What size static generator?

Col555

Member
Location
Cumbria
Thinking about getting a back up generator that'll run the whole farm & house in the event of power cuts. In the past we've been able to milk by a tractor pto generator, but it would only run the parlour, nothing else. Plus its always a nusience because it took the tractor that's needed for bedding and feeding up right at the time of day I need it most. also we have a lot more daily electric dependant equipment than we used to... auto scrapers, Computer calf feeder, borehole water system etc...and although in the past we've only been out of power for a couple of days at the most, but its playing on my mind about what sort of a pickle we would be in if it was off for a few weeks or something.....if this worst winter in ages come's....power plant strikes/terrorist attacks etc....we haven't much of a back up.

My question is what's the typical of a size static generator (with its own engine) that would run a dairy farm & house?
The main power will go to...
16/16 parlour with acrs & feeders
5000l bulk tank
3 sets auto scrapers
god knows how many lights....

then we have things like welder, workshop tools, old grain crusher, borehole, cow brush, calf feeder, heat detector, then your typical house.....TV's, cooker, kettle, central heating etc

Is looking at 150kva generators a bit overkill for the stuff I've listed? Have to admit electric and power requirements are not my strong points!!
 

Blue.

Member
Livestock Farmer
I run more with a 27.5kva but I think it must 27.5/phase.

Total up all your motor powers,lights and other stuff and you should get a rough idea of what size you need.

I would be amazed if you need more than 40kva.
 

DrWazzock

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lincolnshire
Total up all your motors lights etc then multiply by 1.2 cos not all the current is turned into power, then double it to allow for starting motors which take a whole lot more while starting than running.

If you buy one that's a bit too big it won't actually cost you that much more to buy or run.

Buy one that's a bit small and it will be cost you dearly.
 

Col555

Member
Location
Cumbria
The only reason I have the 150kva figure is that a mate on a bigger farm with 3 milking robots said they have a 180kva one, and he thought a 120 would do us, so I nudged it up to 150 to future proof ourselves....Technical way to get a figure.....:whistle:
 

defender

Member
Location
Aberdeenshire
look at your electric meter before and after your busiest hour of the day and see how many kw you have used ,this will give you an idea for a base load then add on an allowance for any motors that might have to run during a busy time ,
most quality generators will have about 10% built in overload allowance which can be used for starting motors etc , unless you have some fairly big motors I would have thought 120 kva would be plenty big but remember that a lot of the load will be on 1 phase unless the circuits are split with the house on another phase from the farm for example
rewinding a genny that has a phase burned out is a very costly job so worth spending time getting not just the size but the phase loads right
 

kelletview

Member
Location
Carnforth
I run more with a 27.5kva but I think it must 27.5/phase.

Total up all your motor powers,lights and other stuff and you should get a rough idea of what size you need.

I would be amazed if you need more than 40kva.
+1
How much extra would the static generator cost. You could spend that money on an extra second hand tractor.
 

Shorty

Member
Location
Suffolk
Problem with static generators is they get nicked more than pto driven ones, last one we had on hire was fixed in side a container as the pikeys have taken a shine to them, and had been hi abing silent runners away,
 

Exfarmer

Member
Location
Bury St Edmunds
Get a good sparky to advise
Do not use your meter to give a clue
This will only give average go an amp over and your trips may go
Forget using welding etc when you are running on genny
Suspect 50 KW would do the trick
 
When we were buying a genny, allbeit tractor driven the guy who was selling came out and used a meter to measure how much we were using. We switched just about everything on and were drawing about 27kva so he recomended a 40 kva but it wasn't a lot more to have a 50kva so that's what we bought to future proof ourselves. That will run everything at once, parlour, tank, scrapers, roller mill, lights and house so should do most dairy farms unless a very large unit.
 

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