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Transfer switch/interlock, come learn me something
Posted on 5/19/24 at 10:15 am
Posted on 5/19/24 at 10:15 am
We have a baby now so the days of just toughing it out after a hurricane are over. I'm looking at getting either a transfer switch or interlock set up, but I don't know the first thing about it. I want to be able to run the fridge, freezer, stove (gas stove but has a stupid solenoid mechanism that won't let gas flow if there's no electricity), water heater, a window unit and the fans & lights in the master bedroom.
Will either setup work for that? Do I need to get an electrician out to look at the breaker box and decide what will work? How much is it going to cost me, ballpark?
Will either setup work for that? Do I need to get an electrician out to look at the breaker box and decide what will work? How much is it going to cost me, ballpark?
5
Posted on 5/19/24 at 10:32 am to Ingeniero
I have a 3 month old and just had an electrician out Friday to quote me. My house already had a 30 amp inlet to plug my generator into but it wasn’t hooked up to the panel (previous owners rigged everything). Anyway, same situation as you. Freezers full of breast milk and I need AC for the little guy. Either of those solutions works. My electrician is going with an interlock which I assume is likely the cheaper route. I’m just not comfortable enough with electricity to do it myself. Even if the install went smoothly and I didn’t electrocute myself I’d always be worried I did something wrong and it would fry sometime or my house.
This post was edited on 5/19/24 at 10:33 am
Posted on 5/19/24 at 10:33 am to Ingeniero
definitely interested in the guidance provided as well. exact same boat. 2 young ones and a wife. they ain’t gonna tough it out either.
Generator: LINK
AC: 5 ton American Standard (Peak: 8k surge on start?)
past that. normal sized fridge. and lights.
Generator: LINK
AC: 5 ton American Standard (Peak: 8k surge on start?)
past that. normal sized fridge. and lights.
This post was edited on 5/19/24 at 10:35 am
Posted on 5/19/24 at 10:39 am to lsugrad35
quote:
Freezers full of breast milk
aka liquid gold.
Posted on 5/19/24 at 10:43 am to Ingeniero
Will depend on your panel. Get an electrician to come out or post pictures of your outside and inside panels here and someone can point you in the right direction.
My house has a weird panel/sub panel setup where the “main” is outside and houses main breaker and ac breaker, the subpanel is clear across the house inside and has all the appliance/light breakers. Electrician had to add another panel that branched off my main outside, left the main breaker in its original location and added a secondary main with the ac breaker and an interlock to switch to generator power + a 50amp input. Cost me right around $900 installed.
With this setup I can run lights, fridge, etc and 2 5000btu window units on a Firman TriFuel running natural gas. I’m right around $2k all in.
My house has a weird panel/sub panel setup where the “main” is outside and houses main breaker and ac breaker, the subpanel is clear across the house inside and has all the appliance/light breakers. Electrician had to add another panel that branched off my main outside, left the main breaker in its original location and added a secondary main with the ac breaker and an interlock to switch to generator power + a 50amp input. Cost me right around $900 installed.
With this setup I can run lights, fridge, etc and 2 5000btu window units on a Firman TriFuel running natural gas. I’m right around $2k all in.
This post was edited on 5/19/24 at 10:46 am
Posted on 5/19/24 at 11:57 am to jordan21210
quote:
My house has a weird panel/sub panel setup where the “main” is outside and houses main breaker and ac breaker, the subpanel is clear across the house inside and has all the appliance/light breakers.
I don’t know how “weird” this is as I have the same set up (maybe the same electrician wired our houses when they were built - lol).
In my case, we decided it was best to replace the “main” panel outside to accommodate a generator outlet with interlock kit. I have the same Firman TriFuel portable generator. All parts & labor to install the new main electrical panel, 50 amp generator outlet, a generator electrical cord whip was $1K, generator $600 (?) - I’d say $1750 - for my set up. Several months later while the electrician was at the house doing some interior work for me I had him install a whole house surge protector - this was after I installed a new HVAC system. Pics below.
Old Main Electrical Panel
New Main Electrical Panel with Interlock kit and generator plug outlet
Main Panel with Whole House Surge Protector Installed
Close up of interlock kit on new main panel. Note the 20 amp circuit breaker at lower left is for the whole house surge protector.
The whole house surge protector I chose to install - the electrician approved it.
Posted on 5/19/24 at 11:59 am to CrawDude
Yeah maybe not weird per se, just odd given how common generators are in LA. Would think they’d keep the ability to add an interlock or transfer switch in mind when building houses.
Posted on 5/19/24 at 12:16 pm to jordan21210
quote:
Yeah maybe not weird per se, just odd given how common generators are in LA. Would think they’d keep the ability to add an interlock or transfer switch in mind when building houses.
Perhaps they do nowadays, though I doubt it, but my house was built in 93, but if I was building or buying a new house today I’d just bite the bullet and install a whole house gen set. LOL.
Posted on 5/19/24 at 12:56 pm to CrawDude
Mine was built in 2010 so no excuse from the builder imo 
Posted on 5/19/24 at 1:12 pm to Ingeniero
I DIY'd my setup. Traditional 200amp panel mounted in the garage.
50A Inlet plug - 60$
6ft of 4 conductor 4Awg wire- 100ish (got this as a favor at work)
Interlock kit 35$
25 ft 50A- $125
Was quoted $600 for all in setup, plus another 200 to patch the drywall (had to cut 2x2 hole to run conduit to bottom of panel)
This is something that you shouldn't pay more than 500-600 for. Took me 20 minutes to do the electrical portion.
50A Inlet plug - 60$
6ft of 4 conductor 4Awg wire- 100ish (got this as a favor at work)
Interlock kit 35$
25 ft 50A- $125
Was quoted $600 for all in setup, plus another 200 to patch the drywall (had to cut 2x2 hole to run conduit to bottom of panel)
This is something that you shouldn't pay more than 500-600 for. Took me 20 minutes to do the electrical portion.
Posted on 5/19/24 at 4:39 pm to Klark Kent
quote:
liquid gold.
It brings a whole new meaning to the phrase “don’t cry over spilt milk.” After we had a baby there was definitely tears over spilt milk a few times.
Also following to learn about transfer switch.
Posted on 5/19/24 at 4:42 pm to Pezzo
Man lemme tell ya, you’ve never seen a woman as upset as when she knocks a bottle over after she just filled it. I’ll gladly pay an electrician to make sure that stuff stays frozen.
Posted on 5/19/24 at 7:16 pm to jordan21210
quote:
Yeah maybe not weird per se, just odd given how common generators are in LA. Would think they’d keep the ability to add an interlock or transfer switch in mind when building houses.
I have the same setup and it made it way easier to add my interlock kit.
Main breaker outside with AC and AC service breakers, then the home breaker panel in my storage room in the garage.
I bought a tandem 30/15 amp breaker for the ac/ac service so they took up 1 slot, then added my 50 amp for the power inlet box. The hardest part was that the breakers on my panel are slightly recessed so the interlock kit needed to be modified a bit.
Now I can just plug the generator in, flip the interlock on, then choose which breakers to power from the sub-panel inside.
Honestly, if I had a traditional panel, I probably would have been too intimidated to DIY.
Posted on 5/20/24 at 9:30 am to Ingeniero
I bought a firman tri fuel generator from costco and had a plumber add a quick connect gas outlet and an electrician add an interlock hookup. got it all done about 3 years ago and last week was the first time I had used it and was quick and easy to get going. easily ran everything except central AC but I had a window unit in a bedroom so we were good.
I would go with a natural gas setup if you can since you won't have to add gas to switch propane bottles. Although it has less output, we were fine with just the nat gas.
I would go with a natural gas setup if you can since you won't have to add gas to switch propane bottles. Although it has less output, we were fine with just the nat gas.
Posted on 5/20/24 at 4:57 pm to Hermit Crab
quote:
easily ran everything except central AC
I know I've shared this before but if your HVAC isn't overly large, you can run this with a soft starter. One poster even managed to run his 5 ton unit with a 10kW Firman generator.
Run HVAC with Portable Gen
Posted on 5/21/24 at 2:03 pm to bapple
I'd love to know which generator bootlegger is talking about in that thread. I need to get a soft start on my 3.5 ton and want to make sure I can start it but doubt my current generator would get the job done.
Off the top of my head, I know the running watts is 5500 but can't remember the starting watts. Generator has a 30A plug but I've got a 50a on the house. I'm trying to decide if I have to get a generator with 50A output or not.
Off the top of my head, I know the running watts is 5500 but can't remember the starting watts. Generator has a 30A plug but I've got a 50a on the house. I'm trying to decide if I have to get a generator with 50A output or not.
Posted on 5/21/24 at 2:09 pm to ApisMellifera
Posted on 5/21/24 at 2:29 pm to kengel2
quote:
He's 10kw surge, so its probably something like this with a 30A connection.
If its surge he was talking about and going off of 30A then that would be great. I assumed he would need 50A.
I'd like to be able to get away with getting an open frame inverter to run my central AC.
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