First power outage with pellet stove. Could I use a UPS to keep the fires burning ?

[buildingmaint]

Well last night around 3 AM my power went out for the first time since installing my pellet stove. The smoke rolled into the house but it was not as bad as you would expect. Or maybe with no lights and only a flashlight it looked not so bad. I had a big time smoke smell , which I could of expelled from the house if I would not cared how cold the house got . I decided to grind out the smell and keep the heat inside.

 

[petejung]

Sorry to hear about your power outage, hope it didn't last too long. I was outside last night at midnight on a ladder 16' up, with 50 mph gusts trying to nail some fascia back on the garage roof...Lived to tell the tale.

What part of the country are you in?

What kind of stove do you have, and what's your venting layout?

 

[StoveMiser]

Funny....same thing happened to me. I live in Western NY and have a Big E. Power went out around 4. The smoke stinks the place up, but wasnt too heavy. Over the summer I'll be sure to add a vertical stack. Does ash still get out the top of...lets say a 12 foot vertical rise?...or is it just hot air that far up?

 

[buildingmaint]

Northwestern Pennsylvania ,Venango County city of Oil City. Breckwell Big E straight out no vertical [ I know, I know no wonder the smoke backed up into the house] in honest it was not that bad .I have burnt food that smelled worse. Electric only out 6 hours . House was at 57 f when power came back on.

No way in heck would you have got me up a latter last night in that wind . I would not even go on my companies roof to look for damage this morning, and its flat .

 

[StoveMiser]

I fired up the generator and burned some pricey oil @3.30 gallon until the power came back on, then I fired the pellet back up. It has been in the low teens here all day with winds topping out in the 50mph range. The Big E cant keep up today. The furnace cycles about every hour. I am also burning some poor pellets that do not have great heat output.

 

[Britales]

I've got a 12 volt Deep Cycle battery as a backup to my new Thelin Parlour! One of the reasons we chose it, as we are prone to power outages here on The Eastern Shore of VA.

 

[carlie1784]

How long will that 12 volt system keep your stove running?

 

[jamorris]

The Dellpoint Europa 75 comes with battery back up. It looks like a UPS battery. It is supposed to be good for up to 9 hours. My Marine battery is quite a bit larger. The stove installer said it should last for days, maybe even a week. The Europa does not use a lot of juice. So far, I have weathered one 2 to 3 hour power outage. My stove seems to be built around a 12 VDC system.

I would suggest all pellet stove owners keep the largest UPS they can get, or afford, for back up. When the UPS begins to fail, shut down the stove.

Jerry

 

[Britales]

My manual says 24-72 hrs. min. depending on the battery! I've got an Optima yellow top.

 

[wilbilt]

My manual says 24-72 hrs. min. depending on the battery! I've got an Optima yellow top.

I don't have a Thelin, but it seems my old Trail Blazer is a similar design (in concept, anyway).

We recently had a 55-hour power outage. The Optima red top out of my pickup ran the stove for about 24 hours, and I only swapped it with another battery because I didn't want to drain it too far.

It started the truck right up. I left the battery from another car connected to the stove for the remainder of the outage and it did fine.

 

[hiskid1973]

What kinds of stove /brands model offer this? Thanks..God Bless You..

 

[stoveguy2esw]

a ups could run the unit but lifespan of its batery obviously depends on the battery's size and the power requirements of the unit , AC systems (most common) use more power from inverted batteries than dc units tend to (or DC motored units tend to run longer) however a ups will go off like a smoke detector when power drops and would likely wake you , which is a good thing if it wouldnt last the night , it at least would have enough juice to get the unit vented and shut down with anyway

 

[bit_flores]

#1: Make sure that you pipe in "outside air" to your "air Intake" on your pellet stove. That will definitely solve the smoke problem. Here is info from New England Stove Works on there Outside Air Kit:

http://www.englanderstoves.com/manuals/PU-OAK_Info.pdf


#2. I sell & support UPS units in a bunch of retail stores. I personally use a APC Back-UPS Pro 1000 on my Breckwell P26. It lasted over an hour during our November 2007 power outage. My stove was set to the "C" setting and the UPS still had plenty of juice when the power came back on. Batteries on this type of unit usually have a 3-4 year life span, depending on ambient conditions.