Quadrafire Pellet stove modification for inverter use.

[srjones]

Hi all,

First post so go easy on me.

I have a Quadrafire Pellet stove (I forget the model) which we've used for the last 4 years. We've been generally happy with it, but as everyone knows, when the power goes out, the thing generally doesn't work. After a 4 day outage last winter, I vowed to get better prepared so this year I got serious and bought a big inverter, a smart charger and a couple of deep cell batteries to give me 210 AmH capacity.

As luck would have it, the controller needs to have a pure sine wave (PSW), and I opted for the modified sine wave (MSW) inverter. So in addition to the 2500/5000 MSW inverter, I decided to get a much smaller 300/500 PSW for nearly the same price. So here's the rub...with just the three motors (auger, blower, heat exchanger) going, it takes about 90 watts. However, when the electronic igniter kicks in, it adds another 350 or so watts--which would most likely overload my little (expensive) PSW inverter, since the surge will be more than a few seconds.

So, I have 3 plans, and I like to get feedback on each of them, especially plans 2 & 3.

1. (current). Should the power go out today, I would open the ash drawer and manually unwire the heating element, being sure to carefully put the ceramic wire nuts back on the feed lines. After closing it up, then manually start pellets with gel starter, and then power it up with PSW inverter. From there, keep it running until the whole house is extra warm.

2. (next step). Wire a DPDT switch so I can turn off the element as needed. Much easier for my wife to do, and less possibility of shocks and burns. However, does anybody know where to get high temperature wire, nuts & switches?

3. (future, more elegant and automated). Wire in a relay that would start the igniter, but the main draw from the igniter would come from a separate dedicated plug that would draw it's power from the MSW inverter. Any potential issues there?


Disclaimer: I'm way past my warranty, so I have no issues voiding it.

Thanks in advance,

-srj

 

[JohnnyBravo]

how often do you loose power? if it happens often i would go with #3, but if it happens that often i would get a woodstove or at least quit paying the service charge from the electric co.

 

[GVA]

They make ceramic wire nuts and the fiberglass wrapped silicone cored wire is TGGT (usually) and most major electrical supply stores will carry it but most will only sell by the spool ......500' hh:

 

[srjones]

how often do you loose power? if it happens often i would go with #3, but if it happens that often i would get a woodstove or at least quit paying the service charge from the electric co.

We've already lost it a full 10 hours this year (1 time), but I would expect it to be just about ever time the wind kicks up. I'm inclined to stick with option two for now, though, since it's the simplest option.

Last year I was tempted to bring the woodstove back, but I think I've pretty much got it figured out his year.

Oh, if that was only true! I could do the same for my internet service, telephone service, cell service. Too bad it doesn't work that way.

 

[Dougsey]

Could you just set your stove to manual or whatever so the igniter is not used?

 

[srjones]

Could you just set your stove to manual or whatever so the igniter is not used?

I don't have one of those switches. That's why I'm thinking of making one.

 

[begreen]

Just wire the switch at the other end, near where it connects to the control board instead of at the igniter. Then it's low temp wiring. No need for DPDT, all you need to do is break the circuit, single pole will do. But be sure that the switch is sized to the amperage of the circuit.

 

[srjones]

BeGreen, that's a great suggestion.

I couldn't find the manual, but it's a Quad 800 circa 1994 ( http://www.hearthandflue.com/manuals/man_800pellet.pdf )