..... I house it in a wooden 'dog-kennel' style cabin; even if it's raining?
I have had a weatherproof outdoor socket fitted at home as we suffer from many power cuts. The idea was that our generator would provide basic electrical supply to power the home comforts such as a light and tv or radio or a small fan heater or a small wattage oven/hotplate until such time as the mains power re-activates.
Obviously I cannot use the generator if it is raining (big draw back there!) but I wondering whether I could build a purpose built shelter for the generator, akin to a dog kennel but without the large opening, and be able to safely use the generator even if it was raining?
The cable would not touch the floor and I could affix it so that it looped down from the socket and up to a point where it disappeared into the shelter. A grommet should stop any rain ingress where the cable enters the shelter. I would need to think carefully about venting the shelter to allow exhaust gases to escape but other than that, can anyone see any obvious reasons why this could/should not be done?
I would have thought you could just make a pitched roof thing out of a couple of sheets of plywood, battens & roofing felt to go over it. This would allow plenty of airflow & keep it dry.
Hi. Surely most generators are designed to work outdoors anyway. Personally, I wouldn't fancy one running in my living room. As Arthur suggests, a couple of pieces of plywood on some timbers ought to do the trick of keeping the worst of the rain off. Have you thought about connecting your (gas) central heating system into it?
It's a suitcase style generator, rather than one of the industrial looking ones. 4 stroke I think, it's a Honda. I will still allow plenty of airflow but am more concerned about the issue with wet/damp conditions.
hi i have used a genni most times i caravan as i show dogs and most sites are just a field with a tap ive left the genni out in the rain many times but also have made numerous covers in the past ...old wind breaks ..ground sheet ...just made a frame from windbreak poles or steel rodding also bought a genni cover from a company that makes all things from canvas ...think they are called ''bags are us'' or something they can make anything to your design and measurements
your not going to try to wire it up to your house mains are you? Because if you do you would have to have a breaker to isolate the incoming or you will be trying to feed back into the grid, as well as the issues involved when your power comes back on!
------------- July 1-9 Nantcol Waterfalls meet Sept naturist week Sept SVR w/e Oct Secret meet Nov hopleys meet
Fear not Floggitt! I've had a standalone waterproof external socket fitted wired solely to a standalone twin socket in the lounge. I opted for a socket with an RCD incorporated but have since found that this was unnecessary due to the 'floating?' RCD of the generator. It's not connected to anything else apart from taking an earth for the (now redundant RCD) from a nearby socket. It was wired in by a qualified electrician about 2 months ago. Sods law we haven't had any power cuts since!
Quote: Originally posted by Defender on 26/11/2009
Fear not Floggitt! I've had a standalone waterproof external socket fitted wired solely to a standalone twin socket in the lounge. I opted for a socket with an RCD incorporated but have since found that this was unnecessary due to the 'floating?' RCD of the generator. It's not connected to anything else apart from taking an earth for the (now redundant RCD) from a nearby socket. It was wired in by a qualified electrician about 2 months ago. Sods law we haven't had any power cuts since!
Good boy you know it makes sense! as suggested earlier in this thread and i had done this in the past if you have gas fired central heating it uses very little energy and is worth having the possibility of running this too. It is commonly wired into a fused spur next to the boiler, change this for a standard socket and put a plug on the boiler wire. When you have a power outage either run an extention lead to your dedicated generator socket or have an extra socket hard wired near the boiler to use the boiler and pump will run keeping you nice and warm. Downside of this is the misses will unplug the bolier to use something called the iron or vacuum cleaner (what ever they are) and not plug it back in!
A few years ago we frequently had blackouts in a village loved running the genny when all the street was in darkness with the odd candle glow, I would leave the curtains open so they could see the TV was on and put on a light in every room just because i could!
------------- July 1-9 Nantcol Waterfalls meet Sept naturist week Sept SVR w/e Oct Secret meet Nov hopleys meet
Amazing family weekend with old steam engines, classic car displays, market stalls, and full catering and bar. And camping on site - Save £25 by booking in advance.
Topic: Can I use a generator if....
