MOST of the big brand panels(Siemens,Cutler Hammer, Square D) make a transfer switch that works on the breakers in your panel. What you do is mount a sub-panel. In this sub-panel you put the circuits that you want to work on a generator, such as the refrigerator, water heater, well pump, etc.
Now for the wiring part. What is done is you take a 2 pole 100 amp breaker and feed your new 100 amp subpanel out of your main panel. At the sub-panel the #3 copper wire from the 100 amp breaker in the main panelis attached to another 100 amp breaker in the sub-panel. Basically you are feeding this breaker backwards, since the power comes in on the screw terminals and out on the clips to the bus bar. Now in the correct location as noted on the generator transfer switch instructions you place the second breaker that this transfer switch/handle tie, ties in to. Now from the generator location you run your cord or wire to an outlet that the generator runs into.
What the handle tie does is only enable one of these breakers to be in the on position at a time. When the generator breaker is on the breaker that connects the sub-panel to the main panel is off, so it doesn't backfeed the power lines. When the breaker that ties the panels together is on it forces the breaker that goes to the generator plug or cord to be off, so you cannot backfeed the generator. It is really asimple affair, and if using all 100 Amp rated equipment for the generator/sub-panel, you will be set up for a pretty good sized generator.
The problem with this switch setup is that it is manual only. However it is relatively inexpensive to do compared to an automatic transfer switch.
I used a 7000 watt generator for 4 days two years ago and running an electric water heater, well pump, range, and all the lights and refrigerator I only tripped the breaker on the generator once. All you have to do is be a little selective on what you use and when. Sorry for being so long winded
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Today's Featured Article - Talk of the Town: The Saga of Grandpa's Tractor - by The following saga is from the Tractor Talk Discussion Forum. Someone. The saga starts with the following message: Hey guys I have a decision to make. I know what you all will probably suggest and it will probably agree with me way down inside, but here it is. I have a picture blown up and framed in my "tractor room" of a Farmall M. It was my Grandpa's tractor, of which whom I never got to meet. He froze to death getting this tractor out of the barn to pull a truck out of the ditch before I was born. Anyway my dad and aunt had to sell it at the auction,
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