Generator Integration to House Power

[TeeDee]

As we seem to be driven as a society to consider moving over too Electric Cars for our transportation needs I do have concerns that our already dated power grid system is going to find the increasing demand difficult to meet demands if we don't get the required back end infrastructure attended too.

As I also live in a rural location we seem to have more power cuts then city neighbours.

Has anyone implemented having a generator have a direct feed turn over into their house system?

 

[TLM]

I have a diesel generator able to feed to house (summer cottage) that is connected to a "Y" switch. When switching I try to switch off electronics and anything with large inductors as the system is not built to synchronize phase. So far it has worked and I don't think I have lost anything.

The problem is thunderstorm and lightning, have lost some electronics to them, I had some lightning protectors, they seem to work by blowing up themselves. Kind of ok but remembering to check them is a chore.

 

[Broch]

I manually connect my generator to the house when power goes off. Theoretically, a standby system should have an automatic isolation switch fitted that prevents your generated power going down the lines and electrocuting some poor worker trying to fix the power outage down the line. I just isolate the incoming mains at the main switch.

The generator is 5.5kw so will run everything apart from our ovens and cooker all at the same time. But, at the moment, I only connect it via a 13A spur so I'm restricted to about 3kw; plenty for standby.

 

[fenix]

Works electrician has just installed a battery setup at home, for him its got a 3 year payback. Charges cheap rate at night, delivers power during the day, also acts as a UPS if external power goes down.

 

[TeeDee]

Works electrician has just installed a battery setup at home, for him its got a 3 year payback. Charges cheap rate at night, delivers power during the day, also acts as a UPS if external power goes down.

I assume you mean PV? If you would could you ask him for details of what he has gone for please?

 

[fenix]

I assume you mean PV? If you would could you ask him for details of what he has gone for please?

No panels just batterys. Uses car tariff to charge them.

 

[TeeDee]

No panels just batterys. Uses car tariff to charge them.

Sorry , I'm being dull - How does that work? Ref Car Tariffs - I'm assuming thats a bit of a , angle?

Assuming the rate per unit for car recharge lower than standard rate unit - so building up a reserve then drawing it down?

 

[Mesquite]

I'm pretty sure Hugh (@British Red ) did either a video or a post about hooking up a generator to his cottage and all the electrics involved

 

[slowworm]

When we bought this place several years back the previous owner offered to sell us his old generator as there's a change over switch. I decided it would be better to buy a new one but despite the fact we are fairly remote and often get power cuts (had one yesterday) we've never actually needed one.

We work from home and have been without power for over 24hrs but the freezer was ok and with a laptop, hotspot on a mobile phone and a couple of normal battery banks along with a wood stove and candles or battery lantern we've not had any problems coping.

Even if I did buy a generator I think I would just plug the freezer in direct if required.

 

[TeeDee]

When we bought this place several years back the previous owner offered to sell us his old generator as there's a change over switch. I decided it would be better to buy a new one but despite the fact we are fairly remote and often get power cuts (had one yesterday) we've never actually needed one.

We work from home and have been without power for over 24hrs but the freezer was ok and with a laptop, hotspot on a mobile phone and a couple of normal battery banks along with a wood stove and candles or battery lantern we've not had any problems coping.

Even if I did buy a generator I think I would just plug the freezer in direct if required.

I'm thinking of going the ASHP route , No gas in my area , just Oil boiler - So I would like to have some redundancies built in.

It gets real old- real fast , when a significant other is moaning due to the cold.

( I call it character building )

 

[Broch]

The advantage of an oil boiler is that you can run diesel generators (legally) on heating oil. I can generate that way at lower cost than buying power from the grid!

 

[TeeDee]

The advantage of an oil boiler is that you can run diesel generators (legally) on heating oil. I can generate that way at lower cost than buying power from the grid!

Ive been umming and ahhing about getting the boiler just replaced as opposed to disbanded. Still on the fence.

I can get the ASHP and UFH at cost however ( lucky me ) and do want to future proof the house as much as I can - however the chicken little in me wants some redundancies available.

Also worth mentioning - new ASHP coming onto the market are high output ( 75 ° ) meaning for any renovation job you can take an ASHP and just have it run the Rads as per normal ( without the faff of ufh install )

 

[rarms]

The advantage of an oil boiler is that you can run diesel generators (legally) on heating oil. I can generate that way at lower cost than buying power from the grid!

This is something I have been wondering about, I have an old twin cylinder Lister driven generator, and have been wondering about running it on heating oil. Do you add any lubricating oil to the heating oil when you use it? At the moment mine is more of a prep, and have only tried it on diesel, but I guess like you I have a surplus of heating oil, and it is something I wanted to look into.

In terms of hooking the generator up to the house, that is probably the next step, but like slowworm, we manage to cope normally without the generator. We have a decent power cut maybe once every six months, but laptops and power packs, or simply just being outside when it happens means we don't really 'need' the generator.

 

[Broch]

This is something I have been wondering about, I have an old twin cylinder Lister driven generator, and have been wondering about running it on heating oil. Do you add any lubricating oil to the heating oil when you use it?

Yes, a little 2-stroke; I'll look up the exact amount but it is very small.

 

[British Red]

I'm pretty sure Hugh (@British Red ) did either a video or a post about hooking up a generator to his cottage and all the electrics involved

I think I did cover it Steve. The simple answer is, to do it properly, you need a transfer switch between the meter and the distribution panel. The switch has three settings;

0 isolates the cottage from power
1 is mains
2 leads to a socket

Plug anything into that socket and your house runs from it (generator, battery plus inverter etc.).

If you have limited power, you can turn off individual breakers (e.g. electric cooker) to avoid overloading your power source.

The transfer switch ensures that you don't back feed the mains which risks the safety of anyone fixing a line fault

Electricity changeover switch by British Red, on Flickr

 

[TLM]

As my diesel is water cooled I have an arrangement where I can take also that heat into the basement. Theoretically I get a fairly high energy efficiency that way. But it does not make much sense to run it when the mains is on so it does not get used very often.

 

[TeeDee]

I think I did cover it Steve. The simple answer is, to do it properly, you need a transfer switch between the meter and the distribution panel. The switch has three settings;

0 isolates the cottage from power
1 is mains
2 leads to a socket

Plug anything into that socket and your house runs from it (generator, battery plus inverter etc.).

If you have limited power, you can turn off individual breakers (e.g. electric cooker) to avoid overloading your power source.

The transfer switch ensures that you don't back feed the mains which risks the safety of anyone fixing a line fault

Electricity changeover switch by British Red, on Flickr

Thank you Hugh - excellent!

 

[RichardJackson]

Ive been umming and ahhing about getting the boiler just replaced as opposed to disbanded. Still on the fence.

I can get the ASHP and UFH at cost however ( lucky me ) and do want to future proof the house as much as I can - however the chicken little in me wants some redundancies available.

Also worth mentioning - new ASHP coming onto the market are high output ( 75 ° ) meaning for any renovation job you can take an ASHP and just have it run the Rads as per normal ( without the faff of ufh install )

I am no expert but existing high temp HPs are much less efficient than low temp ones so are costly to run. I donno about future ones; currently a low temp heating system is the way to make them cheaper to run than gas/oil, as I understand it.

Sent from my SM-A536B using Tapatalk

 

[TeeDee]

I am no expert but existing high temp HPs are much less efficient than low temp ones so are costly to run. I donno about future ones; currently a low temp heating system is the way to make them cheaper to run than gas/oil, as I understand it.

Sent from my SM-A536B using Tapatalk

Most likely - I think for the push from government it may make it a more attractive decision as Gas boilers get phased out ( if that actually happens )

 

[TLM]

Heat pumps with a large temp difference are almost all now two stage. That is to keep the efficiency reasonable.