I am a new first-time home owner and, while I am handier than most, I am by far no electrical genius.
Our area has a lot of big trees, which results in plenty of electric outages. I want/need to be able to easily hook up my small generator (3500w) to the boiler for heat. The boiler is gas, but of course the water pumps/relays are not, and the whole thing is hardwired to the basement sub-panel. Dealing with the panel is probably beyond my abilities, and installing a transfer switch on the boiler seems like a big job. I investigated a bit and was wondering...
There is a double-receptacle sized box next to the boiler with a single emergency off switch. I opened it up and it's a simple SPST switch for the hot, although the neutral wires run through the box as well. Here is my question... Can I replace this switch with a double-pole double-throw switch and put an outlet next to it (since there's extra room in the box)? Basically... thrown one way the switch would have the boiler hooked up to the hot/neutral on the house line and have the outlet disconnected/dead. Thrown the other way the boiler would be disconnected from the house hot/neutral and instead be hooked to the hot/neutral of the outlet (where I would plug a line from my generator into).
I think this would accomplish the same thing as a transfer switch but be much more simple for somebody like me to put together than installing the transfer switch itself. The design would negate any risk on the outlet when on the house line, and any risk of backfeeding to the panel when on the outlet.
Again, I am an amateur and not sure if I am incredible naive, overlooking something huge, breaking some law or sacred universal doctrine. So please let me know without insulting me (too much anyways). Thanks!
Our area has a lot of big trees, which results in plenty of electric outages. I want/need to be able to easily hook up my small generator (3500w) to the boiler for heat. The boiler is gas, but of course the water pumps/relays are not, and the whole thing is hardwired to the basement sub-panel. Dealing with the panel is probably beyond my abilities, and installing a transfer switch on the boiler seems like a big job. I investigated a bit and was wondering...
There is a double-receptacle sized box next to the boiler with a single emergency off switch. I opened it up and it's a simple SPST switch for the hot, although the neutral wires run through the box as well. Here is my question... Can I replace this switch with a double-pole double-throw switch and put an outlet next to it (since there's extra room in the box)? Basically... thrown one way the switch would have the boiler hooked up to the hot/neutral on the house line and have the outlet disconnected/dead. Thrown the other way the boiler would be disconnected from the house hot/neutral and instead be hooked to the hot/neutral of the outlet (where I would plug a line from my generator into).
I think this would accomplish the same thing as a transfer switch but be much more simple for somebody like me to put together than installing the transfer switch itself. The design would negate any risk on the outlet when on the house line, and any risk of backfeeding to the panel when on the outlet.
Again, I am an amateur and not sure if I am incredible naive, overlooking something huge, breaking some law or sacred universal doctrine. So please let me know without insulting me (too much anyways). Thanks!