Generator man

A lot of homeowners are quoted a generator from one number: the main fuse. 60 A, 80 A, 100 A — pick a kVA that “covers the supply” and hope. That is how you buy a set that is too small for the heat pump and the freezer starting together, or far too big for a house that only needed lights, the boiler and the fridge. GES Power Ltd start the other way. We ask what you actually want to keep running when the mains fails. That is what the Residential Standby Generator Load Assessment Form is for....

Most generator “no-starts” we see are not engines. They are batteries. Someone has already been there with a multimeter. They have written 12.6 V or 25 V in the book and signed the set off. Then the mains fails at 2 a.m. and the starter clicks once. A voltage reading is not a battery test. What a multimeter actually tells you A digital meter across the posts tells you the surface voltage at that moment. On a charged 12 V battery you will often see around 12.4–12.8 V. On a 24 V bank, double...

A weekly run with no load proves the engine turns. It does not prove the set will carry the building. That is what a loadbank test is for. You put real kilowatts on the alternator so the engine, the cooling, the AVR and the exhaust all work as they will on the night the mains fails. Wet stacking, light-load glaze, a radiator that only just copes at tickover — none of that shows up until you ask the machine for current. On a set in a yard, that is straightforward. Van, loadbank, tails onto a...