Help & guidance sought

[CINDERS]

Peter 2 stroke fuel goes stale after a period of time also what you need to do is each time you stop the generator turn the fuel off first and let the motor run the carby dry as when the fuel evaporates it leaves this gunge from the mix that can block the jets of the carby also 30% of an engines wear will happen in the first few moments with a dry bore so starving it of the lubricant is not a good practice. The stuff with the 2 stroke I know because I had a 250cc 2-stroke Honda Elsinore and had let it sit for ages after a full day of trying kick start it, to bump start it, stripping the carby down looking at the jets, cleaning the air filter pushing it up and down a hill (Steep) I read in the manual about stale 2 stroke fuel. Changed the fuel to a fresh mix hey presto first kick that's how I learnt about stale 2 stroke mixes. Also if you do get a little condensation in the tank tip a bit (small ok) of metho into tank metho helps destruct the water make up helping it mix with the fuel I had to do this with a V 8 falcon panel van I had got a crap tank from the 44 gal drum I was using on the farm so I put a liter of it in a full tank car ran a tad rough but cleared after a while. Just my 5c worth

[Gil Boyd]

UNPROFOR1994,
Phew, thats a handle and a half and know where it originated, but I bet your names Jim too
Wind turbines are a no no here in the UK even small ones because you need planning permission. If you are not in a farm yard or a remote location you have no chance. Everybody seems to be opposed to them no matter what size. Where I live its always windy and would make infinite sense, but those who would allow it, do not have any!!

[browningautorifle]

Wind turbines

Here there are bylaws controlling them, the size would be just under the smallest size available. You'd have to completely re-engineer the impeller...or it's prohibited.

[Peter Laidler]

Thanks for the info on teh 2stroke all. It is probably gummed up carb I suspect as detailed by Cinders. Will take on board about the dry cylinder walls but I do try to lube with jelly of course!!!!!!!

My brother owns an old Bedford QL lorry and keeps the battery fully charged by using a spare MGB generator on his garage roof that has a cooling fan blade attached to the armature in place of the pulley wheel. The generator is now wind powered and whenever the wind blows, it's slowly keeping the battery trickle charged. No my idea of sound economics but.......

There is a tubular type of wind turbine blade mounted vertically that looks a bit less obtrusive/awful than the standard things

[CINDERS]

Funny thing is people become HAM operators and have aerials sticking out everywhere and TV antennae but as soon as someone tries to better their life and be comfortable in a time of a crisis (power outages) every seagull cries foul play????
The question is why is that........!

[Colonel Enfield]

Have you considered portable solar panels (the sort most camping/4WD stores sell or can source) for powering things like mobile phones, laptops, and other smaller appliances?

I appreciate that's not going to keep you warm in the depths of an English winter, but at least you'll still be able to complain about how cold you are together with your friends on social media

As someone mentioned earlier, I'm not sure the sun is out enough in the UK to make a house-mounted system worthwhile (they're very popular here in Australia, though, for obvious reasons).

Perhaps have a look at a camping or 4WD store to see what sort of heating options they have? Otherwise, I'd suggest a petrol generator; they're not outrageously expensive and generate quite a bit of power, I'm told.

[scoobsean]

I have a 6.5kW portable diesel generator. If the power goes out, I wheel it out of the garage and hook it up to a socket on the outside of the house that feeds, via an isolation switch, directly into my breaker board. It can run the whole house (apart from the AC) as if the mains power was still on. I watch for my neighbours' lights coming back on so I know when to switch it off and throw the isolation switch back over to the grid.

[Gil Boyd]

Wish it was that simple here in the UK. Health & Safety stop us doing that easy to remedy trick here, unless you live in the boonies!!

[enfield303t]

The best bet for most is a inexpensive generator and from reading countless posts on longevity you really don't have to spend the big money and buy something like a Honda. Apparently the key is to change the oil very frequently for the first few hours you run it. IIRC the first oil change should be after a couple hours running or less and then do it two more times in the next 4 to 6 hours of use. There are people who have done this and have used the same inexpensive generator over 10 years with no issues. From what I read it appears that lower priced generators do not have the care taken during manufacturing particularly in remove every tiny bit of loose metal from the manufacturing process. Changing oil very frequently is the trick to getting all the tiny bits removed before they do damage?

The wiring to use it has to be done properly and where I live any electrical contractor is allowed to do the work.