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Author Topic: what do people use for power failure for owb  (Read 4585 times)

pintopaul

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what do people use for power failure for owb
« on: November 18, 2011, 04:10:55 PM »
what do people use for there outdoor wood boiler besides a generator ? anyone use battery back up to run the circulator pump? i work long hours in the winter and i'm not home to start the generator i was looking at just running the circulator pump just to keep water flowing.  thanks paul
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RSI

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Re: what do people use for power failure for owb
« Reply #1 on: November 18, 2011, 06:18:48 PM »
A battery backup is the easiest / cheapest way to do it.
You can get used ones with bad batteries real cheap. Open it up and take the wires to the battery and connect to a 2 or 4 (or more) golf cart batteries. Depends on how long you need it to run on how many batteries you add.
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lugnut

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Re: what do people use for power failure for owb
« Reply #2 on: November 18, 2011, 08:56:44 PM »
Quote from: pintopaul on November 18, 2011, 04:10:55 PM
what do people use for there outdoor wood boiler besides a generator ? anyone use battery back up to run the circulator pump? i work long hours in the winter and i'm not home to start the generator i was looking at just running the circulator pump just to keep water flowing.  thanks paul

 :post:  Great question Paul.  And great response RSI!  Wondering how many batteries one would actually need? I suppose one would have to build a box of sorts to set along side the OWB to keep the batteries dry.  Hmmmmm

Lugnut
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Jerry
Greenleaf, Wisconsin
Shaver Pro series 250 - Installed 10/28/2011
Cub Cadet / Yanmar 2450  sub-compact tractor
Husquvarna 455 Rancher
1999 Ford F-150 4x4 w/207k miles

RSI

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Re: what do people use for power failure for owb
« Reply #3 on: November 18, 2011, 09:17:09 PM »
Or put it in a shed and run a wire to the OWB. If you get the amp hours of the battery and the wattage the pump, blower, etc that it will need to run use you can calculate pretty close.

The reason I recommended golf cart batteries is because they are deep cycle. Marine deep cycle batteries can not be discharged as far as golf cart type without damaging them.

They are 6 volt so the minimum you can use is 2 but you can wire several pairs in series if needed.

Another thing you could do is switch to a Grundfos Alpha pump. If it is too small you can probably just put it in series with the other pump and have it only run on the batteries or another small pump with it and run both. They use way less power so you would get probably at least 3 - 10 times the run time on the same batteries. (if only running the pump)
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muffin

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Re: what do people use for power failure for owb
« Reply #4 on: November 21, 2011, 08:11:49 AM »
Just curiose, where are you running the battery power into?  I assume my pump is 120 VAC, the furnace certainly is.  All the valves I have run off 24 VAC.  Is there an inexpensive inverter too that you are using?
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RSI

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Re: what do people use for power failure for owb
« Reply #5 on: November 21, 2011, 08:28:52 AM »
Quote from: muffin on November 21, 2011, 08:11:49 AM
Just curiose, where are you running the battery power into?  I assume my pump is 120 VAC, the furnace certainly is.  All the valves I have run off 24 VAC.  Is there an inexpensive inverter too that you are using?
Used battery backup with bad battery is cheap. Just remove old battery and connect the wires to new batteries.
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bobcat20025

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Re: what do people use for power failure for owb
« Reply #6 on: February 26, 2013, 05:41:41 PM »
I had the same problem and have developed a battery backup for my OWB.  If enough people are interested , I can build them for distribution at a resonable cost.  My design includes both AC and DC backup for main and zone pumps and is housed in an eletronic enclosure.  Anyone interested can email me at:

nwwpa@yahoo.com
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