Now that the power cut season will soon be here again I've been thinking about getting one of those small petrol driven generators which could be put to good use as well as acting as an emergency electricity supply - basically running the central heating and some lighting.
In use, is it simply a matter of connecting an 'extension lead' with trailing bank of sockets to the generator and using this in the house to plug in your essentials? Or is there a way of putting some sort of permanent system in the house which can be connected to the generator?
For domestic use it is simpler to put in a flying lead to power up essentials. There are special changeover switches to swap to generator power and back.
My personal favorite though is to have one low draw ring main which is only used for central heating pump, gas boiler, tv / satellite/ video, and a couple of strategic lights, run this circuit off a ups and when the rest of the house goes into darkness you have a few minutes of light to fire up the generator to power the ups.
This is a really good question. Other than getting a generator, what other ways are there that we can get organised now, rather than wait for it to happen. After last years fiasco I'd rather be really well prepared. In my case I was grateful for an open fire with back boiler. Although it only heats one radiator and hot water, I was very glad I had it. I could at least have a bath and go to work refreshed and clean! I've also acquired a toasting fork so can live off beans on toast for a few days. Lighting is the main difficulty without a generator.
Anyone got any ingenious ideas to prepare for power cut season? the more Heath Robinson the better!
Sounds good. Perhaps I'm just being a bit thick here, but I have a question......
Are you saying that the UPS supported mains is permanently configured to run off the protected side of the UPS?
I can't see any other way of achieving what you suggest, and if that's the case surely the protected circuit has to be sent around the house, duplicating the regular (non-UPS) mains circuit?
We live in an isolated area and suffer power cuts several times a year. About 10 years ago I made a 500W 12V to 230V ac invertor and together with a large 130AH 12V battery which I keep fully charged normally keeps us out of trouble. Using a string of low energy bulbs (11W equiv 60W incandescent) I can illuminate the whole house and still have power left to run the central heating pump (solid fuel boiler) and a radio for over 3 hours which is normally sufficient. Last year was an exception and we were cut off for just over 2 days. Fortunately we always keep the two cars pretty full of petrol in case of emergencies and last year used them to charge up the spare battery and keep the backup system running for heating. Obviously we have the usual camping stoves etc available for cooking so managed to survive without too much inconvenience other than the loss of the freezer contents (which was insured anyway).
I believe that you can now buy 150W and 300W converters for under £50 now, ready made and ready to run. This works out much cheaper as a standby than buying a dedicated petrol generator which you may never need if you live in London or other big city.
That is correct and something I'm keeping in the back of my mind as a rewire the various parts of this building. Though the UPS wouldn't feed everything just those things that really don't like having power removed without warning, like PCs.
There would be a "maintained" supply that can easyly be fed from the incoming mains or changed over to a generator, this would power things like fridges, freezers, strategic lighting (kitchens, stairs, living rooms) and the input to the UPS. This maintained supply would have non-standard "13A" sockets so the 3kW kettle can't be plugged into a
"Andrew Gabriel" wrote | > What is the power cut season? | Last year, December 10th was almost... UK came with 3 minutes | of having to start load shedding (in the South East apparently) | because not enough power was being generated to meet demand.
I read in the paper this weekend that the Scottish Grid, currently administered by the two generators ScottishPower and Scottish Hydro Electric, is going to be brought under the control of England.
Keep a working torch by your bed and possibly other locations around the house. Maybe install a non-maintained(*) emergency light in a key location, top of the stairs and hallway are good. Light can come in through open doors to enable careful movement in the rooms.
Have the faults phone number of your local power distribution company handy (may not be the same as the company you buy your power from).
Think of means to heat water without electricity, we have a two ring Camping Gaz hob and grill that runs from a large butane cylinder. Heats water fine for drinks/washing, good enough to cook up a reasonable meal on as well.
Think of foods that don't require you to open the freezer (opening the door of a freezer shortens it's defrost time considerably). So a stock of dried and/or tinned stuff. This reminds me I need to check that the week or so of winter stock I try to keep in is still useable and there. Neighbours keep 3 weeks food supplies in during the winter, they have experienced real winters up here, we haven't, yet.
This is very true. We have some "cyalume" lights sticks, good enough to move about and eat by (just) but not for cooking by. I've looked around for things with decent output and life. Battery powered stuff has a short life, just a few hours or less if you have reasonable light from it.
I think I'll be getting a couple of gas powered lanterns. These chuck out roughly the same as a 60W bulb or more and last a good time (12hrs+) on one easily stored, no shelf life, cannister. Don't forget spare mantels and gas...
(*) "Non-maintained" means that it is off until the power fails when it comes on. These normally run for about 3hrs. A "maintained" emergency light is one that is on all the time and will continue to run for about 3hrs after the power is lost.
"Liz" wrote | Lighting is the main difficulty without a generator.
A couple of Emergency Lighting Units eg stairs and kitchen make life easier and safer and will last for several hours.
A *very small* microwave can be run off a car battery with an inverter unit, which will also do central heating pump, or run small fluoro lamps far more efficient than torches.
My main difficulty is the tv. I have a battery radio and tv (and a box of 20 D batteries I got cheap from government surplus) but tv reception is dependent on the communal aerial amplifier. I am also dependent on electric for cooking. (having neither a car nor a microwave, the inverter idea doesn't work for me) but hopefully the nearby chippies/chinese are gas fired. But power cuts here are rare and short-lived, usually related to aged underground cables and/or digger drivers.
Install an emergency light which comes on if the power fails. These give light for up to 3 hours typically, and if positioned in the hall or landing can give enough light to find your way to the candles or beer supply.
I have some maintained ones and they can be switched on and off as for a normal light, but will come on regardless on power failure. This obviously requires two live connections though.
You can also buy retrofit kits which will go into a standard fluorescent fitting, replacing the choke and provide HF lighting as well as the emergency functions.
For multiple reasons, those involved in the industry expect our electricity supply to significantly reduce in reliability over the coming years. However, you can certainly blame them all on politics.
This use of a UPS raises a query in my mind. Isn't there a set of regulations covering computer room supplies? Maybe that just applies to computers on the circuit though.
One thing to be very wary of in respect of cabling the suggested solution, someone might decide to do some wiring work and start by switching off at the consumer unit. By doing so they would assume that all sockets in the house were dead. Could be lethal if they start jabbing screwdrivers into one of these UPS circuits.
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