A Women's RV Forum run by Women RVer's!

BJ, you asked about my Generator installation and I happened to take pictures of the process.

The guys spent the morning g Into the afternoon doung wiring. First up was removal of my electric meter prior to installation of the transfer box on the outside of my house.


Then they mounted the Transfer switch box and put the electric meter back in place. During this time, power was turned off for obvious reasons. Once the meter was in place they turned it back on.


After that they did wiring through my basement to the switch box and out through the wall to the point where the Generator would be hooked up. The wood frame is where the gravel will go to set the Generator on. You can see a pipe sticking out of the wall with wires sticking out and my gas meter in the background. There is a black pipe attached to the gas meter and fastened to the house between it and the wires. That is the gas line to the generator



Once all the wiring work was completed, the base for the generator was put down and the Generator unloaded from the truck and set in place.
The poles sticking out of the pallet aided in helping load and moving the generator. They put a couple of lamps on the edge of the truck tailgate and slide the generator down to the ground.




All done



Any questions, please ask

Must be way different there. Here, you have to have city there when you shut down power to read and break seal on meter. Then when ready, city has to plug meter back in and put a certified seal back on its collar, before you are allowed to turn power back on. Requires a pricey permit and inspections.
A generator is one of those things you are glad to have but hope you never need. Do you have a test schedule where it's started and run every month or two to be sure all is well?
.
Velda

Thank you Sue! That is really different than the way ours was installed, the panel is in our basement next to our main electrical panel. Might be a good idea to have the gas company turn gas on and off when they turned ours back on the whole house filled with the smell of gas and I had to take the dogs out back! It was really bad. Ours is also on a concrete pad. Do you have central air? Ours wasn't a whole house generator which I think most of them are now. I know you will rest easier knowing you have the generator. Ours also did an automatic test every week.

Velda, I don’t live in a city, so no need for electric company coming out. Our electric company is based in southern Michigan and they cover so many square miles of land, that they don’t have time or manpower to run around every house that needs to have something done to a power box. Especially if it’s an all day long project. They will come out if you have a problem with your meter or your powerline or something like that. Electricians are trained and licensed for dealing with meters. I have a decal to stick onto the front of the transfer box to alert anybody that is working on the meter that it is wired to a generator.

BJ, my cousins box is in her basement too, but in my case it’s outside the house. As to the gas, the shut off valve is outside at the meter, so no issue there. My furnace has electronic ignition and will come back on automatically when gas is turned back on. My hot water tank just needed to be activated with push of a button. They are they only two gas operating things in my house. The gas line to the generator is outside the house as well. There should be no reason for gas to get into the house unless one of the two mechanical things in the basement should fail for some reason, but most times have automatic shut off anyway.

The generator will come on once a week for six minutes to exercise itself.

I thought I commented right after you posted. Obviously not. I love the way these generators work today and think it's great that it will come on as you describe to maintain itself.

These generators are great IF you have access to either natural gas or propane. Remember, it's the goal of climate advocates to get rid of ALL petroleum based fuels and both natural gas and propane are in that category! And it's coming faster than you might think. CA can't build any new homes supplied with natural gas. My MN son sent an article a few days ago that same is being proposed in MN and other states. Also remember, what becomes law in CA has for decades dictated how new car standards are written, and our governor is pushing to outlaw all petroleum based vehicles and just cost truckers their jobs , because by January any truck motor older than 10 years can not be sold, so if they can't afford the $100,000 to replace just the diesel motor, they are out a job. If you think that won't affect you, next time at store, look at produce boxes and see how many types come from CA. It's affecting every aspect of farming and trucking all over the US. Combine that with fuel for tractors and trucks being quadrupled along with fertilizer price quadrupled.
Sorry, rant over. To me, it's getting past worry stage.
Velda

Velda, your info was really interesting. Living in WI I don't hear much about CA other than water shortages and fires. I had no idea that new houses can''t have natural gas in CA. I guess I had better start paying more attention!!
Sue, interesting post on your generator installation.