Portable generator

[not done it yetParticipant @notdoneityet]

Be very wary of trying to start the fridge – unless your inverter is very well protected for overloads! And don’t try it too soon after the compressor has turned off – they can take some minutes before the motor is on minimum load and ready for starting.

All too easy to let the smoke out!

You must either have a much smaller heater (than 500W) or a very large cup, if it takes 20 minutes to boil one cup of water!

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

ndiy, you neatly outlined the reason why I have not tried it on the fridge, the fridge looks as though it may be about to die without my help anyway.

The heater is just men't to keep a cup of coffee warm but I use a tea pot with about a litre of water.

The little gen set cost very little, I'v got 3 or 4 alternators, the motor came from a garage sale $NZ10, the wheels on the sack barrow $NZ13 each, every thing else out of the junk box. Automotive alternators are inefficient, and a better genny could be built with little difficulty, with that I would expect to get about 1.5k Watt with the 3 hp motor.

Ian S C

[not done it yetParticipant @notdoneityet]

Ian,

Apart from the 3kW diesel genny, which cost me £160 almost 40 years ago (Stamford generators are far better than modern ones, but heavy), I picked up a couple of cheap 2-stroke Chinese c.650W gennys for much less than a tenner apiece – they usually only need a new plug and the carburettor setting properly.

We are picky as to which ones we bid on. The ones later in the auction are usually better value than the earlier ones!

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