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#1
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Is it Safe to Run a Furnace on an Inverter?
About a 25 year old forced air gas furnace, the kind with an inducer
blower. No fancy electronics; just whatever kind of time delay they have for the blower and an updated inducer control board also has a delay circuit. So it's more a matter of wondering if the motors, gas valve, and transformer will object to the perverted waveform of a "simulated sine wave" inverter. I have a real generator so the inverter is more of a backup to a backup. Thought I'd ask first. I'm going to guess that the 24V transformer will have an output that's closer to a real sine wave which lessens any unhappiness of the gas valve and electronics so I suppose the transformer itself and the motors are the items of concern. |
#2
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Is it Safe to Run a Furnace on an Inverter?
On Nov 10, 1:39*pm, Chet Kincaid wrote:
About a 25 year old forced air gas furnace, the kind with an inducer blower. *No fancy electronics; just whatever kind of time delay they have for the blower and an updated inducer control board also has a delay circuit. *So it's more a matter of wondering if the motors, gas valve, and transformer will object to the perverted waveform of a "simulated sine wave" inverter. *I have a real generator so the inverter is more of a backup to a backup. *Thought I'd ask first. I'm going to guess that the 24V transformer will have an output that's closer to a real sine wave which lessens any unhappiness of the gas valve and electronics so I suppose the transformer itself and the motors are the items of concern. It will be fine as long as the voltage is reasonably close. And you'd be surprised how a waveform will remanin intact through a transformer. |
#3
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Is it Safe to Run a Furnace on an Inverter?
On Nov 10, 4:20*pm, jamesgangnc wrote:
On Nov 10, 1:39*pm, Chet Kincaid wrote: About a 25 year old forced air gas furnace, the kind with an inducer blower. *No fancy electronics; just whatever kind of time delay they have for the blower and an updated inducer control board also has a delay circuit. *So it's more a matter of wondering if the motors, gas valve, and transformer will object to the perverted waveform of a "simulated sine wave" inverter. *I have a real generator so the inverter is more of a backup to a backup. *Thought I'd ask first. I'm going to guess that the 24V transformer will have an output that's closer to a real sine wave which lessens any unhappiness of the gas valve and electronics so I suppose the transformer itself and the motors are the items of concern. It will be fine as long as the voltage is reasonably close. And you'd be surprised how a waveform will remanin intact through a transformer. I guess it would depend on whether or not the inverter can handle the load. I've got a cheap inverter that I keep in my van for charging drill batteries, running a laptop or portable TV on long trips, etc. I always know when I overload it because it squeals like a pig. |
#4
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Is it Safe to Run a Furnace on an Inverter?
Chet Kincaid wrote: About a 25 year old forced air gas furnace, the kind with an inducer blower. No fancy electronics; just whatever kind of time delay they have for the blower and an updated inducer control board also has a delay circuit. So it's more a matter of wondering if the motors, gas valve, and transformer will object to the perverted waveform of a "simulated sine wave" inverter. I have a real generator so the inverter is more of a backup to a backup. Thought I'd ask first. I'm going to guess that the 24V transformer will have an output that's closer to a real sine wave which lessens any unhappiness of the gas valve and electronics so I suppose the transformer itself and the motors are the items of concern. Motors and solenoid valves are the least likely components to care about the AC waveform. Both motors and solenoid valves are routinely operated with PWM type drivers which produce waveforms much further from a sine wave than a "MSW" stepped square wave inverter. As long as the inverter is appropriately sized it should be fine. |
#5
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Is it Safe to Run a Furnace on an Inverter?
On Nov 10, 12:39*pm, Chet Kincaid wrote:
About a 25 year old forced air gas furnace, the kind with an inducer blower. *No fancy electronics; just whatever kind of time delay they have for the blower and an updated inducer control board also has a delay circuit. *So it's more a matter of wondering if the motors, gas valve, and transformer will object to the perverted waveform of a "simulated sine wave" inverter. *I have a real generator so the inverter is more of a backup to a backup. *Thought I'd ask first. I'm going to guess that the 24V transformer will have an output that's closer to a real sine wave which lessens any unhappiness of the gas valve and electronics so I suppose the transformer itself and the motors are the items of concern. Can the inverter handle a 900 w surge load, im guessing on this but my furnace pulls about 350w continous and common surge for a motor pulling 350w is about 900w. Use a clamp on amp meter to test yours and compare it to the inverters spec. What is your inverters specs, what model, you didnt say. If it cant handle startup it might just shut down since it wasnt designed to start motors. |
#6
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Is it Safe to Run a Furnace on an Inverter?
Should work. I tried to run my old Miller on inverter, but didn't have
enough power to run the blower fan. My new furnace has a circuit board. I wrote the company (York) to ask if I could run modified sine. They wrote back and said I should ask the distributor. You mean, I should ask the guys who are paid to say "You want 70,000 or 90,000 and do you want fries with that?" and they would know? York sure came back with a stupid reply on that one. -- Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus www.lds.org .. "Chet Kincaid" wrote in message ... About a 25 year old forced air gas furnace, the kind with an inducer blower. No fancy electronics; just whatever kind of time delay they have for the blower and an updated inducer control board also has a delay circuit. So it's more a matter of wondering if the motors, gas valve, and transformer will object to the perverted waveform of a "simulated sine wave" inverter. I have a real generator so the inverter is more of a backup to a backup. Thought I'd ask first. I'm going to guess that the 24V transformer will have an output that's closer to a real sine wave which lessens any unhappiness of the gas valve and electronics so I suppose the transformer itself and the motors are the items of concern. |
#7
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Is it Safe to Run a Furnace on an Inverter?
I used the DC cables that came with the inverter. I probably ought
have used much fatter and shorter cables. The DC power feed into the inverter runs a LOT of amps. -- Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus www.lds.org .. "Pete C." wrote in message ster.com... Motors and solenoid valves are the least likely components to care about the AC waveform. Both motors and solenoid valves are routinely operated with PWM type drivers which produce waveforms much further from a sine wave than a "MSW" stepped square wave inverter. As long as the inverter is appropriately sized it should be fine. |
#8
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Is it Safe to Run a Furnace on an Inverter?
Chet Kincaid wrote:
About a 25 year old forced air gas furnace, the kind with an inducer blower. No fancy electronics; just whatever kind of time delay they have for the blower and an updated inducer control board also has a delay circuit. So it's more a matter of wondering if the motors, gas valve, and transformer will object to the perverted waveform of a "simulated sine wave" inverter. I have a real generator so the inverter is more of a backup to a backup. Thought I'd ask first. I'm going to guess that the 24V transformer will have an output that's closer to a real sine wave which lessens any unhappiness of the gas valve and electronics so I suppose the transformer itself and the motors are the items of concern. Depends on the inverter. Some do not put out a sign wave and can harm transformers and inductors which provide power to sensitive electronics. -- LSMFT Simple job, assist the assistant of the physicist. |
#9
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Is it Safe to Run a Furnace on an Inverter?
Pete C. wrote:
Motors and solenoid valves are the least likely components to care about the AC waveform. Both motors and solenoid valves are routinely operated with PWM type drivers which produce waveforms much further from a sine wave than a "MSW" stepped square wave inverter. Routinely? On a simple furnace that's 25 years old? Rest assured the motors run directly on line power and the electronics such as there are on 24 V from a transformer. As long as the inverter is appropriately sized it should be fine. 2500 continuous, 5kW surge. |
#10
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Is it Safe to Run a Furnace on an Inverter?
Chet Kincaid wrote: Pete C. wrote: Motors and solenoid valves are the least likely components to care about the AC waveform. Both motors and solenoid valves are routinely operated with PWM type drivers which produce waveforms much further from a sine wave than a "MSW" stepped square wave inverter. Routinely? On a simple furnace that's 25 years old? Rest assured the motors run directly on line power and the electronics such as there are on 24 V from a transformer. You missed my point. I didn't say the motors or solenoid valves in your furnace ran on PWM drives, I noted that motors and solenoid valves in general are routinely operated on PWM drives. The motors and solenoid valves in your furnace should be quite happy on MSW power. As long as the inverter is appropriately sized it should be fine. 2500 continuous, 5kW surge. That should be plenty for a residential sized furnace. You of course need a hefty DC supply to power that inverter, presumably a vehicle alternator. That will likely draw around 100A DC running the furnace. |
#11
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Is it Safe to Run a Furnace on an Inverter?
On Nov 10, 7:08*pm, Chet Kincaid wrote:
Pete C. wrote: Motors and solenoid valves are the least likely components to care about the AC waveform. Both motors and solenoid valves are routinely operated with PWM type drivers which produce waveforms much further from a sine wave than a "MSW" stepped square wave inverter. Routinely? *On a simple furnace that's 25 years old? *Rest assured the motors run directly on line power and the electronics such as there are on 24 V from a transformer. As long as the inverter is appropriately sized it should be fine. 2500 continuous, 5kW surge. Do you mean inverter that runs from a dc source and generates ac, or do you mean a generator that runs from a gasoline-driven motor? A 2500 watt inverter would require humongous sized feeder cables if it runs on 12V dc. |
#12
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Is it Safe to Run a Furnace on an Inverter?
On Nov 10, 10:51*pm, "hr(bob) "
wrote: On Nov 10, 7:08*pm, Chet Kincaid wrote: Pete C. wrote: Motors and solenoid valves are the least likely components to care about the AC waveform. Both motors and solenoid valves are routinely operated with PWM type drivers which produce waveforms much further from a sine wave than a "MSW" stepped square wave inverter. Routinely? *On a simple furnace that's 25 years old? *Rest assured the motors run directly on line power and the electronics such as there are on 24 V from a transformer. As long as the inverter is appropriately sized it should be fine. 2500 continuous, 5kW surge. Do you mean inverter that runs from a dc source and generates ac, or do you mean a generator that runs from a gasoline-driven motor? *A 2500 watt inverter would require humongous sized feeder cables if it runs on 12V dc. Not only big cables, but I saw reviews of several 12v cheapy inverters, none could supply the rated watts, they were 10-15% off. So if you have a 1000w inverter unit it may shut down as a 350w motor pushes through its 850w needed startup surge. A 25 yr old furnace, its motor is worn and could take well over 1200 startup surge, so a 2000w inverter might work. |
#13
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Is it Safe to Run a Furnace on an Inverter?
That's got to take large batteries, and very thick, short DC cables.
-- Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus www.lds.org .. "Chet Kincaid" wrote in message news 2500 continuous, 5kW surge. |
#14
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Is it Safe to Run a Furnace on an Inverter?
It's been a while since I checked the run amps of my furnace. Between
5 and 7, from memory. In any case, say 700 watts. At 12 volts, that draws about 58 amps of DC. -- Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus www.lds.org .. "Pete C." wrote in message ster.com... 2500 continuous, 5kW surge. That should be plenty for a residential sized furnace. You of course need a hefty DC supply to power that inverter, presumably a vehicle alternator. That will likely draw around 100A DC running the furnace. |
#15
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Is it Safe to Run a Furnace on an Inverter?
Pete C. wrote:
You missed my point. I didn't say the motors or solenoid valves in your furnace ran on PWM drives, I noted that motors and solenoid valves in general are routinely operated on PWM drives. The motors and solenoid valves in your furnace should be quite happy on MSW power. Ah, I see what you mean. Thanks. |
#16
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Is it Safe to Run a Furnace on an Inverter?
ransley wrote:
Not only big cables, but I saw reviews of several 12v cheapy inverters, none could supply the rated watts, they were 10-15% off. So if you have a 1000w inverter unit it may shut down as a 350w motor pushes through its 850w needed startup surge. A 25 yr old furnace, its motor is worn and could take well over 1200 startup surge, so a 2000w inverter might work. It's a Cobra CPI-2550 rated at 2500 W / 5000 W surge. (In the manual they admit that 2500 is a one hour rating). I've tested it to about 1900 W with resistive loads and some smaller inductive loads. (Meaning I plugged in an air compressor because it was handy. It ran okay.) I will likely never use it for the furnace since I have a generator but it's good to have options. |
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