Another Tip, How to Reduce your Load for a genset

[Industrial Toys]

Here is another tip I got from my Rocket Science Friend.

I switched my 220/240 volt electric water heater to run on 110Volts.

This does several things:

It cuts the wattage in half (I believe) and frees up genset capacity for other things. The 110 operation vs 220 is not an issue for load balancing with the transfromer that I use in my genset/transfer switch arrangement.

The elements watts/square cm is halved (I believe) reducing significantly the buildup of deposits on your elements thus increasing their efficiency (on a new heater).

I WAS SKEPTICAL! Thought I would have only WARM (or cold) water (and I love HOT showers!). I also wash laundry in warm water.

This was not the case! I have noticed absolutely no difference! I should add, that I live alone, except for weekends when I have a friend stay with me. She does her laundry here every weekend.

So maybe for a typical family, this would not work. Maybe one could put in a switch, and when in an emergency situation, go to this mode.

Just thought it might be of interest to some.

 

[Heywood Jannockitov]

I switched our 220/240 volt electric water heater to run on propane. Now the generator only has to run a small blower fan on the water heater (same for the propane furnace). Saves even more electricity!

 

[Industrial Toys]

Thought about going to propane for some things, but wouldn't want to wait for a delivery when everything goes to heck after an ice storm.

 

[Heywood Jannockitov]

I was worried about the increased propane usage during the ice storm and deep freeze but the propane truck showed up yesterday to top off the tanks. They're good about delivering before holidays and cold snaps. Like oil, once delivered it's yours! No time-of-use premium like hydro rates!

 

[Heywood Jannockitov]

Our power was out for 2 days and our 6500 watt genny pretty much ran everything in the house as all heating (water and furnace) is propane. Our biggest draw is the well pump, which you could tell when it kicked in, you could hear the genny load up. We have a small electric 6 gal water heater in the barn wired 240V so it actually only draws 750 watts. After running the genny on and off for two days (mostly on) I could still hear it in my head afterwards for awhile! :shocked:

 

[Industrial Toys]

A friends inlaws were without power for eight days in Caledon. They had propane, and even after (finally) securing a gas genset, they couldn't make that **** (computerized) furnace run for love nor money! They never did figure that out. Plus for some reason the pilot light on the water heater went out. It didn't even have any electrical requirement. Lots and lots of frustration experienced.

Oh, the traps that humans create unbeknownst to themselves!

 

[CobyRupert]

It cuts the wattage in half (I believe) and frees up genset capacity for other things. .[/QUOTE

Actually, its cuts it by 75% and your left with 25%. Basically, it cuts the wattage output by the square of the voltage difference, so if your voltage is 1/2, then wattage is 1/4. Because:
P(power) =V(volts) x I (current, amps), The current is determined by the resistance (which is the heater element here and does not change), from Ohm's Law I=V/R, so substituting V/R for I, Power= V^2/R , this is why the power output difference is the square of the voltage difference.

So as long as you have the capacity in your tank so that you don't notice, or don't care, that the recovery time is 4 times as long, you can cut the hot water heater generator load by 75% by running it at 120V.

 

[BukitCase]

CobyRupert is correct on the math - perhaps an easier way to see this for non-electricians - power (watts) is = to volts times amps - cut the volts in half, it'll also cut the amps in half, so power = 1/4.

Warning - do NOT try this with a heater that has a FAN - it's likely the motor will try to run with 1/4 the power, and will probably not turn at all - end result is a burned out fan motor... Steve