How to Build a Battery Back up for the Blower?
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There are two types of inverters. The std inverter has a square wave or modified square wave. Then there are pure sine wave inverters. The cost more and use more power even at a when not being used. They run a square wave through a transformer which smooths the wave out.
A 24v inverter uses the same total power as a 12v inverter but since the voltage is higher it uses less amps so you can use smaller cables. One good thing about a 12v battery bank is in a emergency you can charge it back up by running jumper cables off you car. I have a car alternator on a 10hp engine that I can charge my battery bank up with if I have to.
We have no electric service at out farm and were having to run a generator anytime we needed 110v which was a pain and cost a lot. 1 /12 years ago we got a 5000 watt inverter and a forklift battery. Now I run the whole place off of a std modified wave inverter microwave, tv, computer, furnace., power saws, small aircompresser. I run 3-4 days on the battery the fire up the generator for five hrs or so and charge the battery back up on about 2'5 gallons of diesel.
This is my battery bank and inverter. The inverter is on the back wall on the post is a charge controller. We have two small solar pannels on it but that just makes up for natural losses in the batter while we are not there it will also control the 750 watt windmill when we get it up.
(broken image removed)
Billy
A 24v inverter uses the same total power as a 12v inverter but since the voltage is higher it uses less amps so you can use smaller cables. One good thing about a 12v battery bank is in a emergency you can charge it back up by running jumper cables off you car. I have a car alternator on a 10hp engine that I can charge my battery bank up with if I have to.
We have no electric service at out farm and were having to run a generator anytime we needed 110v which was a pain and cost a lot. 1 /12 years ago we got a 5000 watt inverter and a forklift battery. Now I run the whole place off of a std modified wave inverter microwave, tv, computer, furnace., power saws, small aircompresser. I run 3-4 days on the battery the fire up the generator for five hrs or so and charge the battery back up on about 2'5 gallons of diesel.
This is my battery bank and inverter. The inverter is on the back wall on the post is a charge controller. We have two small solar pannels on it but that just makes up for natural losses in the batter while we are not there it will also control the 750 watt windmill when we get it up.
(broken image removed)
Billy
Billy-Nice to know that a std modified wave invertor will run everthing with out a problem, I think the system yu came up with is cool. Did they charge you by the pound for the fork lift battery?
From the picture you posted it looks like an old Buck Stove with the 3-speed motor in the aluminum housing.
my expirance:
1) I have an insert. Without the blower on the radiated heat is not an acceptable means of heating the house. It does not put out neatily enough
2) I have a 450 watt inverter (square wave). The Blower motor was *EXTREMELY* unhappy when i plugged it into the inverter. It buzzed and hummed and made all sorts of crazy noise. But the inverter still can power other things, even flourscent light with no problems...
3) I now have a generator. The hondas were too much for the little I use it. So i bought a honeywell 2000i (inverter generator). So far so good. Some people report logetivity issues, but if i use it more than 12 hours a year I would be surprised. So i am not concerned.
Thats an awesome battery system! Bet its a nice place to be! Espically when the zombie apocalypse happens
haha
1) I have an insert. Without the blower on the radiated heat is not an acceptable means of heating the house. It does not put out neatily enough
2) I have a 450 watt inverter (square wave). The Blower motor was *EXTREMELY* unhappy when i plugged it into the inverter. It buzzed and hummed and made all sorts of crazy noise. But the inverter still can power other things, even flourscent light with no problems...
3) I now have a generator. The hondas were too much for the little I use it. So i bought a honeywell 2000i (inverter generator). So far so good. Some people report logetivity issues, but if i use it more than 12 hours a year I would be surprised. So i am not concerned.
Thats an awesome battery system! Bet its a nice place to be! Espically when the zombie apocalypse happens
haha
I'm with the generator crowd, so you get the best sine wave. From what I have been told any motor run on an inverter should have inverter duty insulation, typically Nomex. The bearings are also subject to pitting unless protected. I'm not sure if a single speed inverter uses Pulse Width Modulation, it is the up to 20,000 pulses a second that can pinhole regular insulation. Others can answer some of my concerns better, Randy
We did this whole backup battery thing for our sump pump in the basement. Only to find that it isn't powerful enough for the pump, so we had to buy a littler backup pump that uses a garden hose to pump it out. Only to find that when the water is that bad in the basement, that pump won't do it and will run constantly till the battery runs out. Generator a much better idea for us too! I had hoped that the backup system would help for the stove blower at least, but sounds like it's not that good for that either! Good thing we got an insert that sits so far out of the chimney, we will get a lot of heat out of it anyway.
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[quote=tickbitty]We did this whole backup battery thing for our sump pump in the basement. Only to find that it isn't powerful enough for the pump, so we had to buy a littler backup pump that uses a garden hose to pump it out. Only to find that when the water is that bad in the basement, that pump won't do it and will run constantly till the battery runs out. Generator a much better idea for us too! I had hoped that the backup system would help for the stove blower at least, but sounds like it's not that good for that either! Good thing we got an insert that sits so far out of the chimney, we will get a lot of heat out of it anyway.[/quote]
How about this, [url]http://s7d5.scene7.com/is/image/FisheriesSupply/9154_Rul_24_PPM?wid=450&hei=450[/url]
runs on 12V DC and doesn't draw a whole lot of amps. It's got a float switch so it will turn on and off on its own.
I bought a small generator for the sole purpose of suppling power to the blower on my insert in the event of power loss. I made up a cord with 2 male ends. I installed two receptacles ,1 on the outside of the house and another wired to it on the other side of the wall inside the house. Now all I have to do is start the generator and plug it into the 120v outlet outside, then run an extension cord inside from the inside outlet to the blower. This set ups sole purpose is to keep the house warm during power outages.
This is the generator I use.
http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200313480_200313480
This is the generator I use.
http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200313480_200313480
before the wide world rip[s that post apart. The double male cord is a safety concern and powering your house through one is illegal. BUT since you have a small generator, I ASSUME that th plan here is there are a pair of outlets (one inside and one outside, NOT powered) then you can plug the blower into one and the generator into the other.
Now, you can sort of do this with just your male-male cord and just the house circuitry... its illegal... and i dont know what would happen to the 220 side of the circuitry.... I would like to know. Obviously i am not using this method. I just have a circuit breaker and a lot of extension cords.
Now, you can sort of do this with just your male-male cord and just the house circuitry... its illegal... and i dont know what would happen to the 220 side of the circuitry.... I would like to know. Obviously i am not using this method. I just have a circuit breaker and a lot of extension cords.
No the 2 outlets are not apart of the house circuity and yes using two male ends is not the smartest thing to do. Its just something I made up one day to get power to the blower without running extension cords through windows or doors. Thank you for your concerns
I've used my car battery and an inverter. Worked great- I had to run the car for a bit every so often to charge up the battery. Now I have a generator.
Just curious, is the blower the only thing you want to run if the power's out? Fridge, freezer, well pump, lights, etc? I think it would be easy enough to rig it, but I think for the cost a small generator (3-5KW or so) would be the most cost-effective long-term solution. That was the first thing I installed in the new house - a 220V plug, wired to the entrance panel, double isolated from the power pole. Since then, I've found dozens of uses for the generator including running a small welder in the field, etc. Champion 3500W generators are a good Honda knockoff, quiet and less than your inverter system would be. Just an idea...
maverick06 said:
Not sure it's necessarily illegal depending on the OPs location. Not smart, but our electric co simply said make sure that there's redundant isolation from the grid if we want to hook up a generator. Maybe against code though...
Nothing would happen b/c you would prudently shut breakers on 220V circuits first; you'd effectively power only one leg of your panel. More importantly, the amperage produced by the generator may exceed that of the 12-14 gauge wiring to the outlet, overheating the outlet and/or wiring.
He had the outlets isolated from the house wiring and was just used for the blower, sounds like he new what he was doing.moosetrek said:maverick06 said:
Not sure it's necessarily illegal depending on the OPs location. Not smart, but our electric co simply said make sure that there's redundant isolation from the grid if we want to hook up a generator. Maybe against code though...
Nothing would happen b/c you would prudently shut breakers on 220V circuits first; you'd effectively power only one leg of your panel. More importantly, the amperage produced by the generator may exceed that of the 12-14 gauge wiring to the outlet, overheating the outlet and/or wiring.
agreed... I was just trying to clarify that. Man have I seen some %^&storms; on other forums about those male-male plugs.
I dont like them either, I wire my gen direct into the fuse block on the pole, I have a fuse block that you can remove so not kill any lineman working on a pole some where.maverick06 said:
I hear ya - I put a 50A plug with a breaker, with big red labels and instructions how to shut off main at pole, shut off main at house, then turn on generator, then flip switch from generator...
Generators are a nice option... but only if you are there to make'em work.
I like the UPS idea. I worry about if im not at home and we have one of those outages for no reason days. Then you arent even aware of the problem.
For many using hydronic wood heat, we need to figure enough power to run a pump as well as a fan, really the pump would be more important.
I like the UPS idea. I worry about if im not at home and we have one of those outages for no reason days. Then you arent even aware of the problem.
For many using hydronic wood heat, we need to figure enough power to run a pump as well as a fan, really the pump would be more important.
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