1st Power Outage with Insert

[jscs.moore]

I live in Eastern PA and with the recent Nor'easter we lost power on Friday afternoon for about a 24 hour period. Since everyone was out of the house that day I didn't have the insert going but had a top down load ready to light. Power went out at 3:00PM Friday and I got home by 4:30PM. Internal temp of the house was already down to about 63...with outside temps around freezing with high winds.

I got the HI300 cranked up and used an Air-Max eco-fan to help move the heat since I couldn't use the blower with the power out. So the bottom line is...I was not able to raise the total house temp much above 63, but was able to maintain the overall house temp at 63/64. However, the living room where the insert is stayed at a comfortable 68. We all slept in the living room on air mattresses and sleeping bags and were comfortable.

Overall I can't complain since a lot of our neighbors had to leave their houses due to the cold. However, I think my critical mistake was NOT having the insert cranked up before the height of the Nor'easter hit with the wind and snow. I think if I had done that I would have been able to maintain the house at around 70.

So my take away from this experience is it is a lot easier to maintain the temp of your house in a power outage than to raise the temp of your house during a winter power outage...thoughts?

 

[begreen]

Yes, it takes a lot of btus to raise all the interior mass of the house and furnishings up several degrees. It's a slow process even during calm weather. You had winds blowing like crazy which adds cold air infiltration to deal with.

 

[jscs.moore]

Yes, it takes a lot of btus to raise all the interior mass of the house and furnishings up several degrees. It's a slow process even during calm weather. You had winds blowing like crazy which adds cold air infiltration to deal with.

Thanks Begreen...yes, we are expecting our 2nd Nor'easter in the Northeast on Wednesday of this week. I will be sure to have the insert cranked up BEFORE the heavy snow and wind starts...this way if the power goes out I should be able to maintain the internal house temp at around 70...I hope

 

[Woodsplitter67]

We also lost power friday.. i do not have an insert but wood stove. I got home like you and my home was 63 degrees. It got nasty really quick here. I fired up the stove, wated for a bit and started the generator for my sump pump and water. Got the house to 70 and was happy that were prepared for emergencies

 

[begreen]

Yes, I was going to suggest to jscs that he consider getting a small generator to run the basics including the insert blower. That will help speed up the warming up of the house.

 

[jscs.moore]

Yes, I was going to suggest to jscs that he consider getting a small generator to run the basics including the insert blower. That will help speed up the warming up of the house.

Yeah...a generator is definitely on my list in the near future! And I will be sure to have insert blower hooked up to hep heat up the house faster.

 

[Allagash350]

Yeah...a generator is definitely on my list in the near future! And I will be sure to have insert blower hooked up to hep heat up the house faster.

Honestly it is worth it. We lost power for a week in October and bought a generator in November. It was 650 bucks at lowes for a 5500w generac, plus installing the transfer panel and a cord, so it was about 1100 total.
We threw out about 350 bucks worth of food, and had to stay at my dads for a week, so I look at it as insurance now. Sure, it may sit in the garage for 360 days of the year, but when you need it those 5 days, it is worth it.

Keeping a fire going when a storm is coming is a great idea. I know when we are home all weekend by Sunday night we are in t shirts and shorts and the baby is running around in her diaper, the entire house is just warm, whereas during the day when we are gone it cools off substantially.
Good luck with this next storm, we are forecasted to get 12-18.

 

[Allagash350]

Also in the short term you can also wire it up to run the blower off of a car battery or deep cycle battery.

 

[Texas123]

Years ago when we had an ice storm my cousin asked a good question. "Why are we burning the firewood before we have a power outage? Why not turn on the central heat while we have the power, a propane furnace does no good when the power is off"
As a consequence, during the central Texas ice storm of three weeks ago, we ran the central unit at 76 degrees and the house stayed warmer during the power outages. There is a logic to saving the wood for when you really need to use it.

 

[snaple4]

Did you have any issues with the insert getting to hot without the fan? This is my first season with an insert and I would be afraid if running a large load without the fan.

 

[jscs.moore]

Did you have any issues with the insert getting to hot without the fan? This is my first season with an insert and I would be afraid if running a large load without the fan.

Well...the insert will definitely run hotter without the fan. I use an "Inferno" magnetic thermometer on the upper/middle of my door and with the insert fan running it typically doesn't get above 550. However, doing the power outage I definitely noticed that it got up right over 600 during the peak of a full load and stayed there much longer. The eco-fan was turning like an airplane propeller at full throttle

 

[jwfirebird]

I have a 5500w and a switch that has a gauge, I have lights, two fridges, fan and sump rarely does it get over 1k. that gen used like ten gal a day though and out where I live it can be a while. I got the inv gen 2k from home depot, its half the weight, and uses 20 percent of the gas which is important when the local stations don't have power either. I just run the ceiling fan over the stove like always and that takes hardly any power. it rarely even throttles up. I wired a plug to the switch so I can use the same circuits

 

[Wingerr]

I guess I'm out of the norm, as 63 is the temperature I turn up the thermostat to when I get home- I'm approaching the target temperatures from the opposite end of things.

I'm probably not in the right country based on my heating habits.
(broken link removed to https://brightside.me/creativity-home/which-room-temperatures-do-the-residents-of-different-countries-keep-during-the-winter-season-419560/)

 

[nola mike]

I lost power for a day at the river (and a bridge was closed, took us a while to get there on friday). Arrived to a 48' house at 9p. Wasn't too cold outside, mid-upper 30's. Was actually able to heat it decently without the blower on the insert, it was 62' in the am when I woke up (I only get about 3-4 hours of good heat per load out of the insert). First fire of the morning got it to 69-70 within an hour or 2. While the blower I'm sure circulates the air better (and probably keeps some of that heat in the house), I was surprised at how well it heated without it (interior chimney).
I've asked and wondered the question before about whether a fan/blower cooling off the exterior of the stove actually does anything to lower the thermal stress on the inside. Haven't seen a definitive answer to that, but it seems that the internal firebox temps wouldn't be affected too much by a fan blowing on the outside. So an overfire is still an overfire. I don't have a way to monitor flue temps very well on either of my setups. Maybe someone could experiment with flue temps +/- a fan.

 

[Woodsplitter67]

Jscs.... my house is set up as wood being my primary heat.. dont get me wrong. I have a boiler and zone heat that used to heat my home..and if i want i can just throw the thermostat to on and away she goes.. the generator with a transfer switch and a sub panel is the way to go.. I have a 13kw on the side of the house for when the demand is higher.. like when we want to shower and i need to run my well and hot water heater at the sme time.. or i have a smaller 5500w generater that i can plug in.. the thing is you really dont need to run everything at once you can turn on what ever circuit you want. It makes things way easy. You can just run the basics. This is what alot of people do wrong.. they run the generator 24/7 and you dont need to do that.. run it 3 hours.. shut it down for a period of time.. 2/3 hours.. thats what we do.. i go through less gass.. i keep 15 gallons of gas in the shed which is good for 3 days..

 

[TradEddie]

If you're looking into a cheap, crude backup for the blower, consider using a muffin fan powered by a couple of 6V MN908 Lantern Batteries. On my old insert, I shaped a simple enclosure for the muffin fan out of thin sheet metal (galvanized duct, IIRC), then I simply unbolted the AC blower and placed the box at the air inlet. Obviously the CFM is limited, but it did the trick, total outlay was perhaps $30, and those batteries ran for a couple of days. At a push, a 9V PP3 would run it at a low speed for almost a day.

Fortunately, my new insert doesn't need the fan to crank out the heat.

TE

 

[Mainewoodchucker]

Also in the short term you can also wire it up to run the blower off of a car battery or deep cycle battery.

That is exactly what I do . Deep cycle , 120 AH , 1000 watt inverter . I use that for several hours to see if power is coming back on . If it does not , then I crank up my 8500 watt generator and power up the house . Have a Mifi hotspot that keeps the girls happy while power is out . Otherwise they get cranky not being able to get on line. lol

 

[begreen]

I have a large UPS on both our tv electronics and another one for our cable modem and router. My computer is a laptop so we can stay connected for days, assuming that the Comcast keeps things alive. Often they don't and when their battery backup dies so does the internet. Then it's cellphone only.

 

[Mainewoodchucker]

I have Spectrum for internet so if power goes out the cable usually does to . Have used my phone as a hot spot but does not work nearly as well as my Mifi .
One reason I DO start my generator after several hours is because of the 2 chest freezers full of meat . Don't feel like losing several thousand in meat . The fridge also is a concern .Can't forget about well pump either .

 

[begreen]

Likewise. During an extended outage I run the generator in the morning and the evening to keep the refrigerators and freezer cold.

 

[jscs.moore]

Jscs.... my house is set up as wood being my primary heat.. dont get me wrong. I have a boiler and zone heat that used to heat my home..and if i want i can just throw the thermostat to on and away she goes.. the generator with a transfer switch and a sub panel is the way to go.. I have a 13kw on the side of the house for when the demand is higher.. like when we want to shower and i need to run my well and hot water heater at the sme time.. or i have a smaller 5500w generater that i can plug in.. the thing is you really dont need to run everything at once you can turn on what ever circuit you want. It makes things way easy. You can just run the basics. This is what alot of people do wrong.. they run the generator 24/7 and you dont need to do that.. run it 3 hours.. shut it down for a period of time.. 2/3 hours.. thats what we do.. i go through less gass.. i keep 15 gallons of gas in the shed which is good for 3 days..

Thanks for the feedback! We just lost power during our 2nd Nor'easter on Wednesday here in the Northeast. I made sure to get the insert cranked up before the storm really hit and had the whole downstairs at about 73 and upstairs about 70. When the power went out I put the eco-fan on top of the insert and was able to maintain the downstairs at about 70/71 and upstairs about 68! So I'm convinced it's better to have the insert cranked up BEFORE a major storm hits so your not faced with having to try and raise the whole temp of the house.

Also, I said to my wife we are definitely getting a generator for next winter season. We don't have natural gas in my development (electric heat pumps) so I don't plan getting one of those expensive natural gas generac systems. I'll probably get a good Honda gas fueled generator and (as you said), have the electrical panel set up to run a few key household items (e.g. fridge, stove, coffee pot, hot water heater and insert fan). I'm clueless about this stuff so I'll have to find a good electrician to set us up). Bottom line is, wood heat is nice to have in a power outage, but without other basics like the ability to cook hot food and take a shower...it all gets old real fast!

 

[begreen]

An inexpensive generator and an extension cord can often suffice. Just be careful where you place it when running. You don't want any chance of the exhaust fumes blowing into the house.

 

[Patmosphere]

I live in Eastern PA and with the recent Nor'easter we lost power on Friday afternoon for about a 24 hour period. Since everyone was out of the house that day I didn't have the insert going but had a top down load ready to light. Power went out at 3:00PM Friday and I got home by 4:30PM. Internal temp of the house was already down to about 63...with outside temps around freezing with high winds.

I got the HI300 cranked up and used an Air-Max eco-fan to help move the heat since I couldn't use the blower with the power out. So the bottom line is...I was not able to raise the total house temp much above 63, but was able to maintain the overall house temp at 63/64. However, the living room where the insert is stayed at a comfortable 68. We all slept in the living room on air mattresses and sleeping bags and were comfortable.

Overall I can't complain since a lot of our neighbors had to leave their houses due to the cold. However, I think my critical mistake was NOT having the insert cranked up before the height of the Nor'easter hit with the wind and snow. I think if I had done that I would have been able to maintain the house at around 70.

So my take away from this experience is it is a lot easier to maintain the temp of your house in a power outage than to raise the temp of your house during a winter power outage...thoughts?

I used this to keep my family warm during 3 back to back to back power outages from nor’easters. We lost power for 76 hours and then 15 hours during storms 2 and 3. I used the outlet on my Tacoma a few tones too while charging phones etc. outside


Set up is a Duracell power inverter. ~$70 and a deep cycle marine battery. Worked very well turning on and off to keep the main room in the low to mid 70s.

 

[ajayabb]

View attachment 224518
I used this to keep my family warm during 3 back to back to back power outages from nor’easters. We lost power for 76 hours and then 15 hours during storms 2 and 3. I used the outlet on my Tacoma a few tones too while charging phones etc. outside


Set up is a Duracell power inverter. ~$70 and a deep cycle marine battery. Worked very well turning on and off to keep the main room in the low to mid 70s.

What did you power with it?


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[Patmosphere]

What did you power with it?


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I powered the blower on my Jotul 550 rockland.


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