A friend of mine asked me what's it cost. Has a two story frame house. Circuit panel in the cellar, panel is only a few years old. Wants a transfer switch, and power inlet.
What's available? Are they dificult to install? What kind of prices?
Only three parts that could be more involved. One is running the wire from the panel to the intlet, assuming he wants the intlet outside, which is where I'd want it, unless it was a real bitch to do. The other would be if there isn't a empty spot for an additional double pole breaker. In that case you could possibly replace some full size breakers with half-size, if they are available, which I would think they would be for a new panel. Third part is you probably have to splice some of the existing circuits to free up the required slot at the top for the new breaker
Other than that, it's installing a slide lockout on the panel, putting in the appropriate size breaker, mounting the inlet and running the wire.
With the slide, first I'd look to see if one is available from the manufacturer. That for sure is listed and will pass inspection. There are aftermarket ones from Interlockkit that fit many panels. I've seen folks say that inspectors passed them and didn't have an issue, but some inspectors might.
Last time I looked at this, you were looking at around:
$150 for the slide lockout $50 for the inlet $20 breaker
That sounds totally reasonable. Thank you.
Don't forget the cost of the permits. Go down to the local inspection office and talk face-to-face with the inspector. Mine didn't like the slide lockout option. That plus the cost of the permits/inspection killed the project.
Interesting that he didn't have any problem with putting a plug on the gas furnace (clearly disallowed by code) so I could run it from the generator.
YMMV.
No breaker will do the job he needs DPDT Manual swtich
In that case you could possibly replace
.
You install a breaker to go to the generator. The lockout plate prevents this breaker from being turned on if the main breaker going to the power lines is on.
In effect a DPDT switch is created. The handles are just not connected.
With any luck, this all has to be done by licensed electrician, which will drive up the cost.
Please provide the cite for that. And explain why if it's not permitted, why major panel manufacturers have listed lockout slides for their panels, for exactly the purpose I outlined?
Not connected, but "mechanically interlocked" so that both cannot be on at the same time.
There are many approved interlock kits available, including ones from the manufacturers of the panels themselves. They work very well and are very cost effective for generators all the way up to 30KW (125A max branch circuit breaker size).
$8 along side the optional grounding bus bars and other panel accessories. Perhaps they'll get there eventually as they become more popular and thus have more sales volume.
The sad thing is that those plates and about 3 screws and nuts cost from about $ 50 to $ 100. Should be less than $ 20 for what it cost to make them.
Yes, but, they are soooooo nice. I built a house 5 years ago and they put in an emergency panel. So, only a select set of breakers get powered from the generator. This is ok, but I wish I had remembered the mechanical interlock thing, when building. Here's a link to one of them:
+1
It gives you the flexibility to power anything you choose in the house. IDK why anyone would want the subpanel approach, unless the inspector won't approve the lockout method. I think subpanel idea come from an automatic standby generator, in which case it makes sense. But for a portable generator, the slide lockout makes a lot more sense. Unless I guess you're incapable of figuring out how to manage the load from the main panel.
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