Insert Blower Power Backup

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EJL923

EJL923

Minister of Fire
Oct 29, 2009
599
Western Mass
Im looking for some advice on power backup for my insert blower. I do not currently have the budget for a generator system. Being an insert, I do not have a lot of radiant heat, so without the blowers it doesnt do much. I want to be able to power my insert for 8-10 hours, while i am at work. I am thinking a simple system to begin with, a deep cycle battery and a power inverter. From the specs I have looked at, i should be able to power by (2) 19w blowers for this amount of time off of a 75 Ah deep cycle battery. I realize if a major ice storm hits and i am without power for days, this doesnt do much. This is for the temporary outages to keep me warm until the power is back up and running.

Anyone do anything similar, or have another idea?

Everyone's help is much appreciated.
 
Take this with a grain of salt because I have not had a power outage long enough to really test this but I take my UPS backup battery I use for my computer and plug it in for my fan, it lasted for 4 hours the last time and power came back so I didn't get a chance to see how long it would go, I turned my fan down to low so it was using as little wattage as possible.

This is what I have: http://www.upsforless.com/apcbp1400.aspx

You can find UPS's cheap at going out of business sales, you can find the bigger rack mount models for $50-$100 usually, buy new batteries from upsforless and have a good backup system for about $200.
 
Why not look at a normal small ups - they can often handle up to a kva for decent run times. With 2 small blowers you'd rpobably get wuite a long run time. In fact I like the idea, I think I'll get one for our new insert.
 
We used a battery with an inverter to power our sump pump during the last storm. Didn't work so great, it would not work the big one so we had to get a little one, and then after a few hours of pumping it ran out and the basement filled up again (the noreaster last fall dropped a LOT of rain on already wet ground then). Such a system would work OK for a blower I think if you could turn it on just sometimes but to have it hooked up while you were gone all day might be a stretch I would think.
 
How many watts was your sump pump? I am guessing at least 800 watts, which is far more than my required 38.
 
If my math is correct, which is questionable, but anyway, based on 38 watts your 75aH deep cycle battery should last for about 20 hours, depending on how much energy the inverter eats in converting.

A 1000 VA UPS should last for about the same time, 20 hours based on rough numbers.
 
What have you run with that (power wise) and for how long? I looked at the site for that and it states that it has a 28Ah capacity. I think i am looking for something that will last a little longer.
 
EJL923 said:
What have you run with that (power wise) and for how long? I looked at the site for that and it states that it has a 28Ah capacity. I think i am looking for something that will last a little longer.
Click to expand...

im in the same boat.
i want it mostly for my sump pump.
i figure i can tie in the alarm system cell phone with a auto dialer for power outage, so i know to come home when the power is out in a heavy rain so i can start the generator.
all i would need is a 2-3 hour run time max for a 3/4 HP sup pump.
 
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