Battery Backup

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SFCJames

New Member
Nov 21, 2015
13
Southeast MA
I am running a Harman XXV and venting it directly thru the wall. I am using a 3 inch exhaust pipe thru the wall into a 4 inch exhaust. The 4 inch goes up about 12 feet and terminates several feet above the roof. I am also using an outside air intake kit. I am thinking that I should have enough draft to not worry about the house filling with smoke if the power goes out. Someone suggested a battery back up. Is this really necessary with my set up?
 
Unplug your stove and see what happens. If the smoke vents fine without blower on then your probably okay. If smoke starts to fill the house than yes it would be a good idea.
 
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You should try pulling the plug on the stove and see what happens. My stove absolutely needs the UPS or the whole place smells of smoke in a power outage. The UPS gives me enough time to get the stove to shutdown normally.
 
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I am running a Harman XXV and venting it directly thru the wall. I am using a 3 inch exhaust pipe thru the wall into a 4 inch exhaust. The 4 inch goes up about 12 feet and terminates several feet above the roof. I am also using an outside air intake kit. I am thinking that I should have enough draft to not worry about the house filling with smoke if the power goes out. Someone suggested a battery back up. Is this really necessary with my set up?

Start it up and pull the plug and you should find your answer.. i did just that today and i think i want the battery backup..
 
I can get 8 hours out of my battery backup. Keeps me from having to roll out the generator in the middle of the night.
 
The other big advantage of a battery backup is that most are combined with better surge protection than a standard power strip. Better protection for the control boards.
 
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Your Harman will not run on battery back up, however it will cycle itself down by pulsing the auger and the combustion fan to do a controlled smoke-free burn down of the remaining pellets in the burn pot...

After trying 2 tripplite battery back ups, which failed after one year, I've moved onto the APC units hoping to get better longjevity out of the control circuitry. In both cases the batteries were fine…
 
Expect about 2 - 3 years of use from the APC product before you may need to replace the battery. It'll let you know, starts chirping like a smoke detector does.
 
They also chirp when the power goes out and they are doing their job. My APC does anyway.

Tim has a battery set up for his stove to run. A couple of marine batteries if I recall so his set up will run his stove for quite awhile. That said the OP I think was mainly wondering about a UPS which is a battery back up surge protector but as mentioned it is only to safely shut your stove down and evacuate the smoke as the fire dies down. It can take awhile too depending how many pellets are burning in the pot.

A UPS will not run your stove for heat when power is out. Just shut it down correctly. That can be done with additional batteries set up to do so. Different batteries and number of them determines how long you can heat and power your particular stove. There are threads here you can search out if interested.

I have to use a UPS because of how I am vented. Recommendations above will let you know if you need one but also as mentioned it's a good plan and offers better protection. They can be somewhat expensive. I paid $110 for mine locally. But if you check Amazon some here have gotten them for like $69 bucks. I'll run my stoves off of one regardless of the need for shut down or not just to make sure expensive electrical components are protected. $69 bucks and no troubles beats some expensive fried parts and control board replacement. So what I am getting at is I feel they are a good investment even if you do not need one to clear the smoke and shut down. My buck fifties worth.........
 
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My stove vents into a 3"tee and then ten feet straight up to the cap. It has enough draft that the stove will restart after up to ten minutes of power failure.
 
Your Harman will not run on battery back up, however it will cycle itself down by pulsing the auger and the combustion fan to do a controlled smoke-free burn down of the remaining pellets in the burn pot...

After trying 2 tripplite battery back ups, which failed after one year, I've moved onto the APC units hoping to get better longjevity out of the control circuitry. In both cases the batteries were fine…

Well - maybe not quite true. I have a pure sine wave inverter, and run it off a large marine deep discharge battery. My Harman runs fine off of that and I can get 24 hours out of a single charge on that battery, or more if I keep the distribution fan speed down a bit. The problem is likely because cheap UPS or inverters are at best modified sine wave, and if the Harman can sense that it may have a shutdown mode.
 
I am running a Harman XXV and venting it directly thru the wall. I am using a 3 inch exhaust pipe thru the wall into a 4 inch exhaust. The 4 inch goes up about 12 feet and terminates several feet above the roof. I am also using an outside air intake kit. I am thinking that I should have enough draft to not worry about the house filling with smoke if the power goes out. Someone suggested a battery back up. Is this really necessary with my set up?

If your piping is sealed properly, with an OAK, your house should not fill with smoke. It has no way to get there.
 
It just so happened that the power went out yesterday. All of my pipes are sealed properly and I had no smoke enter the house. I didn't mention this in my original post but I have a back up generator. It is a 5000 watt portable so I have to manually start, but all I need is about 10 minutes to get it up and running. However, the generator is not something the wife will start or use if I am on the road. After reading everyone's replies, I think that I still want a battery back up for the surge protection and to safely power down the stove. Thanks to everyone for their input and recommendations!
 
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Your Harman will not run on battery back up, however it will cycle itself down by pulsing the auger and the combustion fan to do a controlled smoke-free burn down of the remaining pellets in the burn pot...

After trying 2 tripplite battery back ups, which failed after one year, I've moved onto the APC units hoping to get better longjevity out of the control circuitry. In both cases the batteries were fine…


when the harman stove switches to the backup battery, does the system know? I mean, will I have to turn off the stove at the point for proper shutdown or does the stove know its on backup power and it will cycle down itself?
 
when the harman stove switches to the backup battery, does the system know? I mean, will I have to turn off the stove at the point for proper shutdown or does the stove know its on backup power and it will cycle down itself?
It's my understanding that Harman stoves will detect the power (modified sine wave) from a battery backup and shut down. Only the more expensive backups are pure sine wave and they will be sure to advertise that if so.

That said, there is a way to flick a dip switch on some control boards and change a setting on touch screen ones to operate "normally" with a modified sine wave but the default is to shut down.
 
It's my understanding that Harman stoves will detect the power (modified sine wave) from a battery backup and shut down. Only the more expensive backups are pure sine wave and they will be sure to advertise that if so.

That said, there is a way to flick a dip switch on some control boards and change a setting on touch screen ones to operate "normally" with a modified sine wave but the default is to shut down.

thanks, I am thinking about getting this one...

APC 850VA UPS Battery Backup & Surge Protector with USB Charging Ports, APC UPS Back-UPS (BE850M2)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01HDC21FE/?tag=hearthamazon-20

Think its good?
 
Looks like it would get you through a shut down, yep
 
And that's all it will do. Sure you don't want battery for Running the Stove for Power Outage? I run 100AH Battery with Pure Sine Wave Inverter/Charger. I wanted to be able to run it if I lose power. My Generator is not PSW Generator.
Aims 1250 Watt 12V Pure Sine Wave Inverter Charger PICOGLF12W12V120AL

During test of the unit and battery it seemed to be able to do the job at 1/2 fan speed for 8 hours. I have 2 Additional batteries I could get in emergency. Plus genny to charge things. Just in case of Winter from Hell.
 
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I just got a UPS this season. I never had one in all the past years using the pellet stove, but we had a lot more power outages than usual this past summer. I got the CyberPower 1500 PFC and tested it last week. I only had my stove set on Number two because it wasn't that cold. I pulled the plug on the stove and after just over a half hour of running perfect, I plugged it back in. The display on the UPS said I still had 19 minutes left before I plugged it back in. I thought that was great because my goal was to cover any power outages under a half hour. Depending on weather, time of day, or what I'm doing, I'd probably fire up the generator for anything over a half hour. I also like all the monitor functions I can cycle through on the CyberPower display like volts, AMPS, watts, Time left to run, etc. I also set it to silent so I don't have to hear the alarm beep the whole time the power is out.

This is the one I got based on others here that used it and recommended it:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00429N19W/?tag=hearthamazon-20

Ray
 
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I have a exhaust straight out the wall, horizontally, and used to get smoke in the house on power failure. Then on advice here I put together this relay: https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads...ce-for-when-a-pellet-stove-goes-on-ups.75156/ . That's in conjunction with a modest CyberPower 1500AVR (2011 model, yeah it still works), and there hasn't been a problem since. The relay disconnects the line to the thermostat when the power goes off, and the stove then finishes its cycle off the UPS, so the fans keep everything flowing the right way.
 
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Just lit my first burn of the season here in Connecticut. USSC 5660 running just fine after some cleaning. Anyone got a good battery backup that can keep a stove running for a few hours in a power outage? We have electric heat, so if he power goes out during a winter storm, the stove is all we have to keep warm. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!
 
I use Aims 1250 Watt 12V Pure Sine Wave Inverter Charger PICOGLF12W12V120AL along with 100AH Battery. Tests (See my MSGs I have posted) show I can get at least 4 hours with Max Fan and Auto, and I am hoping for Real World of 8 Hours with Manual and Med Fan Speed. Going to test it when it's cold enough and post. In Middle of Nov I guess. Stove has bad bearing on Distribution Blower and needs new motor right now. Oh well New stove under warranty. (Harmon XXV).