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

On 9/22/2013 10:18 AM, 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

Too many variables.
The devil is in the details...

Many UPS systems are designed to run your computer just long enough to
shut it down.
Running it at 1/4 load helps, but it is CRITICALLY dependent on the
specific design.

What's the inverter voltage? 5 batteries is an odd number, but the
likely voltage is 12V, not 60V.

I'd go with deep cycle batteries. A 100AH 12V battery is 1200 watt-hours.
If the inverter is very efficient and the batteries are new, you'll
get 4-hours run time per battery. To run it for 4 days, you'll need
24 batteries.
If it doesn't run continuously, you should have stated that and factor
that in...details...

And do you really want to sit around for 4 days in the dark watching
the stove and smelling the stuff rotting in the fridge?

Get a generator.

On 09/22/2013 11:01 AM, mike wrote:
On 9/22/2013 10:18 AM, 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

Too many variables.
The devil is in the details...

Many UPS systems are designed to run your computer just long enough to
shut it down.
Running it at 1/4 load helps, but it is CRITICALLY dependent on the
specific design.

What's the inverter voltage? 5 batteries is an odd number, but the
likely voltage is 12V, not 60V.

I'd go with deep cycle batteries. A 100AH 12V battery is 1200 watt-hours.
If the inverter is very efficient and the batteries are new, you'll
get 4-hours run time per battery. To run it for 4 days, you'll need
24 batteries.
If it doesn't run continuously, you should have stated that and factor
that in...details...

And do you really want to sit around for 4 days in the dark watching
the stove and smelling the stuff rotting in the fridge?

Get a generator.

They really need to market natgas generators better. Storing large
amounts of gasoline is dangerous.

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

The blower on my gas furnace is about 300 watts. Starter is minimal. With a
120 AHR battery, I could get about 4 hours running time, but that's a bit
too long for good battery life. Powered off solar, which is not going to
recoup in one sunny day.

Greg

On Sunday, September 22, 2013 1:18:13 PM UTC-4, 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

Not sure about the bigger batteries. But 5 x 12V @ 7AH is
5*12 = 60 V * 7 A *3600 seconds ~ 1.5 x10^6 joules. Divided by 250 watts is about 6000 seconds, a little less than two hours, (assuming 100% efficiency)

As Mike said, get a generator.

George H.

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

On Mon, 23 Sep 2013 13:15:41 -0700 (PDT), wrote:

On Sunday, September 22, 2013 1:18:13 PM UTC-4, 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

Not sure about the bigger batteries. But 5 x 12V @ 7AH is
5*12 = 60 V * 7 A *3600 seconds ~ 1.5 x10^6 joules. Divided by 250 watts is about 6000 seconds, a little less than two hours, (assuming 100% efficiency)

As Mike said, get a generator.

George H.

Feeding the generator with fuel for 4 days is no joke either. Even at a
hopelessly low fuel consumption of 1 gal/Hr that is about 100 gallon of
fuel. Decently useful size backup generators require huge fuel tanks for
a few days of continuous operation.

?-)

A propane or natural gas powered generator makes more sense if there really are that many failures. Or, maybe run an invertor from your car battery and generator, easy enough to do if you keep your car gassed up when weather is threatening and you have a place to park the car outside close enough to the house for a reasonable number of extension cords from the generator so you don't have too large a voltage drop.