Anyone Installed A Reliance 51406c Transfer Switch?

Been thinking I need a generator. Most likely a propane stand-by with electronic transfer switch. These things cost a bundle is it worth it?
      

I am considering adding solar panels to my home to generate electricity.  I will not add batteries however (to expensive) so when the grid goes down I won't get energy from the panels (you need a special inverter and batteries) so I want to add a portable gas generator for those, hopefully, limited cases.



I just wondered how the solar wiring gets interfaced into my system (breaker panel?) and can I later add a transfer switch or interlock switch when I add the generator?



Or should I do that at the same time (perhaps the interface is complicated)?



Thoughts?



Thx
      

Hi all, this is my first post, so...my kitchen was just renovated and the electrical outlets are on the walls and I wanted them in plugmold under the cabinet. Why didn't it happen?  Long story, but I'm doing it myself now.  The electrical receptacles are on 2 separate circuits with a gfci receptacle on each and neither circuit has a receptacle outside the kitchen where I can put the gfci's, so I'm putting gfci breakers in the panel instead. I've run into a different problem on each circuit that'd like some advice on.



Circuit 1: this is a 20 amp circuit.  I have to plug this circuit's neutral wire into the gfci breaker, but I couldn't see which neutral wire matched the hot wire (buried in mess of wires) and I don't have a continuity tester so I just pulled one neutral at a time (tedious) until the circuit failed, but it never failed. So I did this again for every neutral...same result. This circuit shares a few boxes with other circuits so I'm wondering if the neutrals on different circuits are tied together somewhere, and if so I'm pretty sure, but not completely, that that's not going to work with the gfci breaker.  So I didn't install that gfci breaker since I'm not confident it would actually gfci (yep i verbified gfci).  What do you think?



Circuit 2:  this is a 20 amp circuit.  This circuit currently has the refrigerator, gas stove and range hood, and then a gfci in front of 3 electrical receptacles, which already sounds bad since I thought the kitchen receptacles required 2 dedicated circuits. I replaced that breaker with no problem, but it tripped after a few minutes and continued to trip every few minutes. I haven't changed anything else on that circuit yet and it's never tripped before, but now it is, so I put the old breaker back for now. The current gfci receptacle is only protecting the 3 outlets since the appliances are ahead of it. I know you wouldn't normally want the appliances gfci protected, so do you think the refrigerator motor may be a problem?  Do I need the appliances on a separate circuit?  What would you suggest I do?



Thanks, and if you're wondering "why all the effort?", it's partly because I'm meddlesome, partly because I'm bored, and partly because the backsplash tile is to be on showcase, not the electrical receptacles.
      

I'm buying a 12 lead Stamford generator, engine driven, and have a question or two about over current protection and ground fault protection.  I will normally have it wired for single phase 120 and 240 in the double delta configuration.  I may occasionally rewire it for 3 phase 240 in the series delta configuration.



For the single phase setup, what I've read so far leads me to believe I should have a main circuit breaker of about 125% continuous ampacity; it's a 10 kw generator.  Is that correct?  What kind of breaker do I need?  Should this main be a GFCI?  Do I bond neutral and ground?  This is a portable unit so I need to package a load center on the generator frame.  Can I wire one 240 receptacle directly to the main and two or three 120 volt GFCI's on it as well?  Or do I need another 240 breaker downstream of the main?  What should I be thinking about for swithching back and forth between single phase and three phase?  Alot of questions, trying to get smart and be safe.  Thanks.
      

Hello,

We're installing a steam shower unit & need to run new electrical wiring.  We have a few questions & hope someone can help!



We have three power cords (water pump, heat pump, steam generator) & none of them currently have plugs.  The specs are as follows:  3000W steam generator 110v - 30 amp GFCI breaker, 12 v lighting, 1.2 hp water pump 110 v - 30 amp GFCI breaker, & a 1500W heat pump 110v 12.5 amps.  It says you can run the heat pump off the same circuit as the rest of the unit.



Ok, so.. we're wondering what the easiest & cheapest way of going about this is.  We want it to be SAFE first & foremost, but also want to keep expense at a minimum.



Thank you for any advice you have!




      

I have a small 19 gallon water heater in a small garage space, that was installed by some questionable handymen a few months back.  I just had the plumbing and septic finished so tested the hot water, only to find the element was already burned out.



I noticed however, that this 120v unit is wired via 10 gauge wire to a 30 amp double breaker.  This is questionable because I thought a 120v appliance would be wired to a single pole on the hot wire and run neutral to the neural panel area.



My question is, can I run the hot wire out of one side of the double breaker without safety issues, or should I definitely replace it with a single pole breaker?



I would normally not question the work, but everything these guys did already had to be adjusted, so I'm only naturally assuming this may need to be also.



If its safe, I would like to simply things and just connect the one hot and leave an open space in the other half of the double pole... Is this possible?



Thanks for your advice-
      

I completed my whole house rewire last Fall (took 2 years and severely tested my wife's patience). I read 5 wiring books in the early stages but read Rex Cauldwell's Wiring a House with his above code suggestions near the end of the project and now im obsessing about some of the stuff I didnt do. What do you guys think of some of the suggestions, specifically,



1. Driving 8 ground rods and the wire must be continuous (I drove 4 but the #6 copper wire from the panel to rod 1 is 1 wire and the #6 wire from rod 1 through rod 4 is another wire but both are properly clampled to rod 1 with an acord clamp). Funny, even with 4 rods there is almost no current through the rods versus 2-3 amps through the traditional cold water pipe ground



2. 1 circuit for each duplex receptacle in bathrooms. Since I have a quad in each of the batchrooms, that would be 4 circuits instead of 1 (code allows an unlimited number of bathroom receptacles on one circuit which does seem odd)



3. Nothing shared with kitchen counter receptacles (ie kitchen wall and dining room on their own)



4. Dedicated circuits for everything - I added dedicted circuit for fridge, microwave and dishwasher/disposer, but did not separate the dishwasher disposer onto 2 circuits. There used to be what I called "Circuit X" which did kitchen counter, microwave, dishwasher, disposer, fridge, 2 kitchen counter outlets, dining room and 1 outside outlet. Wife frequently blew that one. Circuit X was divided into at least 5 circuits during the rewire



5. No switch loops - did 5 of these to save on carpentry/avoid certain box fill problems. Now 2011 code says no switch loops without a neutral. Oops?



Just wondering what you guys think.
      

wanted to get feeback on my crude wiring diagram i put together for my small bathroom remodel. does it appear to be sound or am i way off base??



details:



* 20A dedicated circuit

* 12/2 wiring

* outlet's will be GFCI

* double gang box will contain:

* timer unit for exhaust fan

* double switch for heat lamp and lights

* Ground wiring is not shown but each fixture/outlet/switch will be connected to ground wire

* by calculations, the 34cu box is fine for the number of conductors/size of wiring. per box specs could handle 15/12g wires.

* the scanner cut off the bottom part of the picture, the 2 lights on the right are fed from the same switch, neutral's connected together.



F = Exhaust Fan

L = Light

HL = Heat Lamp

T = Timer switch

S = Switch

H = Hot

N = Neutral

Wire Nuts are in the box connecting the pigtails



Thank you for your input.
      

Why won't my Briggs and straton 5500 generator generate any electricity?
      

Hi all, I'm new here.  I have an oil furnace in the basement of my house with the on/off switch mounted on it.  I would like to move this switch to door entering my basement.  I know I'll 1/2 inch EMT conduit and related connectors and wire for the run.  But, I do not know what guage wire I need for this.  It's approx. 50 feet from furnace location to on/off switch box location on the furnace.  Thank you for your help.  Roger