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

[thequackenbush]

The cable/satellite guy(s) sure left a mess.

Oh my god man, I don’t think I’ve ever really looked closely at that before this week

I Ripped out so many disconnected wires and cables and boxes and feel like I barely made a dent.

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[Henry Ford]

This thread was an inspiration. The selling point of the lightning acting like a portable generator was amazing to me, but the price point of the home integration system was a no go

After reading through all this, had the install done the past two days. Ignore the panel labels; we also freed up a ton of space, identitied a bunch of unused circuits (house was built in the 30s) and cleared a bunch of room to install the FCSP


Love this truck

Were you able to successfully test it?

 

[thequackenbush]

Oh my god man, I don’t think I’ve ever really looked closely at that before this week

I Ripped out so many disconnected wires and cables and boxes and feel like I barely made a dent.

Were you able to successfully test it?

Yes! After some trial and error, it worked great.

Except for one of the circuits which, when turned on, continually tripped the truck breaker. However, we think this is likely because of the age of the wire of the circuit and the sensitivity of the truck.

We'll swap it out with a different circuit in the near future. Overall, really pleased with the results.

 

[Schroederhc1]

What can you run in your home with that set up?

 

[thequackenbush]

What can you run in your home with that set up?

My Generac is supporting:
refrigerator
furnace/hot water (we have oil)
kitchen outlets
living room outlets / lights
my and my kids bedrooms (same circuit)
range oven (gas oven, electric only needed for clock / thermostat)

 

[Henry Ford]

Except for one of the circuits which, when turned on, continually tripped the truck breaker. However, we think this is likely because of the age of the wire of the circuit and the sensitivity of the truck.

If the truck says the circuit is ground faulting it's because ground is touching neutral in the circuit. You can troubleshoot it if you want but if swapping into a different circuit suits your needs maybe it isn't worth the time and effort.

 

[thequackenbush]

If the truck says the circuit is ground faulting it's because ground is touching neutral in the circuit. You can troubleshoot it if you want but if swapping into a different circuit suits your needs maybe it isn't worth the time and effort.

That's great to know- we found a really really messy junction box that we think has something to do with this, but it was late in the day and didn't have overall time to address it.

 

[Maquis]

If the truck says the circuit is ground faulting it's because ground is touching neutral in the circuit. You can troubleshoot it if you want but if swapping into a different circuit suits your needs maybe it isn't worth the time and effort.

It could also be that the neutral of this circuit was inadvertently connected to the neutral of another circuit. Handymen like to connect all neutrals together in a junction box, even if from a different circuit.

 

[Henry Ford]

It could also be that the neutral of this circuit was inadvertently connected to the neutral of another circuit. Handymen like to connect all neutrals together in a junction box, even if from a different circuit.

Indeed! The first step while troubleshooting should be to unplug everything that is known to be on the circuit in order to determine if it's in the wiring itself. In my case it was a fireplace fan that some incompetent baffoon (me) had wired wrong.

 

[thequackenbush]

Indeed! The first step while troubleshooting should be to unplug everything that is known to be on the circuit in order to determine if it's in the wiring itself. In my case it was a fireplace fan that some incompetent baffoon (me) had wired wrong.

Yeah nothing plugged in had a factor- it's got to be in the wiring itself. We found a MESS in a basement junction box (two

Indeed! The first step while troubleshooting should be to unplug everything that is known to be on the circuit in order to determine if it's in the wiring itself. In my case it was a fireplace fan that some incompetent baffoon (me) had wired wrong.

We did unplug everything on the circuit, expected it might be a surge protector that was plugged in. It was not. Then we traced the wire from the circuit breaker to a junction box that for some reason met up with an additional circuit breaker and... well- it's unbelievable how much exposed wiring / mixed together is in it. My guys guess is that this is where the main issue lies (fingers crossed, bc it's also the easiest to get to and would be a relief that it's not some problem hidden in a bunch of insulation somewhere in the joists)

 

[Maquis]

Yeah nothing plugged in had a factor- it's got to be in the wiring itself. We found a MESS in a basement junction box (two


We did unplug everything on the circuit, expected it might be a surge protector that was plugged in. It was not. Then we traced the wire from the circuit breaker to a junction box that for some reason met up with an additional circuit breaker and... well- it's unbelievable how much exposed wiring / mixed together is in it. My guys guess is that this is where the main issue lies (fingers crossed, bc it's also the easiest to get to and would be a relief that it's not some problem hidden in a bunch of insulation somewhere in the joists)

I’d bet that’s where your problem lies. Highly unlikely to have issues with properly-installed concealed wiring unless you have a rodent problem.

 

[thequackenbush]

I’d bet that’s where your problem lies. Highly unlikely to have issues with properly-installed concealed wiring unless you have a rodent problem.

Well, it's an old house, so there is the occasional mouse in the basement, but there's 0 indication anywhere of any chewing going on in the wiring.

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