I suffer from frequent power cuts any advice on alternative energy

[tojo$mojo]

Hi forum

i have bought a property abroad where and the mains electric goes frequently, twice a week at least. is there a system that i could install to help me in the times i dont have mains power?

thanks

 

[malcolmsanford]

Really the most cost efficient would be a little diesel generator, the size depending on what you want to keep running. ie a percentage of the installation or the entire.

Of course generators are noisy and prone to being borrowed without your consent

 

[Engineer54]

The only real stand-by supply suitable for your needs is a Generator that's either manually or automatically started and stopped as and when prime power is lost and returns!!

Where is your overseas property??

 

[tojo$mojo]

Ok

so the property is a 3 bedroom house with an electric fridge separate freezer, lights, tv, gate opener boiler etc what size generator would you recommend and how could i connect it to my house consumer unit which i purchased from here a contactum split load box.
any ideas as to what equipment i would require??

thanks everyone

 

[Engineer54]

Unfortunately we are not clairvoyant, ...how would we have a clue what your power requirements are, from the brief description you have given above?? Work out your max demand, or clamp test your tails with everything on, that you would want covered by the stand-by generator... That will give us an idea of the KVA rating, you should be looking to provide...

You will need a change over switch either auto or manual, we can give you what you need, when we know what way you want to go, ...Man or Auto!!

Where is this property, in which country??

 

[tojo$mojo]

the property is in naples, the current enel electricity supplu is for 1.5 kw not sure if that helps, i would prefer auto change over but i guess it all depends on the money involved.

thanks

 

[Marvo]

I don't understand what the 1.5 kW figure means. Is this the power requirement you need back-up for? If your requirement is that small maybe look at a nice inverter and a few deep cycle batteries.

If you go with generator I would caution you to use a proper back-up generator designed for this use. If you use a 'site generator' you'll run into all sorts of issues with earthing arrangements and V-O-V coil arrangements etc not to mention filthy dirty waveforms etc...

 

[plugsandsparks]

Questions to ask to get a better idea are~:
How frequent are the power cuts
How long are they
What electrical appliances cause you the most problem.

There are other solutions available apart from a generator, e.g. gas powered, solar powered, batteries, as mentioned, Naples should be well good for solar power perhaps with some battery back up. Plenty of 2KVA generators out there. When its happened to me i have got my old 1KVA cranked up, and changed over manually. Was funny when the leccy board came round when i was watching telly and asked if the power had come back on, i said, no idea mate been watching sport on tv off mi genny.

 

[tojo$mojo]

The 1.5kw is what is on my electric meter. The meter its self has never tripped off so the power consumption must be within that 1.5kw. What is an inverter and deep cycle batteries.
Would a ups thing be ok seen some on the net they seem to give back up for computers etc??

 

[mhar]

1.5kw is half a kettle, a fridge and a freezer, one ring on a hob, 2/3rds of an oven. This figure cannot be referring to your supply.
You need to detail what you want to run during a power cut ie computer, kettle and a tv and post that. A computer and a tv would lead people to advise storing energy. A kettle and an immersion heater would require a generator.

 

[tojo$mojo]

ok cool

in that case lights, phone, electric gate, frezzer, fridge, not worried about tv would be nice though.

thanks

tony

 

[DurhamSparky]

dont get a UPS... you dont need one and it would be a massive lost investment.

get a decent set up if the power cuts are prolonged..

10kva would be very sufficient to your needs.. although it may be sized TOO big and develop problems with little load on it.

 

[mhar]

Not being pedantic but how many and what type of lights? A whole houseful of incandescants should be calculated at 100W per point so 20 points @100W = 2000W. Whereas if you were only going to use half a dozen 6W leds your load would only be 36W. What is the rating for the gates? can you find this out?
Best bet is to make yourself a table with all the appliances you want and their rating. An order of priority could be helpful as well. Post this on the forum and people can advise accordingly - it is unlikely to be quite as simple as it looks as some devices have quite large startup demands not reflected in their ratings.
Additionally, as others have requested, how long are you likely to need your backup supply to run for? The difference between one hour and one day will significantly affect the advice you are given