While there are others on this forum that may be able to provide alternative solutions, I'd suggest something like the product in the following link. You only install it into specific circuits that you then manually switch over from line power to generator power. There are several 120/240 versions available as well but this is one of the ones specific to 120V.

Here is a link that might be useful: Reliance Controls 4 circuit 120V transfer switch

You can do it, but you have to choose what half of the circuits you will power. The other half will remain dead. You should turn off all the other breakers on the powered leg so you do not overload the generator. In addition to that, you must turn off the 240V, tied breakers or you could run into real trouble.

You can settle for the refrigerator circuit and the outlets and lights that are on that 'leg' of the service panel as one option. If you want to spend a little more money, an electrician might be able to move some lights and convenience circuits to the same leg as your refrigerator circuit.

If you are going to do the latter, you could compare the cost of that solution to the small transfer switch type that yosemitebill suggested. It might not be that much more.

Thanks for the replies. I'll look into the transfer switch.

The electrician did tell me that I could energize one leg but he said that there still may be a problem with the neutral. I can't remember exactly but I think it had to do with overloading the neutral.

If you only feed one leg, there's no way to overload the neutral any more than overloading the hot leg.
It's possible you could mess things up if you tried feeding both legs with the single 120V leg from the generator.

As pointed out any 240V loads are really going to mess things up (as well as potentially damaging the load device).

I think Honda sells a kit that allows you to use two generators to power both legs.

Yeah, and by the time you buy two EU2000's you can have one hell of a nice 6500 watt middle of the road genset.

The big advantage of the little honda (First gear, it's all right) is that they are QUIET and easy to carry. But you're right for most situations you can get a real nice 240V generator for the price of these little guys.

After looking at the transfer switch, I am going to go that route. I'll probably get the 10 circuit model so I have access to more stuff in the house. Don't worry, I won't overload the generator. :) I have been on enough film & video shoots to know the limitations of generators.

If you'll indulge a few more questions....

I'm planning on putting in a 30 amp 125/250 power inlet box with 10/3 NM cable in case I decide to buy a bigger genset in the future. Considering my current Honda only supplies 120 volts on a regular household receptacle, how can I modify a generator cable to go from 5-15p to L14-30r? Can I buy an L14-30 generator cable and cut off the male end to put on a 5-15? Someone told me that all I'd have to do is put both hot wires onto the brass screw in the 5-15p connector. Can a 5-15p connector accommodate the fat 10-gauge cable?

The cheapest way is probably just to buy some 12G cord at the home center and a 5-15P and a L14-30S.

You can get 25' of 12G cord for under $25. The plug will run you a couple of dollars you may not be able to find a L14-30S at the home centers but you can probably find it online.

Rather than chopping up a relatively expensive gen-set cord, either take ron's suggestion and make one up, or purchase a 12G 120V extension cord and replace the socket end with a L14-30 socket.

I've seen the sockets at both Lowes and Home Depot but they're a little on the pricey side. Last time I needed one I found one on Amazon - I'll attach the link.

BTW - Since you are manually switching the individual circuits from line side to generator side, I'm having a hard time thinking of a reason why you could not parallel the two legs on the socket end and monitor load - as long as you don't switch in any combination 120/240 loads - which "may" have the potential to cause appliance damage. So, it may be best to only wire one side of the socket, and stay on just one leg of the transfer switch.

Here is a link that might be useful: One of Amazon's links for the socket.

Ron, since I may buy a 120/240-volt generator in the future, I'd like to buy the cord once and be done with it. You're right, I could get away with 12-gauge for now but I'm trying to think ahead a little.

Bill, can you provide more detail on how to "parallel the two legs on the socket end?" I thought it would be better to use 10/3 cable and connect both hot wires to the brass screw on the male end of the cable. Can I easily fit two 10-gauge hots in a 5-15 or 5-20 connector?

Thanks again to everyone for all of their help!

Most 30 amp transfer switch kits come with an expensive (if purchased separately) 10 gauge 120/240 volt L14-30 molded connector twist-lock extension cord to go between the generator and power inlet box. Why chop this up and degrade it?

Your current 120VAC generator can only supply enough power to utilize a 12 gauge/120 volt three wire cable. Just buy a 12 gauge 120 volt cord and change the socket end.

With all due respect, since you are asking about wiring both legs together on the L14-30 socket end now, it makes me even more uncomfortable about suggesting it could maybe be done under the right circumstances.

If you are going to go with a 10 circuit transfer switch, just buy the larger generator now, wire it all properly, and be done with it. However, you still need to evaluate and very carefully calculate running and start-up loads on all these circuits.

Bill,

Thanks for your thoughts. I don't want or need a noisy, gas-guzzling 240-volt generator right now so I'm going to heed your advice and keep it simple at 120 volts.

I'd still like to future-proof the wiring from the power inlet box to the transfer switch, however, by installing 10/3 NM cable instead of 10/2 or 12/2. That way I can upsize my generator at some point without having to run a new line.

So the question is, in a 120-volt setup is it OK to run 10/3 from a Gen Tran 53002 inlet box and leave one of the hot wires disconnected and capped off with a wire nut? Does it matter which hot wire I leave disconnected? (The reason I want to use the 30-amp inlet box instead of 20-amp is in case I upsize to a Honda 3000-watt 120-volt generator.)

And yes, I have very carefully looked at the 10 circuits I plan on hooking up. I won't be using them all at the same time. I just want the convenience of having them available. At most, all I will run at one time will be two 60-watt lamps, TV, FiOS set-top box, FiOS ONT box and refrigerator. That's what I ran on extension cords during the last outage and the EU2000i generator sipped gas for over 8 hours until the power came back on. It could have gone longer before refueling.

Thanks again. This has all been extremely helpful and I feel better about how to proceed.

Here is a link that might be useful: Gen Tran 53002

OK, I now understand you are talking about the feed from the generator inlet box to the transfer switch. Yes, that should be a 10/3 connection.

Have you looked at the Reliance Controls 10 circuit transfer switch as well as installation instructions for both brands?
Two slightly different approaches to the way they connect and install - could be useful to look at and compare.

Here is a link that might be useful: Reliance Controls 10 circuit transfer switch at HD

I am planning on getting the Reliance 10-circuit. Unless I'm mistaken, the only difference between Reliance and Gen Tran is that Gen Tran uses red and blue wires instead of red and black. Otherwise they look the same.

Incidentally, I asked Reliance why their boxes look identical to Gen Tran and they said that Reliance used to manufacture for Gen Tran, but no longer. Gen Tran simply kept the design. Doesn't quite make sense to me but that's what I was told.

Hmm... That's interesting. I found the transfer switches you were talking about - they call it their "Vintage" line.

The transfer switches Gen Tran commonly sell now are installed like a sub-panel and require a new 60 amp breaker in your main panel. You then reroute all your switched circuits to breakers in the Gen Tran panel and no longer use the original breakers. The master transfer switch in the Gen Tran panel then switches between line/generator.

The Reliance Controls simply interrupt and switch the individual circuits from the main panel at the transfer switch between line/generator. Each circuit has a built-in breaker on the generator side and use your existing breaker on the line side.

Oh, whoops. I thought you were comparing apples to apples. Yes, I have browsed both sites and looked at the good/better/best products. I'm trying to keep this somewhat simple with a self-install, so the Vintage switch seemed the most economical and doable. Not to mention my tricky 120-volt generator issue. Fair to say the subpanel solutions probably wouldn't play nicely with only 120 volts.

UPDATE ONE YEAR LATER: I finally got around to installing the Reliance Q310C transfer switch. I took Bill's advice and bought a 12-gauge extension cord, cut off the female end and replaced it with the L14-30. For the hot wire inside the power inlet box, I connected only the 10/3 black wire and capped the unused red wire. Then at the transfer switch (following the advice of Reliance tech support), I pigtailed the incoming black wire and connected two tails to the black and red terminals, thereby supplying 120v to each leg in the service panel. (Of course, the 10/3 neutral and ground were connected as well.)

Tested it and it works perfectly. I can't run much at one time because of my small generator but that's OK. I've also bought several led light bulbs that only draw 13 watts each, so that means I can use around 5 lamps instead of only ONE incandescent 60-watt lamp.

Thanks again to all who worked through this with me!

Thanks for the follow-up, Breaker. I'm looking into powering both legs of my 240 panel with a single 120 generator, sort of along the line of what you were looking to do. I've already bought an interlock kit for my DO panel and really want to avoid using a transfer box. My plan was to wire it with 8/3 (for if I ever upgrade to a bigger generator) all the way out to the outside connection box. And I already have a 10/3 outside cable where I was planning to cut the generator side of the plug and replace it with a 10/2 plug, connecting both hot wires of the 10/3 wire into the single hot connector of the 10/2 plug.
I thought I had it all figured out when I bought all this last year, but now having a little concern about powering both legs at the box with the single leg from the gen. I do know about being careful to stay under load limits and keeping off any 240 loads. This setup seems to be the simplest and at the same time offers the most flexibility about which circuits I want to power, and stay with a small 4k watt generator to keep noise and fuel consumption down (important for neighbor and fuel availability reasons). I welcome and would appreciate advice from anyone on what I mentioned above. IâÂÂm a computer tech but a have a lot to learn when it comes to house wiring.

This post was edited by rmui on Wed, Mar 6, 13 at 15:49

Sorry, I need to make a small correction to what I posted on February 21, 2013. I did not put a female L14-30R connector on my extension cord, I put a female L5-30R so that it would connect to my GenTran 53002 power inlet box.

Wanted to straighten that out for anyone who comes along in the future!

Here is a link that might be useful: Leviton L5-30R connector

And as you likely found out, purchasing a cord and then removing one end is often less expensive than purchasing the same cordage off the roll and two cord ends.

I have a number of very old power tools that had hardened rubber cords that had cracked (one of the tools is a Boice-Crane scroll saw with a 27 inch throat that had a cord at least 80 years old.

Purchase a cord, cut off the female end, and wire it up.

I found these pretty good directions on making your own cable: http://bit.ly/11otIAz

Also, keep in mind that they don't sell these cables for a reason. The main one I found is that if you have any multi-branch wired circuits, it could overload and cause a fire. http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,26267406

OK not to hijack a Thread here, but I too have a similar Question...... MY house has next to its Circuit breaker Box a 110 out let...... That outlet is its own circuit and is attached to a 20 Amp Breaker in my Circuit Breaker Box........ ( NOTHING BUT THAT SINGLE OUTLET DIES WHEN I TURN OFF THAT 20 AMP BREAKER ) .... QUESTION? Can I back feed my 120 volt 30 AMP Generator through that 110 20 amp outlet so to feed just Half of my Circuit Breaker Box???? I will kill the STREET POWER and turn off ALL Circuits except for the following..... Total amps drawn will be less than 15.... Furnace 1.7 - Furnace circulating pump .7 - Fridge 3.1 - Freezer 4.5 - and a couple LED lights..... We can cook on our BBQ or Wood Stove depending on the season............ Wasn't sure if back feeding through 20amp BREAKER and a 110 out let will work...

Firstly, it's illegal, and what if you forget to kill the power? Secondly, are all of those loads on the same side of the panel as the outlet? And lastly, I did it once in the aftermath of a storm that knocked out power for 10 days. BTW, those seem like running amps for some of those loads. Start up loads would be more.

( Speedings illegal cuz you could kill some one ) ... A lock out switch will be installed preventing back feeding City Power... Yes all Loads mentioned are on the same side of the panel as is the 20 amp breaker & the dedicated 110 outlet.... Yes these are running loads ..... A total is 10 amps draw on a 20 amp breaker leaving room for start up which I know is more.................... Does it matter which way the current flows through the 20 amp Breaker, was the question ???

Current is current. I have a solar panel system that backfeeds through two panels (duly inspected). Each panel has a breaker that backfeeds the power to the bus bars, so current can flow either way. Technically, your 12 gauge wire would be the weak link, except that before it would get hot the 20 amp breaker would open and the generator would wind down, sensing there was no load to satisfy.

Thanks! Thats exactly how I envisioned the system to operate... I wasn't sure if their was something in a Breakers design that prevented a reverse flow of current .. BTW I wish we could install solar but our neighbor loves TALL TREES and they're on the SW side of our home GRRRRR