Small generator

[Angela]

| >

| > You'll need a genny that can output 400w continuous, so will be rated | > around 500-600w peak. You'll want 4 stroke for reliable starting, not | > 2. | >

| > If you plan to use it repeatedly, go for one with decent life | > expectancy. Many gens have /very/ short lives. | >

| >

| > NT | | Also go for one that's *quiet* unless you live miles from your nearest | neighbour, and the fish don't mind a lot of noise! | | If the power is off for a long time, you'll find that you want to power | other things too - like lighting, and maybe a TV - so I'd go for one that | can produce at least 1kW of power. The 4-stroke jobbies which use inverter | technology are the best (and quietest). | | Have a look at the Honda EU10i |

|| or the cheaper Clarke equivalent from Machine Mart: | | -- | Cheers, | Roger

That's a hell of a lot smaller than I was expecting, that looks really good. I live about 10 miles from Dartford who because of vandalism to a sub station did not have power for a week..........hence my nervousness!

[Angela]

| > If you plan to use it repeatedly, go for one with decent life | > expectancy. Many gens have /very/ short lives. | >

| | | | Ditch the electrics. | | Run a pump off the crankshaft and use a heat exchanger somewhere to | warm the water. | | Could that work with a smaller engine? | |

I'll do that in my next house! :)

[Angela]

500 watts isn't much for a generator. Might a couple of lead acid batteries and an inverter be a better bet? I think I've seen inverters this size offered for about £50. Also, if you have some cut- to-size polystyrene foam sheet tucked away ready to insulate the tanks when the power goes off you will probably only need a fraction of that 2x150 watts for heating. Dave

Recently dartford (about 10 miles away) had no power for a week. While batteries are a reasonable idea, they wouldn't last a week

[Angela]

[Angela]

You're right Geoff, I hope I'll never need it. That's a very reasonable price. I think I would have got one sooner if I knew they were so reasonable!

[Angela]

[Angela]

Good point, I'll look into that. If the temp really fell bady I would put all fish into a much smaller tank which would be easier to control

[Angela]

I don't think I can cover all eventualities!!

[The Natural Philosopher]

well you could scoop water out and throw it back in via a filter.

That would aerate it as well.

[tony sayer]

In article , Angela scribeth thus

Me neither. Their fine for short periods but for anything more then a few hours primary power from generators are a much better answer:)..

ALL of Dartford had no power?. Or just a part of it?.

Didn't the local power supply lot have generators they could temporally connect up?...

[Angela]

| >

| | ALL of Dartford had no power?. Or just a part of it?. | | Didn't the local power supply lot have generators they could temporally | connect up?...

It was too big an area, it covered Bexleyheath, Welling, Belvedere and parts of Dartford. . It took them 4 days to get power back to 94,000 homes, some homes were over a week without power. All they got was £50 compensation! I work for the NHS and it was a major emergency for us, for example many nursing homes couldn't get patients to bed because the lifts were out so old people had to sleep in chairs for at least one night. The hospitals were ok it was all the people living in the community which were a huge problem.

This is from the BBC

[Angela]

That's the bit I didn't understand!

[Owain]

A smaller tank would have greater surface area to volume ratio so would be likely to lose heat more quickly. A swimming pool on the other hand might stay sufficiently warm to keep fish alive for several days.

Owain

[dennis]

You don't need 300w.. you need ~150 mm of insulation and 30W heater and enough power to run the filter. Its a good idea to insulate the bits of tank that are unseen anyway so adding a bit of extra insulation in an emergency is easier. My tank has insulation both inside as part of the decor and outside. I don't have a generator but they will survive for a good 12 hours before I need panic. It is essential to keep the filter going BTW so you need a few watts to drive the pump.

[geoff]

In message , "Dave Plowman (News)" writes

Yes, but 500W is way over the top for survival mode operation

[geoff]

In message , Harry Bloomfield writes

Probably not that important compared with sudden changes of temperature

[geoff]

Take the Dartford example - you would have to drive some way to get petrol as filling stations would also have been out of action

[geoff]

In message , Angela writes

We had a power cut last year overnight - my aquarium has about 1/3 ton of water in it, it didn't lose that much heat, and I just blew some air though an air brick every few hours

The answer is to use a combination of everything you have - insulation, run the aeration from an inverter, top up the heat every couple of hours with a heater on the genny

I now have a second genny system running round the house, so am prepared this year

[Andy Champ]

Then you need to read John's new Wiki entry

In fact, as someone who _doesn't_ understand it you'll be the ideal person to comment!

Andy

[geoff]

What happened there, power cut ?