Aldi generator

nantony98

Not sure if this has been posted before but I just picked up an 800w generator for €37.49 in Aldi,Coolock.

I know they are not the best quality but it has a three year guarantee and i will seldom use it. Good for emergency.

Avns1s

At 800W it's only good to power a couple of lights. There'll be no tea! :-)

Remember a generator must be wired properly into your electrical installation, unless you just use it to power a couple of lights off an extension lead and independent of your domestic installation.

GY A1

Are they in now or excess stock on offer ,
What size are they

nantony98

My plan would be to keep it in the garage and if there is a power cut use it to power a few table lamps and an old tv( wouldnt trust it with a good tv)

I would like to see if the gas heating could be run off it to keep the family warm if there was a power cut.

nantony98

GY A1 wrote: »

Are they in now or excess stock on offer ,
What size are they

They are half price, been in stock for a good while now. Its a compact little thing.

Cantona's Collars

Had a similar one a few years ago,due to a storm all power was gone along our road,we were the only house with lights & tv on.:)
Just ran an extension lead from it to the living room but as said earlier don't expect to boil a kettle with it.

GY A1

zerks wrote: »

Had a similar one a few years ago,due to a storm all power was gone along our road,we were the only house with lights & tv on.:)
Just ran an extension lead from it to the living room but as said earlier don't expect to boil a kettle with it.

very good
is it still working, or how long wuld it run on the tank

riffmongous

At 800 watts would a small hotplate run off it? I'd guess a hotplate would be rated higher than that off course, but maybe one of the lower settings could be used, might be possible to boil some water that way

paddyp

riffmongous wrote: »

At 800 watts would a small hotplate run off it? I'd guess a hotplate would be rated higher than that off course, but maybe one of the lower settings could be used, might be possible to boil some water that way

plenty of 0.4l kettles available at 600 to 800w a camp stove makes a lot more sense though. you can also get 800w halogen ovens, small george foreman, mini ovensand even 800w induction hobs from china

Cienciano

Avns1s wrote: »

At 800W it's only good to power a couple of lights. There'll be no tea! :-)

Remember a generator must be wired properly into your electrical installation, unless you just use it to power a couple of lights off an extension lead and independent of your domestic installation.

Plug in the microwave and you can get hot water for the tea!

riffmongous

paddyp wrote: »

plenty of 0.4l kettles available at 600 to 800w a camp stove makes a lot more sense though. you can also get 800w halogen ovens, small george foreman, mini ovensand even 800w induction hobs from china

An 800w induction hob would be a good idea, fairly versatile

Del2005

riffmongous wrote: »

At 800 watts would a small hotplate run off it? I'd guess a hotplate would be rated higher than that off course, but maybe one of the lower settings could be used, might be possible to boil some water that way

It takes a lot of energy to boil water. It'd be quicker to use the petrol in a bucket to boil the water but highly dangerous. A gas camping stove, as already posted, or a solid fuel camping stove would be quicker. 800w is only suitable for light you need to get several kw to boil water in a real kettle, you'd get a good gas stove with plenty of gas for the price of a low wattage kettle which will still take a good while to boil water.

cerastes

Id thought this would be handy to provide power so a boiler could be run, although, Id prefer charge some kind of UPS with it and use that to power devices??

Other than that, Im not sure if they are much use

Im waiting for a cheap compressor to come along, I saw one last year for half price in Aldi and I missed it

hfallada

Why would anyone buy one for an emergency? 20 years living in Dublin I think I have experienced 2 blackouts of 30 mins each( one during day light). I have heard stories of people having a generator on in their house and suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning. Meaning you need to have the generator outside so you can't really use it if its raining.

nantony98

hfallada wrote: »

Why would anyone buy one for an emergency? 20 years living in Dublin I think I have experienced 2 blackouts of 30 mins each( one during day light). I have heard stories of people having a generator on in their house and suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning. Meaning you need to have the generator outside so you can't really use it if its raining.

Probably stems from being raised on an island where being without power for 24hours or more was not uncommon. One time was on new years eve. But I had a generator there and within 20mins had tv and light. Id rather be looking at a generator in a blackout than looking for one.

Yeah, dont run an internal combustion engine in your house.

cerastes

Anyone connect an oscilloscope up to one? whats the waveform like?
Im not sure what would be required for a clean? waveform? or what the effect of not having such would be? ie trying to run a boiler off one? blown PCB??

Its really the only thing Id consider having power for but so far blasckouts have been rare

Anyone tried?
or what do people use theirs for?

ImARebel

There is a world outside Dublin you know and one when we are frequently without electricity. We are on a rural line out of the town we live in. We seem to be the first to lose power as we're so high up and last to be fixed because we're not on the hospital line which is the road lower.

It's a right kicker to be standing in our kitchen looking at the lights on down on the lower road and we still in darkness.

Thanks for the heads up op I'm going to recommend one for my parents for light. We already have a fixture for a gas cylinder to boil water. It's great to be able to boil water and eat but we go through some amount of candles :-)

Thanks again!