Pellet stove Amp draw.

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Dustin

Minister of Fire
Sep 3, 2008
613
Western Oregon
Howdy,

Did a search and couldn't find it.

I'm curious to what the general amp draw of a pellet stove is? I imagine it's not much..

My issue, I don't have an outlet right next to the stove. I have one about 10 feet away, and will need to use a short run of extension cord. Of course this cord will be of high quality and not a cheap one.

I also plug my flat screen TV into this same outlet, and that's it on that circuit except a couple of small lamps running energy bulbs.

20 amp circuit.

I'm just concerned about overloading the outlet.. Thoughts?
 
A pellet stove draws it's most current when powering the igniter. During ignition, my stove draws approximately 240Watts which calculated to 2Amps
 
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I don't like to run anything for extended periods of time on an extension cord, just one more thing to go wrong. It is considered good practice to have a dedicated circuit to a heating/cooling appliance. Don't forget the surge protector.
For the few dollars it costs to get a new outlet installed I would certainly consider it.
 
I would also add a battery backup system for the pellet stove. I looked at pellet stoves Harman, Enviro and St Croix and all recommend battery back up if the power goes out. This is so you can shut the stove down and to prevent any backdraft. Depending on the battery back up it will also keep the stoves memory safe instead of reverting back to the default settings.

Steve
Pheasant Hollow Farm
 
I would also add a battery backup system for the pellet stove. I looked at pellet stoves Harman, Enviro and St Croix and all recommend battery back up if the power goes out. This is so you can shut the stove down and to prevent any backdraft. Depending on the battery back up it will also keep the stoves memory safe instead of reverting back to the default settings.

Steve
Pheasant Hollow Farm
I couldn't find an off the shelf battery backup system so I built my own. I can get about 8 - 10 hours of runtime off my system.
 
For the few dollars it costs to get a new outlet installed I would certainly consider it.

Or... for a lot less, put a longer cord on the stove, if you have some strange fear of extension cords.


Dan
 
Or... for a lot less, put a longer cord on the stove, if you have some strange fear of extension cords.


Dan
A longer cord is perhaps a very good idea. I don't have a fear of extension cords however as a repairman I get to see a lot of them that are routed under rugs, tripped over,overheated to the point of melting the ends off etc.
A heavy reliance on extension cords is an indication that you have too few outlets to address your needs.
If you check with the Electrical Safety Foundation it becomes apparent that you Do not substitute extension cords for permanent wiring.
The original post already has 3 things plugged into the outlet already ! Just sayin.
 
Or could get a UPS that would protect the stoves components from power issues and brief outages, extra outlets and a good bit of length and most have a good circuit breaker. Cheaper than having to repair or replace a control board or other major electrical part. Was told to run the tv off a UPS(home theater system) to clean the electricity for extended life. I can tell the difference when running bluray.
 
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The original post already has 3 things plugged into the outlet already ! Just sayin.
Actually he said he has a TV, and two lamps on the same 20A circuit.
I'd say he'd be plenty safe putting the stove on that circuit...

Dan
 
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I have no vertical rise in my vent so even a power failure that lasts only a few seconds is enough to fill the house with smoke. The battery system fixes that.
 
Most of our stoves have horizontal vents, I guess that is the problem with pellets, with the wheat/corn the fire goes out in seconds without any smoke.

My fire doesn't go out. When the stove loses power, the exhaust fan will no longer send the smoke out the vent. The smoke backs up into the house setting off the smoke detectors and making everything smell like a campfire.
 
The corn here will smoke for some time as I think its more of the size of the kernel ? Our Ecoteck with a horizontal vent wont fill the home because of its tall vertical design naturally drafts.
 
Yeah that is a pain. Nothing the wife loves more than a house full of smoke.
Two dogs howling because the 4 linked smoke detectors going is I think worse.
 
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Actually he said he has a TV, and two lamps on the same 20A circuit.
I'd say he'd be plenty safe putting the stove on that circuit...

Dan

I agree 100 % that it wouldn't overload the circuit.
Guess I was just thinking that If I charged someone a few Thousand to install a new furnace and hooked it up with an extension cord the customer and the building inspector would not consider it a good clean installation.
 
Guess I was just thinking that If I charged someone a few Thousand to install a new furnace
and hooked it up with an extension cord the customer and the building inspector would not consider it a good clean installation.

I guess I misunderstood.
I thought it was a homeowner doing a DIY 'stove' install.
In which case, if he was comfortable with a cord or power strip, that would be his call.

Dan
 
Yup.. My own install..finished it today actually.

Turns out, the cord on the stove is longer then I thought so, if I need a cord, it's only gonna be about a foot long :)

Thanks for the info on amp draw, that was my main worry
 
Both of my stoves are around 500 watts starting and under 250 watts running
 
A longer cord is perhaps a very good idea. I don't have a fear of extension cords however as a repairman I get to see a lot of them that are routed under rugs, tripped over,overheated to the point of melting the ends off etc.
A heavy reliance on extension cords is an indication that you have too few outlets to address your needs.
If you check with the Electrical Safety Foundation it becomes apparent that you Do not substitute extension cords for permanent wiring.
The original post already has 3 things plugged into the outlet already ! Just sayin.

GREAT POST! though I see he has a 20A breaker that doesn't sound too overtaxed, if the cord is correctly routed and is of the proper gauge a ten footer is not so bad, make sure its a 3 prong plug , the stove will need to have access to house ground , and a surge protector is added insurance as well.
 
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My fire doesn't go out. When the stove loses power, the exhaust fan will no longer send the smoke out the vent. The smoke backs up into the house setting off the smoke detectors and making everything smell like a campfire.


do you have any vertical in you're system?
 
do you have any vertical in you're system?

No.

26c7ae6e6b137be1ce58ff2ab54da34f.jpg
 
My stove doesn't leak. In fact, my UPS will keep the stove running for 8 hours in a power outage.
 
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have a pretty thick 3 prong ext cord[ pretty sure it's 12/2 at least] into an outlet sharing my laptop and a lamp. laptop/stove plugged into circuit protector 1st.
when power goes out smoke will go up the exhaust and not in the house.
 

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Look at your stove My 25-PDVC label says it uses 3 Amps (which I'm sure is only during start up) almost any extension cord will handle that, I'm in the same boat cord on the stove is about a foot short of what I need. Currently using a 6', 3 wire extension cord that is rated for 15 amps. It'll be fine.