[pogobongo]

My house has a 200 amp service panel with two 100 amp breakers which feed two remote sub panels.

Cables, 2 hots and neutral, from one of the 100 amp breakers on the service panel, and feeding one of the sub panels, are routed through a 200A dual throw transfer switch (adjacent to the service panel outside the house). The other side of the transfer switch is powered by a generator. fwiw, the generator is only 17kW

This works fine, but only feeds half the house!!

What is the "best" way, (safe, complies to code, most cost effective) to connect the second remote sub panel to the generator?

Do I need to add another 100 amp transfer switch, and connect the generator feed to both? Any issues with the neutral I should be careful of?

Thanks for any advice.

 

[u3b3rg33k]

whole house transfer switch between the service panel and the meter. the transfer switch becomes the service entrance, and everything else is a subpanel. they're not expensive and available in 200A capacities.

make sure the neutral is bonded only at the service entrance.

protect the generator with its own main breaker.

 

[pogobongo]

That makes perfect sense!

A few questions:

The main service disconnect breaker which feeds the bus bars in the same panel as the meter, is fed by 4 conductors? I can understand having two aka 2 * 120v from the meter, but why 4? (they are all hot!). I assume they come directly from the meter, but I can't see.

Per your suggestion, I assume I can use the existing 200A (knife) breaker which is adjacent to the service panel?

If I do this I assume I would then run wires back from the knife breaker to the existing service disconnect breaker in the panel to then feed the bus bars and hence onto the sub panels?

However, the knife breaker has connections for 2 hots and a neutral, so how do I reconcile this with the disconnect breaker in the panel which has 4 inputs?

I feel I'm missing something obvious here, but I can't work it out, unless there are 4 feeder wires coming from the meter?

Finally, is it code to have the primary service disconnect in a panel adjacent to the service entry panel?

Since this rewire will involve taking feeds from the meter, it is not something I will undertake, but I would like to understand any gotchas before I engage with a qualified electrician.

Thanks again for your help!

 

[joed]

how about one of these if they are supported by your POCO? The meter gets pulled and the Generlink installed behind the meter.

http://www.generlink.com/files/123396589.pdf