Power outage

[Ohiowood]

? On what do you have your OWB hooked up to in case of a power outage?
Can anything go wrong if there is a outage for a day or so with no power?

Thanks for any input

[doctorb]

I have a built in generator to run the necessities (well pump, refrigerator, kitchen lights, basement furnace and my OWB) of my house in case of a power outage.  The computer is not on the list.

If you have no backup power for the OWB, the only thing you have to worry about is freezing, which will take several days at the very minimum.  The locale for freezing will most likely be the exit of the pipes from the ground up into the rear of your stove. 

The concern for freezing is something that every OWB owner has thought about, but I never hear of a problem.  In the rare instance of loss of power for 3 or more days, Other measures might have to be taken, unless power is restored, including draining the system to prevent freeze damage.

[TreeWinder]

Ditto on the gen set, even a small one will get you by.
A couple of days should not bother

[Ohiowood]

Thanks for the replies, first year with OWB !  Still can't believe it heats the whole house so evenly. Waiting for the first full month bill with no furnace running and no hot water tank running!

[WI Fire]

Last winter, with my classic 6048 running at 185 degrees, (this year I have an e-classic), we lost power for about 7 hours due to a snow plow knocking out a power line and transformer, with thankfully, no injuries. It was below zero.

Not knowing the problem (it was a Sunday, daytime), I thought I'd wait it out...finally firing my trusty Vermont Casting Defiant Encore on the lowest level, and a gas insert on the next level.(standing pilot Heat n' Glow). The house was getting cold, I had been slow to act, because I had just been discharged after surgery 2 weeks before, and my wife was at work.

I NEVER had a concern the power would be out long enough the freeze the outside lines (I run Central Boiler at 185 degrees).

What happened next, astounded me!

I looked out the window to see a cloud of what, smoke?-- Steam????

I hurriedly bundle up, and go out to observe gallons of water and steam coming out the top! No circulation pump +  no heat load removed + 185 degree water + time = over-temp and overflow!

I ran an extension cord from a portable generator to the pump cord on the CB, and circulated, and from the inside, using the short hose, added water to the system. I figure I lost about 30-40 gallons, but thankfully, there was no harm done (warping) because I was home. Later yet, I retested the water for inhibitor levels and adjusted very little.

I still do not have the wiring configuration in place to add the furnace fan inside the house.

Safety  (and regs) requires the proper circuit interrupters from YOUR system that will prevent you from electrocuting those working on the downed lines, as with a direct hookup, you can feed power directly back into the Grid!!!

For many, a small portable generator is adequate to run a low watt circulation pump, furnace fan and boiler controls. I guess it's good protection should the unexpected occur, or if one lives where power interruption may be frequent, or if one is a survivalist, and plans for the worst!

But for now, I have learned, that simply being able to circulate, may prevent major hassle and damage. Sometime, perhaps I'll add the rest that is needed!     

[jamesconley1962]

? On what do you have your OWB hooked up to in case of a power outage?
Can anything go wrong if there is a outage for a day or so with no power?
When we lost power during a wind storm, my neighbor who is an electrician used a generator.  He placed it near his power pole...removed the meter and used heavy wire to run from the generator to the meter box; it powered everything on the house.  Worked great! 

Thanks for any input

[upsnake]

WI Fire - It seems like with out power the solenoid would have dropped closing of the damper putting the fire out.

That is what the e classic does, (well the fan won't blow too of course which also will help kill the fire).

I have lost power several times this year with the owb running, and the fire just dies out.

[WI Fire]

Thanks for the reply--but that was before I had the e-classic, and it was a fully loaded 6048 with good coal bed and sitting at 185 degrees when the power went out on a Sunday morning. I did not have any air leaks, I had no circulation at all on a loaded, cooking, monster.

Tim

[woodmills1]

for outages I wire a plug to my wood boiler and put it into the inverter outlet on my tacoma

run it every few hours to circulate so no freeze

[stumper]

I now have a generator and tranfer switch so no issue for me.  Here in Maine it is not unheard of to have power out to a limited number of customers for a week.  So I did plan for an outage. 

I have an eclassic so no power equal no fire.  My plan was simple.  Open the by-pass and prop open a selonoid in back.  I also have two boiler thermometers in back.  I figured I would just watch them and close the by-pass and or the selonoid as needed to prevent over heating.  Because I installed my piping below the frost line  (4.5 ft.) and added extra insulation it freezing was not an issue, as it would have been if it was installed only 18 inches deep.   then it is just a matter of keeping the house warm with the wood stove and kerosene heater.

If I had an older model that burnt with out power I would look to close the air inlet some how.

[doctorb]

Stumper-

While those pipes are nicely buried, they still have to come out of the ground at some point (where they exit the stove).  That's where you'll freeze up, IMO.  So keeping the water circulating seems to me to be the solution to the problem.  If you have a generator for your house, you could install a pump in your basement to keep circulation going through the OWB.

[gspren]

I am seriously considering a standby generator that starts up automaticaly during power outages, cost would be similar to what I have in the OWB.

[upsnake]

gspren -
What kind are you looking at? I am in the planning stage for one as well.

I have the OWB issue to worry about of course, but I also have a basement that will flood really quickly if the the sump pump is cut off, and live in an area that seems to be prone to losing power.

We have lost it 6 times so far this year, of which 3 resulted in basement clean ups. Hahah

[stumper]

I now have the generator and transfer switch so no worries.  That area was/is well insulated as well.  In fact I tried to double up in that area helping to keep the pipe verticle as it cam out ot the ground.

[gspren]

An electrician I trust recomended Kohler, he doesn't sell any brand and has hooked up both Kohler and Generac but prefers the Kohler. A friend is getting a price on a 20KW Kohler hooked up and I will see what he ends up spending.

gspren -
What kind are you looking at? I am in the planning stage for one as well.

I have the OWB issue to worry about of course, but I also have a basement that will flood really quickly if the the sump pump is cut off, and live in an area that seems to be prone to losing power.

We have lost it 6 times so far this year, of which 3 resulted in basement clean ups. Hahah

[upsnake]

A lot Heheh

I was looking at a 10k GE, with a whole house ATS.
Will 10k run everything in the house all at at once, no, but i don't have everything on all at one when we are grid power why try to do it when running on a generator.

The only thing that may be a stretch with the 10k is the electric stove, (but i would rather have a gas stove and for the price difference between the 10k and the 20k i could buy a new stove). haha

I am still planning the system / arranging funding. I dropped 15k on a owb last year it is going to take a minute to come up with the cash for the genny. Haha  :'(

[John Mc]

I'm not sure what all you guys are running with a 20KW generator. I've got a 4 KW with 6.6 KW surge that keeps things going here in an emergency. I do have to do some load management (the well pump stays off until we need to bring up the water pressure, I don't run the electric dryer or stove/oven, If I have some bigger load to start, I may shut of the breaker to the fridge or freezer), but it's gotten up by just fine.  If I were down south, and needed AC to make my home liveable in the summer, it would be a different story.

It's just a small, portable Generac. I did add a conversion kit which lets me run it on either gas or propane. Our 500 gal buried propane tank means I don't have to worry much about keeping a lot of fresh fuel on hand. I do notice a slight reduction in available power when running on propane which sometimes makes me wish I had a 5 KW unit, but for emergencies, we can get by with this for an extended time.

John Mc

[gspren]

I want at least a 14K to run my AC, well pump, and most other things in case the power goes out when I am away but my wife is home. She will NOT fool with generators, breakers or anything similar. There is less than $1,000.00 dollars differance between a 14K unit and a 20K unit and the management system is the same or less with the 20K system since it can power nearly everything. Money is a factor or I would already have it, but when I do put one in I don't want to wish I would have spent another grand to do it right. Just my opinion.

[John Mc]

We don't even have (or need) AC, so that lightens the load considerably.

[hockeyguy]

I'm a self employed master electrician. In my house, I have a 3500 watt portable Honda generator that connects to my house with a cord and 6 circuit transfer switch. It has plenty of power to run my heating system (wood boiler/oil burner), fridge, well pump, kitchen outlet circuit(microwave, coffee maker) and main floor light circuit. My hot water comes via the wood boiler. All the essentials to get me through a power outage (4 days last year). In most cases, I discourage customers from buying a whole house generator, but in some cases they do need it. I also don't have a need for a.c. I can  throw my generator in my truck and use it for work if needed.
Just my 2 cents.

[Dean186]

I have a similar setup to Hockeyguy.  I just switch a few essential circuits to an outlet where a portable generator could be connected.

[gspren]

  I have lived on this farm for over 25 years and have gotten by with portable generators but as I said in my earlier post if I am away hunting or fishing for a week a standby would keep the wife comfy. Also fooling with generators when it's freezing rain and windy isn't as easy when your 60 as it was a few years ago. The people I know that bought standbys are happy because of the peace of mind they give on stormy nights.

[doctorb]

I think I could have easily gotten by with a similar set-up.  I chose to run the built-in instead because we already had propane for the cooktop of the stove,which I prefer.  It was pretty easy, with a buried propane tank already in the ground, to decide on the built-in generator.  We don't have the whole house connected by any means, which is an over-luxurious waste, IMO.  My 100 gal tank runs my generator for 5 days 24/7.  Even when the power is out, the propane guy delivers!  Very happy with the set-up as I don't have to be home for the family to have selected portions of our house get emergency power. 

[Norm]

I agree, last thing I want to be doing is going out in the weather to hook up, try to start, and keep fueling a portable generator. Our well pump alone takes up most of the portable ones capacity especially with it cycling. We lose power often enough but I worry about when I'm not home Patty having to mess with it.

[John Mc]

We're set up with the generator plugging in to the side of the house and backfeeding a breaker on our main panel. There is a mechanical interlock that prevents you from turning on the generator unless you have first turned off the Main disconnect).

The advantage of this is that we can choose to energize any circuit in the house. We have blue dots near the critical loads for winter, and orange for those in the summer (some are marked with both). We just flip on the breakers we'll need, depending on what we want to do. We can still energize any other circuit we need.

We've never found hooking up and starting to be an issue. We're outside in all kinds of weather anyway, hiking, snowshoeing, or just checking on the animals. It's as simple as plugging in an extension cord, and starting a lawnmower. If we want to run on propane instead of gas, we plug a hose on the generator into a quick-disconnect and opens a valve (quicker than hooking up and turning on a garden hose). The most intimidating part for Kim was flipping circuit breakers in the panel -- not sure why that's the tough part for her, but she got over it after trying it a couple times. If we're running off the 500 gallon propane tank, refueling is not an issue.

The nicest part is that little generator just sips the fuel. I've sometimes debated going up a size (5 or 6 KW), or perhaps going to one of the pure sine wave inverter-based generators, but haven't made that jump.

When my brother was up for a visit, he was impressed with the set-up, but remarked: You know the times I remember most growing up? The times we lost power, and cooked on the Coleman stove, a propane camping lantern, and used flashlights until they started to run out, and then switched to candles. I remember that too. As kids it was quite an adventure. I think the generator may have to stay down for a bit on our next power outage.