run wood stove off battery

[kieth4548]

I have an englander furnace add on 28-3500 and hereing we may get a bunch of ice knocking out eletric. I was thinking of getting a power inverter to hook up to my truck that I can run an extention cord to the blower plug to run the blower only so I can move heat in the house. Does anyone think this will work? If so how many amp comverer would I need to get to run the blower.

Thanks
Kieth

 

[Badfish740]

I have an englander furnace add on 28-3500 and hereing we may get a bunch of ice knocking out eletric. I was thinking of getting a power inverter to hook up to my truck that I can run an extention cord to the blower plug to run the blower only so I can move heat in the house. Does anyone think this will work? If so how many amp comverer would I need to get to run the blower.

Thanks
Kieth

I actually investigated this because I just bought an Englander myself. The blower fan is 3 Amps-not sure what startup is, but it's probably in the neighborhood of 9 Amps. I found this site which was very helpful:

http://www.powerthis.com/inverter_sizing.html

9 Amps = 1080 Watts, so you need an inverter that will handle at least that much. I would go for 2000 watts to be safe. The problem with running the blower off of your truck is that it probably wouldn't work for very long. Ideally you want to be using a deep cycle battery with a high Amp/Hour rating. Automotive batteries are meant for short bursts of a lot of power, not long periods of steady use. Even with the largest deep cycle battery I could find (195 Amp/Hour), using the Amp/Hour calculator I found that the blower could be run for about 5 hours-probably less considering the blower will be starting and stopping. Considering that in addition to the woodstove I have not one but two sump pumps, a generator is a better option for me as it would probably cost me nearly as much in batteries and inverters for all three appliances. Plus I could still run my refrigerator/TV without a problem. No sense in weathering a storm without TV and cold beer!

 

[JustWood]

Yep ! It works. I use a bank of 5 deep cycles and a 750 W inverter. Start the generator once a day to charge everything back up when the power is out or run on battery power just till the furnace goes out and then I start up the wood stove.

 

[kieth4548]

Have a stupid question. If you have a generator why do you have 5 batteries and an inverter? Wouldn't be cheaper to just buy a small generator? I was thinking of picking one up verses spending the money for all the batteries. Also what type of stove do you use this set up on?

Thanks
Kieth

 

[JustWood]

Don't want to run generator 24/7 . If power is out when sleeping there is no sense running/wearing out a $3500 gen/welder just for stove power. In the morning I disconect inverter , start generator, and charge all 5 batteries. The wife also does laundry,dishes, and showers and refills water holding tank at this time when gen is running.
I have 5 batteries because my office is solar/battery powered. Power goes out and I take batteries/inverter out of office and set up in house.

Keep in mind 1or 2 batteries isn't going to power your blower very long without a recharge.

My furnace is a woodchuck made by Meyer Mfg.

 

[ihookem]

I don't think a battery is a good idea. Not enough power. I use a 2000 watt Honda and is very quiet. It uses one gallon of gas in 15 hours with a load under 500 watts and an outdoor boiler shouldn't make it go above idle. If you want to take your generator to the cabin it only weighs 46 pounds. It is so quiet even the old deer walk by it and don't even look at it, but you can hear it. So ten bucks in gas could run you several days especially if you turn it off for an hour once in a while. I have a brother in law that used a Honda for 30 hours a week for eight or nine years and only changed oil a few times.

 

[atlarge54]

Don't want to run generator 24/7 . If power is out when sleeping there is no sense running/wearing out a $3500 gen/welder just for stove power. In the morning I disconect inverter , start generator, and charge all 5 batteries. The wife also does laundry,dishes, and showers and refills water holding tank at this time when gen is running.
I have 5 batteries because my office is solar/battery powered. Power goes out and I take batteries/inverter out of office and set up in house.

Keep in mind 1or 2 batteries isn't going to power your blower very long without a recharge.

My furnace is a woodchuck made by Meyer Mfg.

I just set up my inverter battery system to run my pumps during a power failure. During my trial run it was obvious from the sound of the pumps that they were operating on a different power source. The pumps sounded like the hum of a transformer, I'm assuming it's because it's not true sine wave AC out of the inverter. Will this damage the pumps?