I have a power pole that has a 200 amp breaker before it enters my house and a 30 amp (240) breaker for my well. Again, both are outside before the electricity enters my 200 amp house box. Is there a type of transfer switch that will work at the pole with my generator? Any help or ideas are much appreciated. I am obviously not an electrician so keep it simple. Thanks
Electrical – somehow wire the generator to the power pole
electrical distribution
Related Solutions
I've labeled some things in your photo, that might help you understand what's going on.
The wires coming up into the panel are your service conductors, of which you have two "hot" and one "neutral". From there you have "hot" branch-circuit conductors, which are connected through circuit breakers. There's also a branch-circuit "neutral", for each branch circuit.
You seem to be concerned that one of the branch-circuit "neutral" conductors, is terminated under the same lug as the service "neutral". Which is a valid concern. You'd have to check the documentation or labeling on the panel, to determine how many conductors can be terminated at that terminal. National Electrical Code limits each terminal to one conductor, but allows device manufacturers to override that as long as there is documentation stating such.
It looks to me like that circuit predates the other two, and possibly even the panel itself. I'm guessing when they updated the panel, that conductor wouldn't physically reach the "neutral" bus. Instead of splicing the wire, they simply terminated it with the service "neutral".
There are four possible combinations of two 3-way switches:
- Both up
- Both down
- First up, second down
- First down, second up
Two of these will have the light or fixture on, two will have it off. I prefer #1 and #2 to be "off", with #3 and #4 on.
If your light is off for #3 and #4, and you'd prefer it the other way, you can exchange the traveller wires at (only) one of the two switches. The travellers are generally connected to two silver screws, with the common wire on a darker screw.
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Best Answer
Yes, absolutely. A 200A service rated transfer switch is exactly what you need. Most are outdoor rated so it can be placed right at the pole with the service equipment.
This switch needs to be matched with the generator you buy so it is not something you can just run out and get. Also, the generator must be able to handle the average load of your home since it will start automatically during an outage, so everything that is on at the time will be part of the load when the genset starts.
This is NOT something for a casual DIYer so please contact an electrician for exact details about your specific job.