How To Install Emergency Backup Power on a Budget
How To Install a Champion Manual Transfer Switch for Emergency Backup Power
Here are links to the components used in the video
Generator link:
Manual transfer switch:
http://bit.ly/3FN1d82
Check out this video running a welder on the same generator
https://youtu.be/aysDlkLBD5Q
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Hey it's Brock here from Rock Hill Farms And today we're going to set up a manual Transfer switch to run my house off of This generator so about 10 years ago we Had an ice storm that knocked out power For 11 days I didn't have a generator we Didn't have a fireplace or any type of Heat source and it was a pretty Miserable experience and ever since then I've wanted to be more prepared and I Always look at the whole home generators And think how nice that would be but You're looking at an absolute minimum of $5,000 for a system like that and you Can easily spend 15,000 to have it the unit and the Installation cost so I've been using a Small generator and if the power goes Out we just run some cords into the House and usually about the time the Power gets turned back on I've got it Figured out and the refrigerator's Plugged in so we're going to try to find A happy medium today Between a 10 to 15 $1,000 whole home Unit and just running cords around like That and we're doing that with a manual Transfer switch which is two components That you see right here so this Generator is going to run Accord to this Box which is wired to this box which is Wired into the breaker box and when the Power goes out it'll be as simple as Start the generator plug the cord in
Flip this switch and we'll have power to A large portion of the house now I'm Going to show you in this video how we Are installing this but what I want to Tell you is that my advice is to Consider this as reference only and just A general idea of how the system works And the best plan is to hire an Electrician to do the work so the first Thing we did before shutting off the Power is make a list of things that we Want to still work when the power's out Because the size generator I have will Not run the entire house house it's Going to run a portion so we made a list Of we want this and this and this and Prioritize them then we found those Breakers and we we listed the breakers That we want active from here and made a List of where those are going to go on The new transfer switch Next Step was Deciding a mounting location and we've Decided to put it right under the other Breaker box we were going to put it in The wall but the way the framing and Everything is in here it was going to be Hard to put it inside the wall so we're Going to mount it on top of the wall Next we cut this hole right here for Access because coming out of the bottom Of the transfer switch will'll be Running wire through the floor into the Garage for the plugin the outlet box That the generator plugs into so we cut
This access hole which will be Covered by the transfer switch now we've Located this spot in the garage and We're going to drill up through to run Our wire down so this is our staircase Down into the garage the closet for the Breaker box is Right Above This we took All our measurements found out where it Was and we cut a hole here and drill the Hole through the floor that came out Inside the wall on that power closet so We have access right now oh there's a Fish Tape while I'm talking the fish tape Came down through that hole so we're Going to feed our wire from there to run The plugin that the generator pluged in Too this is our power wire that's Running down to the box where the Generator cord will plug in we've cut That access Hole and then that piece of sheetrock is Going back in once all the wires are Connected to this the manual transfer Switch comes with this conduit right Here with all of our wires feeding out Of it we ran that through the wall here Back through and up into the bottom of The panel everything's locked down in There with Knockouts and these these are The wires we'll use to run the the Switch off of so this is power coming Into the box this will come from the Generator and it comes out here and goes
Into the main power supply on this box So we can think of this Box like a sub panel and we've just got Our three wires here and our ground here And at this point we could plug the Generator in and have power here now we Need to wire from this box from these Breakers up to this box so our generator Cables goes on one set of contacts here That's power in from the generator this Comes pre-wired with power in from our Main breaker box those three wires are Already connected here those four wires They come out up here and they will go Into a 50 amp breaker that sets right There so all the time and when we're Using any of these circuits they'll be Run off of this power then when we have A power outage and we flip the the Switch on this manual transfer switch Those same circuits will just switch Power from one bar to the other so now We've wired this power from the transfer Switch down to this outlet Box and then this cord just plugs in Right here and then it's got a twist Lock so it doesn't come unplugged unless You want it to all right so it's all Wired up I've already showed you how we Ran power from the generator up to this Point there is pre-wired power coming Out of here going up into the box we Connect the power supply they gave us to A 50 amp double breaker and from there
It's a matter of taking an individual Circuit that we chose on the main Breaker box and rerouting it to here so This breaker is already wired through The conduit and up into here all of These Breakers are already pre-wired so This breaker right here I've labeled as Fridge previously the fridge was breaker Number 12 I've written number 12 on here It has a black wire all of these are Color coded black wire goes to breaker Number 12 in the top which runs the Fridge so we go up to breaker number 12 Up in the top take our black wire from Breaker number one here attach those two Wires to each other now breaker number 12 up here no longer does anything power At all times whether we're on the grid Or we're on the generator power to the Refrigerator and everything on that Circuit is now run through here the Difference is where is the power coming From so right now you can see a green Light and next to it is a picture of a Power pole that shows you that we have Power coming in from the grid this blue Light has a generator next to it it's Not lit up that means the generator is Not running right now if I started the Generator I'd have a blue light on and a Red green light on and I could choose Where to power these eight breakers off Of so by pushing this switch I could say We don't want to run it off of grid
Power anymore we want to run these eight Breakers off of the generator now I Don't see any reason why you would do That now if you had a solar generator And you said we're going to save some Electricity and run all of this off Solar that's a built-in option that we Could do the same thing but for us it's When the power goes out and I've chosen The refrigerator our back porch which Has a deep Freez the garage for the Garage door openers the bathroom outlets And lights the fan for our Fireplace the LI the lights in our Living room all the other power outlets In that part of the house the lights in Our dining room and kitchen so Basically half of our house will have Power and only 110 Outlets it originally Comes with a 220 breaker here and I Could have run our hot water heater off Of this unit but the hot water heater Would take about 2/3 of the power this Box Supplies same thing with any 220 outlet It would take most of the power the Generator has just to run that one item So I did not wire any 220 Outlets that Was just a choice I made about what I'm Prioritizing to still have power with When the Electric's out so right now we Want to fully simulate a power outage We're going to do that by tripping the Main all right power is out let's go
Start the generator so there's a lot of Companies out there that make generators There's a lot of companies that make Transfer switches why did I get Champion it's personal EXP experience I Bought my Champion generator at least 6 Years ago I don't know exactly how long It's been but it's been a long time ago And it's worked flawlessly for me then I Bought a log Splitter and then I bought a pressure Washer I've bought a lot of champion Equipment and all of it has worked Perfectly I've never had any hassle with It it starts first try and so I have no Reason to switch to another brand and as I'm mentioned in the first video about This generator when I decided I wanted One of these I emailed Champion told Them my experience showed them my Previous videos with Champion Power Equipment and they provided this unit to Me as well as the transfer switch so That I could demonstrate it here on YouTube and I just want to make a full Disclaimer this was provided to me but I'm not sponsored in that they don't pay Me or they don't tell me what to say so The powers went out the first first Thing I'm going to do is roll the Generator out of the garage obviously You don't want to have carbon Monoxide or exhaust going out into your House or your garage so I've moved a
Little ways away and I'm also going to Close the garage door so that we're safe There then I'm going to plug my supplied Cord into the 220 the 220 or 240 volt RV Plug twist that in next I'm going to go Ahead and start my generator we'll choke It flip it to Gas hold the start switch for a Second release the Choke next we'll plug this pord in Here okay you can hear the generator Running out there now we have a blue Light here showing that we have power From the Generator we now have power in that room As you can see see I can see the lights On in the kitchen the lights are on in The bathroom so let's go around and make Sure everything's working I've checked The lights and plugins and all the other Rooms let's make sure the garage door Works so now our next question power's Out we're running half the house off the Generator what happens when the power Comes back on is that going to be a Problem so we'll simulate That power back On now what Happens the rest of the houses come on That tells me okay we have electrical Power I come into the closet I see both Lights are on so now I'm going to push The selector up we're no longer running Off the generator now we're running just
Like any other day off the Full House Power but our power is still Coming through this box at all times the Power to these circuits come through This this box it's just a matter of Where you're getting that power from so As I've mentioned about 43 times so far This is a manual transfer switch the Other option is an Interlock and I'm not going to try to Give a technical description of the Difference between the two I've only Watched some videos myself to try to Understand it and an inlock is better For someone who can run their entire House off of the generator and that Requires probably a 10 or 12,00 000 Minimum watt generator where mine's 7,500 Watt but with an interlock you're going To switch power and it's going to send Power to your entire house now if you Said my generator is 7500 Watts like the One that I have but you want to Run a Interlock system what you're going To do is switch the power onto the Interlock but before you do it you're Going to turn off this one to the range And this one to the oven and this one to The dryer because it can't handle all Those it's less expensive and less Complicated to wire up but when you go To power on your system through the Generator you're going to go through and
Shut off the breakers that you don't Want to run off the generator the Difference with this is you pay a little More for this setup but you've already Pre-selected the breakers you want to Run now the downside is I did not run power on this to my kids' Bedrooms but it probably could now if Tomorrow I decide okay the power Actually goes out for a week I say let's Run power to the kids' bedrooms I can't Do it simple and Easy so that's kind of the tradeoff of a Manual transfer switch but I couldn't be Happier with the system I've got I Definitely want to say thank you to Champion for providing this for me to Demonstrate in the video and I really Have a peace of mind from the fact that I've owned so much Champion equipment in The past that even though no product or No company is fail Prooof I have a peace of mind knowing That in my past experience I've had Great luck with champion so I expect Nothing less from this setup so I Appreciate you taking time to watch this Video I'll put links on the screen to a Couple more of our videos and I'll see You next time
