Easy DIY Generator Transfer Switch Install - Works with ANY Portable Gas or Battery Generator

This is the EASIEST generator transfer switch. Can be done in less than 30 minutes. Now use your portable gas or battery generator to run your HEAT, refrigerator or microwave or any hardwired circuit in your house. Backfeeding is illegal and unsafe, these switches eliminate that problem completely. See how to install one of these from start to finish. We connected my friends Ecoflow Delta Pro to his house so he can now run his heat if he loses power.

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Due to factors beyond the control of Silver Cymbal, I cannot guarantee against improper use or unauthorized modifications of this information. Silver Cymbal assumes no liability for property damage or injury incurred as a result of any of the information contained in this video. Use this information at your own risk. Silver Cymbal recommends safe practices when working on machines and or with tools seen or implied in this video. Due to factors beyond the control of Silver Cymbal, no information contained in this video shall create any expressed or implied warranty or guarantee of any particular result. Any injury, damage, or loss that may result from improper use of these tools, equipment, or from the information contained in this video is the sole responsibility of the user and not Silver Cymbal.

[MearsFL]

PLEASE READ the ground and neutral are not always connected in the same place. Only on the first panel or first means of disconnect. If you are installing the transfer switch in a sub panel (panel other than the main) keep the grounds and neutrals separate. Just check how everything is connected before you start. When in doubt PLEASE do research or call a professional. Be safe👍

[Glocktard]

Honestly I would suggest your friend install a whole panel transfer switch & interlock so that he could then power any of those breakers (a few at a time) since his ECO Flow unit had the 30amp outlet.🤔

[PNW_Sportbike_Life]

I just had a 50A interlock setup installed. Capable of supplying up to 12KW of power. Interlock is nice because you can pick and choose which circuits you want to run.

[someperson]

One thing people with a gas furnace forget is that the automatic pilot takes electric and so does the blower. Even if you have a standing pilot light, you gotta power the blower.
Personally I like wall mounted units with piezo electric igniters for emergency heat or a wood stove. But this is a great way to get some backup power going for a critical circuit.
Off grid lighting is easy, and you can always hand wash clothes and take cold showers. But the heat and the fridge/freezer... Those you'll want.
Wall heaters or gas logs hooked to a residential bulk tank can be months of heating. That would save your power for the freezer/fridge .
Wood burning stoves are pretty great too. What's nice about those is that they are pretty versatile in a situation when you can't get more fuel. (And you can cook on them too.) I've seen wood burning furnaces also, but then you're back to needing a blower.

[QualityDoggo]

We used to have a big setup which could switch most breakers between line/generator individually but our current install is a single full-house transfer (just an extra breaker with a mains interlock) which is honestly adequate 99% of the time — usually power is either working perfect or totally out and we have a single powerful generator.
Cool to see there are smaller options similar to what we had at the other houses because they could definitely be super useful for some situations.

[mikebroberg]

I have installed two of these EZ Generator switches for my floating neutral generator. Great instructions and videos on the manufacturer's website. They've worked well. I highly recommend.

[effinawesome]

Thank you for shutting off the main. It's less convenient when working because you need to setup lights, but it's so much safer. Even as an electrician, I recommend my guys kill all power.

[Random_How-tos]

I bought this product a few years ago and I have to say it’s one of the best additions I added to my house.

[marcusgrande]

I have several EZ Generator switches installed by my garage subpanel to power the furnace, kitchen lights, network closet, home office, refrigerator and family room, each with its own small transfer switch. Why not just use a larger 4 or 6 circuit transfer switch? I did this to match the emergency power sources I already owned.

I have 6 portable power stations ranging from 5100Wh to 720Wh. I can use different power stations to power different circuits. As the batteries run down, I can rotate them in and out to charge via portable solar panels or my 2000W Champion propane generator. With a single, large transfer switch I need to have 1 large power source, and if it runs out of battery or fuel, that's it.

I like the flexibility in power source strategy this approach gives me, and it's a straightforward 120V outlet, which is easy to deal with.

[terryharris]

Excellent video for several reasons. Not only does the video show the proper and safe way to install a DIY transfer switch but (here it comes) it illustrates the parameters of a battery backup power system (one of the best, if not expensive) in a typical system where the furnace load is about 540 Watts and the capacity of the backup system is about 3600 Watt-hours. The video shows the power being consumed, the state of charge of the battery, and the hours of battery life remaining (7 hours). It’s no coincidence that the battery life is the capacity in Watt-hours divided by the load in Watts. Also, the video correctly stated that a furnace cycles on and off (duty cycle) so the expected hours of battery life would be determined by the duty cycle as expected hours full load divided by the duty cycle. A furnace on half the time would give twice the hours of life and a furnace on one third the time would give three times the battery life, and so on. The ability of this battery backup system to deliver nearly all of its capacity (90%) reliably for hundreds if not thousands of charge discharge cycles is because it’s batteries are lithium iron phosphate. Attempting to substitute car batteries in place of these as so many recent DIY videos show is foolish because NO automotive car battery has sufficient capacity to reliably provide the load for more than about 30 minutes before needing to be charged and still stay above a state of charge (maybe 50%) that will not rapidly degrade the life of the battery. As one content provider of one of these DIY videos found out that he needed to charge his car battery up after only two furnace cycles of about 15 minutes per hour (25% duty cycle) at the same load as this video. That is, every two hours he needed to charge! Car batteries are NOT designed to deliver continuous power but to deliver very large burst of power as is needed in a car starter motor.

[realpdm]

Thank you for sharing this. We get our water from a well, and while we draw our cleaned water from a 2500 gallon tank, if the power goes out we can't pump that water into the house. I've struggled to figure out how to handle this situation since we don't need continuous power. I had never considered a battery backup system like this which seems ideal for this sort of short demand situation. This is just what I needed to get some peace of mind here here in Texas with our unreliable power grid.

[theo]

I found your channel about six months ago and it’s become one of my favorite DYI resources on YouTube. Learned lots of tips from lawncare to electrical. Keep up the good work!

[Jasonoid]

Because the ECOflow units charge so quickly, you can run your home heating system off the ECOflow but if the battery percentage gets low, just charge it up quickly using a gas generator. Then you don't have to run the gas genny all the time and waste fuel.

[hificat]

Not an electrician at all, and maybe this is a stupid question. I see the furnace was on a 15A circuit. Wouldn't it be easier to just cut the wires between the furnace and the electrical box, and safely install a single 15A outlet in a box, then add a good quality 15A pull to the wires coming from the furnace? So basically, you're plugging in your furnace. If the power goes out, just unplug it, and plug it into the generator. That way there couldn't be any backfeed on the system, because the furnace is no longer electrically connected to the system.

[Glocktard]

As stated these battery systems are perfect for night time use equaling quite comfort and then run a generator in the morning while you can keep an eye on it.

[dwightsmith]

Suggestion - for a temporary situation or a permanent solution, get a Generlink meter base adaptor. Would recommend the 40 amp unit.
Safe, very easy to use, super easy (5 min.) for the electric company to install.
I have no ties to the company. I bought one and it's a great solution. Using it with my Generac standby genset. Simply plug in the cord when needed, unplug when done.

[auntbarbara]

I bought one, via your link below. super easy to install. Reliance Co has great customer service if you have any questions but the process went exactly as smoothly and quickly as shown here. sending love from The Long Island.

Aunt Barbara adores you!

[PatJones]

I have four of the EZ transfer switches on my 4 main circuits that I want to keep up with my generator. They work great.

[thGenNativeTexan]

So perhaps I missed it in the video, but I'm assuming this is a gas-fired furnace, or similar. That's the only way a battery "generator" like that is going to run the heat for more than a few hours. If it was an electrical furnace it would 1)have to be 220V, and 2)would need considerably more generator power.

[jonkirkwood]

Thanks, SC. I know a master electrician who will wire this for me. I just need to mount it. Unfortunately, my service panel is on a wall in my kitchen. I need to find a weatherproof one and install it outside.