How to Hook Up a Generator to Your Home

Begin the process by ensuring that you have a safe, secure and proper place where you can put your generator. It is recommended that you have at least 15 square feet of space that's located on a flat, dry surface outside of the home.

Locate the breaker box in your home and shut off the main power switch. This will prevent electric shock while dealing with circuit wires. The breaker box is a silver box or door with multiple switches and is usually located in your basement, laundry room or on the outside of your home. Make sure that all the switches are turned to the side displaying "off." Alternatively, there's sometimes a big lever that you can pull down to shut off your power. Refer to the directions posted on your individual breaker box. If there are no directions, contact an electrician to perform this step for you.

Follow the instructions that came with the generator to connect the transfer switch to each circuit in your breaker box. The transfer switch is what notifies the generator to activate. The number of circuits will correlate to the number of rooms in your home. For example, if you had five rooms in your home, you would connect those five circuits to the transfer switch.

Contact a plumber to come to your home and install pipes that will lead from the house's gas source and connect to the generator. After the plumber professionally connects the gas source, turn your main power source back on. Your generator is now ready to activate during an unexpected power outage.