anyone use a generator instead of mains power?

i'd be using single camping gas stove to boil water,
or just take a flask ?

I have a generator - Chinese thing and cost around £100 second hand. Good for general power but not ideal for a workshop where you want it on for a long time. I was considering solar charging as a good system for a garage - panels, charge controller, inverter and marine batteries. You probably need to work out your watt hours and what is the best option for you.

Charlie

Have you checked to make sure its not just missing the main fuse?

I'd be surprised if they could of been fussed to disconnect main wiring, my old grain store worked after 50 years of being 'disconnected'



I don't condone the fact you'll be in the middle of knowhere with an unknown free supply, not one bit, not at all...

I rewind motors for a living use two aldi gennys pal

If you can get the power on, do it. But as it's that old, do have a close look at the insulation - could be decaying rubber instead of pvc. And bear in mind that the fuse boards will probably have asbestos in them.

Otherwise, as has been said, a ~2.5->3.5kva genny will run lights and power tools happily. Don't really cheap out as the last thing you want is to be fighting with a recalcitrant engine on a cold wet night when you want some lights. FWIW, Honda engines are the pretty much the only small petrol engines that tool hire companies will touch - and there's a reason for that...

For that sort of use I'd be buying a petrol genny rather than a diesel: yes, the running costs will be a bit higher (especially compared to using road duty free red diesel), but the purchase price will be lower. Additionally, dizzles don't like running for long periods with light loadings - such as will be the case with your usage pattern - as they glaze the bores. If you do end up with a diesel ('cos they sometimes turn up cheap on t'bay), it might be worth running low-detergent oil in it (specification API CC - something like Morris Oils Golden Film), as it reduces glazing a lot.

Depending how much time you're spending there, and what sort of usage pattern you end up with, it may be worth your while grabbing some 12v lights, a chunky leisure battery and taking it home to charge - running a genny just to power a lead light seems overkill. It could even stay in the boot while you're at the unit with some leads running in.

Finally, as already said, it'd be best to use a camping stove for the kettle: electric kettles take a lot of juice to run, and a petrol engine running a generator powering a heating element is a very wasteful way of converting chemical energy into hot water.

I'm doing a similar thing to you - been looking at the best ways to sort power (as cheap as possible!)
Been looking at 12v-240v inverters, there seem to be some relatively beefy ones out there which would be capable of powering a grinder/drill etc off a car battery... 1000w sets are up on ebay for about £25.

How do people go on with welding though? I know some people manage to do it without mains power!

Have a poke about on your mains incoming with a multimeter down to neutral and earth to make sure it's not live before you fiddle ^.^ I don't know if you're much of an electrician but you should have a decent supply of 415v 3-phase there - if you could reconnect simply, that would cater for all your machining needs.
PS. bet the sump under the workshop would make a cracking storage area/zombie apocalypse bunker.

Good point Also bear in mind any 'heavier than air' gases will flow down there (petrol vapours,propane/butane etc etc) last thing you need is a grinding spark setting it all off ......