Easy Load Shedding Solutions For Your Home
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Load shedding solutions that you can implement quickly and relatively cheaply is what most people in South Africa are in urgent need of.
With no end in sight to load shedding in South Africa, people are desperate for easy solutions to avoid the impact of having rolling blackouts.
These top load shedding solutions for your home will help help households resume their normal activities to some extent.
5 Smart Load Shedding Solutions
1. Home Inverter System
A home inverter system is one of the best solutions to power your household appliances or small office.
Depending on the type of inverter, you could use it to power your TV, WiFi, Computer, lights and more.
For example this home inverter system, costing around R10K, would include the following components
- Multi-Function Pure Sine Wave Inverter 1.2kW/12V
- 1 x 12V 100Ah Deep Cycle AGM Battery
- Stand alone unit, but can be connected to electrical DB
- DIY battery cabling with extension lead included
- Battery Box (plastic)
As far as installation is concerned, you can either do a DIY installation which would involve connecting the inverter to the battery and power supply with the cables that are supplied with the load shedding kit.
Alternatively you can connect it directly to the DB board which would require the services of a certified electrician.
For more information on costing, take a look at this comparison of Home Inverter Prices South Africa here.
2. Gas
Believe me, getting a gas hob installed is one of the best load shedding solutions there are.
For the benefits it provides, it’s a fairly inexpensive exercise that you will never regret.
Imagine coming home from work and finding that load shedding has just started with your family wanting their supper and not being able to cook.
With a gas stove you have most of the capability you would normally have to prepare meals, boil water and even benefit from the warmth it creates.
You don’t necessarily have to get a complete gas hob installed as there are some cheaper load shedding solutions in terms of the gas cooking options like these;
- Gas plate screwed onto a Cadac gas cylinder: R699,00*
- 2 Plate gas stove: R399,00*
- Gas hobs: R1999,00*
*These prices were seen at Game and Makro but are subject to change without notice.
3. Battery Power
Having fully charged batteries at hand can be used to power lights as well as other small appliances when load shedding hits.
You’re probably wondering what you can use battery power for.
Without using an inverter, which converts DC (Direct Current) battery power into AC (Alternating Current) which is what is used for most appliances, you can power many 12 volt items like these below.
- Cell phone charger, like the ones you would plug into your car’s cigarette lighter.
- 12V car vacuum cleaner
- LED lights
Whilst most car batteries are only 12 volts, a 12V battery can produce as much as 600 amps which is the amount of electricity generated by the battery.
Furthermore, battery reconditioning is something you can do at home to restore the battery power of old car batteries that can be used in your home for lighting which is a far better options than using candles which pose a fire hazard.
4. Solar
Going solar is one of the best load shedding solutions you can have in sunny South Africa.
Whether it’s a solar hybrid system or a totally powered solar solution to get off the grid, you just can’t go wrong with using the sun to power your home in one way or another.
Whilst the initial cost of installing a solar system isn’t cheap, the benefit of using solar energy is enormous.
Besides not being affected by the Eskom load shedding problems, in the long run it will be relatively cheap load shedding solution that works.
Take a look at this comparison of solar panel prices in South Africa to get an idea of the cost of installing a solar system for your home.
PS. An even better and cheaper solar solution is to build your own 3D Solar Tower to power your home.
Take a look at the science behind it, how to build it and how a conventional roof-mounted solar panel system compares to a 3D Solar Tower here
5. Generator
Getting a generator is a fairly straight forward option that doesn’t need much explanation.
To power an average sized house, you would need a generator that produces around 4,500 watts to 5,500 watts.
So when it comes to which generator is best for home use in South Africa, something like the Ryobi 5.5 kVa generator, that cost between R7,999* to R9,299*, would probably be suitable.
However, generator power comes with certain disadvantages like these below.
- Cost – not only the initial cost of the generator, but maintenance as well as petrol or diesel that it will guzzle during a few hours of load shedding.
- Noise – whilst you can get reasonably silent generators, many complexes and other areas won’t allow the running of noisy, smoky generators.
Reasons Why You Should Implement These Load Shedding Solutions Now
Lastly, load shedding solutions should be in the minds of South Africans as the outlook isn’t too rosy as far as Eskom’s power generation goes.
Eskom announced that it expects up to 29 days of load shedding between the end of January and the end of March 2022, with stage 2 load shedding seen as the highest level of load shedding expected over this period.
This could be followed by another 61 days of load shedding between 1 April 2022 – 31 August 2022.
Not only is Eskom’s power supply unreliable, but it’s also costly with massive price increases on the horison to pay for the huge costs and budget overruns on the new power stations builds.
Therefore, the above load shedding solutions provide effective ways to normalise your lifestyle without having to worry about power cuts.
Lastly, the Best Solution To Keep the Lights On AND Save You Money
This solution is not only really cheap and easy to implement, but it will also save you loads of money.
All it involves, is installing LED lights which can be solar powered, rechargeable light bulbs or effective energy saving lights.
Find out how much it will cost to buy just a few rechargeable light bulbs, LED strip lights or a solar powered lighting system by browsing the lights and prices at the link below…
Stop Depending On Eskom – Build Your Own DIY Home Energy™ System…
PS. It Won’t Cost You a Fortune Either