and that qualifies as the RIGHT way to do it. it technically makes your panel into a manual transfer switch.

No you need to bring both lines back to the secound panel and you need to keep them seperate on two different busses. The neutral (white) and the Ground wire (green) can be on the same bus in the main panel but on any sub-panel (also known as your secound panel), they must be kept seperate and the neutral bar must not be in direct contact with the panel. It usually has what looks like plastic brackets that mount to the back of the panel box keeping both the panel and the neutral bar seperate. So it doesnt mater what kind of panel your talking about, whether you have a sub panel or main panel they must have both wires. The difference is if what you are talking about is a sub-panel you must bring both green and white lines back to the sub panel and install them on two seperate buses. *for your knowledge the main panel is the panel directly fed by your meter. Sub-panels are panels fed from another panel by a breaker or fed from a fused Main disconnect. Also if your secound panel is not fed from a breaker at the main panel and its fed directly off of the main bus from the first then it is considered a secound section of the same panel. or in your case the secound section of the main panel. But in order to be taped off from the bus on the first panel legally, both panels must be within sight of each other or else this against code. If you need more info read more about grounding and bonding in any electrical book you can get from a barnes and noble. you might as well if your going to do that kind of work yourself. But just in case you should probably have a licenced electrician inspect the work. it should not cost much one hour at a service charge rate. Between $125.00-$150.00 (this is a NYC. rate your area might be less) not a bad idea concidering that you will at least have piece of mind its safe. I hope this helps -Anthony

Hehehe. I just reread. Backfeeding through the dryer was a mistake. I missed the NOT when I typed it. Oops! >>>I am NOT backfeeding through the dryer.I AM using a transfer switch. Sorry for the mistake. Now I get the confusion. My apologies. OK, I if I leave ground in place on the main breaker panel and run the neutral through the transfer switch THEN to its current position on the main panel, I will successfully keep them separated while not killing a lineman, yes? No fires or danger? The generator will have its own ground stake from the frame. I was thinking of using a GE TC10324R or similar. http://www.homedepot.com/buy/electrical-breakers-distribution-load-centers-safety-switches/ge-200-amp-emergency-power-transfer-switch-175644.html I will have to manually make sure that no two large loads are running at once. Short of buying a 70Kw generator, I think this is all I can do. A neighbor works for an electrical supply house so I will go with what transfer switch he suggests.

"Thanks. I'll check that. What has me confused is my old generator is rated at 5000 watts continuous and 6250 surge and has a 20 amp out plug. The new generator is a OHV rated the same as the old, (I mistakenly said it was bigger in my OP) 5000/6250 but has a 30 amp out plug. Isn't this the same except for the plug? Am I missing something here?" It may or may not be the same. Keep in mind that the gensets include overcurrent protection devices (i.e., circuit breakers) for their outlets. Gen #1 may have a 20-amp breaker for its 120/240V receptacle and Gen #2 may have a 30-amp breaker for its 120/240V outlet. In the case of Gen #1, you might only be able to use the full capacity if you have simultaneous loads on the 120/240V receptacle and one or more of the 120V receptacles. If the new genset has 30-amp overcurrent protection on the 120/240V receptacle, then you really should have no smaller than a #10 cord, as Spencer suggests. All of which gets us to the issue of the transfer switch itself. Since it appears to be rated as a 20-amp switch, it probably has a 20-amp breaker at the generator feed point. If so, it's a mixed blessing -- a plus because that's the mechanism that'll limit the current drawn to 20 amps (except, perhaps, for very brief surge intervals); a minus because it'll prevent you from using the peak capacity of the generator.