Nothing like battery back up

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birdbrown

New Member
Hearth Supporter
Oct 18, 2008
20
North Pole, Alaska
So it happened. The electric went out. Found the cable, hooked it up to the battery and set to making our pellet stove run. Big thing was NO GEL Haha. So hubby is thinging this could be a big deal. 10 degrees outside. With me bitching at him not to, he used some fabric glue on a piece of paper towel and tried to light the fire pot. Did not work till he put a piece of wood shim in the pot and it started and actually got the stove going. Power was off 2 hours and the stove was running the whole time. I definitly will be making a hasty trip to the store tomorrow for a tube of gel and hope like hell he did not hurt the stove. Man do I love our stove.
 
I don't have a battery backup but it does looks interesting..especially if you don't have a generator as an option......but Ive found so many people selling genrators at a very cheap price(crackheads..hehehe) on craigslist I don't think I'll ever need to buy a battery backup..dealer here wants $100 for my Harman kit and then $50 to install...I bought my generator for $150 so I can't see the logic..but now that I've said this i know its gonna come back and bite me in the ass...lol..shuuda just kept well enuf alone...
 
A cheaper and simpler alternative would be a UPS with large enough VA capacity. And if you start the stove without using electric start that should take you a little further.
 
birdbrown said:
..... Big thing was NO GEL Haha. ........I definitly will be making a hasty trip to the store tomorrow for a tube of gel ......

Bird, go to the local supermarket (or dollar store if you have one), and buy a couple pump bottles of the cheapest hand sanitizer.....should work just like starting gel since it's mostly alcohol. Might want to test some pellets in a coffee can or something like that to see how much you need to squirt on to really get the pellets burning.
 
dac122 said:
A cheaper and simpler alternative would be a UPS with large enough VA capacity. And if you start the stove without using electric start that should take you a little further.

I have both UPS and a generator. Generator is the best option. You can get them pretty cheap. As long as you have gas you don't need to worry about batteries running out. Generator should be a true sine wave output to keep the control board happy.

My reason for the UPS is to prevent winter power problems from frying my control board and it keeps the pellet burner and oil furnace going while I hook up the generator. My dealer repair tech said they have seen control boards damaged during power outages. Usually at the coldest time of the year.

My UPS is 1500VA used for commercial computer server applications. If I switch off the pellet furnace igniter (MANUAL LIGHT switch) and switch the hot air duct blower to LOW the UPS will run the pellet furnace for about an hour before the batteries run out from a full charge.
 
I've got a UPS 1400VA...about 980 watts for my P61-A... bought it at a surplus store for 10 bucks lady said it didn't work.
I was sure it was a battery problem with the UPS so took it home and found two wheel chair batteries at another surplus store,hooked them up parallel gave me 24v and now my stove runs for 6 to 7 hrs on a full charge and gives me the protection I need for power outages.
So it pays to look around you never know know what you will find...saved about $700.00!
 
I have both, power went out while I was at work and the battery back up kept the stove going 10 hours, then I hooked up the generator and ran it until the batteries charged back up... I use six 6V batteries, so I cheat and hook up a second battery charger and give it 8 more amps of charge...
 
I have a Wal-mart Marine Deep cycle battery (125A)on a Surefire Stove Sentry unit. When the grid power has left us..about 4 times this winter..my stove never missed a beat.I like it..it seems the power goes out more than it used to and stays off longer.Winter has changed.It sucks worse ...'
 
Hey MACMAN thanks for the tip.
 
I used a 1400 ups, power when off. This ups ran the stove for over 2 Hour 15 min. Great protection for middle of the night power lost. Alarm sounds, then I hook up the generator..
 
macman said:
birdbrown said:
..... Big thing was NO GEL Haha. ........I definitly will be making a hasty trip to the store tomorrow for a tube of gel ......

Bird, go to the local supermarket (or dollar store if you have one), and buy a couple pump bottles of the cheapest hand sanitizer.....should work just like starting gel since it's mostly alcohol. Might want to test some pellets in a coffee can or something like that to see how much you need to squirt on to really get the pellets burning.


awww heck , plumbers torch and a pot fulla pellets and you are up and running in a minute
 
Mr Whitfield said:
I used a 1400 ups, power when off. This ups ran the stove for over 2 Hour 15 min. Great protection for middle of the night power lost. Alarm sounds, then I hook up the generator..

Here the electric companies are no longer spending the money for up keep... All the big shots are more concerned with keep their income up instead of the power lines... I know a few that are high up on the hourly side, and they same our power company's tree trimming budget has been cut by over 60%, from what it was in 2003!!!
 
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