H2OME

Home / Uses / Backup power for a country pub

Keeping the country pub pouring when the lines go down

In a small town the pub is often where people go to find out what is happening. This page looks at the loads a pub has to protect in an outage, and where a 15 kW system fits.

The cellar and the chillers come first

A pub's real exposure in a blackout is the cool room and the beer lines. Kegs warm, glycol chillers stop, and the bottle fridges behind the bar start their slow climb. Add the kitchen freezers with the week's meat, the EFTPOS terminals and the point of sale system, and a long outage gets expensive fast. Those loads together usually sit within a 15 kW system's continuous output.

What it would keep running

  • Cellar cool room and keg chillers
  • Glycol beer line chiller
  • Kitchen freezers and bar fridges
  • EFTPOS and point of sale
  • Bar and dining room lighting

The kitchen is where to be careful

A commercial kitchen with electric fryers, a combi oven and a chargrill can draw far more than 15 kW on its own. Being honest about that matters. The pilot would look at running a reduced menu in an outage, or keeping cooking on gas, so the system protects stock, the bar and payments rather than trying to run everything at once.

Lights, music and the TV for the rugby are small by comparison and fit easily alongside the chillers. In a district outage, a pub that is lit, warm and serving becomes the place locals check in, swap news about the roads and find out who still needs a hand.

How it works →
The H2OME loop: an electrolyser splits water into hydrogen, the hydrogen is stored in a tank for weeks, a fuel cell turns it into electricity for your home, and the water returns to the loop.

No generator in the beer garden

There is no engine, so no diesel roar outside the dining room window and no fumes drifting across the deck. It charges on off-peak power overnight and holds hydrogen for weeks. Round trip efficiency is 30% or less, so it costs more per unit than the grid. It earns its keep by saving stock and keeping the doors open.

Questions

Can it run the pub's kitchen too?

Partly. Fridges, freezers, extraction fans and a few smaller appliances are fine. Several large electric cooking appliances at once can exceed 15 kW, so a full menu may need gas cooking or a larger, multi-unit setup sized in the pilot.

Will the EFTPOS machines drop out?

No. The battery and inverter run in UPS mode, so the switch-over is instant and terminals, tills and the router keep running. Whether the bank network is up depends on the wider telco network, which is outside the pub.

Is it worth it for an occasional outage?

That is an honest question for each pub. If outages are rare and short, a cheaper option may do. Where a pub loses stock and trade several times a year, quiet automatic backup starts to make more sense.

More in community places and remote sites

Elsewhere

Every use →

Join the pilot list

Pilot installs go to people on this list first. Rural homes, farms and remote sites especially. No spam, no payment.