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Jon Elson[_3_]

wrote:

My son has a pellet stove, and it is great except for when they lose
power. This sometimes is for days, and when it happens during the Winter
we can usually count on seeing them over here for the duration of the
outage. It's always nice to have them visit but I would like to help them
to be more self sufficient if possible.

He tells me that during startup the ignitor requires 500watts, but once
the thing is cranking, the blower and auger take about 250watts. If this
were to run off an inverter though I don't know what the 12volt side would
require. I have a 2000VA UPS that is not being used right now. It uses 5
12volt 7AH batteries. If I used 5 sealed group 24 or larger automotive
type batteries and except for the initial 500watt startup demand I am
drawing approximately one quarter maximum continuous load, the inverter
shouldn't overheat and therefore should be able to run continuously. Given
this scenario, can anyone venture a guess as to how long he'll be able to
run the stove before the batteries drop to the point that the inverter
shuts down? Thanks, Lenny
250 Watts continuous is a VERY heavy load for a 12 V system. At 100%
efficiency that is a 21 A load, and will empty a car battery in little
more than an hour. A big trolling motor deep-cycle battery could
run it for a couple hours. So, you need a HUGE bank of batteries,
and most likely a more than 12 V inverter system.

Your UPS system has 12 V * 7 AH * 5 = 420 WH. Well, that will run the
stove for about an hour, given typical efficiencies of these units, and
assuming the batteries are in new condition.

I think it may make a lot more sense to get a small gas generator.
Then, you can keep food cold in the refrigerator, charge cell phones,
etc. You run the generator for 90 minutes every 12 hours or something
like that.

Jon