Generator Installation and Changeover Wiring in Nairobi

The changeover is the dangerous part

A generator connected without a proper changeover can backfeed the KPLC network. That endangers line workers who believe the line is dead, and it is the single most serious mistake in this area of work. There is no acceptable improvised version of a changeover.

We fit either a manual changeover switch or an automatic transfer switch, mechanically interlocked so the two supplies can never be connected at once. It is not the expensive part of the job and it is not negotiable.

Manual or automatic

Manual is cheaper and perfectly adequate where someone is always around to throw the switch. Automatic starts the set and transfers load within seconds of an outage, which is what you want for a business, a clinic, or a house where an outage at 2am should not mean getting up.

Installation detail that matters

• Earthing arranged correctly for the changeover type: this is frequently got wrong
• Exhaust routed away from windows and neighbouring plots, which on Nairobi’s closer-set plots takes some thought
• Acoustic treatment where the set sits near a bedroom or a boundary
• Fuel storage sited and contained sensibly
• Load calculation so the set is neither undersized nor running lightly loaded for years, which wet-stacks a diesel engine and shortens its life

The annual test nobody does

An automatic changeover that has never been tested under load is a hope, not a backup. We have attended plenty of buildings where the mains dropped and the transfer failed for the first time in five years. A scheduled annual load test costs very little and is the difference between a generator and an expensive ornament.