Just got a Generlink thru the electric company. Sent one of their electricians who turned off the power to my home, pulled my meter, tightened down a wire from the new switch and popped it into the space the meter was. The front of the new switch is hollow with corresponding holes that your meter plugs into and he then closed up the outside panel. There is no visible change to your home other than the meter now protrudes out about 5" more than it did before. It has a covered plug underneath to connect your generator. Install, tested it with my generator, figured out what I can and can't use together and he was gone in under an hour. No cutting into drywall or wiring required.
In an outage I flip all the circuits in the breaker box to OFF, connect the generator to the switch and crank it up. The main difference is I now have full access to all the circuits in breaker box as long as they do not overload the generator. The electrician determined which circuits I can work, what combo might overload the generator based on my house configuration and size generator. Some circuits I can never use because they are just too big a power draw. With my 7000 watt continuous run generator and with a propane furnace and hot water heater I can run the furnace and have hot water - I have use all the circuits in my breaker box except the dryer, central air and the stove. I have well for water and it'll handle the pump for that that too.
The switch itself is great but more expensive than traditional ones. Electric company provided the switch, a generator cord, and the electrician to install at a cost of $1000. That's the cost for a switch that will sustain a generator up to 7500 watts. Ones for more wattage generators are more.
