transfer switch

[Blacksheep]

Hi everyone,

I recently bought a 7000k generator, & just got a Reliance 30 amp 6 circuit transfer switch kit.  What do you think it will cost me (ballpark) to have an electrician install the switch?

Thanks!
Rick

[Tommy WQRC499]

I can believe no one has responded to this yet! We Have a few members who are electricians. I am certain that one of them would be able to help.. I will reach out to them and have them contact you... Once i get back home i will have the same type situation as you. i will need a way to switch over to generator power from lipa. I think i may go the Interlock route, rather than a sub panel. each has it perks but the interlock set up will keep my costs down a little bit...

[Joey B]

Hay Blacksheep I am one of Tommy's friends and an electrician. I have been working some crazy hours at the trade center and defiantly slacking on the site so I apologize if this is getting to you late. It all depends on what kind of application you are using for your generator and what you want to power when the power goes out. With 7000w you can power 30amps worth of house hold utilities . So Tommy's idea of doing the interlock kit would of been Ideal for you its cheaper and requires less work to make functional. If you still need advice in this area please do not hesitate to contact me. Also you can check out the post I made about Generator Slacking. Hope all is good
 

[Greg9111]

Joey B, I was just telling Joey810 about the Interlock kit. I have a 6 switch transfer switch. The interlock was not available when I did mine. I friend of mine just did the Interlock. IT'S GREAT, SIMPLE AND CHEAP!!!!!!
diffidently THE WAY TO GO. He used the Square D model.

Maybe you can explain in detail what it is and how it works

[Joey 810]

I could try to explain it... It prevents you back-feeding your generator power back to the grid... With this simple device installed, you can't have both breakers in the ON position...

[Kevin WQRE722]

They say a picture says a thousand words.  Well joeys picture pretty much says it all.

Basically the 6 circuit generator panel you got will only allow you to power 6 circuits in your home. VS. An interloc kit will give you the flexibility of choosing what you want to power on the fly. I have installed a few hundred of these since sandy. And even more before then. the interloc kit is  more cosr affective.  If you have any questions feel free to contact me.

[Joey B]

Pictures perfect. And yes it is a no brainier when it comes to the transfer switch. With the switch you would have to trace and Isolate the circuits you would want running off the generator. Which would result in more time and $$$$ for the electrician (good for me bad for you) With The Interlock kit you control what breakers you would NEED on like for instance boiler/water heater, convince outlets for charging Phones, flash lights, Radios ect. specific lighting. You don't want to go over 30amps because that is the max load on the outlet. So no 220v stuff like electric stoves, ovens, or Big A/c's. You would have to live by the less is more theory. It will conserve power and when you conserve power it lessens the power draw on the generator and when that happens it slows down the motor making it run more efficient on gas. Contact me or Kevin if you have any more electrical questions.

[Joey 810]

What I noticed that with all portable generators is that when you use the 30 amp plug you're only using a fraction of the total generator power output.. Some of the larger ones may have two 30 amp outlets, but you can't connect them both to your breaker box unless you move a small amount of breakers to a sub panel with a manual isolation switch from your primary panel.. Seems like a waste of time... Unless you plan on running a few 110v extension cords to use the other 40 amps 2 x 20a outlets.. So personally, having anything bigger than a 5000w generator is useless if you only plan on using one 30a.


Joey B, thoughts?

[Kevin WQRE722]

What I noticed that with all portable generators is that when you use the 30 amp plug you're only using a fraction of the total generator power output.. Some of the larger ones may have two 30 amp outlets, but you can't connect them both to your breaker box unless you move a small amount of breakers to a sub panel with a manual isolation switch from your primary panel.. Seems like a waste of time... Unless you plan on running a few 110v extension cords to use the other 40 amps 2 x 20a outlets.. So personally, having anything bigger than a 5000w generator is useless if you only plan on using one 30a.


Joey B, thoughts?

I think you may have it alittle wrong joey

[Joey 810]

I don't think I do.. explain why you think the latter?

[Kevin WQRE722]

I am going to use a round number to make it simple. lets say your generator is capable of producing 7200 watts of running power. and has 4 different outputs on it. lets use this panel for example.




before I explain the output of each outlet I want to explain how a generator works. to keep it simple a generator has 2 separate outputs on it better known as phases I don't want to get into to much detail because that can be a whole other post of its own. but in this case each phase has the capability to produce 3600 watts per phase. these phases come directly off of the generators power core and feed the generator panel

so going forward we will call them phase a and phase b

so the generator in reference would be able to produce the following
outlet # 4 would be able to supply 20amps of power at 115-125v on phase A(this will vary depending on the generator)
outlet # 3 would be able to supply 20amps of power at 115-125v on phase B(this will vary depending on the generator)
outlet # 2 would be able to supply 30amps of power at 240v utilizes both phases A & B(this will vary depending on the generator)
outlet # 1 would be able to supply 30amps of power at 240v utilizes both phases A & B(this will vary depending on the generator)

now that's were people get confused so lets look at outlet # 4 you would be able to draw a maximum of 2400 watts out of that receptacle  this would be the same for outlet # 3 giving you the total use of about 4800 watts of your available 7200.
(I used a control voltage of 120v for the above calculations.) and remember that they are on different phases

now look at outlets # 2 and #1 these outlets are designed to use both phases of the generator to supply power to any given device. lets say you were going to feed this directly into your house.(using some sort of legal means such as a interlock kit or a transfer switch)now some people know this and some people don't. everyone's house is being feed by 2 different phases that come into your home from PSEG. so if you were to take a cord and plug it into one of these outlets and feed it into your panel(again. in a legal and safe manor. you would be able to draw a maximum of 3600 watts per phase.

I hope this helps explain it a little better.  I am not the best at explaining through text but I try.

so joey 810 when you look at a 30 amp 240v outlet you got to keep in mind that you would be getting 30amps from each phase. so on phase a you would be getting 3600 watts at120volts and on phase b the same giving you a total of 7000 watts of useable power

[Joey 810]

Too bad you cant use all of the outlets on that generator..

You're limited to the breaker not the outlet on the generator..

30 + 30 + 20 + 20 = 100A x 120 = 12,000 watts.. That's on the 7200w generator...

A generator with a rating of 3250 watts has a one 20A outlet and one 120/240v L14-20R outlet. The breaker is 14A.

So you're saying in 240v "mode" I can get 7 amps per leg, or phase. Dual phase is 14a x 240 = 3360 watts. It can't be double to 28 amps, because that's more than what the generator can do... The amperage is not additive.. so 7amps per phase...
 

[Kevin WQRE722]

Too bad you cant use all of the outlets on that generator..

You're limited to the breaker not the outlet on the generator..

30 + 30 + 20 + 20 = 100A x 120 = 12,000 watts.. That's on the 7200w generator...

A generator with a rating of 3250 watts has a one 20A outlet and one 120/240v L14-20R outlet. The breaker is 14A.

So you're saying in 240v "mode" I can get 7 amps per leg, or phase. Dual phase is 14a x 240 = 3360 watts. It can't be double to 28 amps, because that's more than what the generator can do... The amperage is not additive.. so 7amps per phase...
 

correct

[LongIsland]

I'm looking at having one installed also.  Need a licensed guy to do it.  Anyone here have the time?

[Greg9111]

To all, simplify this for the rest of us:
-Conclusion of all this data
-Whats the best way, Transfer Switch or Interlock Switch?