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Generator Transfer Switch Installation
Backup power is bought for one week a year and judged on that week. Surge protection is the cheapest insurance in the house, and whole-home protection works differently from a power strip.
Generator Transfer Switch Installation in O’Fallon and across St. Charles, St. Louis, Lincoln and Warren counties.
Owner-operated: the person who answers the phone is the person who measures it.
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.
Clint measures before he quotes. The reading comes first, then what it means, then the one repair that solves it. If the honest answer is smaller than what you called about, that is the answer you get, even when the bigger job pays better.
Work that needs a permit gets one, and work that needs an inspection is left ready for it. One person does the diagnosis and the repair, so nothing is lost between a salesman and a technician.
When people call about this
- A sump pump and a finished basement
- Portable generator cords through a window
- A home office that cannot go dark
- Electronics lost to a storm
Why people choose Clint for it
A one-person shop cannot be in two places at once, so you get a real date instead of a window. What you also get is the same person every time.
Seventeen years in the trade, four of them on his own, 5.0 from 94 Google reviews and an A+ BBB accreditation since 2022.
Where this is done
Thirty towns across five jurisdictions, worked out of O’Fallon. The housing stock and the inspection process both change as you move across them.
See the full service area, or the rest of our backup power work.
Surge protection that actually works
Whole-home surge protection installs at the panel, where it can clamp what arrives on the service conductors. A power strip protects one device from what is already inside the house.
Both have a place. Layered protection, panel plus point-of-use for sensitive electronics, is what survives a Missouri storm season intact.
Writing the list before pricing the system
Backup cost is decided almost entirely by the list of what has to keep running. Furnace blower, refrigerator, well or sump pump, a few circuits of light: written down honestly, that list is far smaller and cheaper than running everything.
The list comes first, the size comes from the list, and the quote comes from the size. Done the other way round you buy a system sized to a brochure.
Sizing it to what you actually need running
The cost difference between keeping the essentials alive and running the whole house is large, and it is decided by a list you write: furnace blower, refrigerator, well pump, sump, a few circuits of light. Added up honestly, that list is usually smaller than people expect.
Whatever the size, the transfer has to make back-feeding physically impossible, which is a transfer switch or a listed interlock, never a cord into a dryer outlet. That is the part inspectors look at and the part that protects the utility crews working the line.
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.
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.
“Clint came out installed me a large 200 amp panel put some new dedicated lines in my basement and garage he did great clean work all inspections passed he was thorough and knowledgeable. I will have him back out again.”
Jason Holtzman · 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 that is not an electrical problem gets identified as such and handed on. Recent jobs are worth a look before you call.
Related backup power work
Generator Transfer Switch Installation across the metro
Where the house is changes what the work involves. Clint works out of O’Fallon across five jurisdictions, and the same service means different work in each.
Lincoln County
Well and septic loads mean a failure is no water rather than an inconvenience, so those circuits get treated accordingly.
Warren County
Which of those you have changes the entire conversation, so the first visit establishes what is actually there rather than assuming from the address.
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.
Every municipality covered is listed on the service areas page.
Questions worth asking first.
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.
Can I use a generator cord into a dryer outlet?
No. That back-feeds the utility and endangers the crews working your line. A transfer switch or a listed interlock is what makes that physically impossible.
Do you pull permits?
Where the municipality requires one, yes, and the work is left ready for inspection with the panel labeled and junctions accessible. Requirements genuinely differ across this metro, which is why it is established per address rather than assumed.
How long have you been doing this?
Clint has seventeen years in the trade and has been running his own shop out of O’Fallon since 2022.
Tell him what the house is doing.
You will get a reading and a straight answer about what it means, including the answer where the fix is small. Generator Transfer Switch Installation in O’Fallon and across the metro.
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