Attaching a Generator to the Home System
- 1). Decide which appliances you will need to use in an emergency situation, and which you can do without. Purchase a subpanel box to meet your needs. The subpanel is a device that prevents the electricity created by your generator from going out into the power lines.
- 2). Label the circuits, beginning with the most important ones first. For example, label your refrigerator circuit "A," your water heater circuit "B," and so on.
- 3). Install the transfer switch and subpanel next to the main electrical box, keeping them about 18 inches away from each other. In some cases, the transfer switch and subpanel are manufactured as a single unit.
- 4). Switch off all of the circuit breakers inside your main electrical box, followed by the main breaker outside the electrical box.
- 5). Remove the cover from the main electrical box.
- 6). Punch out one of the knockout panels on the bottom of the main box with a hammer and chisel.
- 7). Insert the wires leading from the conduit at the bottom of the transfer panel through the knockout hole at the bottom of the main box, then connect the conduit to the main box at the knockout hole.
- 8). Check all of the circuit breakers on the main electrical box, including the breaker on the front of the box, to make sure that they are all in the "OFF" position. Coming into contact with a live wire can kill you.
- 9). Locate the circuit breaker in the main box that is connected to the circuit that you labeled "A" on the transfer panel. Loosen the screw that connects the wire to the breaker and remove the wire.
- 10
Locate the black and red wires labeled "A" on the transfer panel, then feed them to the circuit breaker in the main box which powers the refrigerator. Cut any excess wire from the red wire, but keep it long enough to reach the circuit breaker. Strip about 5/8 inch of insulation from the wire with a wire stripper, then connect it to the circuit breaker. - 11
Cut the black wire to match its length with the wire you removed in Step 9, and strip 5/8 inch of insulation. Attach these wires with a plastic connector cap and push them into the side of the main electrical box. - 12
Repeat Steps 9 through 11 to wire the rest of the circuits. - 13
Connect 240-volt circuits to the handle ties. These are the switches on the transfer panel labeled "GEN", "OFF" and "LINE". The 240-volt lines will run through the double-pole breakers (the breakers that are two breakers hooked together). Connect them the same way that you connected the single circuits on Steps 9 through 11. - 14
Attach the white (neutral) wire into an unused hole on the neutral bar. This is a vertical bar with holes in it located in the main electrical box. - 15
Attach the green (ground) wire to the grounding bar. If there is no grounding bar, attach it to the neutral bar. - 16
Replace the cover on the main electrical box. - 17
Label the chart on the transfer box so you know which switches are hooked to which circuits in the main electrical box. Label the chart with a pen, because pencil will fade over time. - 18
Turn on all of the breakers in the main electrical box and move all of the switches in the transfer box to the "line" position.
