Can I Run A Big Brute Off A Generator?

The Big Brutes have always had extra-long power cables of 10m because of the sheer size of buildings they have to tackle. You can extend their range even further with an official Big Brute extension lead.

But sometimes there isn’t a power supply available – can you run a Big Brute off a generator?

Our Customer’s Experience

It’s perfectly possible to run an electrically powered, single-phase Big Brute off a generator.

We’ve had success running it off a constantly-rated 5kVA generator for an hour.

However, one of our customers did a bit more experimenting and came back with some very useful results:

“I wanted to update you on my generator-run Big Brute experience.

6kVA was the highest output available from a local hire centre.

The Brute was used for pre-harvest cleaning of walls, floors, central tunnel and, where removable covers allowed access, to clean the ends of an underfloor drying installation (I don’t have a Big Brute Mole yet), all at our remote grain store.

The Brute performed very well. The clean took 4 days with the Brute entirely on generator power for anything from 2 to 4 hours at a time. (I generally needed a break before the Brute.)

Initially I felt that it was running slightly below par based on the sound of the third motor start up and running tone, it certainly made the generator work. However when I tried to compare this against mains power, there was no discernible difference in suction. (No special tools were used, I did a bit of vacuuming of similar mess in the workshop and swapped supply).”

Recommended Generator Specs

If you want to run a Big Brute off a generator, we recommend the following specs:

• Constantly-rated
• 6kVA
• 16A supply

To discuss this subject further or enquire about specific setups, please contact the Big Brute team and we will be happy to help.