Honestly speaking I am now really sick and tired of the power failures that have been going on and also we have been warned that during the FiFa world cup there will be more load shedding .What I would like to know is, has anyone on this forum have a generator connected to their pond so has soon as the power goes down the generator starts automatically .I would like to know what make to purchase as well as what KVA .I would like to run the Pond and a light or two .I have a 1.1kw Speck pool pump running my pond as well as a 4.5 kw running my Protein skimmer Any advice

Joe it is all about Watts. Your 1,1 draws about 1500Watts and your ,45 I recon about 300 so now you have 1800watts I would purchase a gen set at least something that can supply around 2800 Watts or even 3000. IE: 3 kW. I would buy a good make diesel with an electric starter and then you have to get an electrician to connect this. Remember he has to install someting that will cutt out your gen set again if the power comes on, otherwise you will damage it.
I have seen lots around but be carefull to buy something that you can get psrts for. Some of them you cant even get a simple thing like an air filter.
Now is the time to buy there is lots around at discounted prices from the load shedding days.

Hi Joe
I installed a 5.5 KW generator at the entrance of my garage, running my 2 ponds and QT tank plus coffee peculator.
This is coupled to my municipal electrical box by means of a cut-over switch between Eskom and Generator. Well this is unfortunately a key start operation but you can install an automatic cut-over switch for a power failure.

I have started out with a small power supply that can be charged with electricity but also manual with a pump action by hand or feet.
See https://koionline.forumotion.com/equipment-f31/power-source-for-that-terrible-power-failures-t145.htm

Then I moved to a deep cycle battery ( R 1100.00) connected to a battery charger that would stop charging when the battery is fully charged, with invertor (R 450) and air compressors. You don't really need all your normal pumps to keep the fish and filters going in emergency situations. During the load shedding days, I would engage the system when I leave. When the power goes off, the pumps would stop, but the air compressor with air stoones would carry on for at least 5 hours. When the power goes on again, the charger would recharge the battery automatically until fully charged again.

This sytem works quite well for the average koi keeper and is not expensive.

Currently I have a GSM alarm systems which notifies me via sms when there is movement or power failure. (R 600 per system) If I get the no power sms I go to the farm/ponds and start my generator (R 4000.00) and run three pumps at a time (maximum capability of gene) and ensure that each pond gets oxygen at least every hour, for at least 10 minutes.

To run a backup generator that goes on automatically to run all your pumps as usual, is going to cost you an arm and a leg, and will in most cases not be worth the money spend. I have also heard of a few people loosing koi because the backup generator did not start automaticallly for some or other reason.

I suppose it all depends on your budget, the value of your fish and how much you are prepared to pay for your convenience.

Hi joe
I like the sms and manual start system. You just need someone that you can ask to start it for you if you are perhaps out of town.
Then maybe just let them connect a auto stop when the power comes on but with a delay of say 10 min. sometimes it goes off again straight away.
I would go diesel but make sure about your diesel supply and that it is kept fresh and full, remember diesel goes off, and need to be refreshed after some time. Petrol is just n big fire hazard as well.

Joe something to also keep in mind is the amount of amps you can get from Generator. My generator was mainly bought to run my office at home (Pc's) when the power goes down but it also powers the koi pumps. I have to manually connect a cable to it.

I have a Honda 4.5KVA. before that i bought a a small 2.4KVA blue chinese brand generator (a very good looking key start generator) and although in theory it should have enough power it could hardly run 3 Pcs. Some of the pc monitors just refused to come on. I tried it on the pond pump. It did run but i could hear by the sound it was making that it was not happy. It was as if it was running at 70% of its capacity.

I took it back and bought a ugly looking red Honda 4.5KVA (pull start, the motor is visible and has no cover) with voltage regulator. Its petrol...i wanted diesel but that was all that was available at the time. For the office I also run a 3.5KVA UPS that is made to get its power from a generator. It smooths out the spikes and dips in the power from the generator (or from eskom)....if any do occur. We now have 4 of these UPS each can power a rack server for about 1 - 1.5 hours.

Back to the generator...

It looks roughly like this.


I do not know technical the details why the first one did not work properly but according to the sales person the generator was not able to supply a steady enough amp and Volt Hertz and so the appliance did not function properly. KVA power is not the only thing that matters. This generator would have worked if i used it on fridge, stove and lights. It was able to supply 2.4KVA but not as a steady steam at the right frequency. Obviously i picked it up quicker with the PCs than what one would with a motor like in a pump. I was told that this can even shorten the lifespan of the appliances.

The best is to try and get a WELDER if you want to buy a smallish thing for emergency power only ... they are designed to deliver constant AMPS. Fluctuations in AMPS trashes your equipment very quickly.

Does anyone know anything about solar panels?
That would be an ideal way to run the pond off solar power.

I am no expert in this field but agree with Wayne. Rather buy a proper make generator like the Honda. The price difference between a 3kW and 5kW is very small, so get the bigger one instead. Some of the smaller no name toys wont do the job since they might have un unstable output voltage and the frequency might not be stable either. Believe me, this is not good news. I had a generator a few years ago running at low voltage. Had to do some work and my drill burned out within the first minute of use. Stupid as it might sound I tried the grinder and the same thing happened

It is very easy to modify the generator to start by itself when power goes off and to shut down when eskom comes back. Paul's idea of battery back up might be even a better idea if you don't want to go the generator way. Just make sure you have enough batteries to supply current for the duration of power cut. This technique works the best if you have low power units running during the power failure ( maybe air pump and small low wattage pump) Will look like a space station if you want to run a 2kW system for say 10hours.

stumble wrote:

Does anyone know anything about solar panels?
That would be an ideal way to run the pond off solar power.

Very expensive to run a high power system ( example: 2 x 750W motors, UV, air pump and and) Solar panels can only work while the sun is shining, so you will need batteries to store the energy for lets say night time back up power.

Your solar panels /battery back up must be big enough to supply power for the total duration of the power failure which might be a few hours. If your total power consumption is lets say 1kw per hour and you need back up for 8hours this means you will need a solar system ( and batteries ) capable of delivering 8 kW. This means you will need 7 x 100Ah batteries (12Volt x 100A = 1200Amps per hour x 7 = 8.4kW)
The panels you buy is normally 75W panels, so this means that you will need 107 panels ( 8000W / 75W) to be able to deliver enough power for 8hours.

All of the above can be scaled down if you dont use that much power, or if the back up time is less

Hi All

Thank You all for your help,I have bought a Honda 5.5kw and took a eletrician with me who has set up a few generators for SAKS members,the Gen cost me R6.5K and the unit for auto start up/off R3.5k,just need all to be connected up

Good choice, and good luck with future power cuts.

Joe was holding out with the initial load shedding at my store, and 2 years ago just before an international trip, I thought it good to add a system to make it easier for my staff whilst I was away.

Since that moment it has never been used for a power cut, only to start and keep batteries going.

Well maybe it gets some work to do after the World Cup

Hi Joe

I think you have made a very good decision and choice here. If one thinks about it, for the price of one good fish to save all.

I must also start looking at it.

Once it is up and running one should test run it periodically to make sure all is well.

Hi Bobby

That is exactly the reason why I purchased a generator,I was away last week
for business in Singapore and my wife phoned me on Monday the power was off for solid 6 hours and on Wednesday for 4 hours .its terrible when you so far away and can not do anything,I will be going away on business in June for
3 weeks as well as in Oct so I can not afford the headache any more .most definite be glad if I wont have to use it but just to have peace of mind

Joe just remember to show your wife how to top the generator up. How big is your Honda fuel tank? Mine is only about 5l.

Hi Wayne

25L Tank

Hi guys

Just be very strickt and stop the gen set when you refuel, I niticed in todays news papers that 3 people got burned badly again when the gen set was refueled and it caught fire.

My generator runs for about 6 hours on 5l petrol if i remember correctly. Thats the only part of it i dont like - the small fuel tank.

Well Eskom was upto their old tricks again today.... we had a power outage today from 10am to 17:30. Gave me chance to pull the generator out and make sure everything is working for the coming months....Its kinda difficult to do comupter work with out electricity.