We call them a Deadman’s cable up here, and sadly they’re still quite frequently used in the northern rural areas because it costs almost $2,000 to have a dedicated bypass switch installed(generator hookup) so nobody does it, they just throw the Main and hope they don’t put too much stress on the internal lines.
Is it legal? Hell no but they do it anyway
I did this.
Is it stupid? Yes.
Did it work? Also yes.
For the amount of time that we’d have power out, it was just way to easy to throw a breaker and connect it like this just to keep a small heater and a light running. If I had the money at the time I would have loved battery backup/ bypass but this cost $2 and an old cord.
Especially considering that having a functional stove nowadays skyrockets your insurance. A lot of people used to use wood stoves as the backup heat source if the power went out, we still have one ourselves however it’s “non-functional” , it probably is to be honest it hasn’t been ran for a few years now but it was going to Skyrocket the insurance if we had it listed as a functional Appliance
There are way cheaper ways to have a safe interconnect then those second box systems. There are kits that install a plate next to the main breaker and prevent both the main breaker and the next closest breaker from both being on at the same time. You then setup the second breaker to be your generator inlet. Here’s a DIY version, but there are kits for all major brands.
