Generator Hookup in Salmon Arm

Power cuts happen in the Shuswap, and a portable generator is a common backup on acreages and at cabins. The dangerous shortcut is plugging the generator into a dryer outlet or any household plug. That can energize the lines outside the house. We install an inlet on the outside of the house and a transfer method at the panel, either an interlock or a transfer switch, so the generator and BC Hydro cannot feed the panel at the same time.

How to run it once it is installed

• Keep the generator outside, away from doors and windows. Exhaust is carbon monoxide.
• Use the inlet. Do not backfeed a receptacle.
• The interlock or transfer switch is what keeps the utility and the generator apart. Do not bypass it.
• A generator does not run the whole house unless it, and the panel, were sized for that. We will say which circuits it can carry.

The cost page lists a typical range for an inlet and an interlock. The generator itself is extra. A panel that has no room for the breaker may need work described on the panel page first. This hookup generally needs a permit. We pull the permit when the job requires one, and we confirm the price before we start.

Tell us the generator wattage if you know it, where it would sit outside, and whether the place is a house in town or a cabin that sits empty. Rural drives around Silver Creek and Enderby can change the travel portion of the price.