kiotiken
Veteran Member
I'm not clear on how you isolate the gen..... it has it's own main breaker and sub-panel - With no interconnect, do you run duplicate circuits, and manually re-plug appliances ?
Rgds, D.
Well, I may have taken a little more credit than I should have, I didn't do the hook up, a certified electrician did. But basically, all the circuits from the original main panel are removed and a single 100 amp breaker is added to feed the Generac panel. Normally, those house circuits get added to Generac panel which also contains an automatic transfer switch and takes care of isolating the generator, but since you can only "back up" about 10 circuits, I had them put a single 100 amp (I think) breaker in the Generac panel which then feeds a pony panel installed beside it. All the house circuits are then wired to that large pony panel. When utility power is available, the pony panel is energized, through the Generac panel which is energized through the 100 amp breaker in the main panel. When power is lost, the transfer switch in the Generac panel senses the loss, isolates the grid and fires up the generator. Within a few seconds, power from the generator energizes the Generac panel which in turn energizes the pony panel, with all the house circuits again. When power is restored, the transfer switch senses it, switches back to utility power and shuts down the generator. Sometimes you realize it by a little flicker in the lights, sometimes you eventually realize you can't hear the slight hum of the generator anymore.
We installed a pig, not sure how many gallons, but enough to run the generator full blast, 24/7 for 2.5 weeks by my calculations. Of course, that would work out to about a $2000 a month hydro bill!