Steps for installing a transfer switch

On Mon, 21 Aug 2006 04:30:34 GMT, with neither quill nor qualm, Ignoramus16089 quickly quoth:

In the summer?

If not, how will your wife prepare hot meals?

Reasonable.

First, you'll want the a/c during the day (especially during mealmaking) and furnace at night.

I'm no expert but I agree with him. Until I looked at getting a genset, I had no idea how many amps I pull on a normal day. After washing dishes (which turns on the pump and water heater), I nuke a meal or cook on my electric range while the a/c is on. Ba-boom! 38A water heater, 8A pump, 30A range, + lights + TV: There went your 7kw and a couple kW more! It all adds up quickly.

You might want to look into using relays so that when the heavier loads are being used, they'll cut out other high-amp circuits for the duration. That should be easy to do with your superior scrounging skillset, Ig.

Sharing your generator output with neighbors is a friendly idea which will surely bite you in the butt the first time it's used.

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Reply to
Larry Jaques
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yes.

The need for A/C is somewhat overstated. It is better to have it, but it is possible to live without it. When I was single, I did not use A/C much (Northern Illinois).

We have a natural barbeque grill with a gas burner. Also we have a small single burner electric range that we could use. Also a Coleman stove that runs off coleman fuel.

Furnace is no problem (in winter), our furnace has a 1/3 HP motor running a squirrel cage blower.

We have a gas water heater, and rarely, if ever, use a dishwasher.

Reply to
Ignoramus4235

I saw this thread late, so may have missed a point; but why wouldn't you install the transfer switch so that it only powered "critical" loads, and loads within the capacity of the genset?

Put the reefer and freezer, a few lights, maybe the oil heater and gas water heater (for any AC controls they may need), and the water pump on the transfer, and render the other circuits 'dead' until line power is restored.

LLoyd

Reply to
Lloyd E. Sponenburgh

Square D makes generator back feed interlock kits for several of their panels. I installed on in the new QO panel I recently installed.

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Pete C.

Reply to
Pete C.

Pete, your link did not work for me, sorry. If Homeline is a brand of Square D, I will just call them on the phone.

i
Reply to
Ignoramus4235

I answered this already, but my generator can run basically the entire house, without a few loads like kitchen range and A/C and hot tub. Why would I limit my lighting, etc? I see no good reason for that. I would just turn off what cannot be run on the generator (see above) and would continue to use the house normally.

i
Reply to
Ignoramus4235

This is how I'm doing it, although with an 8KW generator.

I figure that should be able to run the oil burner and circ pumps in the winter, and a refrigerator and a house fan in the summer. Plus a few lights.

Jim

Reply to
jim rozen

On Mon, 21 Aug 2006 15:10:15 GMT, with neither quill nor qualm, Ignoramus4235 quickly quoth:

It seems preferable to coming home to a warm freezer full of previously usable food is why I asked.

December 29th, 3:00am: at your door. It's then neighbor. His kid plugged in a ceramic heater and blew the CB. "Can you please reset our circuit breaker?"

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Reply to
Larry Jaques

On Mon, 21 Aug 2006 07:30:26 -0700, with neither quill nor qualm, Don Bruder quickly quoth:

"Hmmm, should I buy a new vehicle or get those connectors this year?"

Yeah, it's just a delightful subject once you get your head into it. Whaddya wanna bet his neighbor went out and bought the very cheapest extension cords available in any store for this purpose, too? ;)

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Reply to
Larry Jaques

Yes, and also I really like coming to a home that did not burn down. :)

Most of the time there is someone in the house, and food would not spoil in a few hours while the power is out before we come home from work.

you know, I can live with that.

i

Reply to
Ignoramus4235

On Mon, 21 Aug 2006 15:47:39 GMT, with neither quill nor qualm, Ignoramus4235 quickly quoth:

Sheesh, it's necessary if for nothing else but wringing 5 or 10 gallons of water out of the air in the house, eh?

But wifey says "Hey, we have electricity, why can't I use my stove?"

That helps.

I'm surprised you didn't comment on this, Ig.

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Reply to
Larry Jaques

That's true.

Well, she could use one burner, most likely.

I think that there is a lot of not well understood (for me) dangers of that, that is, dangers of circuits turning on and off at arbitrary and not well defined moments, unbeknownst to users. Plug the legalities of wiring weird relays into my house circuits. I would not want to do it, personally, I think that the idea is interesting, but kind of fraught with dangers. I would rather just say, no A/C, hot tub, etc period, than making something very complicated.

i
Reply to
Ignoramus4235

Whats in that box with the wheels? Looks interesting

Reply to
Saul

generator. :)

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i

Reply to
Ignoramus4235

Just don't forget that the NEC is a minimum standard.

Wes S

Reply to
clutch

You are correct, that link does appear to be hosed. This one works:

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$file/RetaiLinkDec2002small.pdf I don't believe these kits are applicable to panel models other than QO and Homeline, even if the Homeline breakers follow the standardized 1" breaker format.

Pete C.

Reply to
Pete C.

I would install the Transfer Switch as close to the Main Panel as possible. Typically, adjacent with a 1 1/2" Dia. nipple in between, as you can run the new wires from the MeterBase into the Main Panel, and thru the nipple to the Transfer Switch, and then from the Transfer Switch back to the Main Breaker. This keeps the runs short, and makes for centrally located Home Power Managment, as you may want to drop some of the loads offline in the Main Panel when running OffGrid on the Genset.

You can use any UL 600V Insulated wire, of the appropriate size for the current, that suits you. It is the Insulation Rating that the Inspector will be looking at. Typically Welding Cable isn't rated at 600V, so you may have to find a suitable wire that has the UL Insulation Rating approprite to the service.

Bruce in alaska who likes Welding Cable for Battery Jumpers and Inverter Dc Feedlines.......

Reply to
Bruce in Alaska

OK, I like this idea a lot. I will do it exactly as you say, all my doubts have been resolved.

OK, I will definitely look for suitable 600v rated wire -- the flexible wire is so much easier to work with, it is worth the extra $$ -- not that much for just a dozen feet or so.

i
Reply to
Ignoramus4235

On Mon, 21 Aug 2006 18:05:18 GMT, with neither quill nor qualm, Ignoramus4235 quickly quoth:

I used to live in Arkansas, so I know how horrible humidity is.

Oh, sure, until she falls right back into habit (turning on several burners at once fora meal) and brings down the genset.

Grok that. What I was referring to was a logical OR circuit for the main current suckers. If you had the a/c on, the hot tub, water heater, and stove were all effectively frozen out until it went off. I suppose there could be some danger with the stove, if someone turned it on and forgot about it, but the water heater and a/c are both relay controlled now. There would be no "weird relay" wiring at all.

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Reply to
Larry Jaques

I used to live in Oklahoma (where it is a lot hotter in summer than here).

I think that a sensible approach here is to use a circuit breaker on the generator.

Oh, I see, yes, that would be a ONLY ONE circuit, activated by transfer switch in the GENERATOR position. Anyway, my generator cannot run A/C at all, I think, but other things are a potential possibility.

i
Reply to
Ignoramus4235

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