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Default oil furnace running off inverter?

I live in a small town in Canada where the power sometimes goes off in
winter for a few hours. Last year when when it went off for a day and it
was -20C I was concerned about frozen ho****er pipes. Does anyone know
roughly how much power a ho****er furnace takes? My system is small having
one circulation pump, a blower and one thermostat.

Instead of a generator I was thinking of a 1000W inverter and a car battery
just to keep the pipes from freezing. I see a small electrical box with a
ricker switch that is close to the furnace. I could turn it off, cut the
three wires and add a male & female prong and socket plug. When the power
goes out I could turn off the power to the furnace with the electrical box,
unplug it and plug it onto the inverter. I have a 700VA UPS that I could
also use if possible.

miker


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Default oil furnace running off inverter?

check model number tag for electrical specs, the pump probably means
well over a thousand watts, larger inverts are available

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Default oil furnace running off inverter?

miker wrote:

I live in a small town in Canada where the power sometimes goes off in
winter for a few hours. Last year when when it went off for a day and it
was -20C I was concerned about frozen ho****er pipes. Does anyone know
roughly how much power a ho****er furnace takes? My system is small having
one circulation pump, a blower and one thermostat.

Instead of a generator I was thinking of a 1000W inverter and a car battery
just to keep the pipes from freezing. I see a small electrical box with a
ricker switch that is close to the furnace. I could turn it off, cut the
three wires and add a male & female prong and socket plug. When the power
goes out I could turn off the power to the furnace with the electrical box,
unplug it and plug it onto the inverter. I have a 700VA UPS that I could
also use if possible.

miker


You have a Hydronic system with oil-fired "boiler".

In very round approximate numbers,
the burner motor might draw 2.5 Amp
the circ pump motor might draw 3.5 Amp

or about 700-800 watts.

Your UPS may not be of much help if it won't "self-start"
when disconnected from the 60cyc line.

The 1000 VA Inverter should be capable of running both motors,
assuming both don't start together. Try it and find out.

FWIW, I ran an oil "furnace" here off my 1000 VA Inverter
in power outages. It had to start the burner motor and then
the blower fan motor. It complained, but the house didn't freeze!

Jim
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Default oil furnace running off inverter?

It won't work for long off of a car battery.

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Default oil furnace running off inverter?




The 1000 VA Inverter should be capable of running both motors,
assuming both don't start together. Try it and find out.



1000VA from a 12 Volt inverter means about 100Amps at 12 Volts. That
takes a lot of battery to run that for more than a few minutes. You
would do better with a small generator instead of a big inverter.

Mark

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Default oil furnace running off inverter?

How about buy an ammeter from Harbor Freight, and see what the actual
current draw is?

Don't cut the wires off the ricker switch, unscrew them. Wire nut the
appliance cord on, and plug into inverter. Worked for me, and I don't
even need a new ricker switch when I'm done.

Marine trolling battery will give you MUCH better service than an auto
battery. Car batteries are designed for shallow discharge, a deep
discharge like a day's furnace would not be good. Marine trolling are
MUCH better suited.

You may also be able to wire in the marine battery to your present
UPS, if it uses a 12 volt battery. Don't even need a new ricker
switch.

--

Christopher A. Young
You can't shout down a troll.
You have to starve them.
..

"miker" wrote in message
...
I live in a small town in Canada where the power sometimes goes off in
winter for a few hours. Last year when when it went off for a day and
it
was -20C I was concerned about frozen ho****er pipes. Does anyone know
roughly how much power a ho****er furnace takes? My system is small
having
one circulation pump, a blower and one thermostat.

Instead of a generator I was thinking of a 1000W inverter and a car
battery
just to keep the pipes from freezing. I see a small electrical box
with a
ricker switch that is close to the furnace. I could turn it off, cut
the
three wires and add a male & female prong and socket plug. When the
power
goes out I could turn off the power to the furnace with the electrical
box,
unplug it and plug it onto the inverter. I have a 700VA UPS that I
could
also use if possible.

miker



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Default oil furnace running off inverter?

Sounds like the voice of experience. Where I am, power cuts are seldom
more than a couple hours. But four days has happened, and that in the
bitter cold winter.

--

Christopher A. Young
You can't shout down a troll.
You have to starve them.
..

"Speedy Jim" wrote in message
om...
wrote:

It won't work for long off of a car battery.


That is a very good point.
To run mine, I invested in a couple of good deep-cycle batteries.

You then have to have a plan to maintain the batteries.
For me, it has been worth all the bother.
The batteries are now 5 yrs old and they have provided power
thru numerous outrages and run lights and fridge besides the
furnace as needed.

Jim


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Default oil furnace running off inverter?


"Speedy Jim" wrote in message
That is a very good point.
To run mine, I invested in a couple of good deep-cycle batteries.

You then have to have a plan to maintain the batteries.
For me, it has been worth all the bother.
The batteries are now 5 yrs old and they have provided power
thru numerous outrages and run lights and fridge besides the
furnace as needed.

Jim


How long can you run off of the batteries? Can they be charged with your
car?


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Default oil furnace running off inverter?

Edwin Pawlowski wrote:

"Speedy Jim" wrote in message

That is a very good point.
To run mine, I invested in a couple of good deep-cycle batteries.

You then have to have a plan to maintain the batteries.
For me, it has been worth all the bother.
The batteries are now 5 yrs old and they have provided power
thru numerous outrages and run lights and fridge besides the
furnace as needed.

Jim



How long can you run off of the batteries? Can they be charged with your
car?



I have 2 deep-cycle in parallel. They will run the fridge
for a couple of days. The oil furnace I ran for shorter periods
so I don't have a good figure.

Yes, you could charge off the car alternator. Might want to
put an ammeter in the circuit to limit load on the alt to some
reasonable figure/

Jim


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Default oil furnace running off inverter?

Speedy Jim wrote:

Edwin Pawlowski wrote:

"Speedy Jim" wrote in message

That is a very good point.
To run mine, I invested in a couple of good deep-cycle batteries.

You then have to have a plan to maintain the batteries.
For me, it has been worth all the bother.
The batteries are now 5 yrs old and they have provided power
thru numerous outrages and run lights and fridge besides the
furnace as needed.

Jim




How long can you run off of the batteries? Can they be charged with
your car?


I have 2 deep-cycle in parallel. They will run the fridge
for a couple of days. The oil furnace I ran for shorter periods
so I don't have a good figure.

Yes, you could charge off the car alternator. Might want to
put an ammeter in the circuit to limit load on the alt to some
reasonable figure/

Jim

Hi,
6V golf cart batteries in series could give more cpapacity than two 12V
ones in parallel. If car is to be used for charging, I'd upgrade
alternator. Solar panel, small wind turbine comes to mind. Where I live
as far as I remember, longest power outage was 20 minutes once LONG time
ago. We have very reliable power.
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Default oil furnace running off inverter?


"Speedy Jim" wrote in message
I have 2 deep-cycle in parallel. They will run the fridge
for a couple of days. The oil furnace I ran for shorter periods
so I don't have a good figure.

Yes, you could charge off the car alternator. Might want to
put an ammeter in the circuit to limit load on the alt to some
reasonable figure/

Jim


That is longer than I would have though possible. Thanks.


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Default oil furnace running off inverter?

Motor depends on frequency to revolve correctly. Keep this in mind.
Spec. should tell surge capacity and continuous rating.


Only matters to things like phonographs off speed a little doesnt matter

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Default oil furnace running off inverter?


Mark wrote:

The 1000 VA Inverter should be capable of running both motors,
assuming both don't start together. Try it and find out.



1000VA from a 12 Volt inverter means about 100Amps at 12 Volts. That
takes a lot of battery to run that for more than a few minutes. You
would do better with a small generator instead of a big inverter.

Mark



I think this is the core of the issue. Even if it takes less, like
750W to run the system, a couple of deep cycle batteries aren't going
to be able to run it long enough for it to be practical. You would
need more batteries and they have a limited life, even if not used. By
the time you figure out what it costs for the inverter and batteries,
etc a small generator is the better solution.



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Default oil furnace running off inverter?


"miker" wrote in message
...
I live in a small town in Canada where the power sometimes goes off in
winter for a few hours. Last year when when it went off for a day and it
was -20C I was concerned about frozen ho****er pipes. Does anyone know
roughly how much power a ho****er furnace takes? My system is small having
one circulation pump, a blower and one thermostat.

I would get a kerosene heater. Cheaper, easier to use.



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Default oil furnace running off inverter?

Connect inverter to running vehicle, Kerosene heaters are major fire
carbon monoxide hazard

Inverter run on vehicle has built in portable fuel tank VEHICLES. nd
runs quiet

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Default oil furnace running off inverter?

Edwin Pawlowski wrote:

"Speedy Jim" wrote in message

I have 2 deep-cycle in parallel. They will run the fridge
for a couple of days. The oil furnace I ran for shorter periods
so I don't have a good figure.

Yes, you could charge off the car alternator. Might want to
put an ammeter in the circuit to limit load on the alt to some
reasonable figure/

Jim



That is longer than I would have though possible. Thanks.


Hmmm,
Maybe portable fridge, LOL!
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