Storm Arwen vs Net Zero…..nature vs arrogance??

[Pilatus]

Ironically everything seems to drive us towards less self reliance. At one time we could make a wheel in the village from a tree in the wood. My great grandfather was the wheelwright. Now, as said, everything is reliant on shipping in items made by remote specialist mass manufacture, including the brains to keep it working. Even the taps in my bathroom now require specialist parts where the old ones could be repaired by a bog standard washer and seat regrinder.

Does not bode well for mankind/future generations. But they will know no difference.

 

[Farmer_Joe]

Perhaps it's where our rulers want us?

In Russia the government supplies all heating to houses through centralised boilers in town and cities. If they revolt they turn the tap off and let them get cold.

Have we not got ourselves in the same situation here? Same with reliance on Internet through Chinese companies Huawei. Gas from Russia, steel from India. They've got us by the balls.

Got a 4kw petrol generator powering house here. Have to be selective what you use but great help.

you got a proper switch over so it can supply your house electric board?

i just head leads in through door to stuff i needed!

think i will start looking at euro auctions for an old YEDL unit there not that much

 

[DrWazzock]

Every year they add something by regulation that makes us that bit more unsustainable and vulnerable to power outages.
What happens to all the electrically powered sewerage treatment systems now? How much extra carbon are they using? They need to look to their own decrees and requirements.

 

[pine_guy]

look up

If the mains power is off, then somewhere, nearly sure someone is working on the power lines, either planned or due to a storm etc. So all the micro providers to the grid, ie the likes of my solar panels on the shed roof, automatically switch off, so you don’t send power in and give the guys working on the lines an electric shock

 

[DrWazzock]

If the mains power is off, then somewhere, nearly sure someone is working on the power lines, either planned or due to a storm etc. So all the micro providers to the grid, ie the likes of my solar panels on the shed roof, automatically switch off, so you don’t send power in and give the guys working on the lines an electric shock

That’s the danger with amateur lash ups. Was speaking to the distribution engineer and he said you’d be surprised how many folk try to back energise the grid endangering his operatives. It’s one reason they sit the lines on a big Earth spike while working on them.

 

[AftonShepherd]

If the mains power is off, then somewhere, nearly sure someone is working on the power lines, either planned or due to a storm etc. So all the micro providers to the grid, ie the likes of my solar panels on the shed roof, automatically switch off, so you don’t send power in and give the guys working on the lines an electric shock

Not an expert by any means, but surely the technology exists to have some sort of circuit breaker that kicks in instead of shutting down so that homes with panels, turbines etc could continue to use their own supply even if the grid is off?

 

[melted welly]

Yeh I think mines the same although I have a battery which keeps us going for a while.
what is the reasoning behind solar systems going off if mains goes off?

I was told it’s so it doesn’t feed back into the grid when they’re doing repairs or have parts isolated.

 

[Highland Mule]

Not an expert by any means, but surely the technology exists to have some sort of circuit breaker that kicks in instead of shutting down so that homes with panels, turbines etc could continue to use their own supply even if the grid is off?

Don’t think I’d trust any of my electronic equipment with as unstable a supply as you’d get from a solar panel in winter. Maybe if it had gone through a battery store it would be okay, but they’re all wired that way anyway.

 

[pine_guy]

Don’t think I’d trust any of my electronic equipment with as unstable a supply as you’d get from a solar panel in winter. Maybe if it had gone through a battery store it would be okay, but they’re all wired that way anyway.

Yes, and if it can meet demand would just trip out all the time when a cloud went by. Bet my 30kw could boil the kettle on the house covered in snow today

 

[AftonShepherd]

Don’t think I’d trust any of my electronic equipment with as unstable a supply as you’d get from a solar panel in winter. Maybe if it had gone through a battery store it would be okay, but they’re all wired that way anyway.

We've got a system going in soon with quite a bit of battery storage so just wondered what the situation would be. Fingers crossed our supply has been fairly reliable the last few years.

 

[steveR]

Agreed, but the really sh!t thing about solar is you can’t use it when the mains is off, our 30kw array converter automatically switches off if it can’t see the mains power

You can bypass this with some clever wiring, a change over power switch, and a 12v battery and small inverter, to give a "mains" power feed to the PV inverter.

The system MUST not be allowed to feed into the Grid.

 

[steveR]

Yeh I think mines the same although I have a battery which keeps us going for a while.
what is the reasoning behind solar systems going off if mains goes off?

Safety!

 

[steveR]

That’s the danger with amateur lash ups. Was speaking to the distribution engineer and he said you’d be surprised how many folk try to back energise the grid endangering his operatives. It’s one reason they sit the lines on a big Earth spike while working on them.

Heard the same from some WPD lads I know.

When WPD were going to be working on the line nearby, and were isolating us. I said we'd be ok for the day as we had a gennie. They were very dubious, until I assued them the power went through a CoS.

What they worry about is idiots backfeeding into the house ring, and then electrocuting them!

 

[Paddington]

We have a small generator which hasn't been run for years, the connection to the ring main is by a dangling plug on a coloured cable, so no chance of a switch being knocked by accident. A tradesman doing some work in the kitchen must have come across this loose plug and decided to plug it in the nearby socket... We smelt burning for a day after until we found the source.

 

[Steevo]

Our power has been out since 5pm Friday, estimated that will be back by 6pm tonight, but not holding our breath, there’s a lot of damage.

Our house is old, draughty, inefficient
insulation, single glazed windows, heated by a mixture of oil and wood. Everything about it is a black mark regarding Net Zero.

However, in the absence of electricity, the only thing we are without is the tv. Solar garden lights charge up through the day, old gravity fed kerosene Esse heating the water, kitchen and does half a job at cooking. 2 log burners with a bit of imagination can operate as hot plates, grills and ovens. We’re fine.

Sister lives in a new build, top whack insulation, efficient boiler, storage heaters, but there’s no electricity so NOTHING works, no cooking, heating, washing.

If the storm hit during a period of sub zero temps, a lot of people would be in a bit of trouble as their entire infrastructure failed.

Is the negativity towards oil and now log burners as well, combined with the push towards heat pumps and renewable energy powered house entirely wise when an 8hr storm can turn it all off?

My post on Friday in another thread….

I was saying this earlier today to someone - turn all gas/oil boilers electric and suddenly you're asking a lot of the grid in a cold snap. All it takes is for the snow to make some power lines drop and you've got plenty of houses with no heating whatsoever.

 

[melted welly]

My post on Friday in another thread….

Totally this.

we’re now told that our power will likely be restored “in the next few days”.

I can see the merit in an urban setting of community heat, or air source pumps, as most cables and all pipes will be underground.

To take the traditional sources and ultimately our self sufficiency away from rural communities, single dwellings then say you could be without your single source of power for days on end in the event of a large scale incident smacks of complete ignorance or stupidity.

 

[Drillman]

3 phase genny for the corn drier here. As no 3 phase mains.

big long cable and a old fashioned change over switch to hook it up to house and buildings if power goes off.

only thing is the genny is 70kva and a bit too big really so to stop the engine hunting we have to switch everything we got on to try load it down a bit.

that includes all the lights, tumble drier leccy fires and anything else we can think of.

 

[Lincs Lass]

It doesnt have to bad weather to stop everything electrical working ,,3 years ago northern power switched the juice of on my road for a whole day to do tree surgery work ,,well ive never heard so many folks bleating on because their heating was of and no internet .
I was the only house still to have heat with the Rayburn and an open fire ,,kettle sat on the hotplate ,pans for boiling water to wash up ,I was ok ,,village shop even had their own power from an ex mod genny

 

[willie waver]

got a pto generator from when i had a dairy, its also connected up to the house, just need to connect up the nice diesel tractor, flip a switch and i'm back to full power

 

[Exfarmer]

Yeh I think mines the same although I have a battery which keeps us going for a while.
what is the reasoning behind solar systems going off if mains goes off?

Solar has to be set up either as running in tandem with the mains or set to Islanding ( off the mains). Most inverters can handle this. It is critical they are not live with the power off as pumping power down the mains can have two very serious issues. Firstly an electrician working to repair the system may find that power is coming back up the system he believes is dead with possible fatal results. The other aspect is that most electric motors will burn out is there is insufficient voltage in the system which could be very expensive for anyone with a large set up feeding a lot of motors or even domestic feeding a freezer or two.