I think we are overlooking the point of LEARNING before DOING.

Generators, and secondary sources of electricity, are nothing new. Over the past century, we've learned what works, as well as what can go wrong. From this, we have developed various rules and practices- which can work ONLY if everyone is 'singing off the same sheet of music!'

Transfer switches cost more than a cord with two plugs simply because they have too- in order to do the job, provide the safety protection, that they must. Some are even fancier, and thus pricier, than others.

Now, maybe all those folks who put all that time working on the electric code were misguided fools. Maybe the folks at the testing labs were deluded. OR- maybe our solitary internet "expert" is an uneducated loose cannon, rolling about, looking for a ship to sink.

"Due diligence" is a fancy way of saying you should take the time to learn about something before you attempt to do it.

As I made clear in an earlier post, there is a LOT more at stake here than a blown breaker. We're talking about a set-up where, if everything is not absolutely perfect, you get an immediate, catastrophic, life-threatening failure of some part of the system. One moment you're flippig a switch, pulling a plug- and the next you're surrounded by hellfire, on your way to St. Peter!