Electrician for Transfer Switch

[Chas]

Looking for an electrician to put in a transfer switch so I can use a generator.
The house is new, but I didn't care for the electrician that did the work. I did a search here, but other than Royal Electric, not much came up.
Any recommendations?
Thanks

[kalianna]

I went through the same thing so I called them. Roy did an assortment of electrical work, extending AC, installing boxes, wiring to box. He wasn't cheap but he did a good job.

[terracore]

Not to be confused with Royal Electric, Punawebber Royall installed ours. I don't know if he is still doing that type of work but you could PM him and ask.

[Gus]

I just looked at the Firman 7500 watt generator at Costco today. Does anyone have that hooked to a transfer switch and if so, who did it and where do you get the transfer switch?

[terracore]

It depends on what you mean by "transfer switch". Your existing electrical panel is already a transfer switch, what you need is an interlock kit that makes it physically impossible to use the mains and the generator at the same time. This isn't the exact model that we have but it shows you what I'm talking about (the type you need is specific to the type of electrical panel you have):

https://www.amazon.com/SD-200VL-Generator-Interlock-Vertical-Breaker/dp/B07S3JHYMV/ref=as_li_ss_tl?dchild=1&keywords=generator+lockout+switch&qid=1598505416&sr=8-6&linkCode=ll1&tag=pw016-20&linkId=06cce8e6ba43fe4dfa498b95c6b23a63&language=en_US

In addition to the lockout switch you'll need the receptacle installed that accepts the power from the generator, the cord that goes from the generator to the receptacle (HD sells them but Royall made ours for cheaper), and of course have the receptacle wired to the panel.

The above is the cheapest solution other than an illegal "suicide plug" which just routes the power from your generator to your stove or dryer receptacle and counts on you remembering 100% of the time to kill your main breaker before adding the generator and also not to touch the live prongs on the modified generator cord and killing yourself. (not recommended).

For several thousand dollars you can upgrade to an automatic transfer switch that not only switches back and forth between mains and generator when the grid goes out but even starts the generator (if the genny supports that function). But I doubt many people in Puna have something like that.

Generac and other companies sell systems that are essentially a second electrical panel- you switch between the mains or generator panel which is what I originally purchased. They are more expensive and give you less capabilities than the cheap option I went with, but they might be easier to operate. This is the one I sent back:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007SR6HQ4/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&psc=1&linkCode=ll1&tag=pw016-20&linkId=e3ca60255bfb80159ab2ff6a207e5b62&language=en_US

Basically the problem with these is that it's not really a "whole house" solution because you can only run the legs on the mini panel with the generator. I guess it's purpose is to make sure you can't overwhelm the capability of your generator, but some of us are smart enough to know you can't run your whole house including electric dryer, hot water, and oven/stove all at the same time without overwhelming the generator. You can either just remember not to run everything at the same time, or for example, not turn on the switch for the dryer and hot water heater on your regular panel when the generator is running.

In other words, you already have a clumsy transfer switch in your house, you just need to connect it to your generator and make sure the grid and generator don't add power at the same time by paying $70 (or whatever) for a $5 piece of metal (UL listing isn't free!).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7DkaorEQPQ

[MarkP]

My parents had the mini-panel where only a few circuits could be switched over to the generator. When I discovered that the sump pump was not on there I removed that system and installed the interlock kit. Now they can power anything on the original house panel including the electric oven. Well, they can try to run the oven. The generator may have other ideas.

They already had the male generator plug in the box on the wall. I also bought a long 40' 4/#10 conductor extension cord as they had only a short one and were in the habit of running the generator in the open garage with the exhaust pointed out. Works fine until it doesn't and everybody dies.

[Obie]

Generlink makes a switch that is plug and play. No wiring involved https://www.homedepot.com/p/GenerLink-30.../301961623

[kalakoa]

Requires that you break the HELCO seal to remove the meter.

A two-pole 200A manual transfer switch was about $175 at Alpha.

Smaller (30-50A) automatic transfer switches available on Amazon (RV, shore power), but then you need a small "aux" panel for those circuits (fridge, lights, etc). This might be the cheapest way to go, a mini 4/8-breaker panel isn't expensive.

[Gus]

I didn't mention this, but I have solar from Sunrun. Does that affect anything?

[kalakoa]

Then ... call SunRun and tell them you want some kind of generator feed connection with a transfer switch?