Stormin Mormon wrote:
I was helping a freind of mine do some wiring in his
trailer. We were about to cut a branch circuit in the
bedroom. I suggested turning off the power. He thought he
had. Turns out the panel didn't have main breaker, and he'd
only turned off the power to the water heater.

Plumber came to do some work on my water heater, in a
rented shop. I suggested we turn off the power. He looked
surprised. He had flipped a switch next the the WH. The only
thing he did was turn off the heat tape for the pipes over
head. I know, I'm the guy who put that switch on.

Hey, do what you want with the transfer swich. The two
stories above are real life, I was there and saw both of
them happen. Are you 100 % sure that you, relatives, and
anyone using your equipment will open the main? Do they know
which one is the main?

If the two chaps you chronicled are not snappy enough to actually TEST for
voltage before they lay hands on the wire, they are, perhaps, candidates for
a lineman's job that so many worry about.

As for the odd person knowing which circuit breaker is which, they're
labeled. And not with some strange acronym like "WH" that stands for "Heat
Tape." That said, and as you so ably point out, absolute reliance on a
properly-labeled circuit breaker is also a source of disaster.