Installing a Home Generator

[theoldwizard1]

I'm not a fan of interlocks. Makes it too easy to overload the genset.

Which is why the genset has a breaker !

 

[theoldwizard1]

I picked up a Generlink http://www.generlink.com/about_generlink.cfm. It installs behind the meter so gives a generator plug and a proper transfer switch. I like it because i can manually manage my load, depending on my current needs.

It is the "right concept", but it really is just a slightly different way of doing a generator interlock and probably cost more. What you really want is a meter base/pan that has this concept built in !!

I wonder what the power companies charge to install this.

 

[CJ7VFR]

I have the same MTS, but hardwired to the intlet box. AFAIC, you can't ask for a much easier setup.

Tommy

Mine is hardwired into the Power inlet box outside the house as well. I used some 10/3 from the Power Inlet box to the transfer switch.

I took the L14-30 male plug out of the transfer switch and put a cover plate, that was supplied with the transfer switch, over the hole.

You are right about easy set up!

I bought mine a few months before Hurricane Sandy, but never got around to hooking it up. Just lazy I guess.

Once we heard the storm was coming, I hooked it up and got it up and running a few days before the storm hit.

We went thru Hurricane Irene, and then that stupid October snow storm a year later, that each put us out of power for days. I told my wife not again. We are getting a generator setup that will work easy, and power enough things to let us stay in our house, and not loose hundreds of dollars of food or allow the sump pump to stop working and let the basement get water in it again.

This transfer switch is so easy to use, even she is not afraid of it. But most of all, it is COMPLETELY safe for anyone to use, and there is no way to ever backfeed the pole and kill a linesman.

I showed my wife what to do to get the generator running, and how to flip the switches to go from line to gen power. She is pro at it now, and can get everything running without me being there. That alone is worth it to me.

And best of all, living in an area where you can't really see your neighbors house, with the transfer switch, you don't have to turn all the breakers off in your panel, so when the power comes back on, you will know it because all your other things that use power start coming on, and let you know its back!

I love this thing!

Jim

 

[CJ7VFR]

IMHO, a generator interlock IS easier to install and use. Likely less expensive and much more flexible.

You are correct. An Interlock is less expensive, and runs anywhere from $50.00 up to $150.00 for certain Load Centers. The Transfer Switch I have costs about $290.00. But an Interlock is not really easier to use.

My wife is afraid of the electrical panels in our house. She will not even be anywhere near them when I have to do work on them, or add in a new circuit.

If I was not home, and the power went out, she would not open the panel, and shut off all the breakers, and then turn them on as needed. Even if I did label them, and write it down for her.

With the transfer switch, there is no going into the electrical panel for any reason. Just hook the generator to the Power Inlet box with the cord, start the generator, and flip the 10 little switches on the transfer switch.

Done. And as she puts it, "It's not scary to do". That right there is worth the small amount of extra money the transfer switch costs.

Jim