Thread: Generator power

There,s some 6kva generators on ebay with auto switching an addon for $1275 that should run most homes there,s plenty of others, never needed it somfar but i have 2.2 kva to run my office manual start dbl ended plug just plug it into power point and turn office circut breaker off.

My place in the hills, we have a diesel gen with auto switch over and start.
Sparky did the wiring but from memory, it runs everything bar the air-con.
I have elec fire pump and that is run by gen set.

Have to check what make but having been in the CFS for a few years, they are not worth skimping on.

Buy Yamaha or Yanmar or similar.
You want them to start when needed, run when weather is very hot and need as little air as pos due to possible fire situations. They suck all the oxygen right out.

Yes, I am pretty sure its a Yanmar. It has a 5L fuel tank with gravity feed from big 44 gallon drum.

Best of luck.

Have a look at some of the Honda gear Edd.The 1eu for camping is real quiet,saw a big Honda,ie 2foot x 2 foot x 2 foot with serious output at a 4x4/Caravan show,it wasnt much louder than the baby Honda,impressed me!!!!
Andrew

I use a honda 20i to run my place in a blackout. I had an electrician mate put in a changeover switch in the fusebox.

First work out what you want it to run! A (camping type) small generator will probably do you for providing lights and small power tools, but you have to remember that the starting load of motors of any kind is a lot higher than that needed to keep them running. If you want to run a typical fridge plus a water pressure system for example, plus a few lights, you are looking at an absolute minimum of about 2kva, and if you want to be able to run this plus a freezer and perhaps a welder, look for at least 6kva. If you want to run aircon as well, you are looking at double this.

Automatic start is probably not worth the cost unless you need to have uninterrupted power. Electric start is probably not worthwhile for blackout use, unless the person who has to start it is not strong enough. Note that hand starting above about 6kva becomes fairly difficult if you are not pretty athletic. But the problem with electric start is the battery needs to be charged! Can you rely on this to be kept up? Depends how long between blackouts I suppose.

For occasional blackout use, diesel is not worth the cost, but if using it at all consistently, the cost will be repaid - petrol generators use a lot more fuel - running the same load, my ten year old petrol generator uses twice as much fuel as my fifty year old diesel!

Get a reputable brand - you want it to start when you need it.

Hope this helps,

John

Originally Posted by THE BOOGER

There,s some 6kva generators on ebay with auto switching an addon for $1275 that should run most homes there,s plenty of others, never needed it somfar but i have 2.2 kva to run my office manual start dbl ended plug just plug it into power point and turn office circut breaker off.

These were the ones that got us thinking about it.