Clarke: Generators, Heaters and Pumps for UK Households

Clarke is a maker of powered equipment: generators, heaters and water pumps among other things. For a household preparing for a power cut, a cold snap or a flood, the useful question is not what the range contains but which of these machines does a job you actually have, and where it is safe to run. A generator can keep a fridge and a few lights going through an outage, but only outdoors and never plugged into a wall socket. A pump can shift flood water, but not the water coming up through your drains. A heater can warm one room, but only one designed for indoor use, and never with a cylinder changed on the stairs.

This page sets out what Clarke makes for UK households, one short section per kit type, with the safety rules that decide whether the machine helps or harms. It then covers fuel and storage, support and warranty, and how to check a product for recalls. Every safety instruction here comes from fire and rescue services, the Health and Safety Executive or the NHS, and applies to any make of machine, not only Clarke's.

What Clarke makes for UK households

Clarke's household kit falls into three groups, and each answers a different kind of emergency. Generators answer a power cut, whether planned or caused by a storm. Heaters answer a heating failure or a cold snap, when the boiler is off or the gas has gone. Water pumps answer a flood or a leak, when water has got into a building and needs moving.

The same caution applies to all three: they are fuel-driven or mains-driven machines, and the risks they carry are the ones fire services warn about most often. Before buying any of them, read the section guide for that kit, which sets out what the machine can and cannot do for a household like yours.

Clarke generators for power cuts

A generator is the one piece of kit on this page that can keep a household running through an outage: a fridge, a freezer, a few lights, a phone charger. It is also the one that carries the gravest risk if it is used wrongly, because a fuel-driven generator produces carbon monoxide, a gas you cannot see, taste or smell.

Do not expect help to arrive in the form of a generator. During a planned power cut, generators are provided only to customers who are medically dependent on electricity, not for businesses or personal use⁹. If someone in your household depends on powered medical equipment, tell your electricity network operator in advance and ask about the Priority Services Register; do not plan on a loan generator arriving.

For everyone else, the decision is whether to buy one, and the answer depends on what you need to keep running and for how long. A generator sized for a fridge and a few lights is a different machine from one that will run a heating pump. Work out the load first, then choose. The power cuts guide explains how long outages typically last and what to do while you wait.

Where a generator must never go

The rule is short and it is absolute: a fuel-driven generator never goes indoors. The NHS in Wales puts it plainly: "Never using a generator indoors"¹⁰. The fire and rescue services across England and Wales say the same in their own words: do not use any fuel-driven equipment, petrol and diesel generators or pumps, indoors². The same warning covers a house, garage, shed, tent or caravan¹¹, and generators and heaters must never be run inside a caravan, motorhome, tent or awning¹².

Carbon monoxide from a generator can kill, and it can travel through a house from a machine running in an attached space. The fire services' guidance on carbon monoxide is the one to read before you first start a generator, and the home emergencies guide covers what to do if an alarm sounds.

The second rule concerns the cable. Never connect a generator directly to your domestic electrical system by plugging it into a wall outlet. This is called backfeeding: electricity flows back into the network and puts your neighbours and the workers repairing the lines at severe risk¹. If you want a generator to power fixed circuits in the house, that is a job for a qualified electrician to set up properly, not something to improvise with a lead and a plug.

Clarke heaters and backup warmth

When the central heating fails or the gas goes off, the safest first move is not a fuel-burning appliance but an electric or oil radiator, which official advice for private properties recommends as an alternative heat source⁵. That advice assumes the power is on. If the power is off too, the options narrow, and the fire service's guidance on portable heaters is the one to follow: keep them clear of anything that can burn, never dry clothes on them, and never block ventilation⁶.

Clarke's heater range covers both the electric and the fuel-burning ends of that market, and the two carry different rules. An electric or oil-filled radiator indoors is straightforward. A gas or paraffin heater needs a room with ventilation that stays open, and a carbon monoxide alarm in the same room. The Health and Safety Executive's advice on gas appliances is blunt: never block ventilation⁶. A heater that is not designed for indoor use, such as a patio heater or a workshop model, stays outside.

If you are heating one room to sit in rather than the whole house, say so when you choose: a heater rated for a small room is the right size, and a larger one wastes fuel and adds risk. The heating and cooking guide sets out how to keep one room warm and safe through a heating failure, and the gas and heating failures guide covers what to do when the boiler stops.

Clarke water pumps for floods and leaks

A pump is the kit you reach for when water has got in: a burst pipe, a leak, a flooded cellar, a garden under water. Clarke's pumps are for moving standing water out of a space, and they are at their most useful in the hours after a flood, once the water has stopped rising.

Before that point, the priority is keeping water out, not pumping it. The government's flooding advice is to use flood protection products if you have them, for example flood barriers or air brick covers¹⁴. A household flood kit might also include aquasacs or hydrosacks, plastic sheeting and tarpaulins, toilet bungs and non-return valves¹⁶. If flood water is about to enter your home, turn off gas, electricity and water supplies first, if it is safe to do so¹⁷.

A pump has limits, and it is worth knowing them before you buy. It cannot help with sewer flooding: if your toilet or sink is backing up during floods, call your local water company⁷. It cannot stop water coming in from surface water, groundwater, highways drainage or sewers, which are among the many sources of flooding besides rivers¹⁸. And it is not a substitute for the fire and rescue service's own pumping: London Fire Brigade keeps 5 High Volume Pumps across London for pumping large amounts of water during flooding¹⁹.

Safe use, fuel and storage

Most of the harm done by generators and fuel-burning heaters happens after the emergency, when the machine is put away or refuelled carelessly. Petrol is a dangerous substance: highly flammable, and when not handled safely it has the potential to cause a serious fire or explosion⁴. Storing it safely is covered by the Petroleum (Consolidation) Regulations 2014³.

• Store fuel only in approved containers, labelled PETROL or HIGHLY FLAMMABLE, and check them regularly for condition and leaks⁴.
• Keep fuel out of the reach of children³.
• Do not overstock fuels of any type, including paraffin or biofuel, and store what you have safely²¹.
• Keep firewood, fuel and gas cylinders in a safe place, away from the house²².
• Clear at least a three-metre space around any fuel tanks, and stand them on non-combustible material such as gravel or concrete²³.

Between emergencies, store the machines themselves dry and out of the reach of children, and check them over before the season you are likely to need them. A generator that has sat in a damp shed since last winter may not start when the lights go out. Run through the fuel, the oil and the leads before you need them, and check cables, chargers, plugs and sockets for damage²⁴. Store fuel only in approved containers, keep it out of the reach of children, and do not overstock fuels of any type²⁵.

Support and warranty

Registering a Clarke product is not paperwork for its own sake. Manufacturers issue product recall notices if an electrical appliance could develop a fault, including a risk of electric shock or fire, and registration is how they reach you²⁵. Fire services across the country give the same advice: register your appliance so manufacturers can contact you about faults or recalls²⁶, and register your electrical items with the manufacturer to be informed of any safety recalls²⁷.

To register, you will typically need the model name or number, the serial number and the purchase date²⁵. Have those to hand before you start, and keep a note of them somewhere you will find them again, because the same details are what you need when you ask about spare parts or a repair.

If something goes wrong, contact the maker or the retailer you bought from, quoting the model and serial numbers. Where a product is recalled, the manufacturer is expected to contact anyone who has purchased the faulty product where possible, publish details of the recall and the risk the product poses, and set out the steps being taken to resolve the issue²⁸. Keep your proof of purchase with the product's paperwork.

Safety notices and recalls

Before you use a second-hand generator, heater or pump, or one that has been in storage, check whether it has been recalled. The Office for Product Safety and Standards issue recalls and alert notices on their website²⁷, and you can check for recalls or safety notices on the Electrical Safety First website⁸. Register electrical items with the manufacturer so you can be contacted if a safety recall is issued²⁸.

If you search for a product you own and it is not listed, that means it has not been recalled and should be safe to use; if you have concerns, contact the retailer or manufacturer to alert them to a potential problem⁸. The same rule is repeated in Scotland: if an appliance is not listed as recalled it should be safe to use, and if you have concerns about its safety, contact the retailer or manufacturer²⁵.

Recalls are specific to a model, so a general warning is not enough. Manufacturers issue product recall notices if an electrical appliance could develop a fault, including a risk of electric shock or fire²⁹. The Office for Product Safety and Standards issue recalls and alert notices on their website, and you can check for recalls or safety notices on the Electrical Safety First website²⁸. Check the model and serial numbers on your own machine against any notice before you assume it is unaffected.