I am in the process of trying to finalize selection and installation of a standby generator for my house.
A couple of years ago, while the house was under construction, the electrical contractor on the project installed a Kohler brand automatic transfer switch. The model number of the switch is RDT-CFNC-0400ASE. It's a lot like the one here on Kohler's web site. The only difference is that on the inside of the front panel of mine, the "Material" number is "RDT-CFNC-400ASE -QS2", while the Kohler web site's product page shows the number ending is "-QS3". I'm assuming that that part of the number is just some sort of revision code, and that the switch is fundamentally identical.
While I had told the electrical contractor that we would be buying a Generac generator before they installed the switch, they told me after they'd installed the Kohler switch that it didn't matter, and that the Kohler switch would work fine with a Generac generator.
Now, the dealer I've talked to about the generator itself, who sells both Generac and Kohler products, has told me that the transfer switch manufactured by Kohler can work only with Kohler generators, and so now I'm stuck having to buy a Kohler generator instead of a Generac.
Is this correct? If so, is there any practical way to adapt the switch so it would work with Generac equipment?
I could of course get into an argument with the electrical contractor and make them rectify their error, but at this point it's going to be "he said, she said". That's a lot of headache for a very uncertain outcome.
I could also of course pay to have a different switch installed, but given that my only real reason for preferring Generac over Kohler is that their price/generated-kW is better, that extra work would more than consume whatever monetary savings I might have gotten by purchasing a Generac model.
So I'd like to know if there's some way to allow for a Generac option in a way that would be acceptable to all parties involved, but without involving some huge expense.
Best Answer
No, he is full of it. A transfer switch is just a switch. Kohler doesn't even make the switch they sell, neither does Generac. In fact the switch mechanism inside of them is the same (the electronics are different and they use different brands of circuit breakers). The only issue is that the wiring diagrams likely show you specific connection references for their own respective brands. But anyone with half a brain can figure that out.