Lightnsound
Silver Member
grsthegreat said:also i install lots of gensets, and i truly feel an automatic transfer switch is a waste of money.
Our power goes out all too often. I'm shopping for a generator and automatic transfer switch now. I would be fine with a manual start, manual transfer system if it was just me here, but my wife has no interest in starting a generator and operating a transfer switch.
Last summer the babysitter came to care for my daughter so a couple of friends, my wife, and I could get out to see a concert. We didn't get twenty minutes from the house when my cell phone rang and the babysitter reported that the power was out. Without power there's no cooking, water is limited to whatever happens to be in the pressure tank when the power failed, no water heater, etc. We turned around, I got out of the car, and my wife and friends headed back out to the concert while I stayed home and tended to the 5k portable generator. These are the kinds of situations where the automatic system shines. If I had one then, the babysitter would have thought that the power went out for a minute and came back on. She might have noticed the gray box out back humming, or maybe not, and I would have enjoyed the concert.
I guess it's all about deciding how much that convenience is worth to you.