Absurdist Posted February 3, 2022 Share Posted February 3, 2022 Good evening fellow growers. I am on the verge of getting some builders in to remodel my house. The work is expected to take about 2 weeks (so will probably be 3 or 4 lol) and there will certainly be interruptions to my electrical supply. I'll have 3 plants mid flower and another 3 in veg and want to minimise disruption and smell leaks. My groom is in an outbuilding, so I hope that it will remain connected. But just in case i am thinking of lining up a petrol generator. It's a small scale setup with a 315 CMH and a 75 watt LED. Total wattage must be under 600 W. Anyone done similar and care to offer any advice? I guess an uninterruptible power supply would be another option. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lister420 Posted February 3, 2022 Share Posted February 3, 2022 I'm no expert by any means, but off the top of my head, you'd have to have a inverter to convert the generated electric to useable . Does the out building have heating? It could get quite pricey. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lister420 Posted February 3, 2022 Share Posted February 3, 2022 I know you can buy big power banks now, you charge them in the house socket them they can be taken anywhere and even power tools. But they cost about £1000 upwards. People use them for campers, boats and such like. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Personunknown Posted February 3, 2022 Share Posted February 3, 2022 You could use a normal petrol genny but there noisy , ive run a 1500w disc cutter off one on site years back , no inverter needed as runs 240v /110 normally Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diddy Posted February 3, 2022 Share Posted February 3, 2022 (edited) For the quiet generators I hear that the Honda EU series are pretty much widely regarded as the quietest. They are the ones that food wagons use and are "almost" silent. They start at 2.2kw (so 1800w true output at 230v) it has the inverter builtin...but its about £1300. Personally - I would put a bit of tape on the fuseboard with a very visible note stating Freezer in shed DO NOT TURN OFF. Explain the situation to the builders and it's job done. Cost...about 1p for paper and pencil lead . Edit to add - a 1kw can be got for £850....it is because they are the most reliable and very quiet. You can get much cheaper but they are very noisy. Edited February 3, 2022 by Diddy 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arthur Mix Posted February 3, 2022 Share Posted February 3, 2022 One issue with the small generators is they use quite a bit of fuel and have tiny tanks , also keep oil topped up as they have an oil cut off switch . If it where me I would look into LPG ones 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badbillybob Posted February 3, 2022 Share Posted February 3, 2022 Just now, Diddy said: For the quiet generators I hear that the Honda EU series are pretty much widely regarded as the quietest. They are the ones that food wagons use and are "almost" silent. They start at 2.2kw (so 1800w true output at 230v) it has the inverter builtin...but its about £1300. Personally - I would put a bit of tape on the fuseboard with a very visible note stating Freezer in shed DO NOT TURN OFF. Explain the situation to the builders and it's job done. Cost...about 1p for paper and pencil lead . Edit to add - a 1kw can be got for £850....it is because they are the most reliable and very quiet. You can get much cheaper but they are very noisy. im with the tape over the fuseboard. a petrol genny going all night will deff raise suspicions 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lister420 Posted February 3, 2022 Share Posted February 3, 2022 'Bluetti portable power station' That's the name of the power banks I was going on about, great bit of kit. Works on solar also (yeh..not good for winter) Bloke on the next thread 'off grid' was talking about them. Impressive for emergency electrical situations tbh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smilertoo Posted February 3, 2022 Share Posted February 3, 2022 No neighbour you can ask to run an extension cable for you? pay for the power used. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Absurdist Posted February 3, 2022 Author Share Posted February 3, 2022 Some great suggestions there, thanks guys. I'm a bit of a prepper by nature so quite keen on getting one anyway, but I think I will be in the clear as the outbuilding has its own switch on the consumer unit. Are the £300 ones from Screwfix dreadfully noisy then? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goohfy Posted February 3, 2022 Share Posted February 3, 2022 To on top for me but if I did I would get a v8 and get someone to sort the electrical side out so it’s safe then just have it sat at 6,000 rpm should give you plenty hope this help.peace Goohfy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devon Cream Posted February 3, 2022 Share Posted February 3, 2022 Dependent location noise wise with neighbours can be a pain plus generators running 24/7 attracts attention especially if it’s out building the fuel tank size as mentioned can be a pain plus the running 24/7 for quite a few weeks maybe a strain on cheaper models the Honda Silents are good but not cheap Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baron von greenback Posted February 3, 2022 Share Posted February 3, 2022 27 minutes ago, Absurdist said: Some great suggestions there, thanks guys. I'm a bit of a prepper by nature so quite keen on getting one anyway, but I think I will be in the clear as the outbuilding has its own switch on the consumer unit. Are the £300 ones from Screwfix dreadfully noisy then? It doesnt matter if its got its own switch on consumer unit if they have to touch the electrics they will kill all the power to everything they wont just knock each switch down its not safe health and safety sorry mate if the shed was on a diffrent loop and had its own consumer unit then u probably ok Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badbillybob Posted February 3, 2022 Share Posted February 3, 2022 Not neccesarily.......but if you tell them it absulutely has to stay on, for your shed freezer ahem..., they can isolate individual circuits, leaving the shed circuit on. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corey420 Posted February 3, 2022 Share Posted February 3, 2022 4 hours ago, Absurdist said: I guess an uninterruptible power supply would be another option. I've got a small UPS in the home office for PCs and such, and have in the past plugged LED lamps into it during a power cut. They did not like it, and flickered horribly. Obviously that's not the same as a grow lamp but your milage may vary with small consumer units. Might need a bigger unit designed for a small Comms rooms, and properly wired in for that route to be successful. Good luck whatever you end up trying! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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