I live in an area (New England) where we have had extended AC power interuptions. I just bought a back up, Generac 6500 watt generator. Now awaiting the next hurricane, with a bit less trepidation !
I would appreciate any advice on how best to use the generator. Obviously I could use the 4 generator AC plugs, providing a direct extension cord feed to my key appliances. (The unit came with a 30 amp/ 4 plug "extension" cord.)
I have no idea how difficult it is to install a transfer switch (or similar option). There i could energize specific circuits. If that is the recommended option, any suggestions as to the install process.
I had a transfer box installed by an electrician but if you are good at it you could do it yourself. Circuits to my well and oil furnace are
220 v and don't have plugs. I had my freezers, refrigerator, well and furnace and on some of their circuits a few lights, TV and computer put on the transfer box.
Transfer switch is the ideal setup. You either need some knowledge of working in the main panel, or you need an electrician. Not sure of the cost, but it is over $500 installed.
If you are going to use cords to the refrigerator, freezer, whatever, be sure they are heavy enough for the load at a distance. I'd set up my oil burner with a plug too.
If you have a modern panel, that has slots available, no need for a separate transfer switch and all the cost. Many panels have lockout slide kits available from the manufacturer, which would be my first choice. Or you can get one of these:
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A lockout together with a breaker, and an inlet and you're good to go. You can either put the inlet near the panel or outside. Total cost of the parts ~$200.
Setting up the oil burner on a cord/plug has been discussed many times. It's a violation of NEC, although apparently some AHJ's allow it.
Being too cheap to buy a transfer switch, I did the multiple-extension-cord thing through maybe a half-dozen outages.
I finally wimped and got a "Smart" transfer switch from APC and now I can't figure out how I put up with the extension-cords-at night-in-freezing-rain approach.
With 6,500 watts, you probably don't need a "Smart" switch - but I've got a dinky little 2KW gennie and the smart switch makes life a lot easier: it senses which circuit wants how much when some circuit wants more than the gennie can supply, it takes selected circuits offline for a few minutes until the problem circuit's load drops back.
Smart or dumb... I'd call a transfer switch extremely worthwhile. OTOH, maybe it's like a bicycle or kayak paddle: you buy junk, use it for awhile, then when you buy quality you appreciate it soooooo much more.... So maybe a few outages with extension cords would be a good thing -)
Our house seems to cruise on 800-1,200 watts depending on how hard the furnace blower is working, but every so often we want to run a micro wave (1,200 watts by itself) or, heaven forbid, a toaster...
The attraction of a small generator is gas. Last outage was about five days and we got trough it with stored gas while the neighbor was driving long distances to feed his Home Depot monster.
If you have natural gas service, I would recommend adapting the generator to use nat gas. It's not a one-way thing: you can run it either-or.... but with nat gas there's no gasoline storage/procurement issues. Ditto propane from the storage angle. We have nat gas, but I'm thinking it will cost an arm and a leg to run it out to the garden shed where the gennie lives. Still, I'm thinking seriously about getting a propane adapter just for the peace of mind fuel-storage-wise.
Oh yeah... and propane doubles as cooking fuel. Dunno how much an electric stove or electric oven pulls, but if you have those and/or an electric hot water heater I'd start testing/figuring.
I have a similar setup that I installed myself. My only regret is that I didn't talk to somebody who had one/installed one YEARS ago. I'm a very handy guy with electrical, home repair, remodeling but I just figured "it had to be too difficult (especially based upon the location of my 200amp panel in a finished wall.
Well, I did speak with somebody who installed one and immediately bought a Pro Tran by Reliance, manual transfer panel.
Piece of cake. The only difficult task I had was running the 10ga feeder from the external power plug (which connects to the backup generator in its own enclosure about 20' from the house.
Once you have the generator feed line run to the transfer panel, all you do is figure out which circuits you want to power when the grid fails you.
Then you 1) remove the hot wire feeding that circuit from your circuit breaker, connect it with a wire nut to a numbered wire feeding into your service panel from the transfer switch, 2) connect the matching numbered wire of that pair to the existing circuit breaker, 3) connect the common to the common buss. That circuit is done.
My transfer switch has 6 120v breakers and 2 240v breakers.
Repeat as necessary.
When power fails, connect the umbilical cord from the generator to the plug on the outside of the house, fire up the generator and go inside and activate the circuits one by one and you're in business until the power company decides to repair the problem.
The transfer switches are BREAK before MAKE so that you will never be able to backfeed your generator power back into the grid. We have one centrally located circuit (for some wall outlets) that are NOT supplied power through the transfer switch. We leave a light or radio plugged in and turned on to let us know when the power comes back on and we can shut down the generator.
Still a bit hesitant after speaking with the guy who convinced me to go ahead... I shot an email to customer service at Reliance on a Saturday morning and received a detailed answer to my question that same day. Great service for a Saturday.
Imagine my shock when a company VP (family owned company in the Milwaukee area) called me by phone first thing Monday morning to make sure that my question had been answered and asking if I needed anything further.
Bottom line: If you can get the standby power feed to the vicinity of your circuit breaker panel AND are handy enough to swap out a dead circuit breaker, you can install your own panel.
Check Reliance and some of the others. Pretty sure there are videos that will walk you through it as well.
I installed a 6 circuit transfer switch. If I had to do it all over again, I would definitely install a generator interlock kit.
Why? My 6 circuit transfer switch only powers select circuits (fridge, 2 c ircuits for the well pump, kitchen lights, living room lights, furnace). W ant to go into the basement or upstairs bathroom or garage for a sec? Sorry , no lights because they're not on the 6 circuits.
With a gen interlock kit, use whatever you want as long as you don't overlo ad the gen. The only plus to my current situation: I keep the bedroom ligh t on during an outage so that when power returns, I'll wake up and switch b ack to utility power (and no, I never sleep with the gen on).
My genset is out in my shop . When the power goes out , I fire it up and plug the breaker that I have hooked up and waiting into the panel . The shop is on a sub panel , and I can backfeed the main panel . I cut the feed from the meter - and when the power comes back on , the LED readout on the meter comes on to tell me that I can go back to "shore power" . When I finish moving electric service to the new main panel in the house there will be a transfer lockout so I can't energize both at once .
Depending on your panel, there is a much simpler solution, called an "interlock" You add a backfeed breaker to the panel with a linkage that prevents both the main and generator breaker from being closed at the same time. You install the Generator breaker to reflect the maximum capability of the generator. Advantage is you don'r have to guess what circuits you MAY want to energize ahead of time. You can still dissable certain circuits you do not want to be able to draw from the generator. Connect the generator by hard-wire connection or gen-cord exterior plug, same as with a transfer switch.
If/when the power goes out the first breaker to turn off will be the electricwater heater . Much as I hate the tiny shower in the camper annex it does have a gas/or electric water heater .
n, I would definitely install a generator interlock kit.
circuits for the well pump, kitchen lights, living room lights, furnace). Want to go into the basement or upstairs bathroom or garage for a sec? Sor ry, no lights because they're not on the 6 circuits.
load the gen. The only plus to my current situation: I keep the bedroom li ght on during an outage so that when power returns, I'll wake up and switch back to utility power (and no, I never sleep with the gen on).
Ahhh, another who has seen the light! No installing anothe panel, moving c ircuits to it, then still being limited to only being able to power those circuits with the generator. With the above approach, you can choose what you can choose anything in the house you want to power. You can actually just power almost all circuits and leave them on, eg the lights, escpecially if you have CFL/LED and then just selectively manage and power the large loads, as needed.
Point taken. In fact, I looked at that system but rejected it because I did not have room on my 200amp panel to spare for the transfer circuit breakers required.
IIRC, those lockouts were pretty expensive for what they were. By the time you buy them and the related breakers, you're north of $125.
Still, it would be nice to have EVERY 120v circuit available.
Stripped bare to the basics, either the manual transfer switch or the interlock can work quite well for the OP and that was my point. I'm still kicking myself for the 30+ years I've lived her without a backup generator to supply the house simply because I "assumed" it would be too much to install the transfer switch.
BTW, I also run an umbilical to the detached garage and shop because of the spare refrigerator and freezer out there. Had room on that 100amp panel to do the interlock but found a used transfer switch (another Reliance) locally on Craigslist for $50 which made it a no brainer.
My generator is big enough to power everytrhing I have here except the water heater , including AC units . Those probably won't be turned on though , I can adfford to be hot more than I can afford the fuel bill for runnin' them .
First, a 6500 is probably noisy. I'd want to plan so as to run it for an hour after dinner to rewarm the house, and help keep the refigerator cold. One power cut near me, a guy on the next street over ran his generator all day and night, and that got irritating to the rest of us. Under full load, that machine can use a gallon an hour of fuel, so that's another reason to run it for an hour after dinner.
So far, I agree with the others advice. Transfer switch is good, smaller quieter generator is good. And less gasoline. Natural gas conversion is excellent idea.
You SO closely desribed my situation. I routinely fix/ install most everything in my house, and for a few neighbors.
Actually I am a degreed electrical engineer, albeit my microwave field is far afield from 60 Hz. I was previously hesitant to personally install the xfer switch. I will take your suggestion, and all whom replied to my inquiry.
Thanks to all, most informative responses - REALY appreciated -dave
We are fortunate to have a Gas water heater/ stove and oven. In the past, have "tapped" into a generous neighbor's feed, whom has had a generator for years.
With hurricanes Irene and Sandy (actually both were tropical storm while over CT) we were without power for 8 days. I wanted some back up, and Home Depot had a good deal on the Generac.
Now I am, ala these posts, figuing out how to best configure the unit.
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