Power cuts!

[dobbslc]

I've had another power cut for most of Friday night/Saturday. Its getting to be a pain in the harris!
I'm thinking of getting a generator rigged up for these situations with a mnual changeover switch but what sort of generator do I need?
At the minute I've got a petrol 2kva Generac set and have made up a set of very dodgy leads with a plug on both ends to plug into a socket to get the boiler and fridge back on
Suggestions?

 

[Spark plug]

It depends what you want to run when the power is off? Do you want to carry on as normal?

If I where looking for a backup gererator because the power is regularly off, I would be looking for something diesel, 1500rpm and someware in the region of 20-30kva. This would allow you to carry on as normal, maybe with the exception of an electric shower.

 

[WorkshopChris]

At the minute I've got a petrol 2kva Generac set and have made up a set of very dodgy leads with a plug on both ends to plug into a socket to get the boiler and fridge back on

Fit a plug and socket on your boiler then you can do away with the widow maker extension cable.
Ours has 2 sockets next to it one for a regular supply the other goes to a 16A waterproof inlet outside to take a generator feed, although this will be altered soon to run the boiler direct from the ups.

 

[brightspark]

depends on how deep your pocket is for size of generator to do it properly u would need a 80 amp change over switch wiring in to the mains tails of your db and a plug and lead which would go in to your generator from changeover switch big ££££

 

[addjunkie]

We live in the sticks and have to odd power cut. Pictured is the break before make switch at the fuse box. Basically it disconnects the board supply before you supply the house with the generator. Generator is manually plugged in when required. Blue plug is the wrong way round to prevent the lead been usable for anything else, as the earth and neurtal are connected as generators have a floating earth.


We have an 8 kva hyundai diesel in the shed. Manual start. It will run everything in the house part from the electric cooker and tumble dryer. Though its mainly to keep the heating and freezers going in the event of an outage.

The generator in the barn when we bought the house was a bigger lister, left over from when the house was off grid. Sadly It was well past its best, and was sold as scrap.

And before any one comments on the loose white cable its not connected at either end and is for solar panels not yet fitted.

http://www.justgenerators.co.uk/sdmo-mts-manual-power-transfer-switch.html

 

[addjunkie]

At the minute I've got a petrol 2kva Generac set and have made up a set of very dodgy leads with a plug on both ends to plug into a socket to get the boiler and fridge back on
?

This is a tad naughty as you are back feeding the grid....and could zap someone trying to fix the issue.

 

[brightspark]

farmers tend to do it and knock some poor bloke of an overhead line 10 miles away

 

[fizzy]

I've had another power cut for most of Friday night/Saturday. Its getting to be a pain in the harris!
I'm thinking of getting a generator rigged up for these situations with a mnual changeover switch but what sort of generator do I need?
At the minute I've got a petrol 2kva Generac set and have made up a set of very dodgy leads with a plug on both ends to plug into a socket to get the boiler and fridge back on
Suggestions?

Why are you getting so many?
We live in a very remote place and yet we don't get them very often. We do get 30 sec dropoffs from time to time and scheduled cuts when they are installing flipping windmills!

 

[Robotstar5]

This is a tad naughty as you are back feeding the grid....and could zap someone trying to fix the issue.

Unless you turn off the main isolator on the consumer unit.

 

[500e]

How is it back feeding he is removing the site from the grid before switching in the geny. "Pictured is the break before make switch at the fuse box. Basically it disconnects the board supply before you supply the house with the generator."

 

[brightspark]

Unless you turn off the main isolator on the consumer unit.

which some dont

 

[Robotstar5]

How is it back feeding he is removing the site from the grid before switching in the geny. "Pictured is the break before make switch at the fuse box. Basically it disconnects the board supply before you supply the house with the generator."

That wasn't the OP

 

[wristpin]

We used to suffer frequent cuts, mainly due to low flying swans hitting the overhead wires and tripping the sub station. At that time the house was all electric and plus having an infirm aged parent, we bit the bullet and installed a 13kva Lister with a 150 gallon tank of red.
Since then the parent has passed on and the sub station has been upgraded and can be reset remotely, but the Lister is still run up now and again, just in case!

 

[dobbslc]

This is a tad naughty as you are back feeding the grid....and could zap someone trying to fix the issue.

I'll have the main fuse out before firing up any generators!
The seal was cut when I got here

 

[brightspark]

We used to suffer frequent cuts, mainly due to low flying swans hitting the overhead wires and tripping the sub station. At that time the house was all electric and plus having an infirm aged parent, we bit the bullet and installed a 13kva Lister with a 150 gallon tank of red.
Since then the parent has passed on and the sub station has been upgraded and can be reset remotely, but the Lister is still run up now and again, just in case!

nearly all breakers on overhead lines reset automatically due to geese etc getting between then lines they will reset twice automatically and if fault persists it will trip and not reset

 

[landyman1]

Before splashing a large chunk of your own money,contact your provider and get them to trace why you are suffering so many outages.

 

[dobbslc]

This time it was a fallen tree on the lines. Last time was a transformer going pop
We're on an overhead system not far out of a big town but it' like we're in the middle of nowhere here which is why I moved here!

 

[DrDeAtH]

Here you go Robb.....

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.co.uk/ulk/itm/282785784134

 

[Robotstar5]

We have a Hyundai generator at the stables, after 4-5 years running the AVR failed, took me a few minutes yesterday to replace. I think they are a pretty good "middle of the road" make, you can get cheapanese or dearer big brand makes.

Something like this from Justgenerators (good aftersales service) and a changeover switch.