Can a SORNed car be used to provide electricity and heating?

[Vortex2]

I have this wild idea of buying an end-of-life diesel vehicle to provide electricity from the alternator and heat by diverting the radiator lines into a radiator inside the house.

Does this make any sense whatsover? Perhaps for emergencies?

[adam2]

Yes I believe that it could be done, but may prove to be more complex than expected.

A standard car alternator is unlikely to be sufficient in output. Other options include a heavy duty 24 volt alternator, or even two such alternators. Or a 240 volt AC alternator, this option requires close control of engine speed to give the correct frequency.

If the vehicle COULD still be driven, then you might have an argument regarding road tax. Suggested wording when notifying TPTB is "conversion to static generating unit, wheels removed"

If too close to your home, consider noise and risk of fire. If further away, consider loss of heat from the hot water pipes.

Unless you have VERY CONSIDERABLE mechanical and electrical knowledge and plenty of time for tinkering and adjusting, then I feel that a purpose made diesel generator might be better option.

Either option requires battery storage to avoid running the engine at times of low load.

[Catweazle]

If I was building a generator for long-term use I'd buy an old diesel car, remove the gearbox, add the generator electrics, park it next to my house, pipe the cooling water through my central heating system, add heat extraction to the exhaust. Unlikely to be stolen or even noticed, built in diesel storage, engine developed to run for hundreds of thousands of miles. Cost of an MOT failure diesel VW ? About £50.

[Lurkalot2]

Probably more than thirty years ago on holiday with a friend somewhere in the south west of the country we happened upon an old lorry that was being used to power a piece of farm machinery. It was an old leyland eight wheeler and it had been converted in the simplest of manners. The back end , and possibly the front I can't remember , had brick piers which lifted the rear axles off the ground and a section of the chassis had been removed enough for a belt to be strung between the prop shaft and the farm machine. I wondered at the time just how efficient such an arrangement would have been but it did seem a very simple way of reusing the vehicle with very little engineering skills required.

[adam2]

An even simpler approach was to keep the vehicle more or less intact, raise it up on supports, and belt drive machinery from one of the wheels. This was sometimes done in depression era America to operate farm machinery. The existing gearbox gave a choice of speeds at which the driven implements could be driven. The existing dynamo produced a limited battery charging supply for a radio receiver and very basic house lighting.
For a more significant electricity supply, a relatively large dynamo could generate several kw at 32 volts or at 120 volts, belt driven from the other wheel to that used to operate implements. Even a (non automatic) washing machine could be driven. Belt driven washing machines for use from an external engine were sold in the USA at least up to the last war.

I recall reading an account of the early days of Peacehaven, Sussex, in which it is reported that "the only electricity was produced by a retired engineer, by means of an old Austin car. It made a terrible racket"

There used to exist a type of petrol driven bus, with electric transmission, the "Tilling Stevens petrol/electric bus" Many of these were purchased by fairground operators and used to generate power at 110 volts DC for fairground rides and attractions, as well as being used as living vans. Simpler to use than the previously used steam engine.

So there is quite a history of old vehicles being used as power sources.


These days if doing anything similar, it would be prudent to remove the non driven wheels and perhaps remove the steering wheel, to avoid accusations that the vehicle might still be driven.

Such historical improvisations can be interesting, but these days I suspect that a purpose made diesel generator might be a better option, in most cases.

[clv101]

And we come full circle with electric vehicles, the newer models now come with a feature called 'Vehicle to Load' V2L which is basically just an inverter supporting a regular 230V AC socket. Good for 13A.