Residential electrical · Belleville & Quinte
Generator Hookups and Transfer Switches
Standby and portable generator transfer switches, wired safely. Useful when Quinte storms take the grid down for a day and a half.
Inlet box on an exterior wall, real install
Why the switch matters more than the generator
The generator is the easy part. You can buy one at any hardware store in the region.
The part that matters is how it connects to the house, because there is a right way and a way that kills people.
A transfer switch physically prevents the generator and the utility from ever being connected at the same time. When you switch to generator, the connection to the grid is mechanically broken. That does two things: it protects utility crews from power flowing backwards onto lines they are working on, and it protects your generator from being destroyed when the grid comes back.
The alternative — a cord from a generator into a dryer outlet — is called a suicide cord for reasons that are not a metaphor. Every electrician in this region has been asked about it and every one of us says no.
The rule
Never connect a generator to your house wiring through any receptacle. Cords direct to appliances are fine. Anything that feeds the panel needs a transfer switch and an inspection. There is no clever exception.
What we install
Manual transfer switch with an inlet. The common setup. A sub-panel of six to twelve chosen circuits sits beside your main panel, and an inlet box goes on an outside wall. When the power goes out, you wheel the generator out, plug it into the inlet, start it, and flip the switch. Ten minutes.
Interlock kit. A mechanical plate on your existing panel that makes it impossible to have the main breaker and the generator breaker on at once. Cheaper than a transfer switch, uses your existing panel, and it works — but only where the panel is a type an approved kit exists for, and it needs you to manage the load by hand.
Automatic transfer switch for a standby unit. Senses the outage, starts the generator, switches over, and switches back when the utility returns. Usually within thirty seconds and often before anyone notices. This is what pairs with a permanently installed standby generator.
We also do the sizing, which is the step people skip. A generator too small for the load you have chosen will stall or run hot. A generator far larger than you need costs more to buy and more to fuel for no benefit.
Local note — needs client input
Real outage history for this area — how long the longest storm outage in the last few years actually lasted, and in which townships. Rural customers on wells have a genuinely different requirement from town customers on municipal water, and that distinction is worth spelling out with local specifics.
What it costs
$1,600 to $2,900 for a transfer switch installation. That covers the switch or interlock, the inlet box, the wiring, the permit and the inspection. It does not include the generator.
What moves it:
- Number of circuits. A six-circuit switch is cheaper than a twelve.
- Distance from panel to inlet. Where you want to run the generator matters. Outside, away from windows and doors, is the only safe place, and how far that is from your panel drives the cable cost.
- Transfer switch or interlock. Interlock kits are cheaper where your panel accepts one.
- Panel condition. If the existing service is 60 or 100 amp and full, it may need work first. See panel upgrades.
An automatic switch with a standby generator is a larger job and it is quoted per install, because the gas connection, the pad and the unit itself vary enormously.
Running it safely
Two things get people every winter and neither is electrical:
Carbon monoxide. Generators go outside. Not in a garage, not in a carport, not by an open window or a dryer vent. Every year in this country people die of carbon monoxide from a generator running in an attached garage with the door open. The open door does not help.
Fuel. Store it outside the house, in the correct container, and let the generator cool before refuelling it.
Neither of those is something we can install for you. Both are worth reading in the manual before the first storm rather than during it.
Common questions
Can I just run an extension cord from a generator into the house?
Running a cord to a fridge or a lamp is fine. What is not fine is any arrangement that feeds a generator into the house wiring through a dryer outlet or a similar plug. That is backfeeding, and it pushes power out onto the utility line where a lineman is working. It also bypasses every protection in the panel. It is illegal, it kills people, and it is the reason the transfer switch exists.
Portable or standby?
A portable generator plus an inlet and a transfer switch is a few thousand dollars all in, and it needs you to be home to wheel it out, start it and fuel it. A standby generator starts itself within seconds of an outage and runs on natural gas or propane, and it costs several times as much installed. If you are out of town often, or someone in the house depends on power for medical equipment, standby is the honest answer. Otherwise a portable covers most Quinte outages.
How much of the house will it run?
With a portable, a chosen set of circuits — usually the furnace, the fridge, the well pump if you have one, some lights and a couple of outlets. That is what a transfer switch does: it lets you pick. A properly sized standby unit can carry a whole house, though usually not the range, the dryer and central air all at once unless you have paid for a large one.
Does the furnace need to be on it?
In this climate, yes, and it is the circuit people most often forget. A gas furnace needs very little electricity to run its fan and controls, so it is cheap to include and it is the difference between a cold house and a warm one. If you are on a well, the pump is the other one you cannot skip — no power means no water.
Is a permit required?
Yes. A transfer switch is a change to your service and it is notifiable work. We file with the Electrical Safety Authority, the installation is inspected, and you get a Certificate of Inspection. Given that the whole purpose of the switch is to keep your generator off the utility line, this is one where the inspection is genuinely worth having.
Related work and reading
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