Hi,
Thanks for any help offered in advance!
Where I live is quite remote and we typically suffer 2-3 48-hour power cuts a year (we are on a spur line which is fragile and exposed, apparently).
As I have 2 young kids and a cold-sensitive wife, our main issues with these outages are a) keeping warm, and b) not sitting in the dark after 4pm (not so important for the kids).
Our heating is LPG-fuelled, and controlled by an electric programmer. My question is really what size of generator can I get away with - I estimate 100W for the CH pump, 20W for the controller and 2-3 60W bulbs, maybe a portable DVD player for the kids at 25W? Even with a healthy overhead on top, I reckon an 850-900kW gen would be adequate. Would you agree?
Also, I don't wish to have this wired into my house circuit. My CH programmer takes power from a standard 13A socket mounted below it. My idea is just to run an extension cable (weather protected) from the generator through the foundations into the house and run extensions to the programmer and the living room. Not ideal with cables lying around, but no large loads and nothing I'd worry about running on an extension cable anyway. The gen would be earthed by rod outside, as I know of the dangers in using my mainline earth during an outage.
Would this be okay or have I got it all wrong?
Thanks again!
Thanks for any help offered in advance!
Where I live is quite remote and we typically suffer 2-3 48-hour power cuts a year (we are on a spur line which is fragile and exposed, apparently).
As I have 2 young kids and a cold-sensitive wife, our main issues with these outages are a) keeping warm, and b) not sitting in the dark after 4pm (not so important for the kids).
Our heating is LPG-fuelled, and controlled by an electric programmer. My question is really what size of generator can I get away with - I estimate 100W for the CH pump, 20W for the controller and 2-3 60W bulbs, maybe a portable DVD player for the kids at 25W? Even with a healthy overhead on top, I reckon an 850-900kW gen would be adequate. Would you agree?
Also, I don't wish to have this wired into my house circuit. My CH programmer takes power from a standard 13A socket mounted below it. My idea is just to run an extension cable (weather protected) from the generator through the foundations into the house and run extensions to the programmer and the living room. Not ideal with cables lying around, but no large loads and nothing I'd worry about running on an extension cable anyway. The gen would be earthed by rod outside, as I know of the dangers in using my mainline earth during an outage.
Would this be okay or have I got it all wrong?
Thanks again!