# Using the wood furnace during very long power outages



## Beno (Jan 10, 2011)

Hi everybody,

I am thinking of a power outage that can last over a week due to ice storm, climate change disasters etc.
I asked this question before and the answer was to make only small fires and rely on gravity. The problem is that also small fires can become hot, and probably that will not heat very well w/o a fan and require continuous supervision of the fire. I am thinking of adding a wood stove to our house. That will be used also to warm food and water.
I am interested in your thoughts about this topic.

Thanks,
Beno


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## 2.beans (Jan 10, 2011)

buy a generator?


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## velvetfoot (Jan 10, 2011)

Climate change disasters?


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## lexybird (Jan 11, 2011)

velvetfoot said:
			
		

> Climate change disasters?



yeah im scratching my head on that one too .. perhaps a global warming disaster?
in that case just buy a case of speedos


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## Beno (Jan 11, 2011)

I think a generator is a good idea. I just need to figure out which one to choose and how to connect the blower safely to it.
In 1998 we had an ice storm that lasted about 2 weeks (no power during this time since the hydro poles where knocked down). With the global warming there are expected more extreme weather conditions. Better to be prepared.


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## laynes69 (Jan 11, 2011)

Remember to open the rear of the furnace when there is an outage. That will help gravity feed. If your worried about heat in the ducting then you could place a heat dump in the plenum. With a low fire and a heat dump I'm sure it will produce a good bit of heat. Otherwise a generator is a good idea.


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## ihookem (Jan 12, 2011)

A Honda Eu 2000 inverter generator is a real good bet. It uses 1 gal. gas i 15 hrs @ 1/4 throttle. They are a 1000 bucks but last a long time and are quiet. Don't do it for climate change or global warming though, it's a hoax. We are more likely to have power outages due to terrorists blowing up sud stations and stuff.


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## webbie (Jan 12, 2011)

Beno said:
			
		

> Hi everybody,
> 
> I am thinking of a power outage that can last over a week due to ice storm, climate change disasters etc.
> I asked this question before and the answer was to make only small fires and rely on gravity. The problem is that also small fires can become hot, and probably that will not heat very well w/o a fan and require continuous supervision of the fire. I am thinking of adding a wood stove to our house. That will be used also to warm food and water.
> ...



I think you have the right idea.......smaller fires, open up the fan door or other places on the jacket so the furnace gets more convection through it.
Put a large grill on the plenum above the furnace, one which can be opened and closed or covered with a sheet of metal.
Open it in a power failure to let some heat escape into the basement and heat the floor bottoms.

You have to make certain that duct above the furnace that might touch wood (they should not for the first number of feet) don't get too hot.


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## juddspaintballs (Jan 12, 2011)

Honeywell and a couple other manufacturers make small portable inverter generators as well that only sip fuel.  They may not be as quiet, but at half the price, you could buy a heavy gauge extension cord and put them away from your house or build a small vented box cover for them to reduce the noise.


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## Mushroom Man (Jan 15, 2011)

A few years ago I bought a cheap 1200 watt (1000 watt continuous) generator. It's a no-name (Chinese built) two cycle (mix oil with gas) that I figured would be suitable for running Grundfos pumps and the furnace fan. While I think that application would be safe, I am reluctant to test the EKO controller on this power source, as it is not a true sine wave output and electronics, I have read, are often ruined by flakey power.

Can anyone think of a way to modulate the output of the cheapie genset to make it a true sine wave output suitable for running the EKO controller or is the only solution to purchase a true sine wave genset.

One solution might be to use a true sine wave inverter with a 100 Amp marine battery just for the Eko controller. I can charge the battery with the cheapie genset for longer term operation


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