House electrical power back-up

[Carrot Cruncher]

While I agree that gennys aren't an essential bit of kit, it does depend on what you are prepping for. In any long term situation they would be pretty much useless due to the fuel requirements but the vast majority of time that they will be used is for power cuts or for use off the grid. It looks to me like the power supply will not be so dependable in the future due to possible strikes and the old stations going offline without any replacements built etc, and having access to a genny would be very useful. Areas that at the moment have very little interuption to their supply could well find themselves subject to rolling blackouts in the future

Also, one of the main reasons I prep is so that when the "normal" things go wrong I've got it covered. If I have my genny then I can still have nearly all my creature comforts (including the fridge and freezer, and maybe the internet), sitting in the evening reading by candle light might seem fun for a while but for me the novelty value would soon wear off

[diamond lil]

Yep, we all have to prioritise (godawful word, canny even spell it!) what's right for our individual circs. I cant get online in a powercut, I wish I could, but the local repeater mast goes off with the power And I love reading by whatever light as long as the damn telly is off But I think that's what prepping is all about eh - preparing ourselves and our houses and our stuff for possible problems.
And come clean CC - we all know you never miss yer soaps... you're addicted to Neighbours, I know this !

[Poledragon]

We've got a great little generator, fairly quiet too, but not one of those switches. I think during the last power cut, DH tripped the main switch on the fuseboard and plugged the genny directly into one of the sockets on the kitchen circuit! Kept the freezer working, which was our main objective.

Will have to investigate that switch - thanks for sharing. We're having the new house rewired, so it would be good to get one installed along with everything else.

[jansman]

We've got a great little generator, fairly quiet too, but not one of those switches. I think during the last power cut, DH tripped the main switch on the fuseboard and plugged the genny directly into one of the sockets on the kitchen circuit! Kept the freezer working, which was our main objective.

Will have to investigate that switch - thanks for sharing. We're having the new house rewired, so it would be good to get one installed along with everything else.

It's called"backfeeding"and is done with an extension with two male plugs-one to the gennie the other to thesocket.But just as your Husband did-throw the breaker switch so no electro comes in and none goes out.This creates a self contained circuit.BTW it is ILLEGAL.

[Poledragon]

.BTW it is ILLEGAL.

Is it? Oops... Will pass that on!

Of course, that nicely backs up my case for installing one of those simple switches!!

[jansman]

.BTW it is ILLEGAL.

Is it? Oops... Will pass that on!

Of course, that nicely backs up my case for installing one of those simple switches!!

Thing is it works(not that I do it,of course!)just be careful.

[the-gnole]

There are safer was to do this using a few easy to get items.

A wall mounted inlet socket and a fused, swithed spur is the minimum I would go for.

Similar to this one, but the "male" version rather than this "female" one.