Running pellet stove off a generator

[moey]

Personally I would look at one of the inverter generators if I was going to run mine. Theres lots of other solutions as people mentioned though. If I lose power Ill suck it up and just run my boiler. It has almost no electronics on it although it does have a motor obviously.

 

[Harvey Schneider]

Personally I would look at one of the inverter generators if I was going to run mine.

That's what I was going to do, but my wife freaked out over the thought of another generator droning on through the night. We live in a valley and the noise reverberates so that we get it from both sides. With the setup I have the generator should only be needed to top up the batteries if the outage is more than about four days and it can be run in the daytime and silent at night.​

 

[Smitty090]

I have my 6600W gen fed into my garage which back feeds into the house when I turn off the main switch from the pole. I ran most things in my house including the pellet stove for 3 days straight. Only thing I had to do was shut everything down when the hot water tank kicked in on day 3 but I should have unplugged that.
Clean power is important for computers and sensitive electronics like TVs and stuff but the pellet stove is mainly mechanical where minute fluctuations won't hurt it. I purchased my generator specifically for this type of thing since I replaced my wood stove with pellet. Tough to heat with 3 days of no power!
Note however, if the money doesn't bother you, a ups or monster clean power bar is never a bad idea.

 

[glenc0322]

i have a champion generator that puts out a true sine wave and also have a APC ups back up that cleans the sine wave incase of any spikes in the voltage and can run on the ups for 20 minutes at full draw of my stove. During a power outage i used the ups to shut off my stove and then started the generator and ran the stove for 2 days with no problems. the only annoying part is the ups beeps when there is a power loss so for the 20 minutes it was turning off i heard a beep every 5 seconds but other then that worked great. just make sure the sine wave is true coming off your generator and can handle the load you want to put on it. good luck there are dozens of options out there just need to find the one in your price range and that works for you

 

[BigJohnfromCT]

I'm trying to put together a backup system to run my mt Vernon ae incase of a power outage. I have a generac 3.5kW generator which is pretty basic, essentially a dumb generator. I know plugging in the stove directly is asking for trouble, so my thought was to bridge the gap by using a ups backup with some ability to "clean" the power coming to the stove. Has anyone gone this route? Any ups in particular i should consider? Or have alternate solutions? Ideally I would have bought a better generator but power outages are rare here, though Sandy was the exception. Thanks.

I know a lot of you have posted responses but I thought I share my experience. I've got a Quadra-Fire AE. In 2011 I lost power for 2 days after a freak October snow storm. Lost power again for 2 days after hurricane Sandy in 2012. In both instances I ran my stove off my Generac XG10000 (10KW). Had to use an extension cord as the place where I installed my stove is not yet wired on the transfer switch. The only thing I did was use an surge protector which I always use even on commercial power. It ran great.

 

[glenc0322]

if you are going to hook your generator to your panel you should not use a transfer switch you should use a breaker interlock so you can use any breaker in your pane not just the 6 or 8 that you would have to use with a transfer switch. say you lose power in the summer and you might not need your stove you could use a breaker for an air conditioner instead http://www.interlockkit.com/?gclid=CJPOhOL14bQCFUid4AodCVsARAyou need to get the right interlock for your panel

 

[moey]

if you are going to hook your generator to your panel you should not use a transfer switch you should use a breaker interlock so you can use any breaker in your pane not just the 6 or 8 that you would have to use with a transfer switch. say you lose power in the summer and you might not need your stove you could use a breaker for an air conditioner instead http://www.interlockkit.com/?gclid=CJPOhOL14bQCFUid4AodCVsARAyou need to get the right interlock for your panel

The add ons are not UL listed only tested most local inspectors will not approve them. That being said I wish I had put one of these up rather then my transfer switch which I dont like.

 

[WoodPorn]

The add ons are not UL listed only tested most local inspectors will not approve them. That being said I wish I had put one of these up rather then my transfer switch which I dont like.

+1 I can tell you 1st hand that not all inspectors will pass an interlock.

 

[velvetfoot]

I put a SquareD interlock on my SquareD panel. It does seem to be UL listed. http://www.homedepot.com/p/t/203030...ductId=203030954&storeId=10051#specifications

 

[Centurion]

I also have a very simple generator but wanted to be able to use it safetly for my pellet stoves. Anything pure sine wave is expensive but I feel is worth it. I bought an 12 VDC to 120 VAC1000 watt pure sinewave inverter and a 100 amp-hour capacity, deep cycle battery. During an outage I could run the stove off this setup alone for up to 8 to 10 hours but I actually keep a 15 amp battery charger floating across the battery and power the charger off the generator. The charger doesn't care about the quality of the generator power and keeps the stove running just like on commercial power. I have run it this way for days with no hicups and the house stays toasty and well lit. I do this manually but there are similar systems (more money) that will come on automatically just like a UPS.

 

[BigJohnfromCT]

if you are going to hook your generator to your panel you should not use a transfer switch you should use a breaker interlock so you can use any breaker in your pane not just the 6 or 8 that you would have to use with a transfer switch. say you lose power in the summer and you might not need your stove you could use a breaker for an air conditioner instead http://www.interlockkit.com/?gclid=CJPOhOL14bQCFUid4AodCVsARAyou need to get the right interlock for your panel

Looked at the interlock kit url. It looks like a very nice unit. When I bought this house it came with a generator and already had the transfer switch installed. I just need to swing the outlet that powers the stove over to the switch.

 

[Phoenix Hatchling]

Had a transformer go this morning on the street which lit up the neighborhood and woke everyone in the vicinity at 4 in the morning. The pellet stove is connected to a APC battery backup which allows for shutdown. I also have an interlock switch which was installed and is very flexible as the previous poster pointed out. You pick whatever circuit you want at any given time. The only thing I felt uncomfortable about was being the only one in the area with the generator going, so I waited and let the UPS power down the stove. We got power back within the hour, which is not always common in CT.

 

[Phoenix Hatchling]

Looked at the interlock kit url. It looks like a very nice unit. When I bought this house it came with a generator and already had the transfer switch installed. I just need to swing the outlet that powers the stove over to the switch.

You get you stove from Black Swan or Trading Post?

 

[john193]

I also have a very simple generator but wanted to be able to use it safetly for my pellet stoves. Anything pure sine wave is expensive but I feel is worth it. I bought an 12 VDC to 120 VAC1000 watt pure sinewave inverter and a 100 amp-hour capacity, deep cycle battery. During an outage I could run the stove off this setup alone for up to 8 to 10 hours but I actually keep a 15 amp battery charger floating across the battery and power the charger off the generator. The charger doesn't care about the quality of the generator power and keeps the stove running just like on commercial power. I have run it this way for days with no hicups and the house stays toasty and well lit. I do this manually but there are similar systems (more money) that will come on automatically just like a UPS.

So let me see if I'm following you. Generator to battery charger to marine battery to inverter to stove (ac) power. Correct?

 

[Centurion]

So let me see if I'm following you. Generator to battery charger to marine battery to inverter to stove (ac) power. Correct?

Sorry for the delay in getting back to John, I didn't know that you replied to my email untill I discover "ALERTS" in the menu bar.

Yes, you are correct. I set mine up for manually operation but it can operate automatically by detecting loss of power, much like a UPS. Your choice but auto is a bit more expensive for those components.