Generac 6852 Transfer Switch installed (to power my house from the Pro Power 240V plug)

[DiveMan911]

Here’s another question.
Many of the circuits I’ll be moving over to the transfer switch panel are AFCI protected. I’ll move those CB’s over and then each circuit breaker neutral and hot will get wire tied to their respective branch circuit. The pigtail can then just terminate at the neutral bar in the Transfer Switch panel, correct? That won’t trip/interfere/complicate the bonded neutral will it?

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[Maquis]

Here’s another question.
Many of the circuits I’ll be moving over to the transfer switch panel are AFCI protected. I’ll move those CB’s over and then each circuit breaker neutral and hot will get wire tied to their respective branch circuit. The pigtail can then just terminate at the neutral bar in the Transfer Switch panel, correct? That won’t trip/interfere/complicate the bonded neutral will it?

Should not be a problem.
Well, no more of a problem than AFCIs already are.

 

[DiveMan911]

Should not be a problem.
Well, no more of a problem than AFCIs already are.

Right?! I’ll say I’ve been lucky, we haven’t had any issues with any of the AFCI’s, but I’ve heard a bunch of horror stories.
Appreciate the response.

 

[rio]

Great post! This is exactly what I plan to do as well. Do you (or anyone) know if this transfer switch can also be made to work with regular non-neutral bonded generators? Like, in case my Lightning is not available to produce backup power and I need to revert to my old generator.

 

[Maquis]

Great post! This is exactly what I plan to do as well. Do you (or anyone) know if this transfer switch can also be made to work with regular non-neutral bonded generators? Like, in case my Lightning is not available to produce backup power and I need to revert to my old generator.

It should be possible to bond the neutral on your old generator.

 

[Zprime29]

I suspect the answer is no, but going to ask anyways. Is there a way to do this setup and include power from solar panels?

 

[Maquis]

I suspect the answer is no, but going to ask anyways. Is there a way to do this setup and include power from solar panels?

Simple grid-tied solar can be done with this setup.

But if you want solar to help power the home when you lose the grid, you need a much more complicated system.

 

[Zprime29]

Simple grid-tied solar can be done with this setup.

But if you want solar to help power the home when you lose the grid, you need a much more complicated system.

Yeah, I'd really like to be able to use the solar panels if the grid goes down. Thanks for the feedback.

 

[DiveMan911]

Another question as I’m digging deeper with this project:

Let me explain:
-The owners manual suggests a 50 amp CB at the main panel to power to the transfer switch.
-The Switch is rated for 30amps
-The load wires from the panel to the switch (it came with) are #8.

If I’m not mistaken, there’s a mismatch. If I go with that plan both the switch and the wires could get overloaded on utility power.

Seems the only option (using this transfer switch) is to size the CB appropriately and use a 30amp CB. Any other thoughts?

 

[carys98]

Another question as I’m digging deeper with this project:

Let me explain:
-The owners manual suggests a 50 amp CB at the main panel to power to the transfer switch.
-The Switch is rated for 30amps
-The load wires from the panel to the switch (it came with) are #8.

If I’m not mistaken, there’s a mismatch. If I go with that plan both the switch and the wires could get overloaded on utility power.

Seems the only option (using this transfer switch) is to size the CB appropriately and use a 30amp CB. Any other thoughts?

You could pull 30 continuously so you need to derate the breaker so it needs to be at least 40. The #8 wire is THHN which is rated for a higher temp than romex so #8 is acceptable for 50A. You would need #6 romex.

 

[Lightning Rod]

I want to set up my home with this layout. Are there any more threads or articles that further articulates this concept? My brother and I may take on this project.

Thank you.

 

[DiveMan911]

I want to set up my home with this layout. Are there any more threads or articles that further articulates this concept? My brother and I may take on this project.

Thank you.

Just finished my install today. A good number of YouTube videos out there. Correlate what’s been written here and read the directions in the manual thoroughly. As the OP pointed out…ensure you splice (wire nut) your hots AND neutral lines (independently, not together) in your house panel and run them both to the transfer switch. A handful of videos out there just run the all the neutrals together from the transfer switch bus bar to the neutral/ground bus bar in the house panel. The truck will give you a ground fault if each neutral isn’t individually spliced.

Should not be a problem.
Well, no more of a problem than AFCIs already are.

All of my AFCI’s are installed with no issues.

Final observation…wondering if anyone else has experienced this: if I switch from utility power to generator power with all circuits on, it will cause a ground fault. If I turn each circuit on individually after switching to generator power there is no issue. The reverse it true as well…GFCI on the truck will trip when moving all circuits back from generator to utility power. Seems the truck may just be overly sensitive…not a deal breaker, just an observation (after hours of troubleshooting).

 

[Maquis]

Just finished my install today. A good number of YouTube videos out there. Correlate what’s been written here and read the directions in the manual thoroughly. As the OP pointed out…ensure you splice (wire nut) your hots AND neutral lines (independently, not together) in your house panel and run them both to the transfer switch. A handful of videos out there just run the all the neutrals together from the transfer switch bus bar to the neutral/ground bus bar in the house panel. The truck will give you a ground fault if each neutral isn’t individually spliced.



All of my AFCI’s are installed with no issues.

Final observation…wondering if anyone else has experienced this: if I switch from utility power to generator power with all circuits on, it will cause a ground fault. If I turn each circuit on individually after switching to generator power there is no issue. The reverse it true as well…GFCI on the truck will trip when moving all circuits back from generator to utility power. Seems the truck may just be overly sensitive…not a deal breaker, just an observation (after hours of troubleshooting).

Did you actually experience the ground fault problem using single neutral? Technically, there’s no reason that should be a problem. Just curious - it’s a code violation anyway.

 

[Marcoux]

This setup is 100% the way to go.

We had an outage the other day and I was able to run:
- upstairs fridge/freezer
- downstairs freezer
- well pump
- electric hot water tank
- 60% of house lights
- slow cooker
- electric Costco heat dish (around 1000 watts)
- internet
- Tv
- gas stove

Did not experience any tripping at any point and the best part, we didn't even lose 1% battery in 4 hours. It's a real game changer.

 

[DiveMan911]

Did you actually experience the ground fault problem using single neutral? Technically, there’s no reason that should be a problem. Just curious - it’s a code violation anyway.

I never ran the neutrals all together from one bus bar to the other…so that wasn’t the culprit of the ground fault (even though as you said, it shouldn’t technically be a problem, other than the code violation).

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