Generator hire: power, type and safe connection

What the price depends on

The rate is per day. It depends on the generator’s output, the type (single-phase 230 V or three-phase 400 V), whether it’s an inverter or a standard site unit, and how many days you need it. Rates are in the table.

Fuel is paid separately, and so are delivery and collection if you don’t pick the generator up yourself. Check the return terms, and any deposit, in the handyman’s offer.

Rather hand the job over? More here: handyman in Warsaw.

How to size it

Add up the power of everything that will run at the same time. It’s on the rating plate or in the manual. Look separately at anything with a motor: a pump, compressor, cement mixer, fridge. A motor draws several times its rated current when it starts, and the generator needs headroom for exactly that moment.

You need a three-phase generator if you have three-phase equipment: some cement mixers, welders, machine tools. For a house and ordinary power tools, single-phase is enough.

Computers, a boiler with a control board, a TV and chargers like a stable voltage. For those you take an inverter generator, which puts out a clean sine wave. A standard site unit is fine for an angle grinder, a hammer drill and floodlights.

Not sure about the maths? List all your appliances in the job and the handyman will pick the model.

Safety matters more than power

A generator gives off carbon monoxide, which has no colour and no smell. It goes outdoors only, away from windows, doors and air vents. Not in the garage, not in the cellar and not on an enclosed balcony, not even “for a minute” with the door open.

Never connect a generator to the house wiring through a wall socket with a homemade cable that has a plug on each end. Current can feed back into the line and hit the electricians working on it, and when the mains comes back the generator burns out. Feeding the consumer unit needs a changeover switch, and that’s a job for an electrician with Polish SEP qualifications (uprawnienia SEP). Ask the handyman whether they have them, or bring in a separate electrician. Without a changeover switch, plug appliances straight into the generator’s sockets using an extension lead of the right cross-section.

Refuel only when the generator is switched off and cool. Earth it as the manufacturer’s manual says. Cover it against rain, but leave room for air to flow.

How hiring works

1. You list the appliances, the hire period and where the generator will stand.
2. The handyman picks a model and gives the daily price, delivery cost and terms.
3. At handover the generator is started in front of you, and the socket voltage and oil level are checked.
4. You’re shown how to start it, stop it, refuel it and what to do if the cut-out trips.
5. At the end of the hire it’s collected, or you bring it back yourself.

Common mistakes

• Power worked out from lamps and chargers, and then the pump stalls the generator on start-up.
• The generator set up in the garage “with the door open”.
• Connected to a house socket with a plug-to-plug cable.
• A thin, long extension lead: voltage drops at the far end and the tool overheats.
• Topping up petrol in a hot generator with the engine still running.
• A computer and boiler run off a standard site generator with no inverter.

What to prepare

• A list of appliances with the wattage from their plates, especially anything with a motor.
• A spot outdoors that’s level, under cover and away from windows.
• Extension leads of the right length and cross-section, or ask for them with the generator.
• If it will feed the consumer unit, book an electrician for the changeover switch in advance.
• A fuel can and fuel, unless they’re in the offer.

Frequently asked questions

How to order

Describe in the app what needs power, for how many days and where the generator will stand. Handymen near you will send offers with their own price and terms. Compare them by reviews and pick one; only that person sees your address.

You pay the handyman directly and they issue the invoice. They’re responsible for what they hand over: the generator should work and deliver the stated output, and if it doesn’t, sorting that out is on them. Overloading, a wrong connection to the house wiring and damage from leaving it out in the rain are not.

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