BlownSilverado
Member
Hey gents,
I live in south Louisiana and just went through hurricane Delta, I ended up buying a 7500 watt (9000 surge) portable generator and just used extension cords to power the essentials in the house until commercial power came back on. The generator has a 50 amp plug (14-50R style) and I would like to power the entire panel, I've researched this a little bit and see that the interlock option and backfeeding the panel via the interlocked breaker is the most cost effective method to power all circuits and not having to install one of those transfer switch panels with only 6 or 10 circuits. The major appliances in the house are gas except for the dryer but I think the generator can handle it if I'm careful about what else I have running. I don't plan on trying to run the central AC even though I probably have a 1 or 2 ton unit, will just use window units during emergencies.
I have heard about the main breaker failing and having the potential to backfeed the pole even thought the main is turned off, so without having to pull my panel cover off and checking for voltage on the main lugs after disconnecting the main breaker, can I install some other sort of "transfer switch" on the exterior of the house to manually switch between utility and generator power instead of going the interlock breaker method? If so, are these pretty pricey? I've looked into the generlink meter box transfer switch but those are pretty expensive VS going the interlock breaker route. Thanks!
I live in south Louisiana and just went through hurricane Delta, I ended up buying a 7500 watt (9000 surge) portable generator and just used extension cords to power the essentials in the house until commercial power came back on. The generator has a 50 amp plug (14-50R style) and I would like to power the entire panel, I've researched this a little bit and see that the interlock option and backfeeding the panel via the interlocked breaker is the most cost effective method to power all circuits and not having to install one of those transfer switch panels with only 6 or 10 circuits. The major appliances in the house are gas except for the dryer but I think the generator can handle it if I'm careful about what else I have running. I don't plan on trying to run the central AC even though I probably have a 1 or 2 ton unit, will just use window units during emergencies.
I have heard about the main breaker failing and having the potential to backfeed the pole even thought the main is turned off, so without having to pull my panel cover off and checking for voltage on the main lugs after disconnecting the main breaker, can I install some other sort of "transfer switch" on the exterior of the house to manually switch between utility and generator power instead of going the interlock breaker method? If so, are these pretty pricey? I've looked into the generlink meter box transfer switch but those are pretty expensive VS going the interlock breaker route. Thanks!
