- So you've got a generator and you're wondering how do I safely... (dog barks) hook it up to the house. Some of the dogs are barking over here. Today on Garden Fork I
want to show you a new, I don't know if it's a new method, but a method that's new to me that works better than a transfer panel. And I have a transfer panel, but we're going to be at a house today where they just installed
the interlock switch. I'm going to walk you through it and show you how it works. Alright, so let's look
at some of the stuff that electrician will need. This is the generator interlock hardware. This is the 220 or 240 breaker that generator power is
going to come into that and into your breaker panel. This is your weather proof
outdoor plug, very important. And then, a 240 volt extension cord, but the correct amperage
to plug into your generator and into your outdoor outlet. So your electrician is going to install this circuit breaker to allow power to come in from the generator. That's gonna go right
here and they will move the two breakers that are here, they'll put them down
here, which is easy enough. There's my sister's trouble makers. When you're thinking about
where to site the outlet, the outdoor outlet that your
generator is going to plug into my suggestion is first of
all, it has to be outdoors. Don't do this in a garage or a basement or you'll kill yourself. But it has to be near where you're going to put the generator, that
just is my experience. So, the generator is stored
right there in that shed and right back here is where a lot of the electrical equipment is. So we could use a hammer
drill and go through the mortar and the brick to
run a new cable really easily and then the generator can sit right here. Actually with the cord
we have it's long enough it can sit on those pavers right there. Ah there, look at the
knuckle heads out there. They're being goofs. They're kind of like my pups. So, think about that. Work with your electrician
about where to site it. Also make sure it's not
somewhere that water collects. Otherwise you're going to be
standing in mud or wet stuff and that is bad when you're
dealing with electricity. This is your outdoor outlet. The power comes through this brick, you could use a hammer drill for that, goes through this electrical box and connects into this socket here. This socket matches the
same kind of power outlet you have on your generator. Your electrician will help you match that. A stinger or heavy duty extension cord connects from here and
goes to your generator which will be sitting right here, because we're using an outdoor generator, not in your basement, okay? For you and your
electrician be sure to drill into brick not into mortar. We have a whole video about that. Actually, there's two
or three videos about how to attach things to
brick and cement walls, okay? Here is kind of the meat of the generator interlock switch system. The top right hand breakers, if there are any breakers
here they're moved down and then an amp or 240
volt breaker that matches the amperage of your
generator is put in here and these two, this red and black wire, plus a ground and a neutral
travel out of the box over to the outdoor
outlet where you're going to plug your generator in. The main breaker is forced to turn off when this is turned on. Power comes from the generator up into those two wires, into the panel and feeds selected circuits. So that's kind of the juice. That's the ju-ju I guess we'd call it of a interlocking switch,
is that breaker right there. The electrician will use a template to drill three holes to allow the interlocking switch to be attached. (drills) This is the interlock. The electrician will drill some holes and then put these shoulder bolts in here and this acts as a
guide for the interlock. Time to test. Alright lets pretend
that we're having a storm and there's a power outage, okay? So this is our interlock switch and guard, I guess we'd call it. Alright, so if your power goes out... Oh, the power's out. First thing you do, is you come downstairs and you turn off your main breaker, okay? Then you push this up and that keeps the breaker, you're not going to be able to turn the breaker back on again because it hits this metal guard. What it does allow you to do though is turn on the interlock breaker. Now we're going to go outside,
hook up our generator, power is going to come in to the panel from here and flow through. But first, before we do that, turn off all the breakers in your house because your generator probably
can't power the entire house like it's not going to be able to run your electric dryer and
your air conditioning at the same time. Depends on the amperage
of your generator, okay? We have a small one. It'll run the lights, it'll
run the air conditioner and that's enough for us, you know? - [Woman] Okay, so the lights go off. Turn off the main... - Main is off so we're not
endangering any line workers. So our generator power does not
go back down the power line. Turn off all our breakers
here and then take our generator extension
cord and go outside, and we'll pretend there's
a storm or something. - [Woman] We're doing this in the rain, that's what we'll pretend. - This is a great light, by the way. I'll link to it below. Alright, let's go up stairs. - [Woman] Very attractive too. - So, we're outside. This is our generator power cord. It'll only plug in here one way. One of them has little
lugs has a tang on it and you line that up. So, pretend you're doing this in the rain and then you turn it to click
so it won't pull out, okay? (upbeat music) Generator is off, this gets plugged in and then turn to lock again. (generator starts) Now we're going to go back into the house and turn those switches on. So now we're feeding
power back into the house with this heavy duty cord into that outlet into the breaker panel. Alright so we're down in the basement. Our interlock is pushed up. The main is turned off. The generator in-lock is turned on so we're feeding power into here. Now we can turn on select breakers to power different parts of the house. Depending on the wattage
of your generator. We have a small generator,
it's 5000 watts, but that'll run enough
to keep you comfortable during a power outage. And I think the basement
lights are down here somewhere. (breaker clicks) - [Woman] Look! - So when your power comes back on you can switch the generator feed off and that will probably
drop down just from gravity and then slide your main back on again. So the beauty of this is, now your line power is on, you cannot push that across. It's brilliantly simple
and it works really well. It's super simple. The expensive part is
hiring an electrician, but it's saving you a headache. It's pretty cool. So that's how you use a interlock switch. I think it's a lot better
than a transfer switch. The interlock switch isn't available for all circuit breaker
panels, so you have to look. I'm going to make a video about... Harry, did you forget about me here. I'm going to make a video about transfer panels
versus interlock switches, and Harriet. So there should be floating
here some other videos to watch. I'll link below to more information about transfer panels and
interlock switches, okay? So go out and make it a great day. Let me know your thoughts, See ya.
