Small generator

[Angela]

Can someone help me figure out what I need? I am looking to buy a small generator to run my 2 aquariums should there be a power outage. I have some expensive fish that need high temperatures and to lose them could cost hundreds, and some have taken 5 years to get to full maturity to breed from and they are hard to replace at this age. Anyway hopefully I will never need to use it but I want to get one just in case. I will need to be able to run 2 x 150watt heaters and various pumps and filters that take about 50 watts total. So to be on the safe side I'll need to run about 400w. None of the descriptions I have looked at gives me a clue if a generator will do this, mainly because I actually don't understand the description and what they are talking about!!

Can anyone point me to a small reasonably priced generator that would cope?

Cheers

Angela

[NT]

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

[Harry Bloomfield]

Any generator which outputs 240v (I would suggest) more than 500w would do the job - most seem to be much higher output than this. For your purposes 500w (or 0.5 Kw) is exactly the same as 0.5KVA. One other variable which might or might not concern you is the amount of noise the generator makes when running and its run time on a tank full of fuel.

The suitcase generators are usually the quiet ones and would probably fit your needs.

[Roger Mills]

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

the cheaper Clarke equivalent from Machine Mart:

[Adrian C]

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?

[gbr1918]

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 =A350. 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

[Andy Burns]

Primus stove under the tank!

[geoff]

I would expect that she hopes not to have to use it at all

Bear in mind that aquariums lose temperature quite slowly and that you prolly don't need that full 300W of heaters

would easily satisfy the requirement - I think I saw one in Costco last week for about £150

Or -

use a car battery and an inverter - quieter and cheaper solution

[Steve Firth]

Utter cobblers. A two stroke starts as reliably as a four stroke, and a two stroke has the advantage of requiring almost no maintenance.

[Gio]

"Harry Bloomfield" wrote in message news: [e-mail]...

basic power cuts. It is only a small 650w unit that maintains a steady 500w when tested against a small oil filled radiator which gives a nice steady load. Fuel consumption compared to 4 strokes is high but then again it is for emergency use only and we have fuel to hand - along with enough 2 stoke oil for the 50:1 mix. Again the engine is not the quietist but then again it is only for emergency use so we plonk it outside with its exhaust pointed away from houses. No matter how small, they are not light to move. We can power our pc or laptop so we could at least maintain some form of contact with the outside and council updates world should conditions ever deteriorate and the power is off for a while. (assuming the mobile masts or phone system does not go down !! As mentioned earlier, 2 stroke engines are sometimes not the easiest thing to start but providing you master the technique for your particular model and can recognise the reason for the engine failing to start fairly quickly then we find it not a particular problem. We just run the carb dry to stop the engine so we do not get fuel clogging the jets. Some folk may say 'what about the lubrication as the mixture weakens?' but again the unit is used infrequently so wear has been minimal. Oh, it will power our central heating as we had a 2 day power cut 2 years ago in February so at least providing the gas does not fail we know we could maintain some form of comfort and prevent internal prevent pipes from freezing and freezer from thawing !!. (preparation with isolators and changeover connector had to be installed.)

If you drop on a cheap 4 stroke - perhaps a caravanner / motorhome user is giving up and selling their generator then go for that otherwise depending on the price perhaps consider a 2 stroke but make sure you test it against a steady load for an hour or two to confirm it is reliable and nothing comes loose / shorts out etc. Do not buy it and put it to one side until needed.

[Frank Erskine]

I've managed without TV for several years. Some basic lighting would help, as well as a bit of power to operate a wireless set and the CH system.

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember Frank Erskine saying something like:

Oh aye, something to charge the wireless accumulators.

[Dave Liquorice]

Even 200W for any length of time would require a big battery that would need maintenance. This backup may be required to be avialable for days, not just long enough to shut down a PC...

One of the 600W 2 stroke jobbies would probably do but if funds allow it the EU10i would be a lot quieter and provide a better supply.

[dom]

Remember if your power goes off at the worst possible time (the coldest night of the year), that your house will cool too without central heating. Will the aquarium heaters be able to keep up if the room is 0 degrees, rather than 20 degrees?

If your heating is oil or gas (and not electric storage heaters), it only needs quite modest amounts of electrical power - but you would probably need some wiring changes to be able to plug the heating into a genny.

[Dave Liquorice]

110AH liesure battery would last about 6hrs at 200W, 3hrs at 400W.

That is a good idea reduce the demand for power to the minimum. It would extend the battery life. How ever a battery needs maintenance a small genset virtually none and you can nip out to the local garage to "recharge" it not so easy to recharge a battery during a power cut. You could get a generator to recharge it ... B-)

[Ian White]

Fortunately all of these essential loads (including the fish tank) can be powered up individually, run for a while, and then safely left while the generator is used for something else.

The main restriction on genny capacity is probably the startup load of a big fridge/freezer motor. On a previous occasion ISTR Geoff also mentioned certain CH boilers whose control cards don't like the accompanying dip in mains.

Coming back to the fish tank, a set of pre-cut insulating slabs sounds like a *very* good idea as well.

For occasional use, install one of those outside mains extension cabinets with a few metres of cable and the *plug* in the outside box, and tuck the rest of the cable and socket strip under the kitchen plinth.

It requires some messing around, but it can be a very cost-effective solution... and it gives you something to do during a power cut.

The main thing is to check it all works *before* th

[David WE Roberts]

Are the aquaria indoors or outdoors?

[Dave Plowman (News)]

500 watts may not sound much in mains terms but is over 40 amps from a 12 volt battery. A reasonable sized one wouldn't manage more than a couple of hours. And would likely have a short life if discharged this rapidly often.

Seems to me stupid to use electricity to heat the tank in an emergency. Is there not a way of using the fuel directly to do this?

[Harry Bloomfield]

Dave Plowman (News) wrote on 12/12/2009 :

I suspect that the needed temperature is quite critical.

[Owain]

And is the genny going to be needed to autostart if the power goes off for hours when people are away from the house?

(Automatic fish feeder?)

LOwain