An ice storm a week ago caused a power outage in 3 stages. First the power went out for 5 hours. It came on for an hour then went out for 4 more and then came on for half an hour then out again for 3 hours.
I was poorly prepared but not helpless. The boiler was full for each of the 3 outages. It "coasted" with no draft and supplied a heat source. I have a 1200 watt (surge) / 1000 watt continuous crappy gas generator that worked to circulate the hot water created by the boiler. I sent heat to the barn and the house plenum. I tried to get the fan on the furnace to run but it kept tripping the breaker on the genset. So the heat sent to the plenum was only heating with radiant heat from the lines.
Oh, did I mention that my daughter and mate were visiting with their 3 month old. She got worried when the temps dipped to 19C
The temperatures only dropped in the house to normal (from the scorching levels that my daughter thinks she needs for her new boy) but the event pointed out some serious issues with my setup.
First I wanted to run the boiler controller but didn't because I feared I might fry it with a non sine wave power source. In truth I don't know what the genset might have done as I was unwilling to risk testing it in real-time. Tempted though! How can I test the output of the genset to assess its appropriateness for the controller?
Next I wanted to run the furnace fan but it kept tripping the breaker in the genset. It must be a huge starting load to trip the genset breaker with no other things plugged-in. How huge is the startup power requirement? The nameplate says 1/3 hp, but it also says 5.4 A (and sfa 6.4). If I calculate correctly 5.4 (amps)*115(volts) =621 watts which exceeds 1/3 hp by a lot. I thought my little genset would have adequate power to start a 1/3 hp motor (241 watts).
Third, using a genset takes gas and there was only 6 gallons without siphoning from the vehicles. Good thing it was a short outage. I started researching gasification generators, wind generators and solar panels. The ice storm would have rendered the solar and wind temporarily sidelined.
I've got some research work to do and then some prepping for next-time. It is inevitable, there will be a next-time
I was poorly prepared but not helpless. The boiler was full for each of the 3 outages. It "coasted" with no draft and supplied a heat source. I have a 1200 watt (surge) / 1000 watt continuous crappy gas generator that worked to circulate the hot water created by the boiler. I sent heat to the barn and the house plenum. I tried to get the fan on the furnace to run but it kept tripping the breaker on the genset. So the heat sent to the plenum was only heating with radiant heat from the lines.
Oh, did I mention that my daughter and mate were visiting with their 3 month old. She got worried when the temps dipped to 19C
The temperatures only dropped in the house to normal (from the scorching levels that my daughter thinks she needs for her new boy) but the event pointed out some serious issues with my setup.
First I wanted to run the boiler controller but didn't because I feared I might fry it with a non sine wave power source. In truth I don't know what the genset might have done as I was unwilling to risk testing it in real-time. Tempted though! How can I test the output of the genset to assess its appropriateness for the controller?
Next I wanted to run the furnace fan but it kept tripping the breaker in the genset. It must be a huge starting load to trip the genset breaker with no other things plugged-in. How huge is the startup power requirement? The nameplate says 1/3 hp, but it also says 5.4 A (and sfa 6.4). If I calculate correctly 5.4 (amps)*115(volts) =621 watts which exceeds 1/3 hp by a lot. I thought my little genset would have adequate power to start a 1/3 hp motor (241 watts).
Third, using a genset takes gas and there was only 6 gallons without siphoning from the vehicles. Good thing it was a short outage. I started researching gasification generators, wind generators and solar panels. The ice storm would have rendered the solar and wind temporarily sidelined.
I've got some research work to do and then some prepping for next-time. It is inevitable, there will be a next-time