The Home Appliance thread

[fine69]

I think I will need to get a new pipe from the water tank above because the plumber tried pressure pumping from the house and from the roof but the pipes are so old that something hard has accumulated in the pipe.

Second query though, need an inverter to run 1 fan, 2-3 tube lights, a laptop and an LED with a basic 2.1 sound system. I recently heard that there are tubular batteries in the market and inverters have to be sine wave something. So what specs do i have consider when buying an inverter and battery today?

[Aroy]

Originally Posted by fine69

I think I will need to get a new pipe from the water tank above because the plumber tried pressure pumping from the house and from the roof but the pipes are so old that something hard has accumulated in the pipe.

Second query though, need an inverter to run 1 fan, 2-3 tube lights, a laptop and an LED with a basic 2.1 sound system. I recently heard that there are tubular batteries in the market and inverters have to be sine wave something. So what specs do i have consider when buying an inverter and battery today?

I agree with that. a 50mm pipe will increase the flow and pressure dramatically. In fact that is what our plumber said is to be done, in order to use a single lever bath mixer with only one floor head.

Old pipes accumulate material that monotonically reduces their internal diameter with time. The accumulation is usually rust on to which solids in water get stuck and in time choke the pipes.

[diyguy]

Originally Posted by fine69

Second query though, need an inverter to run ...
So what specs do i have consider when buying an inverter and battery today?

Most inverters are Sine wave today. The cost is between 6k to 6.75k for inverter alone - APC (900va) AND microtek (1kva). The tubular batteries come in different ratings of load capacity and typically cost today 15k and upward. The tubular batteries have longer backup capacity, life and warranties. Simple installation is usually free and if you need to pull wires to specific points can cost you about 2k or so.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by Aroy

I agree with that. a 50mm pipe will increase the flow and pressure dramatically. In fact that is what our plumber said is to be done, in order to use a single lever bath mixer with only one floor head.

Old pipes accumulate material that monotonically reduces their internal diameter with time. The accumulation is usually rust on to which solids in water get stuck and in time choke the pipes.

During a recent service, the guys set our pressure pump to a much higher pressure than previous. One interesting result was that all kinds of crud came out of the taps. Must have been a good clean out!

Whilst it was wonderful having showers at that pressure, we did set it back again do to the great amount of wastage such pressure would cause --- antisocial! The showers are still good. It is only a single-storey house: without the pump, the showers are just a dribble.

Speaking of which, our V-Guard solar water heater continues to perform well. It beats the old Venus one hands down. Even over past cloudy days, I have to adjust the shower taps to full-cold/1/3rd-hot else it would be scalding. That was never the case with the Venus, except perhaps, perhaps on May 40-plus days.

[techiecal]

Second query though, need an inverter to run 1 fan, 2-3 tube lights, a laptop and an LED with a basic 2.1 sound system. I recently heard that there are tubular batteries in the market and inverters have to be sine wave something. So what specs do i have consider when buying an inverter and battery today?

For the loads you mention a 900VA Pure Sine Wave Inverter is suggested. A Modified Sine Wave Inverter would be cheaper but I believe some laptops are fussy with MSW Inverters. Suggested brand is Sukam. Regarding batteries, if you are expecting frequent power outages then go for the tubular batteries- they charge fast but for infrequent outages a standard flat plate battery works perfectly and is much cheaper too.

[khoj]

Ceiling fans are fussy about MSW or Squared wave inverters what to talk about laptops which will definitely have their innards fried or baked as the case may be.

Originally Posted by techiecal

A Modified Sine Wave Inverter would be cheaper but I believe some laptops are fussy with MSW Inverters.

[techiecal]

Originally Posted by khoj

Ceiling fans are fussy about MSW or Squared wave inverters what to talk about laptops which will definitely have their innards fried or baked as the case may be.

Not so. I have been using many Modified Sine Wave Inverters for the past 30 years including some which I constructed myself and can vouch for the fact that no ceiling fans will give any trouble apart from a humming noise. If you are facing problems with fans then it is probably coming from the electronic regulator. In fact I am using modern MSW Inverters even with desktops and printers without any problems. Although for long term safety of sensitive electronics I would recommend investing in a Pure Sine Wave model.

[sgiitk]

Originally Posted by khoj

Ceiling fans are fussy about MSW or Squared wave inverters what to talk about laptops which will definitely have their innards fried or baked as the case may be.

My experience is that fans start humming, and what fails often is the regulator. Laptops and co are far more forgiving. What may not work are CFLs. See with a square wave they try to keep the energy content the same as in a sine wave, result is lower peak voltage. I have used square wave (the only kind available at that time) on computer systems since 1992, but never had an issue. The CFL table lamp will not light up though.

[diyguy]

Its that time of the year when our electricity bills soar. I took out my energy consumption meters and connected one each to our two refrigerators. Found that one is consuming 2.8kwh over a 24 hr period and the older one has so far consumed 2.4 in a 16 hour period. While setting up the meter realized the older one is leaking cold air from the freezer at the door rubbers. I have to find a way to restore life in the rubber which seems to have lost its stretching action. Also need to find a way to fill the gap to prevent the chill from escaping and thereby save on electricity. Might be worthwhile for others here to check around the edges of your own fridges to check for leakage.
Both my fridges are 320 liter or so samsung make. One is from 1998 and the other is sometime in 2003/4 I am guessing.

[fine69]

Originally Posted by techiecal

For the loads you mention a 900VA Pure Sine Wave Inverter is suggested. A Modified Sine Wave Inverter would be cheaper but I believe some laptops are fussy with MSW Inverters. Suggested brand is Sukam. Regarding batteries, if you are expecting frequent power outages then go for the tubular batteries- they charge fast but for infrequent outages a standard flat plate battery works perfectly and is much cheaper too.

Originally Posted by khoj

Ceiling fans are fussy about MSW or Squared wave inverters....

Originally Posted by sgiitk

My experience is that fans start humming, and what fails often is the regulator....

Is a Sine Wave Inverter and a Pure Sine Wave Inverter one and the same thing or different?

The place where I shifted, power outages are unheard of and whenever they do happen, we get a notice beforehand. So if the outages are going to be very rare I'm definitely better off with a flat plate regular battery, thanks.

What's with the efficiency of the inverter? I didn't see it mentioned anywhere, do I take it as 60% or 80% or something else?

[techiecal]

Originally Posted by fine69

Is a Sine Wave Inverter and a Pure Sine Wave Inverter one and the same thing or different?

What's with the efficiency of the inverter? I didn't see it mentioned anywhere, do I take it as 60% or 80% or something else?

In market lingo when you say you want an inverter you will be offered a MSW Inverter (called just 'Inverter') because in India mostly we require an inverter system to run fans and lights during a power cut.
If you want to run sensitive equipment also then you have to specify that you want a 'Pure Sine Wave Inverter'.

Actual efficiency of inverters involves many factors like the no load current along with the circuit-MSW or PSW and whether the load is optimum or minimum but with respect to output PSW scores over MSW especially when inductive loads are involved.

[sgiitk]

Originally Posted by fine69

Is a Sine Wave Inverter and a Pure Sine Wave Inverter one and the same thing or different?

It depends on the harmonic content. I will use the term interchangeably.

[S_U_N]

Since we are discussing inverters and sine-waves at the moment, I have to jump in to ask if anyone here has discovered a pure-sine wave UPS which I could use to just prevent my TV from shutting down for a couple of minutes. I need around 300 Watts and just a couple of minutes of backup.


My TV is connected to a Sollatek Voltage stabilizer which has a delay circuit.
When the voltage exceeds some threshold, the power is cut off and the TV switches off. Then after 10 seconds or so, the power is restored again. This cycle repeats a couple of times every minute.

I see lot of action from the stabilizer in the morning (between 9 and 10:30 AM). I took my volt meter and saw that the voltage from the supply company fluctuates between 160 and 440 Volts.



The constraint: The UPS should come with internal battery.

[diyguy]

Originally Posted by S_U_N

When the voltage exceeds some threshold, the power is cut off and the TV switches off.
The constraint: The UPS should come with internal battery.

http://www.apc.com/resource/include/...ase_sku=br800i
This is the one I purchased for my projector for a similar scenario and should exceed your requirements.

[phamilyman]

Originally Posted by S_U_N

Since we are discussing inverters and sine-waves at the moment, I have to jump in to ask if anyone here has discovered a pure-sine wave UPS which I could use to just prevent my TV from shutting down for a couple of minutes. I need around 300 Watts and just a couple of minutes of backup.


My TV is connected to a Sollatek Voltage stabilizer which has a delay circuit.
When the voltage exceeds some threshold, the power is cut off and the TV switches off. Then after 10 seconds or so, the power is restored again. This cycle repeats a couple of times every minute.

I see lot of action from the stabilizer in the morning (between 9 and 10:30 AM). I took my volt meter and saw that the voltage from the supply company fluctuates between 160 and 440 Volts.



The constraint: The UPS should come with internal battery.

Any ~2000-2500 rs 650VA UPS with internal battery should suffice for your load. Pick APC, Luminous etc

If you have the household ones, even those do the job, but they'll cost around 11k (2013 figures) for 800 VA "pure sine wave HOME UPS" with a 150 AH battery good for a few hours.