alternative power during outages

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donkarlos

New Member
Hearth Supporter
Oct 5, 2008
66
MA
saw a setup at a shop that was a marine battery, charger, and inverter. heard it would run a stove for five days but that seemed a little long. wonder if it would need a ups also.
 
You'll get more like 8-12 hours on a single deep cycle battery, not 5 days & don't plan on using the auto igniter. I suppose you could add an expensive solar panel to help suppliment the charging... I just ordered the Harman (converter and charger in one unit) for $526.00. I could have bought what is likely the same unit for $475 from what is likely the manufacturer. There are many posts on this subject. The main point is that the converter must be pure sine wave, and those are VERY expensive. With this, no UPS is necessary (it's built in).
 
Twig Lady, I'm not sure which Quadra-Fire you have, but my Castile operates at 1.1 amps during normal operation and a max of 4.1 amps when the igniter is in use for about 3 minutes each time it starts up.

Using the 4.1 amps max, it's easy math:

4.1 amps X 120 volts = 492 watts

This means that a very small Coleman camping generator rated at 1000 watts would be more than enough to keep your stove running as long as you keep the generator gassed up.

Happy heating!

Steve
 
Patrick McManus said:
I measured the usage of my Quadrafile Mt Vernon and uses well less than 60 watts in normal operation, and about 365 watts for the ignitor.

so even small generators should provide enough power.
It's definitely a stove specific #. My Lennox profile uses 4 times as much for normal running and almost twice as much as yours on ignition. It's something people should keep in mind when they buy a stove (I've a 6500 watt generator so it's not a problem for me). It also impacts ongoing costs of operation. I think there's an Enviro model that uses just a third as your Quad which is just amazing.
 
My Astoria uses approx. 400 watts on startup, and 180 normal running.
 
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