Diesel generator

Seadin

Hi all

Can someone who knows a few things about a generator recommend me a diesel generator for a house strong enough and a bit greater to power the following components in the house

Kettle,

Few lights

TV

Larder fridge

Larder freezer.

Oven ( if it's not bad to use the generator to it)

Water pump (this is separate from the house on a farm and on a different esb meter.

What strength generator would I be looking at? 7-10kva or higher? I want to have the AVR function on it too.

I have a change over switch next to the fusebox.

Thanks in advance.

Water John

The kettle and the oven are the big drawers. Any heating in effect, other things are minor. Kettle is 3kw, oven I presume includes hob, so is a multiple of the kettle.

listermint

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058332045/diesel-generator

You need to measure their load yourself. That's going around reading their load or measuring it by using just those circuits and looking at your meter noting it down. Only that way can you determine load versus size of generator anything else is guesswork.

Incidently probably better to invest in some batteries at this point if you're just looking to cover power outages . Cheaper to charge up and similar pricing to decent generators now.

Seadin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121635728#Comment_121635728

I can do without the oven and hob. No big deal with that. Fridge and Freezer how much wattage they use? Would they be 3kw each or less. Surely they are also big users of power? Ideally I want the fridges and the kettle and the water pump but like I said earlier the water pump be working off another meter in another location so won't be working off the house fusebox. The kettle, the fridges would be the main ones I want working together along with some lighting and TV.

I was looking at a 10kva generator models originally and was looking at that but possibly would go higher depending if required.

I already wired the house for changeover switch and right now would just buy the generator to suit what's required.

Water John

You need to look up each appliance or its manual. Fridges and freezers are simply small motors, not major drawers.

CelticRambler

In the past, I've run all that except an oven and TV (but add in a microwave) off a 2kW petrol generator. Nowadays, I run pretty much all the same (one fridge freezer instead of two) in a motorhome off a 2kW inverter pulling power from a 200Ah LiFePO4 battery.

No kettle in my life draws more than 2kW, so as long as a generator or inverter is giving me a steady 2kW I don't need more. The biggest problem you'll face is the start-up current drawn by the fridge or freezer. When I was using the generator, as I didn't have a automatic transfer switch at the time, I had to manually switch each one on when the power came back, otherwise they'd both spike at the same time and trip the overload protection switch.

coylemj

No kettle in my life draws more than 2kW

I suspect you're basing that on the kettle you have in the motorhome. My regular kitchen kettle is rated at 2.8 kW and I've measured it drawing exactly that.

CelticRambler

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121640106#Comment_121640106

Nope - kitchen kettle that I use every day, and others used less frequently. The MH kettle is 1kW. Mind you, it wouldn't surprise me to find that our capitalist overlords have decided that we all need kettles of more than 2kW and I won't be able to replace this one ...

Calahonda52

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121640635#Comment_121640635

not quite yet

https://www.harveynorman.ie/small-appliances/kettles-and-toasters/kettles/russell-hobbs-0.85l-compact-travel-kettle-23840-white.html

Water John

The kettle behind me here is 3kw, but I didn't bother challenging the issue. OP just look at the appliances and add them up.

mickdw

Just to jump in here. We want to buy a petrol generator. Only need to power central heating circulating pump plus oil burner, american style fridge freezer, 5 or 6 bulbs plus the small electronics such as TV, WiFi, sky box etc.

Will a petrol generator advertised as 3.5 kva 3000w run this. Some say the fridge would have quite a high startup motor power requirement.

Generator advertised as having voltage regulation suitable for electronics.

Any thoughts?

sameoldname

My entire family were in my parents house over Christmas when the power failed and we had to use the generator for a good 6 hours before the ESB came back. There are power monitors on the ESB feed and one for the generator too so I was monitoring it. With 5 adults in the house the lowest power draw I saw was about 300 - 400 watts at night when everyone was in bed. You can take it that the fridge, chest freezer, networking equipment and electronics in standby mode use about 100 - 200 watts of that. My parents have a dehumidifier in the house which uses about 100 watts at night. During the day the load was around 900 - 1500 watts. That was mostly accounted for by an old plasma TV which uses about 400 watts, an LCD TV in the kitchen at about 100 watts, most of the interior LED lights on at maybe 100 - 150 watts, the oil boiler which is part of a Stanley range which was used for cooking too ~100 watts and a few other bits and pieces like laptops and such.

Many things are very intermittent power-draw wise which makes it hard to gauge. Like an LCD TV with local dimming can use a lot less power on a dark scene than a bright one, circulating pumps coming on and so on. One of the things that took me a while to figure out was every so often the power usage would spike by about 1.5 - 2kw for a few seconds and then drop back down. Figured out it was the submersible pump down the well coming on when the water pressure dropped in the house which is something to keep in mind for rural dwellers. The generator is capable of 4.2kw continuous and can handle a surge load of up to 5kw briefly so it wasn't a problem.

I hid the electric kettle because it draws 2.7kw on its own, switched off the electric oven at the consumer unit (up to 6kw I read somewhere!!) along with the dishwasher, tumble drier and washing machine (1 - 2.5kw each), just in case somebody forgot that we were on generator power which can be fairly easy to do.

Obviously this is just one very specific house but it might be instructive for others.