to have separate breakers.

Tommy

 

[LS6 Tommy]

So the transfer switch gets wired in to the furnace or the panel/breaker for the furnace?

It's in series with the load side of the breaker in the panel.

Tommy

 

[HoosierBuddy]

Well,

The unit arrived, but my weekend plans were a washout.

Friday I was down in the basement lifting weights and noticed a little spot of mud at a seam in the padded floor. I pulled up the pad and there are termites working along the (concrete) expansion joint under it. So, I spent Saturday killing them, moving all my stuff, tearing out part of an interior wall they damaged, cleaning everything up, and treating the slab and exterior concrete wall with an Ortho product designed to do that.

Sunday I was ready to go the other way and start putting stuff back together. I went down into the basement and heard water hitting the floor. WTF? It turned out to be an easy one. The T&P valve had failed on the water heater and hot water was running onto the concrete. It was pooling near the water heater and from there running down hill 8 feet into the sump pit....so it could have been a lot worse. It took me longer to drive to the hardware store and back than to replace the valve.

By last night I had everything back to normal. Even had my wife repaint the wall that I have to rebuild due to the termites. But...it was a lost weekend. That puts me back at least 2 weeks as next weekend I have to go help my middle kid fix his mustang.

Being "handy" is a full time job.

Phil