generator whole house transfer switch

[Industrial Toys]

I installed a 200 amp Asco transfer switch a few years back with the help of a friend. It was a used one bought off E-Bay. It's really the cats pijamas. It took quite a bit of work, with 2" conduit and related fittings. I also installed another manual transfer switch behind it so I can switch between my main genset and a backup for the backup. Also a transformer being used as an auto transformer so my gensets only deliver a nice balanced 220 volts with no neutral.

Don't know if I needed a permit and don't care!

 

[sparc]

Anyone know how difficult a 100 or 200 manual transfer switch is to install? I was going to ask my electrician to install one for me, and was wondering if it's a tough job. I looked into a new style transfer switch that's installed behind the meter, but it seems to be rated at only 7.5w continuous load. I want to buy a 15k portable so I can run anything I want, so I think the meter mounted option is out. I have one big panel and a smaller sub panel that I would like to control.

I have a Generlink, which is the model that installs behind your meter. I've had it for about 3 years now. Only needed it four times so far, that being times when the electric went off for long enough to justify cranking up the generator, but its been great and so easy to use.

Mine will support 30A, it will trip out if you try to load it beyond that. I can run my 1hp well pump plus some lights, the boiler, and the blower and some other light loads all at the same time. I can get by just fine on that.

What I like about the Generlink is its yours to keep. When/If you move you can take it with you. If you have a transfer switch installed you have to leave it behind and start over again. The Generlink was installed by the utility (I bought it and they came and installed it). No permit, no inspection, no electrician required, all of which helps keep the cost down. When you buy the generlink you also get a cord set to connect your generator to the generlink. You tell them what generator you have and they make up the cord to fit.

Unless you get a whole house transfer switch (big $$) you will have to choose which loads you want to put on your transfer switch and forget the others. With the Generlink you are putting power to the whole house, its fed at the same point that the utility comes to your house, the meter. you can run any of your circuits up to the limit of your generator or 30A, which ever is less.
My Generac 10K unit puts out all the power the Generlink will allow plus, so no need to buy a bigger generator with this setup.

If we had natural gas on our street when I bought the generator and Generlink I would have gone with a whole house generator from Generac, but we don't so this was the next best thing to my way of thinking. If we do get gas piped on our street I may consider changing over, but since they have upgraded the feeds to ur sub-station 2 years ago we rarely lose power any more, I think once in the past 18 months. So spending money on the whole house unit doesn't seem like soemthing I will go for.

With the system I have now I can keep all my food cold, cook, wash and dry clothes, heat the house and make hot water, plus run light, the TV, and the computer. What else do I need?

 

[MossRoad]

I know this is an old thread, but this is exactly what I want to do. I want to go out of main panel (after the circuit breaker) to the x-fer switch and back into the main panel so that all the circuits can be managed from my main panel. I don't want to have to permanently rewire only those circuits I want to use into another panel, but simply switch off the circuits in the main panel that I don't need. According to your reply this is possible. I suspect the transfer switch has to be wired behind the meter, but ahead of the main panel. Yes? If not, can it somehow be wired from inside the main panel, but behind the mains breaker. Wouldn't that achieve the same thing? I'm not sure if that's possible, but then I'm not an electrician by trade. How costly is it to have the utility company come and remove the meter if that's required?

I have a portable 8700watt generator that has I believe 2, 30amp jacks and a couple lower current ones too. Can you use a portable gen. like this with this kind of transfer switch?

redjr

Geez. 7 years! :laughing: You don't want to go out of the main panel after the circuit breaker to the x-fer switch and back into the main panel. I think you want to locate the on-off-on switch between the main disconnect and the main panel. Sometimes the main disconnect IS the big double pole breaker in the top of your panel and sometimes there is a separate main disconnect between the meter and the main panel. If there is no separate main disconnect, I would install one. As an alternative to an on-off-on switch, as others have mentioned, there are kits that let you install an interlock in your main panel that will essentially do the same thing as an on-off-on switch. You turn off your main breaker in the panel, flip the interlock switch, then flip on the alternate source switch for your generator. Neither the main or alternate can be on at the same time due to the interlock, so there is no chance of back feeding generator power to the line. If I were going to do mine, I'd look at that first. However, it requires some blank breaker spots in your main panel. If you don't have them, then look at the on-off-on switch in a separate box before the main panel. Anyhow, as you can tell, I'm no electrician, so its always wise to consult someone locally that you trust. Also, your homeowner's insurance may be invalidated if you can't show the proper permits, electrician, etc.... so be aware of that.

 

[redjr]

Hey thanks MossRoad. It weird that for this solution, there are products out there that range from $150 (Interlock device) to a $1000 Generlink. I guess a product for every budget!. Since we don't loose power that often, a simple, inexpensive solution seems to be the wise way to go. I can handle a simple switch with a flashlight in the dark and starting up my generator.

Geez. 7 years! :laughing: You don't want to go out of the main panel after the circuit breaker to the x-fer switch and back into the main panel. I think you want to locate the on-off-on switch between the main disconnect and the main panel. Sometimes the main disconnect IS the big double pole breaker in the top of your panel and sometimes there is a separate main disconnect between the meter and the main panel. If there is no separate main disconnect, I would install one. As an alternative to an on-off-on switch, as others have mentioned, there are kits that let you install an interlock in your main panel that will essentially do the same thing as an on-off-on switch. You turn off your main breaker in the panel, flip the interlock switch, then flip on the alternate source switch for your generator. Neither the main or alternate can be on at the same time due to the interlock, so there is no chance of back feeding generator power to the line. If I were going to do mine, I'd look at that first. However, it requires some blank breaker spots in your main panel. If you don't have them, then look at the on-off-on switch in a separate box before the main panel. Anyhow, as you can tell, I'm no electrician, so its always wise to consult someone locally that you trust. Also, your homeowner's insurance may be invalidated if you can't show the proper permits, electrician, etc.... so be aware of that.

 

[hawkeye08]

I have a 200A manual transfer switch that I plan on installing. I will still have to manage my breakers for load since I don't have a generator big enough to handle everything at once. I hope to get it installed this summer or next. Too many projects to get them all done.

 

[grsthegreat]

just so you know, an automatic transfer switch needs a full time generator hooked up to it to operate.....theres wires that go between both units. If its a portable generator...use the home depot style of interlocks ($50.00) and just flip off the larger loads. these type of interlocks ONLY apply to portable generators.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Not really sure what you mean. I do not have a control connection between my transfer switch and genset presently. My genset is not presently wired for it and besides, I can never forsee the day when I want the thing to start when I am not there. I intend to change the control panel (of the genset) for a simple two wire start circuit and have got one already but that will only be to facilitate the control of it from the house, not make it automatic.

But basically, when power fails, the transfer switch will just sit there (forever) , with the switch still in the normal position, until it sees emergency power available, from whatever type of source you connect to it, then go through the timing sequence and switch the emergency source (genset) to the load.

When it sees utility power restored, it again goes through another timing sequence and switches the transfer switch back to utility power.

I use my main Diesel genset, a portable Diesel and an ALPHA 3000 watt, 240 volt, ferro resonant inverter connected to my transfer switch. It could care less what the source of power is.

 

[grsthegreat]

Not really sure what you mean. I do not have a control connection between my transfer switch and genset presently. My genset is not presently wired for it and besides, I can never forsee the day when I want the thing to start when I am not there. I intend to change the control panel (of the genset) for a simple two wire start circuit and have got one already but that will only be to facilitate the control of it from the house, not make it automatic.

But basically, when power fails, the transfer switch will just sit there (forever) , until it sees emergency power available, then go through the timing sequence and switch the emergency source (genset) to the load.

this would be much easier

Search Results for*generator interlock*at The Home Depot


Generator InterLock Kit Manual Transfer Switch


they make them for just about every modern panel out there. You simply install between main breaker and the generator feed breaker. After you turn off the main, the generator breaker becomes available to operate.

you simply wire 30 or 40 amp to an outdoor receptacle. The generator plugs into this receptacle.

UL approved, impossible to backfeed as long as panel cover remains in place. CHEAP

An electrical generator transfer switch (whole house) requires a 12 volt battery located on the generator to complete the swap over. Theres also 4-6 #14 wires (control wires) that have to go between the transfer switch and the start controls, along with phase control wires (wired to 2 breakers in panel) that control start sequence.

Whole house auto transfer switches are not supposed to be hooked up to portable generators. Here in Idaho its illegal to do so.

 

[Industrial Toys]

My transfer switch has a built in 12 volt trickle charger which I am currently not using, but beyond that there is no DC involved. ASCO is one of the biggest and highest quality transfer switch manufacturers.

Not sure how they would defferentiate between portable and stationary?
My main Onan/Kubota set is permanently wired in, but does have a large plug on the set, so I could pull it out easily for service, if I had to. That, and take apart the exhaust that goes outside.

And like I said, there is a manual transfer switch behind the automatic one. The one position goes to the Onan and the other goes to a backwards receptical, where I can plug in either my inverter (for over night use) or my little back up portable Diesel.

My transfer switch cannot possibly connect Emergency Power Source to the Mains. No way, no how.

I know I re-installed a cheap Generac transfer switch for a customer, and it was really second rate compared to the ASCO. There was a brown out and the switch burned up!

So just to reiterate. If my genset did have the appropriate auto start panel, there would only be a simple single pair of low voltage wires going from Whole House Automatic Transfer Switch to the generator control panel. As soon as the power fails, a small relay in the transfer switch drops out, telling the genset to start, if in auto mode.

Then the "switch to Emergency Power" timer starts running, using emergency power, and when timed out, switches the transfer switch to the genset.

 

[Pirate]

I have a Generlink, which is the model that installs behind your meter. I've had it for about 3 years now. Only needed it four times so far, that being times when the electric went off for long enough to justify cranking up the generator, but its been great and so easy to use.

Mine will support 30A, it will trip out if you try to load it beyond that. I can run my 1hp well pump plus some lights, the boiler, and the blower and some other light loads all at the same time. I can get by just fine on that.

What I like about the Generlink is its yours to keep. When/If you move you can take it with you. If you have a transfer switch installed you have to leave it behind and start over again. The Generlink was installed by the utility (I bought it and they came and installed it). No permit, no inspection, no electrician required, all of which helps keep the cost down. When you buy the generlink you also get a cord set to connect your generator to the generlink. You tell them what generator you have and they make up the cord to fit.

Unless you get a whole house transfer switch (big $$) you will have to choose which loads you want to put on your transfer switch and forget the others. With the Generlink you are putting power to the whole house, its fed at the same point that the utility comes to your house, the meter. you can run any of your circuits up to the limit of your generator or 30A, which ever is less.
My Generac 10K unit puts out all the power the Generlink will allow plus, so no need to buy a bigger generator with this setup.

If we had natural gas on our street when I bought the generator and Generlink I would have gone with a whole house generator from Generac, but we don't so this was the next best thing to my way of thinking. If we do get gas piped on our street I may consider changing over, but since they have upgraded the feeds to ur sub-station 2 years ago we rarely lose power any more, I think once in the past 18 months. So spending money on the whole house unit doesn't seem like soemthing I will go for.

With the system I have now I can keep all my food cold, cook, wash and dry clothes, heat the house and make hot water, plus run light, the TV, and the computer. What else do I need?

I just about begged the idiots at my over managed high expense power company to let me put this device in. They didn't want anything to do with it. Fools. The power board is over-bloated, self-serving, and for a not-for-profit, manages to give away multi-millions to local agencies that they support. Did I tell you I think my power company sucks?