How To Run A Pellet Stove During A Power Outage

[Certaindeaf]

I understand but when I've got around $4k worth of meat in the freezer I'm not taking any chances, not for the few bucks in fuel I'd save. Plus, happy wife=happy life, keep her warm and she'll return the favor-at least I hope someday, LOL. I'm certain the freezer we have would be fine even in the summer for a day or two without risk but, I quit gambling in my twenties. Our house on the other hand, is very open with lots of windows for the view and will lose heat fairly rapidly.

It sounds pretty complicated.

 

[Siglvr]

It sounds pretty complicated.

It is. I agree, WAYYYYYYY too complicated....but, (shrugs) the alternative is worse------->ie ("happy wife=happy life, keep her warm and she'll return the favor")

 

[kmk1012]

It sounds pretty complicated.

As complicated as a person makes it. Pretty simple system here actually, and it works well.

 

[Certaindeaf]

As complicated as a person makes it. Pretty simple system here actually, and it works well.

Frozen meat sounds pretty Rube Goldbergesque.







Lol

 

[Siglvr]

Complex, but then again, I thought we were talking about wives......

 

[bcp]

Disappointed. I clicked the "How To Run A Pellet Stove Without Electricity"

The answer, per the story, is to get electricity.

Not familiar with pellet stoves, but, if power is out, why can't you hand-feed it once in a while, like a regular wood stove? Does it require blowers, to work at all? No convection, etc? Are any designed to continue working with electricity out?

Bruce

 

[Bolt_308]

Not familiar with pellet stoves, but, if power is out, why can't you hand-feed it once in a while, like a regular wood stove? Does it require blowers, to work at all? No convection, etc? Are any designed to continue working with electricity out?

Bruce

they have fans that are required to be running in order to work, positive pressure exhaust, and auger to feed pellets. THe new ones are very efficient though, and you can run them for quite a while off a regular car battery and inverter . . .

 

[orygun]

There have been times I wish I had a small wood stove like in the shop (which is part of the house think 20 x 52 2 car garage but a craftsmans shop instead never used to park cars except when I rebuilt my 48 Willys) But mostly to use the stove to get rid of stuff.

Dad heated the shop at our house in John Day with a small cast iron stove. Worked very well if you don't require "instant" heat. Stoves and fireplaces are always disposal sites.

Pellet stove and meat in the freezer. I was actually at work for five straight days but my wife was keeping the family warm.

A good freezer should keep frozen items frozen for more than 10 hours in my experience. The whole turkey I had in the bottom of my freezer stayed frozen for 4-5 days.

I do not run any heat at night and I only lose about 5-10 degrees.

We used to have a great freezer, but the one we have now is pretty weak. When we lost power for days back in February, keeping that freezer going and my game meat frozen was pretty high on my priority list, right below keeping us warm. We did this for 9 days and it was easy, if not a little expensive. If this was to become a long term situation I imagine I would be a bit more conservative with my fuel.

 

[Mark W.]

Talking of Freezers we keep about 4 gallons of water as ICE in our freezer mostly in 12oz water bottles set around the perimeter of each shelf. So when the power goes out it turns the Freezer into a huge cooler and slows the rate of warming.

 

[kmk1012]

Talking of Freezers we keep about 4 gallons of water as ICE in our freezer mostly in 12oz water bottles set around the perimeter of each shelf. So when the power goes out it turns the Freezer into a huge cooler and slows the rate of warming.

Thermal capacity always helps. I employ this by only putting cold beer into the cooler while loading it!!!!

 

[dinky450]

It's winter wheel that bubblegum outside. That will definitely help it from defrosting too fast.

 

[Forester]

Do you know the run time on that setup? I have a Yamaha EF2000is (not a POS Costco Yamaha) and have considered that same setup. In the ice storm we were getting about 8 hours out of the onboard tank and it really sucked getting up in the middle of the night to refuel.

There is a siphon kit available to hook up to a bigger container.

 

[Nosferatu]

Talking of Freezers we keep about 4 gallons of water as ICE in our freezer mostly in 12oz water bottles set around the perimeter of each shelf. So when the power goes out it turns the Freezer into a huge cooler and slows the rate of warming.

A lot of people don't realize that the more full a freezer is, the longer it takes to defrost during a power outage. It also takes a lot less energy to maintain a full freezer. That whole thermal mass thing I learned in high school actually applies to real life stuff!

When mine runs low, I'll put gallon+ jugs of water to take up space. As the freezer gets restocked, the defrosted water can be used as, well, water.

 

[The Heretic]

Dad heated the shop at our house in John Day with a small cast iron stove. Worked very well if you don't require "instant" heat. Stoves and fireplaces are always disposal sites.



We used to have a great freezer, but the one we have now is pretty weak. When we lost power for days back in February, keeping that freezer going and my game meat frozen was pretty high on my priority list, right below keeping us warm. We did this for 9 days and it was easy, if not a little expensive. If this was to become a long term situation I imagine I would be a bit more conservative with my fuel.

After my freezer failed this summer I bought a new one slightly larger. One of the things I did wrong was not rotating the food I kept frozen. I kept buying frozen meat and not using it for one thing. So I determined I was not going to repeat that mistake again. That said, my situation/etc. is probably not what most people would have or do - I am single, and I try to keep stuff like milk, frozen meals, apple cider, juice concentrate, etc. in the freezer.

I have some styrofoam boxes and ice packs that meds come in, so I have put most of my frozen food in those boxes. This way if the freezer goes out again the food will stay frozen longer. I also have the freezer turned up to the max - keeping the food frozen below zero degrees. It hurts my hands to handle the frozen food in the freezer. Right now it is consuming minimum electricity - it is in the shop and the ambient temp there is about 32*F

 

[Member 52301]

A lot of people don't realize that the more full a freezer is, the longer it takes to defrost during a power outage. It also takes a lot less energy to maintain a full freezer. That whole thermal mass thing I learned in high school actually applies to real life stuff!

When mine runs low, I'll put gallon+ jugs of water to take up space. As the freezer gets restocked, the defrosted water can be used as, well, water.

This is true!

Cate

 

[Mark W.]

Talking of Freezers we keep about 4 gallons of water as ICE in our freezer mostly in 12oz water bottles set around the perimeter of each shelf. So when the power goes out it turns the Freezer into a huge cooler and slows the rate of warming.

Thermal capacity always helps. I employ this by only putting cold beer into the cooler while loading it!!!!

Some of the "Overlander" types advocate cooling your cooler down as well. Not sure I guess I could empty the $3000.00 in film out of the little chest freezer and get one of the colemans in it. Actually they are talking about filling the cooler up completely with cube ICE over night before you pack for the trip.

 

[The Heretic]

It's impossible to get 100% off the grid with solar. Average house uses 30kw a day solar 25k system takes up a lot of space. Winter time In oregon solar will be knocked down to 30% efficiency. You have to buy a lot of batteries for back up and turn your power off most days. $50k later still won't be enough in the winter. I work on a lot of private homes with people that have had solar panels installed and they all have back up generators after the first year of trying solar back up.

I must not have an average house then (1700 SF).

If I do not include heating (I have an electric furnace) I used 335 kwh, so that would be ~12 kwh per day average (I assume you meant KWH not KW). That is in November for a month I only used my woodstove for heat. Peak usage was 18 kwh one day, min usage was 5-6 kwh (there were 7 days where I used that min power). PGE only graphs by KWH so I do not know how many KWs I used at any given moment, just KWH. But if I do not use my furnace, I think the peak power I would use at any given time would be about 4-6 KW.

 

[dinky450]

I must not have an average house then (1700 SF).

If I do not include heating (I have an electric furnace) I used 335 kwh, so that would be ~12 kwh per day average (I assume you meant KWH not KW). That is in November for a month I only used my woodstove for heat. Peak usage was 18 kwh one day, min usage was 5-6 kwh (there were 7 days where I used that min power). PGE only graphs by KWH so I do not know how many KWs I used at any given moment, just KWH. But if I do not use my furnace, I think the peak power I would use at any given time would be about 4-6 KW.

Kw is measurements of amount of power. Kwh is the rate of consumption. Also a 25kw solar system take up about 1600sqft.

 

[The Heretic]

Kw is measurements of amount of power. Kwh is the rate of consumption.

KWH is energy, KW is power, my point was saying "Average house uses 30kw a day" does not make sense. If you want to know how much energy a typical house uses, you measure it in KWH used. A kilowatt is a momentary measurement.

Also a 25kw solar system take up about 1600sqft.

So? My property is ~17 acres. 1600 SF is about 2% of that area. I realize many people do not have that much room, but I could fit a good portion of that on the roof of my shop alone, the rest (and then some) on the roof of my house.

 

[dinky450]

KWH is energy, KW is power, my point was saying "Average house uses 30kw a day" does not make sense. If you want to know how much energy a typical house uses, you measure it in KWH used. A kilowatt is a momentary measurement.


So? My property is ~17 acres. 1600 SF is about 2% of that area. I realize many people do not have that much room, but I could fit a good portion of that on the roof of my shop alone, the rest (and then some) on the roof of my house.

Another thing to thing about most rual areas won't let you back feed the system with a certain amount as the grid can't take it. Some areas already have too much solar panels and will make you have a disconnect from the grid to use your solar system..... they keep push solar and electric cars but our infrastructure can not physically support it.