Generators....

[IT Minion]

Solar panels and home battery.

Some of them automatically switch over your electricity supply in the event of a power cut. The solar panels will save money in the medium term but the battery will probably only break even, not turn a profit.

Plus the Solar panels are silent so there's no sound to attract zombies.

 

[Ihavenojob]

Thanks. This may be a silly question and I’m a way from deciding whether to get one yet but looking at a few, they do say where possible, to connect them to an external earth rod. If I were to get one and I wanted to use it for my heating system (or any other household appliance) for safety, would a way round that be to get an ordinary three pin plug, have just one single cable connected to the earth pin, plug it in to any socket in my house and connect the other end of the cable to the earthing connector on the generator?

You may be best asking an electrician, but from my understanding it is something to do with neutral being used for earth in the inverter. You could hire one for a day and see if it has any effect.

 

[Ihavenojob]

If there are power cuts in the coming months, the freezers and fridges would be my main concern, these should be ok on a generator.

 

[HERTS P&D]

I have just read other posts saying that it would affect the boiler not working correctly, so in that case, plug the immersion into the genny. Just make sure the genny can handle it.

Andy

 

[SUNRAY]

Most modern boilers won't work off a generator.

Not most. AFAIA it's only some in the Worcester Range that have the problem... and I have a friend with a calor gas Worcester which would not run on a generator, several different types tried, I tried a 1KVA Honda inverter and a simple neutral to earth link got it firing within 5 minutes of starting the experiment.

They now have a version of this:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/i/2538953986...G2NFaF_3qMPzSmHnr4XE63hU2uL5cHjQaAhFeEALw_wcB.

and a 3KVA Honda inverter (calor gas version) to run the essentials when a cow knocks a pole over.

 

[Mottie]

Starting to get complicated now! I just wanted to plug and play.

 

[SUNRAY]

Starting to get complicated now! I just wanted to plug and play.

No probs, just started rambling.

The salient point is to ensure there is a earth neutral link in place and ensure the earth is there somewhere (boiler is normally bonded somewhere but make sure).

 

[flameport]

Hopefully it won't come to power outages i don't see why it should?

It won't.
1 - People staying at home has resulted in a significant drop in electricity consumption.
2 - we are moving from a dark/cold part of the year into a warmer/lighter one, so demand will reduce even more.

 

[JohnW2]

It won't.
1 - People staying at home has resulted in a significant drop in electricity consumption.
2 - we are moving from a dark/cold part of the year into a warmer/lighter one, so demand will reduce even more.

Yes, all true.

However, whilst there is no reason to expect any supply/demand problems, per se, I have a friend who works on the distribution side, and he says that the main current concern, for which they are attempting to make plans, is a potential loss of an adequate number of skilled personnel, due to illness/isolation - so that, if/when things go wrong with the distribution network (which is happening all the time) (or, I presume generation) it could take a lot longer than normal for it to be fixed. He says that a worrying proportion of his colleagues are currently off work, 'self-isolating'.

Kind Regards, John

 

[big-all]

would think most heavy industry energy demand such as steel car making will be perhaps 30% down as will energy consumption in general from the high street catering and entertainment industry as well as mass transport as in trains trams where electrical consumption will also be down

 

[JohnW2]

would think most heavy industry energy demand such as steel car making will be perhaps 30% down as will energy consumption in general from the high street catering and entertainment industry as well as mass transport as in trains trams where electrical consumption will also be down

Indeed - we are all agreed that demand will be way down. However, as I said, the availability (or non-availability) of personnel to keep the generation and distribution network running may also be well down, and that's what could possibly result in appreciable problems (slowness) in rectifying generation/distribution problems.

Kind Regards, John

 

[big-all]

Indeed - we are all agreed that demand will be way down. However, as I said, the availability (or non-availability) of personnel to keep the generation and distribution network running may also be well down, and that's what could possibly result in appreciable problems (slowness) in rectifying generation/distribution problems.

Kind Regards, John

in general when your short off staff it tends to be maintenance repairs and renewals that get ignored first in general these can mostly be be ignored with failures getting the attention so perhaps 25% off the full quota off staff can operate fix and keep things going for perhaps several weeks or months before a build up off problems over stretch them an need a more normal level to get on top

 

[JohnW2]

in general when your short off staff it tends to be maintenance repairs and renewals that get ignored first in general these can mostly be be ignored with failures getting the attention so perhaps 25% off the full quota off staff can operate fix and keep things going for perhaps several weeks or months before a build up off problems over stretch them an need a more normal level to get on top

That all makes sense, but it doesn't alter what my friend told me (as above) about the concerns that his DNO (and presumably others) currently have.

Kind Regards, John

 

[scbk]

In my mind, we're more likely to be unable to get hold of fuel (petrol/diesel) than electricity

 

[Mottie]

Quick. Buy fuel, buy fuel!