Generator

[Goofy]

We are thinking of buying a generator.
Lost power for over 24 hours last winter, and already this winter for 18.
Just want one to do some lighting and maybe the tv for the news. We can cook ok with no electricity, and have a wood fire so that's ok a well.

[buildersmate]

2 types - inverters and petrol driven generators.

Inverters need a bank of car batteries and are typically 250 - 500W. Generators use a little petrol model with an alternator attached to the output. Seem to be about 2000W. Probably need to work out much electric you need, then Google for suppliers. I spotted that Makro seemed to be selling both sorts.

[Buenchico]

Having a generator alone isn't much good unless you've already rigged an emergency wiring circuit. (i.e. a generator won't feed into your mains electricity cicuit so you'll have to have cabling pre-wired with lighting units and/or sockets which you can bring into the house).

If you're sure that you only want to connect a few bulbs and the TV then something like this should be fine:
http://www.justgenerators.co.uk/pages/BriggsBSQ1000.htm

If you want to connect, say, a large freezer as well then you'll need to look for something with a higher power rating (='wattage').

Remember, as well, that generators tend to be rather noisy. Running a generator, in an emergency situation, will probably be acceptable to the neighbours during the day but might not be welcomed at night!

Chris

[Goofy]

thanks - no problem with neighbours - the nearest is best part of a mile away.

What happens when the electricity comes on? Worried that something might blow then

[Buenchico]

The only way to use a generator without very high set-up costs is to keep the generator circuit and the normal household circuit totally separate. At the most basic, all you need to do is to have a few 'extension sockets' attached to the generator. Then just bring these into the house, placing them int the rooms required. (For lighting, you'd just need a few cheap table lamps). A more professional system (without much extra cost) would be to get an extra (generator-fed) circuit wired into the house so that you've got one socket in each room attached to the generator.

Using either of the above systems, you'd have no problem when mains power came back on because the two systems would be totally separate.

If you want a generator to feed into your normal household electrical system, you'd need to employ a qualified electrician to install a 'break before make' switching system so that you could just throw the switch to change power systems. (The 'break before make' switch means that the generator and the mains can't be both connected to your sockets at the same time - so you'd have no worries about any problems occurring when mains power was restored). While this is technically very simple, things could still get rather complicated because you'd have to get local authority consent, under the Building Control Regulations, for the installation of the switching system.

Chris