Pellet stove back-up power options (generator and UPS questions)

[headies]

Hey everyone. Long time lurker, first time poster. I have a few questions that I desperately need assistance answering, hopefully some of you fine folks can solve my frustrations!

I just installed my new Englander pellet stove model 55-SHP10 in my home and I love it. No more cold winters here! However, I live in an area that loses power quite frequently in the winter months. Fearing no electricity to power the pellet stove, I purchased a champion generator with 3000 watts continuous rating:

GENERATOR LINK

Now, I know nothing about this sort of stuff, so I'll do my best to phrase this question 'correctly.' Do the 'normal' looking outlets on this thing accept 'normal' extension cords? I've been reading things about amps and different gauge cords and I'm lost. The 'normal' looking outlets on the generator say they are 120a 20v duplex. Can I power my pellet stove with a normal cord hooked up to these outlets?

My second question has to do with uninterruptible power supplies (UPS). Ideally I want to get a UPS to stick between the pellet stove and the power source (whether it be a wall outlet or the generator) and give me enough backup runtime that I can shut down the pellet stove safely if needed. I've read that "pure sine-wave' UPS are better suited for these kind of appliances. I've also read some UPS and generators can damage your pellet stove electronics, so I'm very wary about what I go ahead and buy. Can someone recommend a 'budget-conscious' UPS for my stove? I was looking at this but I don't know if it will work or power the stove long enough to shut down.

Thank you so much!

 

[kofkorn]

You're looking at the right kind of UPS. I have the same style, however mine's a 1350 instead of an 850. With my 1350, I get about 20-30 min of run time before the battery is depleted. Enough to shut it down if I'm around, however for me it's best served for those 20 or 30 second losses where the stove doesn't automatically restart, and we don't have heat come morning.

Your the generator you chose should be ok. The 120V 20A (you had them flipped) outlets will power your stove with an extension cord. These stoves don't pull a lot of power (about 300-400 watts normal running), so you can get away with a small generator.

The champion, while inexpensive, won't give you the most clean electric source, and you may have issues running the UPS off of the generator. UPS systems many times require a pretty clean input source, or they will automatically switch to battery. So even though it may be plugged into your running generator, the UPS may not pass electricity through to the stove or charge.

I've never tried hooking my UPS up to the generator, so I'm not sure if it would work or not. For our purposes, it's easier to power the oil furnace when power goes out than to use the pellet stove. I have a house with an in-law, so we'd need to power two pellet stoves rather than one furnace.

Good luck!

 

[IHATEPROPANE]

Hey everyone. Long time lurker, first time poster. I have a few questions that I desperately need assistance answering, hopefully some of you fine folks can solve my frustrations!

I just installed my new Englander pellet stove model 55-SHP10 in my home and I love it. No more cold winters here! However, I live in an area that loses power quite frequently in the winter months. Fearing no electricity to power the pellet stove, I purchased a champion generator with 3000 watts continuous rating:

GENERATOR LINK

Now, I know nothing about this sort of stuff, so I'll do my best to phrase this question 'correctly.' Do the 'normal' looking outlets on this thing accept 'normal' extension cords? I've been reading things about amps and different gauge cords and I'm lost. The 'normal' looking outlets on the generator say they are 120a 20v duplex. Can I power my pellet stove with a normal cord hooked up to these outlets?

My second question has to do with uninterruptible power supplies (UPS). Ideally I want to get a UPS to stick between the pellet stove and the power source (whether it be a wall outlet or the generator) and give me enough backup runtime that I can shut down the pellet stove safely if needed. I've read that "pure sine-wave' UPS are better suited for these kind of appliances. I've also read some UPS and generators can damage your pellet stove electronics, so I'm very wary about what I go ahead and buy. Can someone recommend a 'budget-conscious' UPS for my stove? I was looking at this but I don't know if it will work or power the stove long enough to shut down.

Thank you so much!

Well I have that same generator and the 1350 version of the UPS you are looking at (I would recommend going this size and checking Amazon for pricing). Just this Sunday I lost power and the UPS kept the stove running while I got the generator going. I fed the Genny right to the UPS and my UPS did not mind the quality of power one bit. As far as the UPS was concerned it was clean enough to NOT switch to battery power. The voltage ran 123-124 and the Hz was 61.2-61.4.
During the hour and a half or so I ran it the UPS did switch to battery for a split second 4 times. This is when I plugged in my TV and started the DVD player. And two other random times.
Now I was only running around 400-500 watts so results may vary if you try and push the generator.

 

[Bioburner]

Someone stated that actually loading a generator a bit can make it level the outputs instead of it hunting. I tried the theory while camping with a cheap genny and seems to work.