Largeish house.
Doesnt have to run a huge amount of electrical items.
Heating and lights mainly.
Doesnt have to run a huge amount of electrical items.
Heating and lights mainly.
How many kw genny for house back up?
- Thread starter S.Jamieson
- Start date
Used to do our place with 2kva, that was using an LPG combi for heating. But with more freezers pulling load these days, 3-4Kva is better.
Modern households use waaaay less than 30yrs ago, which is a help. Are you feeding through a change over switch, or a trailing cable?
I actually purchased a PTO unit in a sale a few weeks ago but am waiting on a sparky mate to do the wiring stuff for me. 3phase is magic to me!
Modern households use waaaay less than 30yrs ago, which is a help. Are you feeding through a change over switch, or a trailing cable?
I actually purchased a PTO unit in a sale a few weeks ago but am waiting on a sparky mate to do the wiring stuff for me. 3phase is magic to me!
davidroberts30
Member
- Location
- pembrokeshire
Id say 7-10kva for modern leccy stuff
Nearly
Member
- Location
- North of York
6kva stephill isn't quite enough to run everything but it's enough to be very comfortable while the neighbours are in darkness.
Key start diesel and a proper change over switch means mrs N doesn't need me to get an aging tractor onto a pto genny etc.
Key start diesel and a proper change over switch means mrs N doesn't need me to get an aging tractor onto a pto genny etc.
Used to run a 5 bed and farmyard off a 1.5kw or a spare 2.5kw startomatics at the turn of the century before connecting to the mains. Gennys were close to 50 years old by the time they retired.
Father gained the 2nd one as a dowry when he married mum in the early 60s
My wife fed the babes by candlelight.
Different times then I'll tell you.
Father gained the 2nd one as a dowry when he married mum in the early 60s
My wife fed the babes by candlelight.
Different times then I'll tell you.
- Location
- somerset
after we stopped milking in 99, l sold the pto 50kva genny, Couldn't use it for anything else, house is away from farm.
so when we restarted 07, thought we had better put one back in. Got given a 3 phase one, but we are single phase, so that was a no go.
paid £30 at a farm sale for a pto one, strategically placed, so RT could see we had one. Just wired it up properly, last week. The change over switch, and other 'bits', cost £405 fitted, and it runs everything.
but in the 16 yrs of milking without one, we missed 1 milking, and perhaps it will be years before we ever need to use it, or next week.
so when we restarted 07, thought we had better put one back in. Got given a 3 phase one, but we are single phase, so that was a no go.
paid £30 at a farm sale for a pto one, strategically placed, so RT could see we had one. Just wired it up properly, last week. The change over switch, and other 'bits', cost £405 fitted, and it runs everything.
but in the 16 yrs of milking without one, we missed 1 milking, and perhaps it will be years before we ever need to use it, or next week.
- Location
- Lancashire
We once hired a 7kva during a power cut. It hadn’t enough power to run the milking machine, so dad went in for a brew. Kettle and toaster tripped it, so I certainly wouldn’t be looking for anything les than 7
To power the central heating pump, timer, daisy chain of extensions through the letterbox, a few LED standard lamps strategically placed and a flat panel TV: 2.2 kva with Honda GX160
[The oil aga is still gravity fed on 'low flame' when there isn't any power to the control box. ]
I also have a Kubota diesel 5kva, but it's more trouble than it's worth in terms of standby reliability. Whereas the petrol Honda starts 1st pull when the power goes out.
[The oil aga is still gravity fed on 'low flame' when there isn't any power to the control box. ]
I also have a Kubota diesel 5kva, but it's more trouble than it's worth in terms of standby reliability. Whereas the petrol Honda starts 1st pull when the power goes out.
Forgot to add, it also needs to run a 1.5kw water pump.
Which causes a 2.2kw genny to stall when the pump cuts in and out.
Which causes a 2.2kw genny to stall when the pump cuts in and out.
- Location
- Northumberland
7 kva min I would have thought.
Aha start up load.... Same here with heat pump, which needs a silly amount of juice for start up and doesn't like a genny I believe...
5-7kva will do all your domestic stuff.
Which reminds me.... must get the diesel genny out this week and check all is good.
- Location
- Scottish Highlands
Oil boiler, water pumps and a couple of lights all powered by a 1kW suitcase gennie from Screwfix here. Keep pondering getting a bigger one, but this is enough for the rare times that power is off for more than an hour or four. If I switch them off, it can keep a freezer cold, but that makes it grunt.
It makes me chuckle all the YT vids and ads on Amazon and the like for the battery "power stations" .
Fine for a PC and emergency lighting etc, maybe even run a gas powered boiler, but for serious loading, got to be a genny in my opinion.
Fine for a PC and emergency lighting etc, maybe even run a gas powered boiler, but for serious loading, got to be a genny in my opinion.
Small house here needs 15kva min genny to ensure there is stable supply across the board i.e plugged in & replacing the mains power at a change-over switch - Shower/Freezers/Washing machine, cooker, kettle will fairly pull down the revs on anything less - incidentally if you are running a genny with marginal power then some of your more modern appliances are at risk - microwaves, TV's, computers etc don't like fluctuating power & have died here on a lesser genny, I started with a 7kva, barely boiled a kettle, acquired a 10kva - was slightly better but still not great, had the loan of a 15kva to try & everything worked fine - managed to source a low hour 30kv - now have no issues at all so it gets dragged along & plugged in when bad weather dictates - would have went higher kva but next size up was 6cyl & monstrous in size & sounded like a tractor on full chat on a straw bedder.
Was thinking the same.
We have 6kva stephill and it gets by but if the want to have a shower and boil a kettle you can hear it under real strain.
- Location
- Scottish Highlands
Why would anyone boil a kettle on a gennie, when a camping stove with gas is far cheaper, less hard on the equipment and. Very portable for days out?
- Location
- Hampshire
I did a lot of research into generators last year, and bought 4 for the dairies and borehole pump. From my observations, go a bit bigger than you think, go for a 1500 RPM not 3000, and as with anything the cheapest ain't the best!
- Location
- Very Southern NSW Australia
Is it actually a Red tractor requirement to have a generator?
We used to have one but most diary farmers I know don't have one. I don't think we ever needed to use it for a full milking. We could be miling within 10 minutes if we lost power which was handy with having staff. Also was handy during summer if we had planned out age we'd run it in early afternoon for water and cool the vat if required.