battery back ups?

[mjbrown]

hey guys...

twice now in the last week we have had power outages lasting from 4-6 hrs. 6 hrs on christmas morning. i know this is minimal to those in the southern parts of maine and new hampshire. i have a generator for my stove but my folks and also some friends are not as fortunate. could someone please post a link or two for the battery back systems that are available...and which are better than others?

many thanks in advance,

mike

 

[nightmage]

If possible, I would like to extend this question... any one try using a computer UPS (uninterpretable power supply) with their stove? I was thinking of trying one with a Quadra-fire Mt Vernon which I am getting this week. I was curious if it is worth it?

 

[Doocrew]

This is what I am using.

http://www.amazon.com/CyberPower-CP...4?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1230516592&sr=8-4

It gives me about 30 minutes of back-up power, which is just enough time to either shut the stove down or fire up the generator.

 

[Nicholas440]

The Quadrafire Mt Vernon has its own built in inverter all you need to run it during power outages is the 12 volt cable which they sell for it. If you have a 12 volt deep cycle marine battery hooked to it , the Mt Vernon can automatically switch over to it, so no inverter is needed. You can run it with a UPS in the circuit, if the power goes out the UPS will run it for a short time as mentioned by the previous poster. Personally I would just get the power cable, and put a 12 volt marine battery on it.

 

[scott_cuddy]

mj

The posts here are all pointing in the right direction. As you already know, the ideal power source for emergencies is a backup generator. Barring that, Nicholas440 hit the nail on the head with the deep cycle marine battery, if your folks and friends have stoves designed for them. UPS systems aren't really made for running a stove, but they'll get you through a short outage and run the fan long enough to clear smoke while the stove shuts down. UPS systems are the only battery back-ups I know about. The larger the wattage, the longer the run, but it really isn't their gig to keep a stove running. You definitely wouldn't use one to start a stove. The current draw of the ignition element would drain one quickly. Summary...

1) Generators are the tops
2) Marine deep cycle batteries are good, with the proper stove and cable set-up
3) UPS systems are good for orderly shut downs of machines

For some easy info on deep cycle batteries, see http://marine-electronics.net/techarticle/battery_faq/b_faq.htm

Good luck!

Post edited because I got Nicholas440's name wrong. It's good to be accurate.

 

[goatman-68]

Keep in mind that (some or all) stoves require (pure sine wave) inverters. Most of the cheaper UPS backups for computers are a modified sine wave which may or may not run your stove. I just bought a 600 watt continuous (pure sine wave) inverter and an Optima battery that i will be using for my XXV.

 

[tinkabranc]

My stove is hooked up to a APC XS1300VA- 780 watts. - so far no problems at all.
Power went out a few times last winter and it ran the stove just fine.
Waveform Type- Stepped approximation to a sinewave

Gives me approx 45 mins to get out the generator if needed.

 

[goatman-68]

My stove is hooked up to a APC XS1300VA- 780 watts. - so far no problems at all.
Power went out a few times last winter and it ran the stove just fine.
Waveform Type- Stepped approximation to a sinewave

Gives me approx 45 mins to get out the generator if needed.

Some say that the motors will either have a buzz or hum to them when using stepped or modified sine wave. Also it has been said that the efficiency of the motors are comprimised using anything but pure sine waveform.

 

[mjbrown]

thank you all,

i guess they better invest in a generator or some k-1 heaters, and hopefully my generator doesnt decide to go belly up.

thank you again,
mike