They're forecasting a cold winter, my central heating ceases to work during a power cut and I seem to get lot of power cuts.
I have, in the garage, a large leisure battery, a 150 Watt inverter and my central heating boiler and timer.
I can see how I could simply rig up a system which could be unplugged from the mains and be reconnected to the inverter during a power cut.
Are there any issues with this?
TIA
Another Dave
From the perspective of the inverter, certainly.
| They're forecasting a cold winter, my central heating ceases to work | during a power cut and I seem to get lot of power cuts. | | I have, in the garage, a large leisure battery, a 150 Watt inverter and | my central heating boiler and timer. | | I can see how I could simply rig up a system which could be unplugged | from the mains and be reconnected to the inverter during a power cut. | | Are there any issues with this?
Make sure that the leisure battery is topped up and still holds charge, and
**test** it to see if it still gives 110 Ah or whatever.Then test jury rigged system *before* it gets cold.
Then go out and buy another inverter.
What would folks recommend as a backup system? Does anyone else bother?I had a power cut myself the other day, which lasted 18 hours, and of course the electric hob wouldn't work, and the CH and hot water went ( combi ). Most annoying, couldn't even make a cuppa.
I'm changing the hob to gas anyway since it's knackered, but I want a system where I can keep the combi running and switch on the odd light here and there. I considered the big battery+ inverter approach but don't feel it could cope with an extended power cut. That leaves an inverter running off the car battery ( engine ticking over ), or a generator.
I was looking at a Wolf 720W 2-stroke generator in Screwfix. AFAICS I need an earth rod to give it a good earth, as it'll have to go outside of course, but a jerry can of unleaded and 2-stroke oil should last >24hours at full continuous load (650W ).
Hopefully I won't need to use it but I would like to be less dependent on mains electricity in an emergency ( I've got a wood burning fire and a small stack of logs ).
The possibility of California-style blackouts exists due to deregulation minimising generation capacity, the fact that nuclear plants are not being replaced, and that we are about to start importing gas from Russia: combined with an unusually cold spell that could cause problems and I'm not keen on sitting huddled up to a tealight again!
Andy.
| Dave Fawthrop wrote: | > Another Dave wrote: | > | I have, in the garage, a large leisure battery, a 150 Watt inverter and | > | my central heating boiler and timer. | > | | > | I can see how I could simply rig up a system which could be unplugged | > | from the mains and be reconnected to the inverter during a power cut. | > | | > | Are there any issues with this? | > | > Make sure that the leisure battery is topped up and still holds charge, and | > **test** it to see if it still gives 110 Ah or whatever. | > | > Then test jury rigged system *before* it gets cold. | | Then go out and buy another inverter.
It is difficult to know how much current a pump will take without actually testing it on a realistic load.
Don't think so. I've got a similar system, but with an automatic changeover. And a 300 watt invertor. But despite installing it a couple of years ago it's not been needed in this part of London.
So what? Say it's 60W. Will a 150W inverter run that?
Move into the caravan, or break out the camping equipment, or light the fire.
Ging Gan Goolie ......
Rick
A generator's OK, but you could use an invertor - I'm only guessing that your current one is unsuitable. You need a "bigger" one, with "soft-start", that's suitable for inductive loads like motors. Most aren't. What *is* your inverter, BTW?
| Dave Fawthrop wrote: | > Chris Bacon wrote: | > | Dave Fawthrop wrote: | > | > Another Dave wrote: | > | > | I have, in the garage, a large leisure battery, a 150 Watt inverter and | > | > | my central heating boiler and timer. | > | > | | > | > | I can see how I could simply rig up a system which could be unplugged | > | > | from the mains and be reconnected to the inverter during a power cut. | > | > | | > | > | Are there any issues with this? | > | > | > | > Make sure that the leisure battery is topped up and still holds charge, and | > | > **test** it to see if it still gives 110 Ah or whatever. | > | > | > | > Then test jury rigged system *before* it gets cold. | > | | > | Then go out and buy another inverter. | > | > It is difficult to know how much current a pump will take without actually | > testing it on a realistic load. | | So what? Say it's 60W. Will a 150W inverter run that?
Which is why I said *test* it rather than just guess as you are doing. You are condemning a proposed system out of hand without knowing the details, which is to say the least irresponsible.
| What would folks recommend as a backup system? Does anyone else bother?I had | a power cut myself the other day, which lasted 18 hours, and of course the | electric hob wouldn't work, and the CH and hot water went ( combi ). Most | annoying, couldn't even make a cuppa.
The Caravan, mine is parked on the drive and gets powered up several times a year as backup for something.
I have a 4.5kw Butane gas heater which I bought for another purpose for about GBP80 a few years ago, it will keep the house warm in the coldest weather.
Forget the battery idea, it'll never be charged or alternatively sulphated when you need it, plus do the maths about how much 12v current you need to satisfy even a modest 240v load and how long the battery will support this current draw, then consider the poor efficiency of converters and the fact that the battery will not fully discharge without damage when you recharge it - unless it's a proper (expensive) deep discharge traction battery.
Then go and but yourself a 4 stroke generator of about 600 watt continuous,
850 intermittent capacity which will run a few lights and a few other things tolerant of a "dirty" supply and smirk at the neighbours.Regards
Pilgarlick
So you're proposing that he destructively test his inverter? Say the pump is 40W, which is about as low as you can go. Will his inverter run that? Yes? No?
In message , Andy writes
not really no, it's not common enough issue for me to bother about (can't remember the last 'proper power cut I've suffered.
Well we have a gas hob/oven, but anyway, we have gas and petrol powered camping stoves, gas lamp, various torches, candles etc., a Calor gas heater in the garage + 2 open fires - we could cook, have enough light and enough heat to keep 2-3 rooms warm. We could get buy ok for a few days at least. No running HW, but we can heat enough up on a stove.
I I was bothering about it I'd have generator and have it rigged up so that I could switch over to it quickly - this has been discussed her before at length.
You will need a big battery to keep the CH running even for an hour.
150W @ 60% efficiency is about 20A from the battery. They don't last long at that rate (and 150W is a bit on the low side for the inverter.. is it a true sin wave inverter?).I would look at using a large UPS for a computer system ( I nearly bought a working 15kW one once but the batteries were duff and weighed about 1000kg).
It's difficult to say. 'Cheap' solid state invertors are notorious for failing with inductive loads *well* below their rated output. I'd not use anything rated at less than 300 watts.
Well, I use a spare 70 amp hour battery shared with my old Rover. Feeding a 300 watt invertor. It's never been used in anger, but tests show it to do 4 hours quite happily running the CH. Of course my CH system is old with a BE boiler. Modern types might take more power.
And the type of fuel, our oil boiler takes about 150W for the blower add in the two circulators and I guess that the full CH load is around
300W. A simple gas boiler and single circulator would probably struggle to reach 100W...
Have bunsen burner (BES 6018) as backup tea-maker.
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