I live in Orlando. We lost power during Matthew a few years ago. And we lost power during Irma last year. I got by last year with a small 2,000 starting / 1,600 running watt inverter generator which powered the fridge, a few fans and a portable A/C for the bedroom. But I want to take this a step further. I am getting a much larger generator, 9,400 starting watts / 7,500 running watts. My home is small, only 1,300 sq ft, so this should run everything. Maybe I cannot run the A/C, water heater, microwave and dryer all at the same time, but we should be able to live somewhat normally during an extended outage. What is the least expensive and legal way to hook this up to my home? Is it an interlock kit hooked to my existing panel? And what can I expect to pay an electrician for this type of job?

Picture of breaker panel below;

I think you are required to put in a transfer panel to isolate the circuits you would power with the generator.

I had an electrician put in a transfer panel. My generator is the same output as yours and during a test, the house drew 18a which is @ 1/2 the potential. Had TV's, fridges, lights & computer and internet running.

I chose to electrify ALL my original panel, so as to not select individual circuits.

I can run the entire house, but my dryer is electric, so that's the one thing I can not use in a power outage. Small price to pay IMO.

Skins: Can you ballpark the cost for an electrician to install a transfer switch for this? -- Parts and labor?

Well to put the transfer switch in, he has to mount it and wire it with the circuits you want to run and then wire it to your breaker box.

So, it might cost close to what it would cost to put a new breaker box in your house.

Every state is different on charges.
The transfer box would probably cost $750 alone?

I'd not ever do that - sounds like a really bad idea

if you want to plug something into the generator, thats great, or get a dedicated panel and a transfer switch so that you don't backfeed a circuit and accidentally electrocute someone working on the line trying to repair it

When we built the house a few years ago, I looked at a transfer switch and the electrician and the electrical inspector both suggested an interlock set-up. https://www.interlockkit.com/S...Results.asp?Cat=1829

It's cheaper to purchase and install. Not to mention it gives you the ability to pretty much select anything in the panel to power.

I had a local electrician install a manual transfer switch out where the power comes into the house - it has a manual lockout that has to be lifted and can only be lifted when the main breaker is open so you can't backflow power.

$720 for parts/labor/permit.

I purchased a 50' cable from Amazon myself.

We had a power outage about a month ago and I tried it out - seemed to work fine - I didn't try to get any of our A/C units up & going - I think the starting surge would be too much for my 7500 w generator.

Can you take a picture from a little further away? Does your panel have a main disconnect? Is it installed in a finished location?

Ten years ago, I paid $600 to have an interlock installed. That included an exterior socket to plug my generator into and the cable to do it with. I had them do it in conjunction with replacing my pos Federal Pacific Electric panel.

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:
Can you take a picture from a little further away? Does your panel have a main disconnect? Is it installed in a finished location?

It's finished, drywall all around. Nothing else to see.

quote:

Originally posted by holdem:

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:
Can you take a picture from a little further away? Does your panel have a main disconnect? Is it installed in a finished location?

It's finished, drywall all around. Nothing else to see.

Main disconnect?

I work for an electrical parts supplier. I walk people through how to do this all day long. You should be able to do it yourself the legit way for under 200 bucks. My company has hundreds of locations in Florida. I should be able to get you a deal on the parts as well. No time to explain everything on my tablet tonight. I will be back tomorrow.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: jeep olllllo,

It looks like you'll have to run a separate panel for the generator with dedicated circuits.

I have my generator wired into my panel with a disconnect interlock, but you panel doesn't look to have the room for that setup.

Another option is to get a main feed transfer that sits behind your meter and acts as a switch right from the main feed. It's not cheap, and needs the power company to come out for part of the install, but it is probably the easiest system for a homeowner to use once installed.

Manual transfer switch or double pole double throw disoconect. Basically all the same thing. It’s not hard to do, but I’ve seen people come up with all kinds of crazy ways that actually cost more. Sometimes an electrician can save you some money, but use one who works with generators. Just because someone is a residential electrician doesn’t mean they know what they are doing when it comes to generators and transfer switches.

OK, now that I have a real keyboard.

Several of the answers here are correct in the sense that they will work. However the answers and products mentioned are too expensive and/or outdated.

To let you know what risk you are taking: Many people think that if you hook a generator up wrong, you are going to hurt a line worker down the road. I deal with line workers all day long. They treat every line like it is live. Even more so when they hear a generator running in the area. There is little to no danger of hurting a line worker. There are two areas of danger you do need to focus on.

1. you fire up your generator and do not turn off your main breaker. At this point you have power leaving your house. This power then goes down the line and into your neighbors house. By the time it gets there, the power has lost so much voltage that you are sending a "brown out" to all your neighbors. If this lasts several hours, they will have the pleasure of having to replace their refrigerator and possibly their A/C units as items with a motor on them do not like brown outs.

2. You leave main on while your generator is running and then the power from the utility comes back on. Now everything in your home is getting twice the voltage/power it is designed to get. Long story short, just about every appliance in your home that is running will need to be replaced.

Back in the day you would put in a small separate panel that had a dozen or so switches on it. It would switch the main circuits you want to have on during a power outage. They were expensive and limited what you could use during an outage.

Now most people do not use the manual transfer switches. What they use is a breaker in the panel that is dedicated to bringing power from the generator into the house.

Enter the interlock. The interlock is a cool amazingly simple device that attaches to your panel. its only job is to make sure that the main breaker is turned off before it will allow you to turn on your generator breaker. The vast majority of my customers do NOT use the interlock. At the end of the day if you can remember to turn off the main breaker before firing up your generator and then turning on the generator breaker, you will be fine.

Lets consider the interlock optional at this point. Below is what you do need and none of it is optional:

1. Power inlet box. Is is a small box that contains a recessed male plug. By using a proper power inlet box you are going to be able to use a generator cord that has a proper female end on it. When most people backfeed their homes, they use cords with two male ends on it. This is a bad idea. The shock risk on a cord with a hot male end on it is high. The shock risk on a female end is about zero. The inlet box mounts on the outside of the house. I recommend the Generac 6346 because its aluminum and wont be leaving rust streaks all over your house.

2. you will need NM-B10-3WG wire. This is an orange Romex wire with 4 total wires in it. This wire hooks the power inlet box to the breaker in the panel. Be sure to feed it into the back of the power inlet box as this wire is not designed to be exposed to the sun.

3. You will need a 2 pole 30 amp breaker to fit in your panel.

4. a cord to connect your generator to the power inlet box. To get optimum performance from your generator, go with as short of a cord as you need. If you only need 25', dont go buying a 100' cord and create unnecessary voltage drop.

A very important key element to this whole generator thing is to make sure you do things in the correct order. Both for safety, and for the longevity of the generator.

Do things in this order

1. turn off main breaker
2. turn off every breaker in the panel.
3. turn on the breaker that fires the inlet box
4. turn air conditioner thermostat off
5. connect cord to generator and inlet box
6. fire up generator
7. verify main breaker is off
8. turn on breakers in the panel. During this step turn the breakers on a second or two apart. We want the genny to ramp up gradually. We do not want to slam all the power draw into it all at once. Click a breaker on. Count one mississippi, then click the next breaker on.

When the power is back on:
1. turn off all the breakers in the house
2. turn off breaker feeding the inlet box
3. kill generator
4. unplug cord from genny and inlet box
5. turn on main breaker
6. turn on house breakers and remember to count one mississippi between breakers.

Do not turn on the breaker that fires the inlet box!!! No need to have it hot all the time.

safety tip: if you leave the inlet box hot and then unplug the cord on the genny, you will have a hot male end in your hand. You do not want this.

Note that everything I mentioned is based on a 30 amp output on the generator. If your generator has a 50 amp output we would get a 50 amp inlet box and a 50 amp breaker along with 6 gauge romex wire instead of 10 gauge.

You should be able to hook everything up yourself in a couple hours.

Couple more thoughts for you.

When selecting a generator, I recommend getting a unit with the largest gas tank possible. Its nice to be able to run for 10-12 hours straight without having to refuel.

When buying a cord, consider where you are going to put the generator. Might be worth it to spring for a slightly longer cord if that means you can put the generator behind an object that will make the generator sound quieter at the house.

As far as running your AC on the genny. You may be able to do it based on the efficiency of your AC and what the start up current is. Once you get the AC started, turn the thermostat way down. you want the ac to run....you do not want it turing on and off constantly.

Lastly, even though you have a generator, try not to have anything on that does not need to be on. It will work the genny harder and burn more fuel.

Sorry to drag this on, but a couple more thoughts.

When you get your generator. put a reminder in your phone so that the first of every month it reminds you to drag the generator out and fire it up!!!! I sell generators all the time to people who already have a generator. But they hadn't started it is 5 years and it wont run to keep the pipes from freezing in the winter.

Promise yourself, me, and everyone here that you will drag your unit out once a month and give it a good 20 minute test run!!!

Also bear in mind that some newer appliances/devices do not like generator power. For whatever reason my dishwasher will not run on generator power. Evidently it needs cleaner power than my genny delivers.

Most affordable portable units do not give power nearly as clean as the standard utility does. you can buy a portable that gives very clean power, but it is usually 3 times more expensive than a dirty power unit. So you run the small risk of an appliance or two not liking the generator. You wont know until it is hooked up though.

quote:

Originally posted by holdem:

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:
Can you take a picture from a little further away? Does your panel have a main disconnect? Is it installed in a finished location?

It's finished, drywall all around. Nothing else to see.

There isn't a main breaker at the top of the panel? If not, where is the main disconnect located in relation to the panel?

If there is no main disconect on the panel, then an interlock is not even possible.

quote:

Originally posted by jeep olllllo:

quote:

Originally posted by holdem:

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:
Can you take a picture from a little further away? Does your panel have a main disconnect? Is it installed in a finished location?

It's finished, drywall all around. Nothing else to see.

There isn't a main breaker at the top of the panel? If not, where is the main disconnect located in relation to the panel?

If there is no main disconect on the panel, then an interlock is not even possible.

I asked twice he didn't answer if he has a main. You are correct with out a main on the inside he'd need to install prefab manual transfer switch with 10 circuits and he picks which ones. Or if he needs more than 10 or doesn't want a box sticking out the wall an electrician can build one with a subpanel and manufacturers specific interlock. Second option is cheaper in parts but more expensive in labor due to moving circuits from man to generator sub panel.

Another option replace exterior disconnect with 3R double pole double throw switch. Like this one.