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Automatic Transfer Switch Installation
A battery and a generator solve different halves of the same problem. Surge protection is the cheapest insurance in the house, and whole-home protection works differently from a power strip.
Automatic Transfer Switch Installation in O’Fallon and across St. Charles, St. Louis, Lincoln and Warren counties.
Owner-operated by Clint Ehman. Seventeen years in the trade, four of them running his own shop.
5.0 from 94 Google reviews · BBB A+ since 2022
What this work actually involves
Surge protection is installed at the panel where it can clamp what comes in, not just at the device.
A number follows a measurement here, never a guess. You get told what the reading was and what it means before any work is agreed, including on the days when the answer is one loose connection.
Permitted and inspected where the address requires it, labeled at the panel, and done by the person who diagnosed it rather than handed down a chain.
When people call about this
- A home office that cannot go dark
- Electronics lost to a storm
- Outages more than once a year
- A well pump the house depends on
Why people choose Clint for it
What the reviews keep mentioning is being told what the problem actually was. That is what an owner-operated shop can do and a dispatch model structurally cannot.
Seventeen years in the trade, 5.0 from 94 Google reviews, and BBB accredited A+ since December 2022.
Where this is done
O’Fallon is home and the shortest drive. Beyond it, St. Charles County, St. Louis County, St. Louis City, Lincoln County and Warren County.
See the full service area, or the rest of our backup power work.
Transfer switches and back-feeding
A transfer switch physically prevents the generator and the utility from ever being connected at once. That is not a formality: back-feeding energises the lines outside and endangers the crews restoring your street.
An interlock kit achieves the same thing more cheaply on many panels, by making it mechanically impossible to close the generator breaker and the main together.
Deciding what stays on
The design work in backup power is choosing loads. A furnace blower, a well pump, a sump pump, the refrigerator and a few lighting circuits keep a house functioning through an outage and need far less generator than running everything.
Whole-house standby is available and costs accordingly. Picking loads deliberately is usually the difference between a system that gets installed and one that stays a quote.
Switches, three-ways, and the ones wired backwards
A switch that controls nothing, a three-way that only works from one end, or a light that is dim at one switch position is almost always a travellers problem at the box rather than a bad device.
The legs get identified and re-terminated properly. Devices go in with the conductors under the screws rather than backstabbed, which is the failure that shows up a decade later as an intermittent.
Why the diagnosis comes before the quote
A symptom has several possible causes with very different prices, and the only thing that separates them is a measurement. Quoting the expensive one covers the risk; quoting the cheap one and finding the expensive one mid-job is worse.
So the reading happens first, you are told what it says, and then the work is scoped to it. Where the honest answer is the small repair, that is the answer you get, even when the larger job pays better.
Who actually does the work
Clint Ehman does the diagnosis and the repair himself. There is no salesman writing a scope for a technician to execute, and nobody paid on what the visit totals.
Seventeen years in the trade, four of them running his own shop out of O’Fallon, licensed, bonded and insured with workers compensation coverage, 5.0 from 94 Google reviews, and A+ BBB accreditation held since 2022.
“Infinity came out for same day service after an electric line had been cut in my yard. He was able to locate and correct it very quickly, eliminating any risk of injury or additional power outage.”
Melissa Johnson · Google review
How the visit goes
- The call
What you need to keep running and how often the power goes out where you are.
- The measurement
The loads you named, added up honestly, and the panel’s capacity to feed a transfer switch or interlock.
- The finding
A size and a configuration, with the cost difference between keeping the essentials on and running the whole house made plain.
- The work
Unit sited, circuit run, transfer switch or interlock installed so back-feeding is impossible, inspected, then a walkthrough of starting and transferring with you present.
What the job includes
- Load selection: what has to run, what can wait
- Generator or inlet sized to the chosen loads
- Transfer switch or interlock so back-feeding is impossible
- Pad or mounting, and the circuit to it
- Permit and inspection where required
- A walkthrough of starting and transferring, in person
What it does not
- Gas piping, which is the plumber’s trade
- Concrete pads beyond a prefabricated base
- Generator servicing contracts
Anything outside electrical, you will be told who to call rather than sold it. See finished work, or say what the house is doing.
Related backup power work
Automatic Transfer Switch Installation across the metro
Housing stock varies sharply across the counties here, and so does the work. Five jurisdictions, five different sets of conditions, all worked out of O’Fallon.
Lincoln County
Outbuildings count as separate structures in code terms: a disconnect at the building, a grounding electrode there, and a feeder sized for the distance.
Warren County
Backup power is a more common purchase out here, and when a well pump is the water supply the loads that matter are not the kitchen.
St. Charles County
Modern wiring, undersized services. That combination defines most of the work in this county, and it makes the load calculation the deciding document rather than a panel inspection.
See which towns fall inside the radius on the service areas page.
Questions worth asking first.
Battery or generator?
A battery is silent and instant for a limited number of hours; a generator runs as long as it has fuel. How long your power usually stays out decides it.
What size generator do I need?
It depends on what has to keep running. A well pump, a sump pump and a furnace need very different capacity from a whole house, and picking the loads deliberately keeps the cost sensible.
Is a transfer switch required?
Yes, for any permanent standby system. It stops the generator back-feeding the utility, which is what protects the line workers restoring your street.
Are you licensed and insured?
Licensed, bonded and insured, with workers compensation coverage, and accredited A+ with the BBB since 2022.
Where do you work?
Out of O’Fallon across St. Charles County, St. Louis County, St. Louis City, and Lincoln and Warren counties, roughly a fifty mile radius.
Find out which problem you have.
Several causes, very different prices, and only a measurement separates them. Automatic Transfer Switch Installation in O’Fallon and across the metro.
Mon-Thu 8-5 · Fri 8-4 · Sat 10-3 · or ask online