Generator advice

[ban-all-sheds]

OK - before the winter panic buying sets in, I thought I might get myself a generator - maybe a small one for CH boiler and lighting, but possibly a 3-5kW if I can find a decent s/h one.

Anyway - I know s*d-all about them :-

good/bad makes?

things to look out for, things to avoid?

petrol/diesel pros/cons?

 

[numpty with a crowbar]

Biggest con I can think of would be the fuel - you're gonna have to change it / run the genny to almost dry and top back up at least twice between now and spring to be sure of it not degrading down.
Saw an add in the daily torygraph last week for 3K gennys for about 100 quid - if nothing else it'll last a few years / provide power light for impromptu beach parties etc etc, then you can chuck it / flog it to some student who'll be wanting it for some sketchy forrest party
Noise on them from the ones I've used in the past isn't really an issue (although the ones I've used can largely be categorised under the term "old" - unless you're gonna fork out extra for one of these super quiet ones (which'll only give you up to 1K at most) then they'll all be noisy..... But that noise you hear on the cold winter night will be music yo your ears - as your neighbours shiver in the darkness Plus if anyone tries to pinch it you'll know

 

[BJS_Spark]

Consider gas powered. Can be safer is some ways over liquid fuel and will probably be cheaper to run going by fuel prices at the moment.

 

[bathjobby]

B-A-S, how are you considering feeding these appliances from the generators output ? You planning on taking the output into your consumer unit somehow ?

 

[HDRW]

petrol/diesel pros/cons?

Petrol gennys are much cheaper than diesel ones of the same rating, diesel is rather noisier and much smellier.
Most of the cost of petrol is tax. You can't get "agricultural petrol" the way you can with diesel, so if you're going to use it a lot, the cost of petrol will overtake the cost of buying the thing pretty soon (and conversely if it's used for 2 hours a month, that won't happen).

I once calculated that using a 2.2kW petrol genny at half power costs around 50p/kWh in fuel, so you aren't going to use this instead of the grid! And petrol was about 75p/l at the time, if I remember rightly.

So if you are going to use it a lot (several hours a day) and you can get hold of red diesel fuel, and you can afford to buy one, a diesel would be cheaper in the long run. Otherwise, sadly, petrol it is. I suggest checking the availability and price of red diesel as the first job - you may not need to go any further down that path!

Note that most generator endurance is given as time on half load - which suggests to me that they aren't happy, or are less efficient, if you run them close to full load. Be careful that some of them have silly fuel tanks that only take 4 or 5 litres - you want one with the largest tank you can find (15l seems to be a common "long run" tank size). Note that running your own 45 gallon drum of petrol into the generator's tank and rigging up a float valve to top it up automatically would be against the Petroleum Regulations!

How are you planning to connect this to the house, by the way?

Good luck, and let us know how it goes!

Cheers,

Howard

 

[andy]

if your gonna use it for long periods, go for diesel genny and veggie oil. and use the engine heat to heat the veggie oil. fairly cheap leccy.

(or, for the odd power failure, get a UPS and connect 4 50AH batteries)

 

[bathjobby]

Andy, under this high spend, high tax, nanny state government, they have actually made the use of veggie oil as a fuel illegal !

 

[andy]

Andy, under this high spend, high tax, nanny state government, they have actually made the use of veggie oil as a fuel illegal !

that wouldnt surprise me. after all, it is more enviorment friendly than diesel. but then they dont get as much in tax from it. oh weel, **** the enviornment aslong as the govermnemt get a few extra quid

 

[plugwash]

B-A-S, how are you considering feeding these appliances from the generators output ? You planning on taking the output into your consumer unit somehow ?

the way i think it would be best to do it would be to use a supply changeover switch fed of a fairly small breaker in the main CU and the generator then take that to a small CU feeding specially marked (different color/style or whatever) outlets and lighting. You don't really wan't to switch your whole house onto the genny just the important stuff.

 

[HDRW]

Andy, under this high spend, high tax, nanny state government, they have actually made the use of veggie oil as a fuel illegal !

As a road fuel, I can see this because it's not taxed. But are you sure there are regulations about how you run stationary engines?

Cheers,

Howard

 

[andy]

Andy, under this high spend, high tax, nanny state government, they have actually made the use of veggie oil as a fuel illegal !

As a road fuel, I can see this because it's not taxed. But are you sure there are regulations about how you run stationary engines?

Cheers,

Howard

legally, you can use veggie oil as fuel for cars etc providing you pay tax on it.

 

[plugwash]

that wouldnt surprise me. after all, it is more enviorment friendly than diesel. but then they dont get as much in tax from it. oh weel, **** the enviornment aslong as the govermnemt get a few extra quid

btw i'm pretty sure you can legally run your generator on red deisel if you can get it.

 

[Lectrician]

I though you just couldn't use chip fat for cars?? Thought it would be fine for a gen?? Are they gonna stop you using it to start bonfires and BBQ's

The size of the gen will dictate how you connect. A small 1 or 2 kw gen would best suited to running lights/fridge/boiler. A little CU fed via a 40amp MCB from the main CU (with changeover switch inbetween) would be best for this, as pluggy says.

For larger sets, a changeover switch at the origin would be best. The MCB in the gen, although, you will know not to turn everything on with your gen running............"Right, turn everything off, I wanna have a shower"

 

[andy]

I though you just couldn't use chip fat for cars?? Thought it would be fine for a gen??

see the veggie oil thread in general cars

 

[Adam_151]

I think you can claim back tax on petrol thats not used for transport use, might be more hassle than its worth though

so then ban, you expecting the predicted power cuts to happen this winter then?

*thinks its about time the government realised nuclear is the way forward*