Blower Power Question

[Caw]

Last night the power went out and I lugged out our big generator as it was 0 degrees out not wanting to fall behind. Ofc 30 min later the power came back on and I was quite annoyed I wasted my time.

I've seen threads in the past about blower fan back up options but I'm not super savvy when it comes to electrical calculations.

I have an Osburn 1600 insert that doesn't do well on its own without the blower. Looking up the fan it's 115 V, 0.92 amps, 60 watts. Knowing that I was looking at something simple like:

Amazon product ASIN B01FWAZEIU
Could someone smarter than I tell me how long this would run the fan? All I'm looking for is an hour or two to decide whether I need to get the generator out or not as it's heavy and kind of a pita.

Merry Christmas!

 

[marty319]

You need bigger than that for a couple of hours.i have my generator in my shed and wired underground into crawl space,put a plug behind my TV and 1 behind woodstove.pull the generator out of the shed ,fire it up and have power.

 

[Caw]

You need bigger than that for a couple of hours.i have my generator in my shed and wired underground into crawl space,put a plug behind my TV and 1 behind woodstove.pull the generator out of the shed ,fire it up and have power.

My shed is unfortunately 150 feet from my house so that's not an option without running some conduit. I keep the generator in the basement which is a walkout but a few steps up which is the issue. It's also my 7,500 watts which is unnecessary for just the blower. It's the multiple hour long term power outage backup.

 

[brazilbl]

I had a guy wire up 2 deep-cell golf cart batteries to feed a 2kw inverter. Primarily, for lights, etc., but to power my wood stove fan played a role in my back up battery plans.

Basically I have the batteries/inverter Mounted on a furniture mover and have 2 outlets supplying power. It works, but I haven't tried anything big like a microwave, etc.

 

[begreen]

.92 amps @115v = 105.8 Watts. A thousand-watt UPS would run the blower for about an hour. But th.92 amps might just be the start current. If it is 60 watts running then maybe 90 minutes runtime.
(broken link removed)

 

[Caw]

.92 amps @115v = 105.8 Watts. A thousand-watt UPS would run the blower for about an hour. But th.92 amps might just be the start current. If it is 60 watts running then maybe 90 minutes runtime.
(broken link removed)

This is where I get confused. What does "60 watts running" correlate to time wise? I was under the impression that it translates to roughly 1 hour of use. Your math would indicate more like 10 minutes.

My basic understanding was that if it's a 300 watt battery then it can supply 300 watts for 1 hour, so if I'm pulling 100 watts it should last for approximately 3 hours.

I know that's totally wrong though. Frustrating, usually pick this stuff up very quickly.

 

[Drewman]

I have been wanting to figure out a back up battery/solar recharge option for peace of mind...no idea how to go about that. Would love a drawing or something of someones setup!

 

[begreen]

This is where I get confused. What does "60 watts running" correlate to time wise? I was under the impression that it translates to roughly 1 hour of use. Your math would indicate more like 10 minutes.

My basic understanding was that if it's a 300 watt battery then it can supply 300 watts for 1 hour, so if I'm pulling 100 watts it should last for approximately 3 hours.

I know that's totally wrong though. Frustrating, usually pick this stuff up very quickly.

I just took the data from the CyberPower UPS website. No math involved. It's Christmas eve and I have had too much scotch for math.

 

[Caw]

I just took the data from the CyberPower UPS website. No math involved. It's Christmas eve and I have had too much scotch for math.

I respect that 🥃.

More power for only a little bit more $:

(broken link removed)

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Can you just tape a fan to that huge dogs tail? Have the kids play with him in front of the insert? Should provide 70-80 CFM of air movement…

 

[Caw]

Can you just tape a fan to that huge dogs tail? Have the kids play with him in front of the insert? Should provide 70-80 CFM of air movement…

Oh yeah, he's a hard worker. 🤣

 

[EbS-P]

Personally I’m going to get a small inverter generator. The hassle of my big gone is enough I need to be without power for 5-6 hours before I find it’s worth it to get it out. During the summer one cord to a power strip for essentials like WiFi and one to the fridge. Winter WiFi and stove.

Or an F150 lightning.

 

[Caw]

Personally I’m going to get a small inverter generator. The hassle of my big gone is enough I need to be without power for 5-6 hours before I find it’s worth it to get it out. During the summer one cord to a power strip for essentials like WiFi and one to the fridge. Winter WiFi and stove.

Or an F150 lightning.

How small is small? I considered that but I want something that's going to simply kick on when I need it in the middle of the night and/or give me an hour to decide if I want to get off my ass and get the big boy hooked up. I'd still have to get up and set up a small generator to buy the same time.

Sometimes in the next year or two I'm going to have a transfer switch wired into the back of the house to avoid needing to mess with extension cords. For now tho I do it similarly...blower/fan in winter and fridges in the summer. Wifi/phone charging etc optional depending on time of day.

I find most outages here are minor (2 hours or less) or severe (24 hours plus) very rarely in-between so I think the UPS will suit my needs well. We shall see.

 

[EbS-P]

How small is small? I considered that but I want something that's going to simply kick on when I need it in the middle of the night and/or give me an hour to decide if I want to get off my ass and get the big boy hooked up. I'd still have to get up and set up a small generator to buy the same time.

Sometimes in the next year or two I'm going to have a transfer switch wired into the back of the house to avoid needing to mess with extension cords. For now tho I do it similarly...blower/fan in winter and fridges in the summer. Wifi/phone charging etc optional depending on time of day.

I find most outages here are minor (2 hours or less) or severe (24 hours plus) very rarely in-between so I think the UPS will suit my needs well. We shall see.

15-1800 watts. Something like this or if I was feeling speedy the Honda version. I hoping for a transfer switch too. Al least to one of my sub panels. (broken link removed)

Buts it’s hard to beat the value here.
(broken link removed) but I could totally get by just fine without a blower for 2 hours or 4. It’s the

 

[reaperman1]

The best way to see just how much power your fan is using is with a kill-o-watt meter. You simply plug something into it and it gives current draw in watts and amps. They work well with variable speed appliances like blowers using a rheostat. Most blowers have a higher current draw at startup then much less running. My stove fan uses between 27-35ish, (variable speed) watts.


Amazon product ASIN B00009MDBU

 

[Caw]

15-1800 watts. Something like this or if I was feeling speedy the Honda version. I hoping for a transfer switch too. Al least to one of my sub panels. (broken link removed)

Buts it’s hard to beat the value here.
(broken link removed) but I could totally get by just fine without a blower for 2 hours or 4. It’s the

Yeah the UPS is basically what I am getting just a different brand. I think the automatic start, no gas, no effort required is just so key. Buy me time to get through the short outages and decide if I need to put the effort to roll out the big boy.

 

[Caw]

Quick update:

I set up the UPS and it has a feature to display the power draw of the devices connected. My blower draws 32 watts on low and 55 watts on high so on low I can get almost 2 hours out of it on low. I also tested out my mounted wall fan that I use to circulate air down the hallway to the kitchen/dining room and that also draws 30 watts.

The only strange thing is that when it runs off of battery power the blower slows down by a good 50% and I'm not sure why. It's not a deal breaker as I just need it to work period and I can always adjust it up I'm just curious why that might happen.

So, I can just run the blower and heat upstairs/stove room for 2 hours or run both fans and heat the entire house for 1 hour. That will cover the majority of power outages and gives me plenty of time to decide whether or not to bring out the big generator.

Anyways I'm happy with the purchase. It was only $190 and I think it will serve it's purpose well. Money well spent to not be messing around lugging and setting up the generator for short outages.

Next up: build a small shed near the house to store the big generator and get the transfer switch installed. That way there's no lugging just open the doors, connect 1 plug, and fire it up when it's needed.