kevray

We have found a possible purchase in Alicante out in the sticks, the property has water but no mains electricity, but comes with a large generator and solar panels, Has anyone experience of living with a generator running 24 hours?
some info/comments/costs would be gratefully received.

accommodation-in-spain

Hi Kevray

Don't worry you don't have to have it running 24/7. My parents have a place where they use solar and a generator plus gas to heat the water. You can set the generator and solar up to charge a battery and then run the electricity from that. You then use the generator to re-charge the battery or supply you with electricity if the battery is dead.

When we go out there we only really have the generator running for about 2 hours a day and the solar and battery do the rest. My parents don't have a tv or a washing machine though so that may sap it a bit so you may need to run it a bit longer than that.

You can't beat living in the sticks - it really is refreshing :-)

Hasta luego
Zoe

kevray

Thanks for the reply Zoe, we will be having all the usual trappings of a family so electricity consumption will be high, TV. computers, washing machine, fridge/freezer etc, more that a battery can handle, we wondered what the noise was like and we assume you get used to it

Beachcomber

I have a generator which comes on automatically when the electricity supply goes off or falls below 180 volts as it frequently does in this 'developing world' part of Andalucía and although it is about 60 meters from the house it drives me mad.

If you do go down this road, however, you will need some protection in the form of a UPS for your computers, TV, DVD etc as the output can be unstable. I would also recommend buying a washing machine with a mechanical programmer as opposed to a computerised one.

pete_l

I know you already have a generator, but if you were thinking of replacing it
you can get "quiet" generators that are meant to be used in domestic
situations. (see later)They are more expensive than the cheapo 2-stroke
generators you'll commonly find, and are more difficult to source.
Do you know how old it is? (or better, how many running hours your generator
has on the clock)

On the same topic, you should be able to cut down the noise by building
the right type of enclosure to house your generator - think about accoustic
panels and thick walls.

Next, what will you do if your (single) generator breaks down? If you're really
going to be dependent on it, you may want to consider getting a backup of
some sort. Think about how it would be if you had to wait weeks for a spare
part. Also a spare allows you to undertake preventive maintenance to avoid
a problem before it becomes critical.

Also, you'll need to consider the surge (or startup) power consumption
of your appliances. You may well find that your fridge/freezer needs twice
it's advertised current when it's compressor starts.

The cost can be quite high. Depending on the size of your generator you
may find you're paying £1 per hour for fuel (e.g. for a 5kW gen. at full load)
There are 8000 hours in a year if you really are planning to run it 24*7,
then the cost of your fuel will be much more than the cost of your generator.
Since the cost of the fuel will probably dwarf the cost of your generator, it
may save you money to dump the old generator and get a modern, more
efficient one.
On a similar topic, how much fuel are you planning to store - I don't know
what the regulations are in spain.

That's all I can think of for now
Pete

billgates

You shouldn't need to run a generator 24/7, particularly if you have solar panels. Why have solar panels if you're running the genny anyway?

We live out in the sticks without mains electricity - been here for over a year now. We have a 4.5kva genny and a few solar panels. Our visitors don't even realise that we're not on mains electricity because everything runs in the same way. Of course, we've had to adapt slightly, in that we don't leave lights on when we leave a room, but basically you wouldn't know the difference, and we only run the genny for a couple of hours a day if we need to run the washing machine. And we have two small children and run a 230v electric nightlight all night long.

Our solar panels charge the batteries which feed an inverter which is wired in to the main consumer unit for the house. During the day there is plenty of sunlight to keep the batteries topped up so we can use tv, computer, hairdryer, electric iron, pretty much anything below 1500W. We obviously wouldn't switch the iron and the hairdryer on at the same time - like I said, we have to adapt slightly.

Our fridge is gas, our cooker is gas, our water heater is gas/solar.

If we need to run the washing machine we run the genny (only because it's a computerised washing machine and doesn't like a modified sinewave inverter, otherwise we could run it off the solar during the day). On an evening if we feel like chilling out in front of the tv for a few hours then we just do a couple of loads of washing at the same time and switch the genny on.

Our fuel bill for the genny is less than 20€ a month during the summer. In the winter we were maybe paying up to 50€ a month because there were more days of cloud cover.

Noise from the genny is a nuisance if you're stood next to it or in the same room, but it's a "silent" genny and housed in a seperate building, and to be honest, we can easily forget that it is running.

Our gas bill is the biggest bill we have and that's three bottles for water heater, fridge and cooker.

It's not difficult to live without mains electricity and it doesn't take thousands of euros of investment either. We may have the option of connecting to the mains in a year or two, but to be honest, for the several thousand euros that it may cost, just for the convenience, we don't think it's worth it. And all we'll really get in return is a monthly/quarterly electric bill.

Hillybilly

What a great posting BillGates (knew you were taking a backseat at Microsoft but didn't realise you were now living in the sticks in Spain without mains electricity ) straight from the horse's mouth so to speak. I'm sure people will find that really helpful, thank you!

kevray

Many thanks for such a brill post , may I ask how much your genny cost to purchase and when you say 3 bottles of gas I assume that's per month at around 12 euros per bottle.
Thanks again
Kevray

David

Nowadays you can have a combination system of electricity generation. It's quiet, and relies on a mix of solar, wind and conventional generator.

The system is currently being installed in a 399m2 luxury villa (not mine unfortunately). The claim is that they will be able to run the villa as if they were on mains.

The company is based in the Murcia region but are soon to be openning an outlet in or around the Chiclana area.

If you want their contact PM me.

Chiclanagir

Please let us know what the costs are likely to be.

Bobbydog

Hi,
Kevray your face should be banned from this site you will frighten the Kids, you Little Devil.
Kev the bigger the Genny the less strain on it and the more power you will get out of it.
The Honda GX 5 serious are pretty quiet the prices are from 600€ to 2.500€.

billgates

Kevray, we bought our genny in the uk and it cost about £700. The three gas bottles we use are the small orange ones that cost about 12€ each. The fridge goes through a bottle in about a month. The water heater lasts for maybe three months in the summer, 1-2 months in the winter. The cooker seems to last forever on one bottle of gas.
Cheers.

Bobbydog

Billgates,
Do you know that if you have Solar Panels to do the whole property House, Water, Heating, Lighting, Pool everything i i remember correct you would get Half Back, but must be Installed by a Fully Qualified Engineer

kevray

As far as I can establish, Spain has now dropped any grants that were available for solar energy, this I believe was due to the poor performance of solar panels, they seem to be ok for low wattage lighting but when inverted to 240 volts, they found it impossible to store enough power for lighting and devices such as TV or fridges etc. But I would still agree that they have there uses and the water heater type are very useful.

Bobbydog

Kevray,
You float about that many places i never know if you are coming or going, have you checked with the Ajuntament or checked with a Reputable Dealer and i do not mean Clint Eastwood ( Cowboy ).
If you can get them they would save you a fortune in cash, you know you being so tight according to PETE the Bulldog and Tallbob.
I will see if i can find anything about it and will PM you oif i can.
Cheers
Bobbydog