What is a Transfer Switch?
A transfer switch is a very popular option to safely “transfer” electricity produced from your home backup generator into your home’s electrical feed. It is essentially a separate electrical panel, otherwise known as a subpanel, that is usually installed permanently next to your home’s main breaker box. The main advantages you’ll want to consider before purchasing your transfer switch include:
- Prewired circuits to the items your looking to power in your home, so you can eliminate the guesswork during an outage and quickly provide power to your home.
- Easily switch to generator power with a simple switch that changes main power to generator power.
- Automatic options available that can automatically switch to generator power and even start your generator in the event of an outage.
- Less risk in overloading your generator since prewired circuits are typically based on your generator’s
The transfer switch can have multiple benefits, but as with any product there can be drawbacks. The main disadvantages you’ll want to consider before purchasing a transfer switch include:
- Lack of options for additional circuits, since the transfer switch is prewired you’ll be limited to just the circuits you’ve chosen on the installation.
- Installation process is more involved and time consuming due to the added parts involved and additional
- Cost of installation is more expensive on average than other options for connecting your generator to a home.
- Cost of transfer switch kit is typically more expensive than other kit options for connecting your generator to a home.
