On Apr 10, 8:52*am, John Nagelson wrote:
Hello, I am considering taking a house 'off grid', and would be
grateful for help with some of the following questions:

1) how easy is it to run an generator fuelled by PARAFFIN(known in the
US as 'kerosene', i.e. '28sec', the type of oil used in most oil-
powered domestic heating systems in the UK)?

2) how easy is it to get hold of, and run, a generator fuelled by
SOLID FUEL, e.g. coal or wood or both?

3) how easy is it to run a generator fuelled by DIESEL? And surely if
you do, you don't have to pay petrol-station prices? Is there a legal
way to avoid paying the excise?

4) what about running an oil-fuelled generator on cheapo COOKING OIL?
Is this practicable? Is it legal?


I'd be amazed if any of these ways of making electriciity was cheaper
than buying it off the grid. I'd also be amazed if any of them was
better for the environment than buying it from the grid. I would
worry about the noise - the continuous humm of even a well silenced
generator is quite wearing for those who live within earshot.

Using those fuels for direct heating is another matter. For
electricity I'd use PV panels, possibly a wind turbine if I lived
somewhere extremely windy.

I used to live off grid on a boat and did heating by coal and oil and
electricity from PV. Cooking from bottled gas. You can get oil fired
boilers that do not use any electricty (Kabola for example).

Robert