Running a pellet stove with an inverter and solar

Hey all

Been thinking about setting up an inverter system to take care of the times when we get a power outage.

Anyone set up a system that works well and how long will a standard deep cycle 12 volt (RV TYPE) power the stove ???

A lot of places advertising equipment, but I'm skeptical of ads.

A solar charger would be a sweet deal too.

We don't have long down times, but they usually happen when its cold and nasty


Any input would be sweet

 

I looked in to it briefly. But buy the time you are all said and done (cost)a generator was the better option for my situation.

 

^^^ This ^^^

 

I could help you out on a system minus solar panel. It can be added if needed!

 

Cost is the big issue.

I have generators, but the big thing is the fuel supply to run them.

A pellet stove is going to pull no more than maybe 2 amps once it's running, so an inverter system seems like it would be a very quiet way to keep the "home fires" burning.

Winter here in the PACNW is dismal and gray so sunlight is not abundant, but there is some even on a really cloudy day.

As I mentioned the times we lose power are few, but they are a pita when they happen.

Having to get up in the middle of the night to go mess with a GEN SET is not really a happy thing.

My interest is having a little cabinet not far from the stove with an inverter, battery and such all neat and tidy that is plugged in and just takes over if the power goes out.

Our nearly 2400 sqft house is easy to heat, but very open and spacious with the larger areas with the stoves and the rooms can't be closed off to make a smaller place to keep warm.

Sooooo

If the power fails when its cold the house cools fairly quick ( COLD OUT) and getting the temps back up can take quite WHILE.

Once all the furniture and such cools off it takes a long time to warm everything back up.

Our practice is to keep a stove running 24/7 to just maintain the COMFORT LEVEL rather than cycle a stove on and off and let the temp go up and down.

IF we can keep the stove going with minimal bother through a power outage it would be great.

Seems the big push about living "OFF THE GRID" really does not take into account just how expensive it is to power a household with "Alternative" power sources.

Advertisements always make it sound sooooooo easy to just flip a switch and be off the grid.

If you have gravity feed water to your home you have a huge advantage.

Our well is 800 feet deep and has a big AZZ pump that takes 240 volts and about 50 amps to start the beast to get us water.

The big Gen set will do that (We have a 20 kw diesel wired through a 400 amp transfer switch to feed the house, but keeping 3-400 gallons of diesel is not practical as the stuff gets stale over time.

We put that thing in back in the Y2K era due to the hysteria and lack of real truth about the grid when the clock struck midnight in 2000.

We decided to be safe.

We used the thing once.

I have thought about getting it up and ready again, but it needs to be serviced and fuel brought in.

Just having an easy quick solution for heat would be great.

WE have thought about installing a Wiseway NON electric pellet stove, but that entails more than I want to do. (read this as cutting a hole in the roof)

Just really interested in trying an inverter and battery system, and figured somebody here has done this.

 

I decided to go the UPS and generator route. The UPS buys me say an hour to get the generator up and running. I also got a relatively small generator where 4 gallons of gas (one full up) will last about 24 hours on a small load.

 

The problem besides cost for the inverter battery route was how to size it? And then, what happens when you run out of battery power? Either you have a fairly expensive, solar recharging going, or you need a generator anyways.

 

It has been done. Using A few diff methods. I have been looking into it myself as well... A good ups seems to be the preferred way. But it shouldnt be hard to set up a solar panel to charge the batteries. Have you looked at the stove sentry system?
Stove Sentry: Emergency Backup for Pellet Stoves and Kerosene Heaters

 

I made my own system after a combined all in one packaged system failed after 3yrs of usage. I bought all separate components which can be replaced easily.
Following are:
TBS 600watts puresinewave low frequency inverter
Iota transfer switch
5 stage charger
2 6volt Trojan batteries

You can add one solar panel for charging but it might not maintain a running system for a lenghty time after batteries are exhausted. It might do it with one panel or more.....I don't know.
If you want more specifics just ask me.
I had to add a CyberPower UPS to the system as the Fahrenheit furnace was too picky on the transfer time but no problem with my Harman Accentra.

 

I have experience with alarm system battery backup... the biggest question you need to answer, and it's simple. How long does the emergency power source need to run the stove?

 

My current "Curiosity" is about putting together a system the can be more or less self sustaining or at least until the battery gets old and goes away.

A system that is only good for say 12-24 hours does not really excite me much.

Albeit, these are fine for a short outage like we had earlier this winter when a tree up the road blew down across the lines and the power co shut things off for a while to repair the line.

If I am going to mess with equipment that is $$$$$$$$ to start with, then I want to at least consider a system that can be self sustaining for the long haul.

Now keep in mind, I'm not a "Prepper" if you will that is terrified of WWIII or whatever, but I live in an area that can have earthquakes and the buzzword is that we are poised on the brink of "DA BIG ONE"

There is also the possibility of an EMP OR A SOLAR FLARE.

A good hit with an EMP and life as we know it is gonna be gone for a long long long time.

Enough crepe hanging

Still, being set up to be able to run my big Whit for many days on end without needing to pray the power comes back on to charge the batteries is my quest.

Inverters are not that spendy, even a good sine wave unit is not going to be a deal breaker.

Deep cycle AGM batteries are also not a deal breaker.
The big worry is can I get a solar panel set up that will work well enough to charge the batteries back during the daylight that we get under the worst weather in say Deep winter.

Without being able to recharge the batteries this is not a good stand alone system, but rather a "just get by until the power comes back"

In full summer sun, say July, the solar array can hum right along and likely do fine.
We don't need a stove in the summer.

If for example we get hit with a super X flare and the grid goes down, then FOOD and supplies are going to be a big issue, and not just heat.

My Gen set can handle the deep well just fine, no problem, and we can run the thing long enough to pump a lot of water to a holding tank.

Just having that big gen set humming away slurping fuel with only a pellet stove online is not a great use of resources, not even.

I have given thought to a WHAT IF scenario and the power is going to be out for many days, weeks or months (We don't want to think about that stuff, IT'S SCARY I know, but it could happen.

Enough doomsday stuff.

A battery set (1-2 or so) of deep cycles, an inverter and a solar setup that can recharge the batteries.

Maybe add a small wind turbine.

I have a great place to put a wind gizmo that gets a lot of "blow" especially in the bad weather.


The system HAS GOT TO BE ABLE TO SUSTAIN ITSELF "STAND ALONE" LONG TERM

What is available, and can it be done on a small scale at a reasonable price????

 

Hmm...we had to go back on the grid when the Mother in Law came. She would never understand the mentality needed. As with Ivanhoe, my small package system for the sump pumps failed after a few years. Everything here has a back up plan. The back up isn't the most expensive items. If the electric went out, our plan would be to do without. We do have a wired in 16K generator that burns mucho deniro in propane. We have considered places that sell fuel would have issues with power also and therefore fuel availability could be an issue. So keeping it simple is our solution.

The back ups are:

The cooking and heating stove is in the Sig picture, a wood stove

The sump pumps will run on a battery back up while we remove anything in harms way.

The water well has a non electrical solution, I kept the dug well that was present when I bought the property and encased it with a 4 foot cement tile drain with cover. Either hand pump it, or do like I used to do and drop a 5 gallon food grade bucks down on a rope. It was really fun when it was 30 below!

We pressure can and preserve the food we grow here, although we do have a small chest freezer out of convenience. If we lost power for any period of time we would jump into canning the contents of the freezer using the wood stove.
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If you want to investigate using an inverter and a deep cycle battery you'll need to be more definitive in what you expect from it. How many devices will you use and what their power demands would be. A deep cycle battery or bank of batteries will not last long if you're drawing the amps out of it/them. Batteries are very expensive. New technology is coming quickly that may make them more affordable. Remember, it takes one and a half times the energy you removed from a battery to restore it. Solar is nice and is becoming less expensive. I have a wind turbine also. It doesn't like wild windy days no more than calm no wind days.

We moved here and lived without power for some time while we stripped and gutted this old house. We managed to use the generator to recharge the batteries and light the place up at night, once charged we would turn off the propane powered generator. Click on the inverter and have a few...(that's two) lights on. Every evening it was rinse and repeat for over a year. Then we went to solar with battery back up, until the MIL came.

 

if you want this thing to work longer than 24 hours your in for a large investment and lots of periodic maintenance. I think a automatic propane genny would be a better option.

 

This is the reason I am still in asking and thinking mode

Our diesel gen set is a 20 kw Kubota powered and is wired through a 400 amp transfer switch.

We have a manufactured home on a full daylight basement and there is a 1000 ft apartment down in the basement, plus the back half is my shop area.

The downstairs has a standard 200 amp household panel and this entire scheme is fed off of a 400 amp single meter dual disconnect panel.

The meter/disconnect panel then feeds the huge azz transfer switch that is in the Gen shack.

Just need to fill the big diesel tank and good to go.

I may get things back up to snuff, refill the tank and buy a new battery for the Gen Set.

The cost to fool around with the inverters and other stuff is looking more like an exercise in futility rather than a real sound plan.

But in a worse case scenario the supply of diesel is the achilles heel, as there will be minimal if any available

Maybe we can run the gen set on nut shells


We also have a 6.5 KW propane portable and a 4000 watt gas portable from HF

 

Look into some diesel preservative with algaecide and fungicide. It'll extend your storage out to at least 5 years. Remember to do monthly tests on your genny. Ensure it works, and use up some of that fuel. Do you have anything else that uses HHO or diesel?

 

You could collect waste vegetable oil and clean it then run it in that diesel
Going big is a big investment. You gotta decide what you want to power up with battery power and how long. Engine (what?) & gas tank (how long) . More panels =faster charge, engine load (size of inverter), battery (size of gas tank). The sky is the limit. Check out the Tesla car website, they make home battery back up systems. The inverter is a important piece of the puzzle. I bought a very robust and reliable one so beware what's on the market.

 

I am really thinking about just getting the Big gen set readied and a load of fuel in for it.

Does not need much to get it going.

The system is all manual.
Start the gen, let it warm up, haul the big azz transfer switch lever to gen setting and letterip

AT night we can see the outdoor light on the horse barn and if it is on the power is back, as the barn is on a separate meter.

Since this equipment is paid for, we might as well use it.

This 20 kw unit should be able to handle pretty much most of the house.

Not sure I want to run the TV or the computers off the gen, but the stoves and lights will be fine.
This unit should not burn more than 1/2 to 3/4 gallon per hour

 

TV and computers, is the power clean? If not get small ups units to act as power filters.

 

Mine is an automatic propane generator, it needs to be run every month. It is an expense, that for the less than ten years of electrical hookup here, we haven't needed. When power goes out the most it has been out for was about two hours.

 

Bdog

Will the ups units clean up square wave and make it all "more gooder"

I have never messed with ups units.

Good sine wave is sweet.

I don't know what our gen set puts out.

It is an alternator, buttttt??