Would that be a 'socket' mounted on the furnace and a plug inserted into the socket? Are there wires attached to the plug?

I hope your not planning on having the generator in the basement while running.

V

Maybe it would be faster to do a search for the user guide on Google. There may be a diagram that explains its purpose.

oh no i would never have a generator in my basement! wooof I dont need that as I like living:)

Would that be a 'socket' mounted on the furnace and a plug inserted into the socket? Are there wires attached to the plug? yes and yes. it's like a 30 amp socket and a 30 amp twist plug. i've never seen this before and showed a few friends too and they are not sure what it is for. if i plugged in a generator i'd make sure its' far far away. we'd have 11 people die in Ct due to carbon monoxide.

braytonak i will do a search for the user guide as well ty!

Try to follow the wires - do the wires from the plug run into the furnace? the others would run from outside the furnace into the box mounted on the furnace cabinet, most likely. In that case I'd assume that's what it's for, connection to backup power.

Is it an all-electric furnace? A gas furnace doesn't typically require that much electric power, just a regular 15amp (here in BC) outlet.

If this is so, you have a 'poor man's transfer switch." - in the event of a power outage, you disconnect the plug, isolating the furnace from the house's electrical. You then plug it into an extension cord running into the house to the furnace. Yes, distance would be good and never, ever use a 'suicide plug' - a cord with two male plugs - people use it to 'backfeed' to the house electrical - very dangerous because 1) you have power on the exposed prongs and 2) you are feeding power back into a circuit that should be dead, and unless you shut off all the breakers you're trying to feed the whole house, or maybe even the neighbourhood. Dangerous and ineffective, the generator wouldn't cope.