My furnace is gas forced air. I have a Honda 3000 watt generator that I want to use it as a back up if the power goes out. I would only want to run the furnace and a duplex plug for some portable lighting if the power goes out. Any thoughts on what brand of manual transfer switch to use. I would have to move the generator outside and run a flexible power cord through the garage to the generator outside. Any suggestions on the best set up would be appreciated. Thanks Jay
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For light loads a plain ol' 3-way lighting switch works well.
Common to the furnace, one side to CB, the other to the generator.
gentran is a decent brand. just make sure dont leave the garage door open, so the fumes from the generator can enter the house, or into the central heating air intake. a couple years ago a contractor did just that and lost his family.
Regardless of how you go at it, you can make things a lot safer by adding an external power inlet box to your setup. Here's an example:
http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_6970_200220924_200220924
This is usually included with most of the transfer switch "kits." I just wired in a Reliance brand kit, but I wanted to power multiple house load lines - I spent 7 days without power last winter - it gets old fast! 6 transfer lines allows me to fire up the generator and flip switches to power the heater blower, the fridge, freezer, most of my lights and, most importantly, my computer and TV!
With an external power inlet box, you take (or leave) your generator outside and plug it into the external receptacle. Run the wiring on the inside into whatever you were planning. Now you don't have to worry about poisoning yourself and your family with carbon monoxide.
GenTran and Reliance seem to be the major players. Wiring in the Reliance 6 leg transfer switch was pretty straightforward. There's a good article in FH that covered this a couple of years ago.
-t
Thanks for the link to the web site . You have been very helpful. Jay
Jay,
A word of caution about your genset. Hondas EU series -110V- have a hot neutral that you can't feed with a regular xfer switch due to neutral bonded at the main panel.
2x check your voltage from your generator. If you have an EU series, then running an extension cord from the generator is probably your best bet.
Ray
Yes it is an EU. Thanks for the info would not have known that. Jay