Costs for having a switch for generator power installed?

[PingSpike]

I'd really like to have the option of running some things in the house off a generator. I could run the fridge off a generator now, but most of the things I'd really like working (well pump, septic dosing tank pump and boiler) are all hard wired. Has anyone had an electrician install the switch for a generator to run through the house's wiring? If so about how much did that run?

 

[sdifox]

why some things? what is the rational? Don't you just create a cutoff for the generator and patch that into the main circuit?

 

[PingSpike]

Well, I wouldn't mind it running everything. Those are just the things that are most important because they allow me to use the toilets and take hot showers. Obviously a few lightbulbs and some entertainment would be nice, but I wasn't thinking about those because they could be run without a main circuit switch.

I think there are generator sizing concerns with running everything though.

 

[sdifox]

I am assuming this is only in use when you have power outage right?

 

[PingSpike]

Yeah...I wasn't planning on trying to save money by burning extra gasoline for electricity or anything. I've had a few power outages due to wind storms recently, one of them we lost a bunch of food and both of them were extremely boring.

 

[boomerang]

why some things? what is the rational? Don't you just create a cutoff for the generator and patch that into the main circuit?

So...his generator has enough capacity to run the whole house?

 

[KGB]

I have a generator (for hurricane shit) and this is what I've done:

I made a special cable to take the 220VAC from the generator and connect it to my clothes dryer outlet. When the home loses power, I switch OFF the mains coming into the house and shut OFF all circuit breakers in the panel. After connecting the generator and firing it up, I then turn ON only those breakers which I need (fridge, some lights, etc.).

WITH THIS SETUP ONE THING YOU SHOULD NEVER DO:

DO NOT attempt to reconnect to the power grid with the generator connected.

 

[boomerang]

I had one installed but the cost will not be relevant. It was a long, long time ago and the electrician was a friend.

You really want to do it this way for two reasons. First is the convenience factor. I have a receptacle on the outside of the house. I run a cord from the generator to that receptacle, flip the breakers on the transfer switch from Line to Gen and everything wired to the transfer switch is powered. As an added bonus, I turn on a light or two in the house that is not powered by the generator and when they come on, I know the power has been restored.

Secondly, having a transfer switch is important because if you were to have a fire, the insurance company will be looking for a reason they shouldn't have to pay. Jury-rigged wiring for the generator will be all they need. I could elaborate, but I'm sure you can figure out the ramifications.

Call some electricians for pricing.

 

[sdifox]

So...his generator has enough capacity to run the whole house?

of course not, you turn off/unplug the ones you can't run.

 

[MovingTarget]

Should've known. Hurricane season is coming up. Best to be prepared.

PS: Those of you on the Gulf Coast...make sure you have chainsaws and/or beer. You will be the most popular person in the neighborhood come the first tropical disturbances.

 

[xSauronx]

Should've known. Hurricane season is coming up. Best to be prepared.

PS: Those of you on the Gulf Coast...make sure you have chainsaws and/or beer. You will be the most popular person in the neighborhood come the first tropical disturbances.

oooh, i have both.

also, i dont have fuel for the chainsaw, so i just get to drink beer right away!

 

[MovingTarget]

oooh, i have both.

also, i dont have fuel for the chainsaw, so i just get to drink beer right away!

Forgot to add fuel to that list. But hey, even without it, it is a win-win. Save some when the hurricanes come. Make sure you have enough so that you can trade beer to your neighbors so that they do the work with the chainsaw.

 

[KaOTiK]

Had a switch put into my house, was done by my neighbors brother who is an electrician and he did it for nearly nothing since I've helped his brother out with stuff a lot. It is way easier to just go the switch put in and just turn off/unplug anything you don't want on when the generator is running in your situation.

I have a switch and plug for hooking my generator up to the house. Works great and only takes a few mins total to have the house powered up again. Also, having it setup that way instead of some crazy crap if there is a fire or some type of electrical problem, the insurance companies will try and get out of it.

Last time we had a hurrican roll through here and the neighborhood was without power I was one of the only ones around with power. No way I could have went through those temps/humidity, I love AC. Most my neighbors were very jealous . I did let the ones I'm good friends with next store hangout in my house though, they gave whatever gas they had as thanks and to keep the gen running too

 

[alkemyst]

I have a generator (for hurricane shit) and this is what I've done:

I made a special cable to take the 220VAC from the generator and connect it to my clothes dryer outlet. When the home loses power, I switch OFF the mains coming into the house and shut OFF all circuit breakers in the panel. After connecting the generator and firing it up, I then turn ON only those breakers which I need (fridge, some lights, etc.).

WITH THIS SETUP ONE THING YOU SHOULD NEVER DO:

DO NOT attempt to reconnect to the power grid with the generator connected.

Not to mention good luck if your wiring isn't proper.

To the OP, call around...pricing for this depends heavily on where you live.

 

[Mark R]

I made a special cable to take the 220VAC from the generator and connect it to my clothes dryer outlet. When the home loses power, I switch OFF the mains coming into the house and shut OFF all circuit breakers in the panel. After connecting the generator and firing it up, I then turn ON only those breakers which I need (fridge, some lights, etc.).

Ah yes. The good old 'suicide cable' method. Outrageously dangerous to the user, and to anybody who happens to pick up the discarded cable and plugs it in. Even having one of these around the house, is grossly negligent.

Also, no interlocks to prevent power company workers from being electrocuted, if someone accidentally turns your main switch back on.

You really have no business whatsoever hooking a generator to your home electric without a changeover switch to guarantee that the generator cannot backfeed the grid.

 

[Jeff7]

I don't know what it cost them, but my parents got a propane generator with a dedicated fusebox. They had a professional do the wiring and hookup. I think the way it works is that there's a main switchover breaker between the boxes, and a few circuits are hooked into the generator's box, to power things like the refrigerator, air conditioner, wood pellet furnace, and a few lights.

A substantial part of the motivation for that came in an ice storm a few years ago, which caused many trees and branches to take down power lines, leaving the power off for around 5 days. We did still have a standard wood stove at the time, so the house was kept warm and livable, though it smelled slightly of smoke, as the chimney was built very poorly, and has a lousy draft. Water for toilet flushing was provided by melting ample supplies of snow.

So now they've got a nice big propane tank behind the house, and a fancy looking generator on the side of it.


Definitely do have this done by a professional though, since as Mark R said, this is a lot of power to be messing with, and you don't want to accidentally be feeding power back into the lines in the event of an outage. Utility workers don't much appreciate the whole death-by-electrocution thing.

 

[PowerEngineer]

As others have mentioned, jury-rigged generator installations can be dangerous to utility workers.

Distribution systems (like the ones that run through your neighborhoods) are radially connected back to substations. This means that when a lineman opens a switch or jumper between the substation and some damaged distribution lines then he/she can count on those lines being safe to work on (he/she should also install grounds to be sure). Home generators that are not installed properly have the potential to backfeed into the distribution lines, and therefore can be a safety hazard to lineman and the general public.

Careful switching as described by KGB will work, but would you want to be out there repairing lines (usually in crappy weather) with the added risk that everyone is careful enough (and smart enough) to get it right?

Don't put others at risk. Install a cut-over switch.

 

[PingSpike]

Right. I appreciate the information regarding no jury rigged generator installations...but I was asking how much it costs to NOT do it that way.

Those guys are out there in horrible weather working 24 hours straight sometimes on dangerous equipment. The last thing I want to do is create a situation that could potentially make things even more difficult/dangerous for them!

 

[alkemyst]

Right. I appreciate the information regarding no jury rigged generator installations...but I was asking how much it costs to NOT do it that way.

Those guys are out there in horrible weather working 24 hours straight sometimes on dangerous equipment. The last thing I want to do is create a situation that could potentially make things even more difficult/dangerous for them!

It really depends on your local area and what equipment you already have. If you want automatic transfer or will do it manually, etc. Some places you have to use an electrician and pull a permit...some you can do it all yourself...some it's a combination of things you can touch and things the power company sets up. Your breaker panel also matters.

Those suicide cables usually are popular because cheap, the old owner of my house used to go up and tap into the main lines which was equally stupid.

The problem is is while Joe PowerDude is out in bad weather bringing electric back up for their customers, some dumbass like this rather not deal with working in the rain himself nor going without his TV...sucks.

 

[bruceb]

I installed my own manual power transfer switch box. Cost was the switch itself (8 circuits) about $150 or so. Easy enough to wire into the individual circuits in the main panel. If you have a big generator, enough to run most of the house, you might consider an automatic switch. The generator (some of them) have starters and when the power goes out the generator starts and the transfer switch takes over. It disconnects the mains from the power company and connects the output from the generator to the main panel. It self disconnects when it sees main power has been restored. This is the best way, but also the most costly to do.

http://www.electricgeneratorsdirect...ck-the-Perfect-Automatic-Transfer-Switch.html

 

[Raduque]

Speaking of emergency generators, what is ATOTs opinion on something like this, running off a NG line for emergency power during hurricanes?

http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/...cStoreNum=6584

My parents are looking at owner-financing the house they're renting and were interested in getting a hardwired emergency generator for hurricane season here in south texas.

 

[BUTCH1]

Ah yes. The good old 'suicide cable' method. Outrageously dangerous to the user, and to anybody who happens to pick up the discarded cable and plugs it in. Even having one of these around the house, is grossly negligent.

Also, no interlocks to prevent power company workers from being electrocuted, if someone accidentally turns your main switch back on.

You really have no business whatsoever hooking a generator to your home electric without a changeover switch to guarantee that the generator cannot backfeed the grid.

And I might add, if you have an older ('70's) home like mine it might have a split buss FPE breaker box and there is no way to fully disconnect it from the grid and you WILL fry a utility worker if you try this..

 

[alkemyst]

And I might add, if you have an older ('70's) home like mine it might have a split buss FPE breaker box and there is no way to fully disconnect it from the grid and you WILL fry a utility worker if you try this..

On older homes it's a good time to put in a modern breakerbox and a disconnect at the same time.

If I wasn't going to move I was going to transfer my overhead power to underground and update my two panels plus add the disconnect.

 

[BUTCH1]

On older homes it's a good time to put in a modern breakerbox and a disconnect at the same time.

If I wasn't going to move I was going to transfer my overhead power to underground and update my two panels plus add the disconnect.

I was quoted $1200 by an electrician, seemed kinda steep, I should probably get more estimates. The FPE "stab-lok" boxes were infamous for breakers not tripping when they should and the company is now out of business, everything I use an outlet for is connected to a power strip with it's own breaker. My dishwasher shorted out once, it has a zener diode across the mains to absorb any spikes and when the diode failed (direct short) the breaker didn't trip, one of the foil traces on the control board eventually cooked enough to stop the current...

 

[alkemyst]

Speaking of emergency generators, what is ATOTs opinion on something like this, running off a NG line for emergency power during hurricanes?

http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/...cStoreNum=6584

My parents are looking at owner-financing the house they're renting and were interested in getting a hardwired emergency generator for hurricane season here in south texas.

On a house I'd not consider anything less than 10kW as a minimum.

The Generac's a popular down here, but you have to see if the HOA allows them if they have one.

It's better than nothing, but personally I'd be looking at more into 15kW for my needs.

If they don't plan on running A/C and the like they will probably be ok.