Fall is Knocking. Hope I got everything I need

[Dataman]

This Spring I went ahead and replaced our Blaze King King with Harmon XXV (Non TC). Dealer had Floor Model for 1000 off. Had unit installed by dealer. Used existing 8" Pipe with Adapter. No leakage of smoke when stove is just shut off by flipping surge protector.

What other things Do I need? Have gone thru the stove and done all cleaning so I know what to expect. Going to burn Norther Idaho Pellets ((broken link removed to http://www.northidahoenergylogs.com/woodpellets.php)).

I look forward to not cutting down trees, dragging them out of forest and bucking up and splitting No More. Only downside is I had 10 Cords split and stacked ready to go. Lucky wife has niece, 2nd year and a row he's got Free Firewood. He's going to think it comes this way out of the forest.

Been thinking of Long Term possibility without power. Have whole home Generator (7k) to run Pump and Lights. I have to will charge battery with generator. How long with 100AH battery run Stove in Manual Mode?

I plan on buying extra igniter to have on-hand next year. Good Online Source? Ebay results show bad reviews.

The stove works great, but the heat output is not what Wood Stove would have put out. Little concerned about that. But it will be nice not to be baking the living room. Time will tell. House is 2000sqft and 400 downstairs in basement, that gets oil elec heater to just keep warm.

Harmon XXV
Surge Protector
Aims 1250 Watt 12V Pure Sine Wave Inverter Charger PICOGLF12W12V120AL
Spartan Power 4 foot 4 AWG Power Inverter Battery Cables SP-4FT4CBL56
Spartan Power Energy Meter Electricity Usage Monitor SP-PM120
Universal UB121000-45978 12v 100AH Deep Cycle AGM Battery
Brushtech B67C Pellet Stove Cleaning Kit
Rutland One Match Fire Starter
Cougar ASH Vac - Got used one for $80, works great.

Harmon XXV

• Dataman
• Sep 17, 2018

Harmon XXV Setup

Aims 1250 Inverter

• Dataman
• Sep 17, 2018
• 3

Aims Inverter with 100ah battery

 

[Battleman13]

Instead of an extra ignitor, I'd be buying a bottle of fire starting gel. My parents first got their pellet stove and the ignitor stopped working after maybe a month or two. Replaced it and it didn't work. So my dad gave up on that and was using some kinda method where he would sorta make a "tee pee" out of cardboard. Then he would put pellets in and around it and light the card board. This got the first set of pellets burning so that by the time the fire started feeding, it was already established.

Later I found fire starting gel at the local hardware store for like $5 or $6 a bottle. Squirt and ounce or two on top of a hand full of pellets and that fire was going nice in no time. A lot easier and more consistent than the cardboard method. And it works when the power goes out. Just need that 100AH battery to power the unit.

My recommendation, if you live in rough country and regularly expect 24+ power outages, is to get a second 100AH battery. Having two of those charged should last you a good bit, plus you have the generator to recharge them.

 

[Dataman]

Instead of an extra ignitor, I'd be buying a bottle of fire starting gel. My parents first got their pellet stove and the ignitor stopped working after maybe a month or two. Replaced it and it didn't work. So my dad gave up on that and was using some kinda method where he would sorta make a "tee pee" out of cardboard. Then he would put pellets in and around it and light the card board. This got the first set of pellets burning so that by the time the fire started feeding, it was already established.

Later I found fire starting gel at the local hardware store for like $5 or $6 a bottle. Squirt and ounce or two on top of a hand full of pellets and that fire was going nice in no time. A lot easier and more consistent than the cardboard method. And it works when the power goes out. Just need that 100AH battery to power the unit.

My recommendation, if you live in rough country and regularly expect 24+ power outages, is to get a second 100AH battery. Having two of those charged should last you a good bit, plus you have the generator to recharge them.

Thanks. Got the Jell Ordered. Good Thinking. Will do Gel Manual Start to see how it goes next time it gets chilly. I hope to get another 100ah battery, but going to steal battery out of Wife's Rolls Royce SC3. It's a big one and car don't move in Winter. She won't miss it in Emergency. We get very few power outages so far. In 7 years 4 hours was most without elec. Never have actually used Generator except tests. Found Pellets for $3.39 per bag, but no delivery. I might get 1 Ton in my PU before it gets cold and have others delivered (couple ton).


I hope for 8 hours of runtime with 100ah Battery. Will have to do real world test this Winter. On my future list is Small Pure Sine Wave Genny. But I want Propane Unit.

 

[Battleman13]

Thanks. Got the Jell Ordered. Good Thinking. Will do Gel Manual Start to see how it goes next time it gets chilly. I hope to get another 100ah battery, but going to steal battery out of Wife's Rolls Royce SC3. It's a big one and car don't move in Winter. She won't miss it in Emergency. We get very few power outages so far. In 7 years 4 hours was most without elec. Never have actually used Generator except tests. Found Pellets for $3.39 per bag, but no delivery. I might get 1 Ton in my PU before it gets cold and have others delivered (couple hundred ton).

I hope for 8 hours of runtime with 100ah Battery. Will have to do real world test this Winter. On my future list is Small Pure Sine Wave Genny. But I want Propane Unit.

Am I reading this right? Your wife has a SC3 and you can afford a few hundred tons of pellets / have the space to store them?


At any rate.. one thing to consider is that your 100ah battery is 12V and your stove runs on 120V. You'll need some kind of inverter to step the 12V up to the proper rate. Probably the most power hungry part of your stove is going to be the igniter. Trying to start the stove while on battery power, the inverter will drain the battery a good deal. The convection and combustion fans are the next biggest users of power, you can usually turn those down a bit though. Finally the augers... most pellet stove augers are only 1 A each so they will be a minimal drain on your battery backup.

For the money, your probably better off getting something like a Cyberpower 1500VA UPC (with pure sinewave output) and then splice in a set of leads directly on the 12V wires, before the internal inverter, to run outside the unit with terminals so you can connect to the terminals of the 100Ah battery when the power goes out. With a setup like that, and not using the igniter to fire the stove, you should get a pretty good long run time out of the stove.

 

[Dataman]

U get a Better Deal for Big Amounts. ha ha. Just mistype. Got 3 Tons Purchased Today. 639.97 with tax and delivery. Too lazy or not wanting to hurt my torn shoulder and rotator cuff.

SC3 was gift. Has not run in 25 years until last year. Wife did brakes and electrical problems. Plus Power Steering rebuild and other stuff. Needs carbs adjusted and some linkage problems. Something for her to Tinker on more than anything else. Got Big Ass Battery I gave 200 bucks for. Good for Backup I figure.

Thinking of putting pallet of pellets on back porch. It's built with 8x8 posts (yes 8x8). House built by over achievers. But not going to do it, 2000lb lot of weight in small area. Just bring up bags on tractor and stack over back porch.

Soon as Champion Power Equipment 100402 2000-Watt Dual Fuel Portable Inverter Generator is available will consider that for future. They keep moving the release date back every month.

What do most people use for backup for Pellet Stoves?

 

[Battleman13]

I would imagine a lot of people don't burn them as a primary heat source, or if they do it was after moving from a different primary heat source.

The problem with most of them, is that they require electric to run... at least for the blower. A wood or coal furnace may be the exception... depending on if they have electric blowers or not. A good power backup system utilized only to run a blower could work...

Going a bit into the "prepper" mindset... I'm thinking one of those kerosene "karisun" heaters would do the trick. It probably would only a smaller area warm, but in an emergency that is enough. Last winter my furnace went out and it was DARN cold up here... down to single digits and the wind just terrible. I was able to pick up an eden pure heater from my parents, that I ran in just our bedroom. Kept that room warm, rest of the house pretty chilly. Just left the water run ever so slightly to keep things from freezing... nothing else would really get "hurt".

That's a more ideal situation than the power being out. If the power were out, the kerosene heater would be the best bet. Not exactly something you want to run in a finished space, but again in a pinch it will keep you from freezing. In my situation, if I had to do that, I'd take it down into the basement and we would all go down there.

The most practical thing would be a hand fired wood or coal stove without a blower. Much safer than the kerosene heater, puts out way more heat ( could reasonably heat your whole home to a comfortable level) and a lot easier to have the fuel on hand.

 

[Dataman]

Good Thinking. Will have to look into that later in life for Wife's Happy Place (Woodshop). Right now no ER heat at all except 2 elec 5k units. Without Elec it freezes.

 

[Dataman]

Got the Aims Inverter yesterday and cables and device to monitor watts and amps. 400w almost on Startup and 122-112w on Normal max fan running. Ran the numbers and 2.25h on 35ah Genny Battery and 8.2H on 100ah at most for backup. More than good enough. Wife's not happy with "Industrial Look" and she will make box with holes for Inverter to Hide it. So about 1/2 that before Inverter stops process.