Power Outage Solutions

[Jsalvane]

Had pellet stove installed in summer to combat high oil prices and supplement electric heat pump that is pricey at extreme cold. The stove vents horizontally and testing shutting off the power, smoke enters the house.

In the event of a power outage, what do other people use? I was thinking about a power outage alarm for one, but then ideally I would just like something that runs the stove enough to power off (30ish minutes). (Plan to hook up generator for anything 12 hours +) I have seen most commonly the recommendation of a UPS. Has anyone tried something like the 40V inverter from Ryobi? I think it would be nice as it has multiple uses. Downside being I would have to get up and deal with it. But I assume with UPS I would have to as well to shut off stove cause eventually it would run out if power didn’t come back. Just interested in seeing what others have dreamed up.

 

[gfreek]

Welcome. What stove do you have ? I use a Cyberpower UPS, sine wave, for outages for my Harman stove. It gives me enough run time to shut down or to connect my generator... Of course I need to be home for this... Others here use various systems. If you have a vertical rise, 4 to 5 ft or so, for your exhaust vent usually the natural draft helps with no smoke entering the home..

 

[Dataman]

I use different approach. I want 10-12 hours. Most power outages here are less than 4 hours. I keep 1k Inverter Generator (Sportsman 1000W Inverter Portable Gasoline Generator, tested but not really used) and AIMS 1250 Inverter/Charger with couple of 100ah (200ah Total) for most outages. Only one time used it longer than 10 hours and only had one 100ah Battery (Used Battery from Generator to cover rest of time). I run Harmon XXV and switch it to manual so no shutdown and restart, plus turn down fan to 1/2 speed. I would not want to go to the trouble of unboxing generator in the middle of the night.
I tested it when I got stove and no smoke if just shut down in middle of burn. I run 8" Chimney (Had Wood Stove Before). At least 20ft of pipe. Just don't want to get cold in Winter.

 

[Jsalvane]

I have a Vincenza 5.2. adding a vertical rise was another one of my options that I’m considering

 

[stvigi1960]

I backup my Harman Absolute 43 with a APC UPS 1500VA Sine Wave UPS Battery Backup, BR1500MS2. Paid $215.99 at Walmart.com. Runs for a minimum of 1 hour.

 

[gfreek]

Can't find much info on your Vincenza stove... You are going to have to look in the manual for the electrical draw it uses., normal running, startup which is more because of the igniter, and shut down mode......

 

[Mt Bob]

Vertical pipe is ALWAYS recommended
Intake air is ALWAYS recommended
Some stoves(few) mostly Harman's, have a programmable shut down mode, so you only need a small UPS for shut down.
Battery/inverter or generators are for long term running of stove.
Not many Italian stoves sold in the USA, as of yet.
Add 2-3 foot of vertical to your outside flue, 90% of the time this cures the problem you have.

 

[3650]

I use different approach. I want 10-12 hours. Most power outages here are less than 4 hours. I keep 1k Inverter Generator (Sportsman 1000W Inverter Portable Gasoline Generator, tested but not really used) and AIMS 1250 Inverter/Charger with couple of 100ah (200ah Total) for most outages. Only one time used it longer than 10 hours and only had one 100ah Battery (Used Battery from Generator to cover rest of time). I run Harmon XXV and switch it to manual so no shutdown and restart, plus turn down fan to 1/2 speed. I would not want to go to the trouble of unboxing generator in the middle of the night.
I tested it when I got stove and no smoke if just shut down in middle of burn. I run 8" Chimney (Had Wood Stove Before). At least 20ft of pipe. Just don't want to get cold in Winter.

View attachment 304806 View attachment 304807

Wow those are some expensive batteries. I looked them up. $199 each. I have a Harman inverter I need to get some batteries for. I’ll have to wait a while though.

 

[Dataman]

Yes everything has gone up up up. I think I paid 430 for Inverter and 182 for last battery. I want to replace them with couple 200ah Lithium Iron ones in year or so. 5 year mark. Got 1st one in 2018. So another year. Glad got my Harmon when I did. XXV for $3500 with tax. Silly prices now.

 

[bogieb]

Had pellet stove installed in summer to combat high oil prices and supplement electric heat pump that is pricey at extreme cold. The stove vents horizontally and testing shutting off the power, smoke enters the house.

In the event of a power outage, what do other people use? I was thinking about a power outage alarm for one, but then ideally I would just like something that runs the stove enough to power off (30ish minutes). (Plan to hook up generator for anything 12 hours +) I have seen most commonly the recommendation of a UPS. Has anyone tried something like the 40V inverter from Ryobi? I think it would be nice as it has multiple uses. Downside being I would have to get up and deal with it. But I assume with UPS I would have to as well to shut off stove cause eventually it would run out if power didn’t come back. Just interested in seeing what others have dreamed up.

I bought the 40V Ryobi power station in October. I charged up the four 6A batteries and tested it on my P43. I let it go thru an entire cycle (hooked up the battery pack prior to the stove starting). Barely used the batteries at all. Figure I should be able to get 10 hours out of it for continuous use (no shut down) - more if the weather is fairly mild. The attached pictures are the unit, during full running of th estove (sorry, no pic of start up while the ignitor is powered), During shut down with just exhaust fan running, then after the stove had shut off.

Yes, it is a bit pricy, but being portable I'll be able to use it in my shed or around the yard if needed. Plus, i didn't want to go with fossil fuel generator as I don't want to do maintenance on them for rarely losing power. And like you, my longest power outage was 4 hours.I also got it while it was on sale, plus had a 10% off coupon, which got me in the price range I was comfortable with.

I backup my Harman Absolute 43 with a APC UPS 1500VA Sine Wave UPS Battery Backup, BR1500MS2. Paid $215.99 at Walmart.com. Runs for a minimum of 1 hour.

For years I've had both my stoves on a APC UPS BE750G. The stove senses the change in the current (or something - LOL) and will gracefully shut down. The fans will pulse enough to evacuate smoke during the shut down cycle. Two things: 1) the 750 has been discontinued so would get the next size larger (or, the Harman manual also specifies a Trip Lite model also). 2) I think newer stoves have a dip switch change for this mode (mine are old enough not to need this change).

 

[Dataman]

I charged up the four 6A batteries and tested it on my P43. I let it go thru an entire cycle (hooked up the battery pack prior to the stove starting). Barely used the batteries at all. Figure I should be able to get 10 hours out of it for continuous use (no shut down) -

Nope that won't happen. Do some math. I have Harmon XXV and 200ah of batteries and Expect about 10-12 hours on Manual and 1/2 Fan Speed.

Math says 1.37 hours.

Battery Backup For Pellet Stoves - 4 Ways To Keep The Heat On

There are a few different methods you can use to provide backup power for your pellet stove. Some of the options are quite cheap, while other methods are more costly.

www.essentialhomeandgarden.com

HOW LONG WILL MY PELLET STOVE RUN ON A BATTERY BACKUP? | SEC America

***Scroll down to find a calculator tool that will help you determine how long your pellet stove will operate on a battery backup.*** One of the most common questions people have when considering an automatic battery backup for their pellet…Read more HOW LONG WILL MY PELLET STOVE RUN ON A...

www.secamerica.com

2nd Page says little over an hours. I use about 175 watts running my stove (Kill a Watt).

 

[scajjr2]

Nope that won't happen. Do some math. I have Harmon XXV and 200ah of batteries and Expect about 10-12 hours on Manual and 1/2 Fan Speed.

Math says 1.37 hours.

Battery Backup For Pellet Stoves - 4 Ways To Keep The Heat On

There are a few different methods you can use to provide backup power for your pellet stove. Some of the options are quite cheap, while other methods are more costly.

www.essentialhomeandgarden.com

HOW LONG WILL MY PELLET STOVE RUN ON A BATTERY BACKUP? | SEC America

***Scroll down to find a calculator tool that will help you determine how long your pellet stove will operate on a battery backup.*** One of the most common questions people have when considering an automatic battery backup for their pellet…Read more HOW LONG WILL MY PELLET STOVE RUN ON A...

www.secamerica.com

2nd Page says little over an hours. I use about 175 watts running my stove (Kill a Watt).

I have the same setup as you do, based on a 1.5 amp draw that calculator says 13.3 hrs. I imputed B's 4 batteries at 6ah ea, used the same 1.5amps and it says 1.6 hrs. Less time if you have to start a fire and I'd use a propane torch to get the pellets going to reduce igniter time & power draw.

sam

 

[Dataman]

calculator says 13.3 hrs. I imputed B's 4 batteries at 6ah ea, used the same 1.5amps and it says 1.6 hrs.

So which is it 13 hours or 1.6 hours? Can't be both. I doubt 13 and think you mistyped 1.3 hours.

 

[bogieb]

Nope that won't happen. Do some math. I have Harmon XXV and 200ah of batteries and Expect about 10-12 hours on Manual and 1/2 Fan Speed.

Math says 1.37 hours.

Battery Backup For Pellet Stoves - 4 Ways To Keep The Heat On

There are a few different methods you can use to provide backup power for your pellet stove. Some of the options are quite cheap, while other methods are more costly.

www.essentialhomeandgarden.com

HOW LONG WILL MY PELLET STOVE RUN ON A BATTERY BACKUP? | SEC America

***Scroll down to find a calculator tool that will help you determine how long your pellet stove will operate on a battery backup.*** One of the most common questions people have when considering an automatic battery backup for their pellet…Read more HOW LONG WILL MY PELLET STOVE RUN ON A...

www.secamerica.com

2nd Page says little over an hours. I use about 175 watts running my stove (Kill a Watt).

The station is 1800w. From start up to coplet shut down, the stove ran about 1 hour and 20 minutes of the 1:55 showing and the batteries are nearly full.

IDK how the math works, but obviously it will run for more than the 1.37 hours that you came up with (and that includes electronic start up).

 

[scajjr2]

So which is it 13 hours or 1.6 hours? Can't be both. I doubt 13 and think you mistyped 1.3 hours.

No the 13 hrs is for my setup with our P43. The 1.6 hrs was B's .

sam

 

[Dataman]

That sounds about right. 200ah and 13 hours. No way four 6ah batteries will run it for even 2 hours in real world. Math don't lie. Now I wish It did. Then I would be getting tons more (24 hour run time?). I ran real world test when new. I doubt it would go that long today (Older Batteries)

 

[bogieb]

I agree that my extrapolation is probably off but couldn't figure out why it was so far off from the math. So I went back and checked the exact times: The stove started its ignition cycle at 5:25 am then the exhaust blower shut off after cool down somewhere between 6:20 & 6:30 am. I'm unsure why I was thinking 1:20 total run time, but that would explain a bunch of the discrepancy.

Can't really test the actual time until the deep of winter gets here when I change the stove over to FT burn.

 

[Dataman]

I want 24 hours run time for my Inverter/Charger/Batteries. Just don't want to spend the $$$ for the power. Why I got small Generator. It was less than 200 bucks On Sale.

 

[Pelleting In NJ]

See the first post in the below thread:

UPS with Auto-Shutdown of Stove During a Power Failure

UPS with Auto-Shutdown of Stove During a Power Failure I built and installed this on my Ecoteck/Ravelli Elena stove, using the convenient wires of the hopper lid switch. I believe all the Ravelli stoves have a hopper switch, which allows easy access to connect this device. This can be used on...

www.hearth.com

 

[bob4bbw]

Can't find much info on your Vincenza stove... You are going to have to look in the manual for the electrical draw it uses., normal running, startup which is more because of the igniter, and shut down mode......

watts used during start up sequence for a vincenza V5.2 is : start up (397) watts , watts during operation is (213) watts

 

[fmsm]

22KW generator with an auto transfer switch. Only down for 10 seconds or so.

 

[Pelleting In NJ]

Here is the math:
- A 40V 6AH battery has 40V x 6AH = 240 Watt Hours of energy in it.

- For four batteries, that is 4 x 240 = 960 Watt Hours total.

- Assume the Ryobi inverter power-conversion efficiency is 80% (at a typical running stove load of 100watts).

- A typical stove draws 80W to 100W when up and running. Of course more Watts (300-400Watts) for the ignitor and fans, for 5 to 10 minutes during start-up, but that's 83 Watt Hours of energy. (400W/.8) x (10min/60min) = 83WH

- So, the run-time will be (with no ignition cycle) = 960WH / (100/.8)W = 7.68 Hours

- If there is one ignition cycle, it will be = (960WH-83WH) / (100/.8)W = 7.02 Hours

 

[johneh]

24 Kw whole house genset
The power goes out genny starts in less than 10 seconds
Power comes on (grid) genny shuts down
Got it after the ICE STORM of 98 we were without power for 32 days
We got over 100mm of freezing rain
Never again

 

[bogieb]

Here is the math:
- A 40V 6AH battery has 40V x 6AH = 240 Watt Hours of energy in it.

- For four batteries, that is 4 x 240 = 960 Watt Hours total.

- Assume the Ryobi inverter power-conversion efficiency is 80% (at a typical running stove load of 100watts).

- A typical stove draws 80W to 100W when up and running. Of course more Watts (300-400Watts) for the ignitor and fans, for 5 to 10 minutes during start-up, but that's 83 Watt Hours of energy. (400W/.8) x (10min/60min) = 83WH

- So, the run-time will be (with no ignition cycle) = 960WH / (100/.8)W = 7.68 Hours

- If there is one ignition cycle, it will be = (960WH-83WH) / (100/.8)W = 7.02 Hours

I'd forgotten about this thread. In March, we had a heck of a snowstorm and the power was out 3 days. Your math is pretty close. I got about 6.5 hours (with ignition cycle) out of those 4 batteries. I also had a 5th 6ah battery plus a 4.0 ah battery, so used them to swap in while charging the other batteries. At the time, I was helping care for the elderly neighbor who lived just across the street. His power was on as he is on a different line than the rest of the block (IDK why, but it worked in my favor). He was happy to allow me to charge my batteries from his outlets. I was able to use quick chargers to keep enough batteries charged up to get me thru the 3 days of power outage.

My timing was fortuitous as I bought that Ryobi station in October 2022 even though I had never had a power outage more than a couple of hours in the years I had lived here.

Oh, and BTW, I had a NIB small gas generator that I bought it several years ago thinking it could at least run my propane boiler FHW if needed. I took it out of the box, put in gas (the correct type), and couldn't get the darn thing to start. So I was super glad I had the battery option. During the spring sales I bought a small propane generator.

This summer, I decided I needed a little extra insurance and bought a couple of smaller (1152wh) bluetti units along with portable solar panels. and a 2048 wh Eco flow unit. And, I don't have them just stuffed away in a closet, I use them daily for various appliances (microwave, dishwasher, coffee machine, clothes washer). I keep them charged up with the solar panels, so I'm well practiced if I need them in a power outage (I know, there are drawbacks to solar panels, which is why I also got the propane generator)

 

[moog5]

Just bought an Ecoflo Delta Pro (3600watt hour rating). I plan to use this in an adventure van build and also as a backup for the house, primarily to run the pellet stove at night without having wake my neighbors with my generator. I can plug this into my generator transfer switch to run up to 10 circuits, or as an EPS between the wall oulet and my Harman XXV. I ran a test yesterday and ran the stove with the blower on high and auger speed set to 1 (which limits my burn rate to a bag a day, auger on for 10 seconds every 60 seconds). The Delta Pro ran for 20 hours starting at 100% charge and running down to 30%. The Delta Pro wasn’t cheap, $2371 after taxes during a special Amazon sale.