Plugin Residential Backup Generator

In Minnesota we have the occasional spring and fall storms that can cause power outages for some older neighborhoods that have overhead power lines. When the power does go down, Xcel Energy does a great job keeping us updated and the linesmen make generally quick work of the repairs. In a few cases storms have left us without power for many hours, this and my interest in finding a lower cost option lead me to finding the below solution to our miscellaneous outages.

After a quick search for standby generators and seeing the prices and limitation of a separate critical loads panel. I set out to find a simple and lower cost manual option. I already owned a 5500 watt gasoline standby generator that we had used to plugin our fridge and freezer. I had read about people back-feeding panels with this type of standby generator, but knowing the risks and legality issues with this configuration caused me to continue searching.

I finally found the Square D Generator Interconnect, this little (expensive) chunk of metal ensures that the breaker wired to the standby generator is never in the on position while the main breaker is also in the on position. Wired to a 30 AMP 2 Phase plug and big 30 AMP extension cord makes it easy to quickly setup during an outage.