Generator Question

I bought an 8-yr old house 2 1/2 years ago that has a well and a sump pump that runs alot when it rains alot. I decided to buy a generator and had an electrician install a 10-circuit panel transfer switch.

Yesterday we had a 4-hour power outage. After about 3 hours, just before sunset, I fired up the generator and switched the transfer switch to generator power for the 10 circuits.

One of the circuits (20A) is for the refrigerator/freezer and some kitchen outlets. For some reason, there was no power on the refrigerator circuit. Other circuits that I tried seemed to work. I even turned off every other circuit to see if an overload might be the problem, but still no power to the refrigerator.

When the utility power returned and I switched back, the refrigerator was fine.

The last time there was a power outage about 9 months ago, the refrigerator was running on the generator, but when the compressor was on, it used most of the load of the generator.

I have a Briggs & Stratton 5550 W / 8550 Starting Watt gasoline-powered generator, and a PowerStay by GenTran power transfer switch.

Any thoughts as to the issue?

Reply to
Dimitrios Paskoudniakis
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Possibly bad switch on the refrig circuit

Reply to
RBM

It works when the Transfer Switch is set to the Utility Power switch position. If the refrig circuit switch was bad, wouldn't it not work at all?

Reply to
Dimitrios Paskoudniakis

Half of the switches in the panel are connected to the same leg of the generator. Since everything else works, my guess is the switch. It's a single pole double throw, center off switch. It's possible the connection from the gen to the common is dead. It's also possible that the unit has a bad fuse, or breaker for that switch

Reply to
RBM

Not necessarily; could be only one set of contacts failed.

Reply to
Doug Miller

Actually, two circuits that definitely worked, the Sump Pump and the Master Bedroom, are both on the "B" circuit. The Refrig was on the "A" circuit, and now I'm remembering the Family Room, also on the "A" circuit, was not working either.

If half the switches connected to the same leg of the generator were working, and the other half not working, what problem would that suggest?

Reply to
Dimitrios Paskoudniakis

If all the A circuits or all the B circuits were dead, the generator is only putting out 120 volts instead of 240 volts. There may be a switch on the generator that controls this, or it could be a circuit breaker on the generator

Reply to
RBM

It suggests that one of the leads from the generator is not feeding power to the transfer switch. It could be a connection problem, fuse, or circuit breaker. It could be in the generator, in the transfer switch, or in the wiring between them.

Don Young

Reply to
Don Young

Call the electrician, and ask him to come back out. Probably a very simple fix.

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

Yep, it was a circuit breaker on the generator. Reset, and it's fine. Thanks.

Reply to
Dimitrios Paskoudniakis

It would suggest that you call the electrician who initially installed the transfer switch.

While time has elapsed, the transfer switches most likely havent been operated enough times such that you see this kind of failure. Surely you haven't been operating them 10 times a day for 2 1/2 years.

This is an abnormal early failure.

Reply to
jJim McLaughlin

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