Ot. Generstor

[harryagain]

Just been out and bought a small petrol generator. (Machine Mart) Big enough to cover the freezers if we have a prolonged power outage.

Seems possible this Winter. And maybe for a few years more.

[ARW]

Can it recharge your car?

[philipuk]

If it gets really cold the contents of the freezer can be stored outside ;)

In any case the freezer if left shut will stay frozen for a couple of days.

I keep a supply of candles and have a camping stove in the shed. We have enough blankets, duvets and hot water bottles as a backup plan.

The house is sufficiently insulated so that it will get cold, but won't freeze for a few days of no power.

As a last resort the gas cooker would provide a little heat.

Philip

[Tim+]

Isn't that like churches fitting lightning conductors? Where's your faith?! ;-)

Tim

[Roger Mills]

I've had one for a few years - mainly to keep the boiler going in power cuts. Haven't had to use it in anger yet - but the time may be fast approaching . . .

[harryagain]

No.

[Dave Liquorice]

outage.

A "little stinky" 2 stroke? Might not like starting a second fridge/freezer if there is already some load on it. Motors need two to three times their rated power to start, particularly when under load and fridge/freezer motors are always underload as they are connected to the compressor...

Have to be *really* cold, not sure I'd be happy with stuff getting up to -5 C. But the garage or unheated out building can easily be colder than the fridge.

An A or above rated one might make that long. Older lower rated ones may well be pushing it at 48 hrs.

Pathetic light from candles. Much better and much more light and far longer run times from gas lanterns. Less likely to get knocked over unless you have decent candle holders (wee Willie Winky style) or set fire to things. As they chuck out so much light they can be hung in the middle of the room, biggest danger I find is nutting it... May well be cheaper as well with a small cylinder of gas costing about a fiver but running for 10+ hrs.

Back up camping cooker has two rings and a small grill. A traditional camping stove on a normal height work surface puts pans rather high and they aren't overly stable devices either.

I wish, this place will get decidedly chilly within a few hours of the power going off, especially if it's windy. Windy being F5 or above, currently F7 getting close to F8 SW'ly outside. Where is our warning for high winds? B-)

No mains gas... That's why we have an electric start 2 kVA diesel genset, noisy as F**K but it'll run the full heating system (approx

400 W all running) and all the fridge/freezers. Drinks about a litre of red an hour.

[Bill Wright]

harryagain wrote:

Speaking from experience, the problem with this is getting it to start if it hasn't been run for ages. You're usually working in the dark at short notice. You might be pissed up. So: Run it 'til hot once a week. Sunday morning early is a good time if you have neighbours you don't get on with. Don't keep much fuel in it. Petrol goes off (not many people know that) so always have petrol available that's not old. Every month empty the 5L can into the car and refill it with fresh fuel. A chore but essential. If it's two stroke this applies but more so, so don't mix the fuel until you know it's going to go in the genny. Rehearse the business of connecting the genny to the appliances, to make sure it will run them. Forget the freezer. The answer to that is to turn it up so the temp is always about -22C, and ensure it's always crammed full. Use ice packs or plastic milk bottles full of water as ballast; remove them to make room for food as necessary. Keep a load of old duvets handy. Take out the food needed immediately then throw the duvets over the freezer so it's all nicely wrapped up (but leave the gubbins at the back unwrapped since it will be hot; wrap it once it's cold). Put a thermometer in the freezer. It will reassure you that the internal temp will stay OK for a week. Use the genny for the heating system and the telly, and a few lights. It's an idea to have some low-energy movable lights strategically placed, so you can hook them to the genny easily. Remember that 240 from a genny can kill you just as dead as 240 from the mains. Have a place for the genny that's outdoors, ventilated, but under cover. If necessary make a little genny shelter. Some gennys travel across hard surfaces slowly due to vibration, so check on this and if necessary put slabs down to form a little pen for it. Don't have ideas about connecting the genny to your house mains. It's more bother than it's worth, and if you're pissed you can have a right old bang. Just get organised with leads to every appliance.

Bill

[Nick]

In message , harryagain writes

Nor will you get your money back if it fails. You may have missed the Machine Mart threads.

[Andrew Gabriel]

I have run the central heating from an inverter. If it's on an FCU, it's useful preparation to replace that with a plug and unswitched socket, so you can plug it into something else.

I have a 17Ah jumpstarter unit which I've used (I fitted a deep discharge battery in it when the original died). I've also run the inverter from the car battery.

We lost our power for a few hours on one of the coldest mornings last winter, and I felt rather smug putting the backup plan into operation. Didn't actually need it in just those few hours, but it was too good an opportunity to miss testing out the backup drill.

[Tim+]

Funny that, my four stroke mower and two stroke strimmer start every spring even when left with fuel in over winter. I only make up two stroke mix every one to two years. I guess I must have imagined it.

Tim

[Toby]

Ditto here, we used to get fairly regular cuts, so I bought a 6.5kva petrol generator, transfer switch, and properly installed it, since then, I think we have had 2 power cuts less than 5 minutes each time!

Did a quick check pre the recent "big storm" including making sure the chainsaw was all ok, but all was not needed.

I treat the petrol with Briggs&Stratton stabiliser, which is supposed to make the petrol ok to store for 3 years, but I generally chuck it in the car and replace it after 12 months.

Converted it to run on LPG too :-)

[Huge]

Both my mowers and the chainsaw are fine but my hedge trimmers definitely get antsy if they are allowed to sit all winter with fuel in. Interestingly, they're the only cheapo Chinese ones - the others are all American.

[Road_Hog]

What size output is it and what do you intend to run on it? As has been men tioned, things like freezers require a high start up load, much higher than the quoted running load. You'll want it to run other things, like lighting to see what you're doing and you might like the central heating pump to be working.

Do you know how you're going to wire it into your mains, or are we talking an extention lead with a multi-way socket?

Cheap Machine Mart generators are usually powered by cheap Chinese two stro ke engines. You get what you pay for. I've just been asked to quote for a r eplacement generator for a snack wagon. The guy buying it, didn't know that I supplied the last one, about 7 years ago, for about £600 (I had access to very good pricing), for a genuine Honda (actual complete Honda gen, not Honda engined).

I'm just waiting for the comment when I give him the new price, that he can get identical gens of the same power (not knowing the difference between K va an Kw) for a quarter of the price. But I wonder how long that those will last for, being run 6-8 hours a day - 5 days a week. I feel that I shall b e walking away and letting him experiment with these cheap generators.

[Matty F]

I just bought a 4-stroke 2500 watt generator, and have run a wire undergrou nd through conduit from the garage to both floors of the house and put powe r points in the walls. For power cuts up to a few hours I have a 1500 watt inverter that runs off my gigantic car battery. In addition to that I will wire up the whole house with LEDs using a 12 volt wire from another car bat tery which I intend to trickle charge with a solar panel. That will run my garden lights also. Have I forgotten anything?

[Tim+]

Voltage drop?

Tim

[Matty F]

2.5 T&E should be fine for the 230 volt supply. On the 12 volt supply I'll just have 1 watt LEDs in most of the house, and a 5 watt LED in the kitchen, where I'll be brewing up some tea on the camp stove.

[harryagain]

What size output is it and what do you intend to run on it? As has been mentioned, things like freezers require a high start up load, much higher than the quoted running load. You'll want it to run other things, like lighting to see what you're doing and you might like the central heating pump to be working.

Do you know how you're going to wire it into your mains, or are we talking an extention lead with a multi-way socket?

Cheap Machine Mart generators are usually powered by cheap Chinese two stroke engines. You get what you pay for. I've just been asked to quote for a replacement generator for a snack wagon. The guy buying it, didn't know that I supplied the last one, about 7 years ago, for about 600 (I had access to very good pricing), for a genuine Honda (actual complete Honda gen, not Honda engined).

I'm just waiting for the comment when I give him the new price, that he can get identical gens of the same power (not knowing the difference between Kva an Kw) for a quarter of the price. But I wonder how long that those will last for, being run 6-8 hours a day - 5 days a week. I feel that I shall be walking away and letting him experiment with these cheap generators.

It will only be for occasional use (maybe just the odd test.). It's 4T. The Honda ones were three times the price.

The plan is is to make up an illegal bit of flex with a plug at each end. Turn off the mains (or the ring main mcb) and link the generator to the nearest plug. It's amply big enough to cover freezers. (2Kva) The freezers are only 100w each. They have all the stuff grown in the garden in them

I think everything revolves round whether we have planned power cuts (prob. only a few hours) or a breakdown which could be any length of time. (Weeks even?)

I fancy rural areas such as ours would be neglected, they would prioritise commerce/industry.

[harryagain]

I just bought a 4-stroke 2500 watt generator, and have run a wire underground through conduit from the garage to both floors of the house and put power points in the walls. For power cuts up to a few hours I have a

1500 watt inverter that runs off my gigantic car battery. In addition to that I will wire up the whole house with LEDs using a 12 volt wire from another car battery which I intend to trickle charge with a solar panel. That will run my garden lights also. Have I forgotten anything?

Cooking unless you have gas.

I have been thinking about LEDs/battery myself. But the cost of the battery would be hard to recover before it went duff.

You can obtain a "Power Station" to run off my electric car battery apparently.

16Kwh.

[Chris J Dixon]

There may be times we harbour uncharitable feelings towards you Harry, but just don't do that.

Chris