Home Energy Prices Are Expected to Soar

[Fat Moe]

Another added cost to life in America. Health insurance, gasoline, utilities. SUVs and big houses cost more to have.

-"Even after a precipitous decline from its peak in early July, the price of natural gas is still 11 percent above where it was last winter. Heating oil is 36 percent higher, with the government projecting that the costs of both fuels will stay high. Electricity prices are also up moderately. ?It?s not just going to affect poor people, but also moderate to middle-class households. People are going to become more impoverished to pay for heating this winter.?-

A simple cost effective solution might be zone heating/cooling? Me? I insulated all four walls in the main room I use. During extreme temps I let the rest of the house get warmer or cooler but maintain a nice temp in here. Works for me.

[ransley]

?

I dont think so, Ng was about 7 mmbtu last winter, now its 30% higher at 9, it was near 13 and will go back up

[Dennis]

Hi All,

I want to install transfer switch for backup generator but am severely restricted in my choice of locations. Main 200-amp service entry is in kitchen in our basement-less house and the spaces on either side of the box are inaccessible for a variety of reasons, leaving only a space in the wall directly below the main panel. Is there any reason why I should not install the TS upside down at that location? (The wiring harness of the unit I mean to buy seem to come out the bottom of the TS.)

Dennis

[ransley]

Does the panel have 2 amp meters I dont know if they work acuratly upside down

[Dennis]

Good question. Yes it does. The model is Emergen 10-7501HR. One would have to read it upside down, but I don't know if it would actually interfere with the meters' operation. Have to check on that.

[TWayne]

Operationally, no, it wouldn't make any difference to anything except any meters would not be accurate upside down; they are balanced to be right side up, so they would always want to migrate to the center of the scale/s. I don't think they would even be good for balancing your loads between the two sides that way.

For my Emergen, I just extended the wires with some clamp-on connectors and mounted it right side up. Note: Check your local codes: I had to add an external "disconnect device" (plug/socket) to the wall of the house so it could be unplugged easily, even though you could just unplug the cable from the genset. The darned cable to the genset is expensive, but it's worth the effort, especially when you're only doing a periodic maintenance run. It's SO much easier to plug it in and flip a few breakers in the TS! I passed inspection on the first-go so must have done a reasonably OK job.

HTH

[HeyBub]

They have inspections for things like that where you live?

Oh well.

[John Grabowski]

I would be concerned about the internal relay function. You should check with the manufacturer before installing the unit upside down. I remember years ago working on a job and one of the other electricians installed some transfer relays upside down. The springs in the relays were not strong enough to pull the relays back in while in the upside down position. Of course there are several types of relays and yours may operate differently.

Maybe you can get an outdoor rated transfer switch and install it outside near the electric meter.