H2OME

Home / Uses / Hydrogen backup vs a petrol generator

Petrol generator or stored hydrogen: what you are really choosing

A portable petrol generator lives in a lot of rural sheds. It is cheap and handy, and it is also the source of real risks that people forget in the rush of an outage.

The portable petrol reality

Petrol generators are small, cheap and easy to wheel out. They suit a short outage and a few extension leads. Their limits show in a long one: small tanks need refilling every few hours, petrol goes stale in storage and gums up carburettors, and the starter cord is pulled in the dark and rain. Many run near their limit, so a fridge and a jug together can be enough to stall them.

What it would keep running

  • Whole-house circuits, not extension leads
  • Fridge and freezer without a restart
  • Modem through the switch-over
  • Water pump
  • Heat pump in one room

Carbon monoxide and backfeed

Every year people are hurt running generators in garages, sheds or near open windows, because carbon monoxide is invisible and has no smell. A generator must always run outdoors, well away from openings. The other hidden danger is backfeeding the house through a homemade lead, which can energise the street line and endanger line workers.

A stored hydrogen system has no combustion, so it makes no carbon monoxide at all. It is designed to be wired into the switchboard by a registered electrician, with the inverter isolating the house from the grid whenever supply drops, so there is no lead to plug in wrong in the dark.

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.

Where each fits

If your outages are rare and short, a petrol generator used safely may be all you need, and we would say so. Stored hydrogen fits households where outages are long, roads close, and fuel runs are impractical or unsafe. It switches over instantly, runs whole-house loads up to 15 kW and makes no fumes. It is also in development, has no price yet, and returns 30% or less of the energy put in.

Questions

Is it safe to run a petrol generator in the garage with the door open?

No. Carbon monoxide can build up even with a door open. Run petrol generators outside, well away from doors, windows and vents, and fit carbon monoxide alarms in the house. This is standard safety advice and applies whatever other backup you have.

Does hydrogen produce fumes like petrol?

The fuel cell does not burn anything. It combines hydrogen with oxygen from the air to make electricity, heat and water. There are no exhaust fumes and no carbon monoxide at the point of use.

How does storing petrol compare with storing hydrogen?

Petrol is stored in cans and degrades over months. Hydrogen is held in a low-pressure buffer, 30 bar or less, inside an enclosure with leak sensors, and is designed to keep for weeks without losing charge. Both are fuels and both need respect.

More in outages, weather and how it works

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.