What Watt Generator For Mobile Van

by Mark
(Dorset)

Hi David

Love your site loads of useful info, I have been in catering for many years and am finally taking the plunge to go it alone, I have applied for various festivals successfully and will be doing markets around the South/Southeast.

My only concerns are what watt generator will I need to run lights, two fridges and an electric griddle ( or should I go gas on the griddle in terms of ease of use and flavour?) I was also wondering how to keep food at the correct temp during transit this can be up to eight hours it also needs to stay that way with a mobile refrigerated unit as backup for extra stock, I'm scratching my head how to do this over a four day event?
Keep up the good work always helpful.

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Dec 16, 2014
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by: Michael A-Top-stop@outlook.com

Hi Mark just a few little pointers for you in ref to the generators. If you work on 1kva is equivalent to 800w then you will never be struggling for power. You should also check out feed back on the various makes on the market.

There is a lot of Chinese makes out there that will suffice in the short term, but will cost twice as much to repair. If your only running a few fridges and lights, then you'll get away with a smaller generator, maybe a medusa 2400 or 2800. Fabulous little generator but clean the carburettor out regularly and you'll never have a problem.

As I advised, please shop around and listen to David. One last thing never give up on your dream. You will have slow days as well as busy days, just keep smiling and remember we are all routing for you.

Regards

Michael and Sharon
A-Top-stop
Apr 22, 2014
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by: David

Hi Mark,

Good to hear from you.

The size of the generator will depend on the wattage of all the equipment that you will be using. So it’s a matter of adding the total wattage and then getting a generator to match the power output.

This post provides more helpful information and a link to a generator calculator which should provide you with a starting point.
Juicing Van High Watts

Also, be aware that because of ground contamination from diesel/petrol generators that most event organisers will require that you have an LPG generator. I would contact the various festivals and just confirm this with them as you don’t want any last minutes problems that may prevent you from trading.

As for keeping food at the right temperature, if the fridges run on LPG/240V/12Volts then you can run this off a leisure battery; the post above will also provide you with more information.
Best of luck and let us know how it goes.


David

PS. Get my free guide on Starting a Mobile Catering Business Guide

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