What do you do if power goes out

[BrotherBart]

My HF inverter has worked fine every power failure for four years. Of course now that I said that it will crap out next time.

 

[Joey Jones]

Maybe the most inexpensive solution wold be a passive fan powered by the heat of the stove ...Ecco comes to mind at a very reasonable price and can drive air at 150 C.F.M.

 

[stockdoct]

I'd recommend something like this:
http://www.amazon.com/Duracell-DPP-600HD-Powerpack-Starter-Emergency/dp/B000TKHMWK/ref=pd_sim_auto_4

it would run your insert blower for a couple of hours at least, and you can charge it with your car battery.

 

[BrotherBart]

Better yet, get a cast iron stove that doesnt need this!

Yeah, right. :roll:

 

[Jerry_NJ]

Well some of us have fishing boats with electric trolling motors, or other needs for a DEEP CYCLE 12 volt battery. I keep a couple of these charged in the winter to keep them from freezing and just in case. I also have one of the cheap 12vdc to 120vac electronic inverters...my plan, never used, is to use that to run the fan on my insert in the case of a winter power failure. I'd guess these boat batteries will run the fan for a couple of days.

 

[North of 60]

Is this a trick question? 10 below meaning -10f or 10 degrees f below freezing @ 32f. OK give me Celsius if this isnt making sense.
Yes Iam serious :-S Thanx N of 60

 

[crazy_dan]

10 below = 10 degrees below zero Fahrenheit or -10 degrees F

-10 degrees Fahrenheit is the same as -23.3 degrees Celsius

 

[North of 60]

Thanks for the effort C_Dan. I like to use imperial on everything else. I had metric shoved down my throat mid stream in elementary school. Cant drive 55 (mph) is more my era. If a guy thinks he can make a differance with less than a 1/32 of an " pipe fitting with a standard tape measure than he is full of $h_t. Any how back to the question. @-25C I start to suck wind and I need the fan/Blowers. Tonight our temps are -15C or 8F all is fine. If power went out, no need for panic yet. No water though at this time so no flushe da toilets. A 5 gal bucket of snow aint gonna help. I have two young boys. OK time to panic. Dump the snow outa the bucket and send them to the carport. It will make a man outa them. ;-)

 

[CT-Mike]

Easy answer. Wait 15-30 seconds for the 15kw home standby generator to fire up and run 90% of my 2,500 sq ft. home. No fuss, no muss.

I will be investing in one of these this coming spring. I work rotating shifts at a nuke plant, so many times the wife is home alone at night with two GSD's, a couple of pistols, and a couple of shotguns. Not so worried about her safety, she shoots better than I do. But I am worried about an extended power outage (we have had some recent ice storms where people were without power for a week or more).

Mine will be LPG powered since we can't get gas. Plan to have it power the stove, refrig, well pump, hot water heater, freezer, and some lighting circuits. That way we have no food spoilage, can cook, shower, and use the lav. Can't think of any other needs. I looked into burying the propane tank but there is too much hassle involved there. So it will above ground next to the chimney, and I plan to hide it with a 6' privacy fence on that side of the house so that it isn't any eyesore.

isu, which brand generator did you go with, and is it air- or water-cooled? I have been looking at the Generac 15KW air-cooled model, and I could use some real world experience.

Mike

 

[ansehnlich1]

Not a problem with the Jotul, no juicy needed to crank 'er up, made that decision prior to purchase, insisted on a non-electric heater specifically for this reason.

HOWEVER, we do have a generator on site and keep plenty of fuel around, that's what I'd do if I had an insert or pellet stove, I'd make sure I had a generator to run the thing, then you can also keep the fridge running, and even run the well pump for water if necessary.

 

[InTheRockies]

Having lived through power outages back in the DC area that were due to ice storms, I invested in a portable generator on wheels that I brought with me when I moved west. I also have a second, smaller Honda generator with clean sine wave that I had bought for a camper that I no longer own. I can use it for smaller equipment that needs a clean sine wave, i.e. computer. I'm thankful for having a wood stove and not needing to worry about a whole-house heating source during an outage. We've had power outages in the winter months. If the outage lasts long enough, I can run the large generator to power the fridge and freezer. I break out propane camping lanterns if it's dark out. If I won a lottery, I'd install a whole-house generator because I hate being without water (I'm on a well for the first time in my life). I keep water stored for outages, but it would be nice to have running water at the tap during an outage.

 

[begreen]

If the power goes out, I light some candles and get out the flashlights. If it's a longer outage I get out the Coleman and Alladin lamps. We went a week without power with the Castine and the Ecofan a couple years ago. Outside temps were in the 20s. We just kept feeding her wood and we stayed warm. For refrigeration and evening entertainment we have a generator, but the wood stove is our only heat in an outage.

 

[Redox]

I've played this game for a couple years now. I got a deal on a Kohler 8.5 derated to 7KW on natural gas. I also have a few old UPS batteries and a lot of cheap inverters for "silent run" A good deep cycle battery should hold the fan on the stove for 8 hours without much trouble. Most will shut down before they completely kill the battery and then you can recharge it off the car or generator. The only problem is remembering to periodically recharge the batteries before they die from sulphation. The cheap inverters will run just about any piece of electronic equipment and most small motors. A refrigerator or sump pump will have issues, unless you have a big inverter; 1200 watt or more. I did find a very efficient sump pump that will run for hours on a 400 watt inverter.

Chris

 

[oconnor]

If it were to get too cold and I had no blower power, I'd pop the surround off to let more convection move the air around. I intend to have a block off plate installed soon, so taking the surround off would let the heat out into my room instead of being trapped behind it.

 

[tg4360]

I understand that DC motors can be had for replacement of most AC motors so those with inserts could retrofit motors that would work on DC power.

Here's a common set up amateur radio operators use for back up power:

A battery bank is on a charger and isolated from the loads by a relay. The relay is powered by a 12 volt power supply sized to carry the load and is also keeping the relay pulled to the power supply side. If power fails the relay automatically switches to the batteries which now carry the load.

I'm thinking of finding a 12 volt powered blower for my englander since I need to make a plenum to remote mount the blower due to clearance issues behind the stove as it's sitting in my fireplace. That way I can run on 12 volts and if we get another ice storm around here and power goes out I don't have to worry about it.

Simple to work a photovoltaic cell into the picture also for any long power outages or the power supply/charger can be ran from a generator whenever that is used.

TG

 

[iblonger]

I am in the process of setting up a small solar system for just such occasions. Solar panels, Marine Battery, and inverter. I am going to use it to run the blower all the time to offset the cost of the system.

 

[Jerry_NJ]

Lots of ideas, some way more complicated than I can justify, expensive too.

One can get a 12 VDC Deep Cycle lead/acid battery at Walmart (for example) for under $70, I'd guess it has 100 AH capacity, i.e., would deliver 10 amps for 10 hours without a charge. Add to that a $30 inverter and for $100 (plus tax) one has a 10 hour back up for fan motor. I don't know what power it takes to run a fan, here I assume less than 100 watts. As noted elsewhere one can recharge the battery off the car generator, just a jump start arrangement. This is an expensive charge, but most have it at hand. One needs a a/c charger too, to keep the battery charged when a/c power is available. If you have a car, you should have one of these 12 VDC chargers anyway, so don't count its cost against the cost of the back-up for your stove/insert fan.

 

[tg4360]

I don't mind an inverter for things that must have AC but I hate the waste involved in converting AC to DC when a DC motor could be found.

Very good solar set ups would involve running as much of your loads as you can on DC straight from the battery bank thus the reason you can now by fridges and washing machines that are DC powered.

That said.... I do have a 1500 watt inverter on my work truck so if it comes to it (As it did during a week long power outtage after a hurricane) I'll have that and a generator for other backup.

 

[Redox]

I don't mind an inverter for things that must have AC but I hate the waste involved in converting AC to DC when a DC motor could be found.

Very good solar set ups would involve running as much of your loads as you can on DC straight from the battery bank thus the reason you can now by fridges and washing machines that are DC powered.

That said.... I do have a 1500 watt inverter on my work truck so if it comes to it (As it did during a week long power outtage after a hurricane) I'll have that and a generator for other backup.

Those little high frequency inverters are 95%+ efficient. My 400 watt idles at 6 watts and I think most of that is the cooling fan. They will get a little warm under load, but not very. A true DC motor has brushes which are short lived and a maintenance headache. The DC refrigerators all use an ECM motor that has (drum roll) an inverter!

I've measured the input watts and output watts on a number of modern inverters and it isn't a whole lotta loss.

Chris

 

[Jerry_NJ]

All good points Chris. I had thought too about the brushes in DC motors...but as I haven't worked on any DC motors since I was in the Navy, over 40 years ago, I didn't want to make any claims about DC motors today. I expect AC motors are also more efficient, cubic feet of air per second per watt of electric power.

 

[Redox]

There must be a reason why all the hybrid vehicles out there are using inverters. All the new electric cars on the drawing boards are using AC drives and motors. DC is simpler, but AC is generally more efficient as far as I can tell.

OK, so I'm biased. I sell inverters...

Chris

 

[DavidV]

We have had the power go out a couple times in the last few years but never for more than a few minutes while i was home. I' have come home and had the clocks flashing so it was out but I don't know how long. I burn 24/7 in the winter so it could have been tested here already. I took the surrond off a couple years back because I wanted to have the stove sit out in the room a bit more and get some more heat off it. I'd just run the damned thing. It's 19 years old this year....Double wall steel. I should think it could handle it. Once I got it up to temp to fire off the cats I'd probly just restrict the air a bit so it didn't go runaway and I'd burn wood and hunker down around it for warmth That's why we have the thing in the first place. I also have an old kerosene heater out in my shop. i used to burn that here in the house as well as run the stove ( the first year I had it) once I learned how to run the stove the kerosene heater wasn't needed. but it would work ok if I needed some heat, I'm sure.

 

[zhukpavlo]

I have a decent UPS battery (that the PC runs on). I wonder how long the insert fan will work on it. I guess there is one way to find out - try it out. I also have a power inverter - and can probably run the inverter off the ATV (I figure would take less gas than the car)

 

[smokinj]

i run a 3500 watt gen.

 

[Jerry_NJ]

ATV, any engine source for DC power should be connected to the supply battery, not just to the fan. You want to get all the amp-hours per minute you can out of the charger. I assume even an ATV electrical system will deliver 10+ amps DC. Even if that's mostly going to charge the battery, and gas is still lower (about $2.50 here in NJ now-a-days), the cost the charge the battery is high.

Edit: make that $2.50, as in per gallon, not $250...I added the missing decimal point in this edit.