Bring It On.... I am ready!!!!!

This was a banner day for me.  Since suffering through the ice storm this past winter, along with another 24 hours this summer without power, I have been trying to get my self prepared for any future times without power.  While I would love to think that there will be no more, living out here in the country, I know better than that.  I will, at some time in the near future, have a long period without power.

I had a borrowed generator for the ice storm.  It was wonderful and kept me watching DVD's and having lights and the like.  But it ran out of gasoline once before I had topped it off and I had to call upon a young friend of my late husband who rode out to the house from town and managed to get the old pull start generator going again.  At that point I knew I needed my own generator.  So my new one was stronger (8000 starting, 6500 running) and needed to have electric start.  The older I get, I will be less likely to pull start anything.  But I did not like having an entire bunch of extension cords running from outside to inside, keeping doors from closing and running just a few, select things.

Last week I started using Home Advisor to find a good local electrician to install a transfer switch that would allow me to use one special plug from the generator into an outlet outside that would send generator power into my main electric panel to power the house directly without having to use extension cords.

I had asked my nephew to assist.  He really wanted to be able to do the work himself, but his union job as an electrician in Delaware has him working 6 days a week, 10 to 12 hours a day, so he just gave me some information that I used for my initial research into the project so I could talk with some knowledge to the gentlemen who arrived.

Jeff advised me about the basic transfer switch.  This system allows you to select 6, 8 or 10 circuits in your main breaker box that would be powered by the generator when the power went out.  The generator input comes into the new switch when the generator is on.  You have to shut off the main power breaker and then turn on the generator power and it will power the circuits you have selected.  My concern with this setup is the potential to allow backfeed by turning the outside power back on before turning off the generator input.  This would send your generator power out into the power lines and when it hit the transformer cause issues with it and perhaps injure or kill any lineman working on the lines.  It could also overload the house circuits and blow up any and all sensitive circuits and perhaps cause a fire.  I know I would probably be OK, but as I age and get more feeble-minded, I would be afraid that I would do something stupid like that.

So, I set up an account on Home Advisor, input the information on what I was looking for and they sent me a list of 7 or 8 electricians in the area and, on my behalf, emailed the top three companies.  One by one I heard from all of them.  One called me immediately.  He talked to me on the phone about what I needed and gave me a worse-case scenario estimate of cost ($1,200.00).  I was called by a second one and we set up an appointment for him to come out the next day, look things over and give me a bid.  The third one emailed and I called him back the next day to set up a time.

The first gentleman to arrive at the house was David from ReelTek Electric.  He looked everything over and described a different type of system from the one my nephew had talked about.  This was also a transfer switch of sorts, but instead of being installed AFTER the main breaker box, this would be installed BEFORE the main breaker box.  This would have the main feed for the house going into the new box and a bridge cable going from that new box to the main breaker box.  This new box would have a single lever with three positions (or poles)... one being outside power, one being off and one being generator.  The input cable from the generator would also go to the box.  This was exceedingly simple, with the switch up, the main panel would be powered by outside power.  With the switch in the middle, no power would be coming into the house at all.  With the switch in the down position, the entire panel would be powered by the generator.  This meant that I did not have to select which circuits to run.  I could run any or all of them that the generator could handle.  I would probably not be able to run my dryer and the water heater could only be run if the well pump was not on, but I could have my fridge running and my freezer.  The well pump could run, so I would have water to wash and flush with... novel for someone on a well.... and I could run my furnace as it is oil fired so the electric would only need to run the fan.  I would probably not be able to run the central air, but I could run fans, so in hurricane season, I would be OK.  What I liked about this setup was that power could only be coming from ONE source, Even if the generator was running, by flipping the switch, the power bring generated would not be backfeeding into either the house or the power grid.  To me it was much safer.  The quote was $1,250.00 so in line with the other one.

The next man to arrive was Tom from Mr. Electric.  Mr. Electric is a franchise, from what I can tell, as I have seen the same name and signage in Maryland.  Tom had mentioned in his email that he was recommending an Interlock Switch.  I had researched this on the internet when I saw it in his email so I was familiar with the setup by the time he came.  This was a very simple solution.  He would install an generator input breaker on the main panel (moving two breakers to the bottom of the panel to make room).  Then a hard plastic locking switch was installed.  Basically it works like this, with your outside power breaker on, the bright red plate is situated in such a way so that one cannot switch the generator input breaker to the ON position.  The main breaker has to be in the OFF position to allow the red locking panel to slide up and allow the generator input breaker to be switched to the ON position.  The red plate is now situated in such a fashion as to not allow the main breaker to be turned back on until the generator switch is turned off.  Once again, the generator is running the entire panel so I can pick and choose what I want to have running.  Same restrictions as above as that is all based on the generator's capacity to generate power.  It would be a simple setup, no additional big boxes and would only cost $725.00, saving me a chunk of change so I can put down a nice floor in my sewing room.

The last man to arrive was the first one to call.  He was John from Caruke Electric.  I met him out on the deck so we could look at the generator and talk about the outlet plug before going in the house.  He was checking out where the outside power went in and commenting that access was being blocked by my lilac bush.  He came off as very knowledgeable.  He spouted off all of the terms.. transfer switch, 6, 8 or 10 circuits, input plug, etc.  We went to the basement and he was impressed with the new box installation that was done when I installed the central air.  He pointed out where he would install the transfer switch box and then noted that the joists in my house were not correct.  (My house is well over 75 years old and is in better shape than many newer house, but he focused on the old construction that was perfectly fine 75+ years ago.)  He determined that the plug outside could NOT be easily mounted on the deck but would have to be on the outside wall of the house near the driveway.  I would need a longer cord to connect to it.  He then said he thought his initial estimate had been too high and he could do it for $1,050.00.  The entire time I got the impression that he was talking down to me and that I truly could not understand everything that was going on.  So as I walked him outside, I asked him why he was recommending the 10 circuit transfer switch and not installing an interlock switch.  He immediately starting talking  and with, great bravado, explained how an interlock switch worked and how it caused problems because it made what is now the main panel into a sub-panel causing possible issues with floating grounds.  I would have been impressed, except the system he was talking about was not the interlock switch, but the three pole transfer switch.  Let's just say, he lost the job at that moment and would probably not been invited back just because of his attitude.  He called the house Sunday night, Monday night and last night to see if he had gotten the job.  I love caller ID, I just ignored him.  I sent letters out on Monday, so he got the bad news, nicely phrased I might add, either late yesterday or today.

I selected the Mr. Electric bid of $750.00 after verifying things with my nephew, Jeff and my brother, Andy that it was a sound system and would do the job I needed it to do.  I called Tom and we arranged for the job to be done today.  Jim Good, one of his electricians, arrived on time this morning at 10:00 AM.  He determined what needed to be done, managed to install all of the necessary breakers and wires without having to shut off the electric and then we went through the entire process of hooking up the cable, turning on the generator (although I forgot to open the gas feed so it shut off as we were going downstairs) and then turning off the main breaker and turning on the generator input.  So much easier than dragging extension cords throughout the house in the dark.  He was finished in an hour and a half and off to another job.  Very neat, very tidy and no problem at all with putting the input plug on the deck where is it protected more from bad weather.

So I am ready for anything that a hurricane, ice storm, blizzard or even automobile accident can bring to the electric service out here in rural Chester County.  I just need to make sure I have enough gas to keep the generator running!  This is when keeping an eye on the weather is going to be very important.