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[adamant]

I LOOSE ELECTRIC from time to time. i installed my central boiler at the end of February,at that time the temps. here in n.j. where not that cold so loosing electric at that time was not that big of a issue. i need to think of a way to keep my owb on-line while we have those outages.
 I NEED TO FIND OUT A WAY TO:
 1. keep the owb running
2. run my forced air heater fan
3. provide electric to my thermostat

i have a Honda EU 2000i generator(2000 watts)

[charlie]

adamant,i have a whole house generac set up. automatic transfere switch. runs on propane. 500gal tank. i don't have to be home to worrie about a no power situation. it's a good peace of mind for money invested in your stove ,etc. i use to be a tree trimmer for a company that maintained the power lines. definetly don't want to back feed the lines from your house thru the transformer. lines could be down during a storm, laying on a chain link fence. guess what? you could be energizing that fence blocks away . we know not to touch it but  the home owner might not. just something to think about. do it right. some people get no second chance. go for a whole house transfere switch. no isolated breakers. little more money but you can run as normal. hope this helps . uses 1.5 gallons of propane per hour. could run on that 500 gals about 3 weeks. no gas to go bad and gum up carb. or diesel to gel.

[Hank]

Adamant, my wife's uncle has his electric box in their house wired so he can plug in his generator and runs his whole house and garage. He had an on/off switch installed so he can kill the power coming from the electric pole, this also prevents mishaps when the electric comes back on. Might be something you want to look into that way you have your wood burner, furnace, thermo, house lights etc.. I plan on putting this system in this summer or next. The generator that he uses, I believe is a 4000w or 4500w.

[R W Ohio]

Adamant,

I used the plug and rain tight cover for a semi tractor block heater,wired it into the electric supply at the OWB.

I use the same 20 amp. circuit for both the gas furnace and the OWB ,then I installed a two pole service switch at the furnace so when I hook up the generator at the OWB I can turn the furnace service switch off and isolate both the hot and common wires from the main panel. With this setup I only have heat, but that is about all I can ask my small generator to do. But it sure a lot better than being cold!

Ron 

[koda]

After I bought my OWB I also picked up a Generac propand generator to keep things going while I was away.  This way all my wife has to worry about is keeping the fire fed.

[ckbetz]

If anyone has been outside (Ohio Valley) to load t heir stove tonight you've wondered if you're going to need the generator tonight or tomorrow.  Let's hope the wind doesn't start blowing because the trees are starting to really hang low.  I do have gas for my generator and the "Storm Station" from Black and Decker to entertain a bit.  Anyway, good luck tonight.

[Jason]

No problems here with the power or the furnace, but the company I work for called a 2 hour delay today.  Gotta love that!   

[MarkP]

We got some major ice last night, and lost our power at 11:00pm.  I figured I'd wait a while to start the generator, to see how cold the house got.  The electric came back on at 5:45am, and the house was still 65,,,, down from 72.  I didn't have to use the generator, but will make a "practice run" today to make sure it will run all I need it to without rewiring the blower on the furnace to run separately.  My generator is 4400 watts, but the amps on the 220 side is only around 15. 

[ribs1963]

I have a 5700 watt generator and installed a manual transfer switch next to the main fuse box in the house.The manual transfer switch plugs into the generator via the 220 volt plug in on the generator and a twenty foot cord.I can run six 110 volt circuits.I have one of these circuits wired to the electric service needed to run the fan on my outdoor furnace.Connecticut electric made the one I have.It cost $185 at menards and I spent an additional $40 on the cord and incidentals and had it wired in about half an hour.I just keeep the generator close by and i can have it up and running in about three to five minutes and it runs eleven hours on a tank of gas

[bruey]

i just took of the on/off switch which is next to the furnace and put in a male/female plug and pluged it back in, if i need work done on the furnace i just unplug it. also ran the pump and blower line from my owb to my indoor furnace, just ran it with the pipes, no other reason. plugs into an outlet next to my furnace.  when i have a power failure i unplug both and plug into the end of an extension cord which i sit outside the basement  on the side of the house.  candles, hotwater, heat.  thats about it.

[adamant]

i just took of the on/off switch which is next to the furnace and put in a male/female plug and pluged it back in, if i need work done on the furnace i just unplug it. also ran the pump and blower line from my owb to my indoor furnace, just ran it with the pipes, no other reason. plugs into an outlet next to my furnace.  when i have a power failure i unplug both and plug into the end of an extension cord which i sit outside the basement  on the side of the house.  candles, hotwater, heat.  thats about it.

can you post a picture?

[bruey]

your funny, i cant do anything on a computer, but i will try to explain a little better.  first, you should have a switch on your furnace somewhere, it is code. mine is on the cold air return next to the main furnace. this is so if someone has to work on your furnace they can turn it off instead of having to go to the breaker box. as i said this is code nation wide. if your house is very old it might not have one but it still has a wire from the breaker box to the furnace to make it run.  take the wires apart at the switch or cut the wire and their is where you put a male and female plug, just like the ones on a extension cord. the male end goes on the furnace side and the feed line from the panel has the female.plug them together and you have current from your panel to the furnace.  if power fails you unplug and plug in the male end from your furnace and plug it into your extension cord which is pluged into your generator outside.  your furnace will now have power from the generator as you have unpluged it from your panel.  as i said , i ran the wire from my owb back to my furnace with my 2 water lines because i have a wall plug close, all i do is unplug from the wall and plug into the extension cord along with the plug from my furnace,  i use on of those adapters which makes 3 plugs out of one, kind of like those plugs which has 6 plugs you put behind your tv or in your computer ares for all the other stuff you need to  run, this on just has 3, i guess you could get one with 2 but i had this one laying  around. i hope this is a little better explained then the last one.  any questions i will try to answer.

[loadthestove]

With my OWB i use the hot water basboards so basically all i have to run is a 60 watt pump.my OWB is natural draft so powering a blower is not a concern.I just need enough  power for  the damper solenoid and pump.
 I can run my stove with a couple of 12v deep cycle batteries and a small invertor.I recently purchase a couple of small solar panels to charge the batteries.Luckily for me in my area power outages are a very rare and generally last only a few hours

[tulenutn2o]

With my OWB i use the hot water basboards so basically all i have to run is a 60 watt pump.my OWB is natural draft so powering a blower is not a concern.I just need enough  power for  the damper solenoid and pump.
 I can run my stove with a couple of 12v deep cycle batteries and a small invertor.I recently purchase a couple of small solar panels to charge the batteries.Luckily for me in my area power outages are a very rare and generally last only a few hours

I am currently installing my OWB and plan to use a solar backup on the pump. How long will yours run on battery. Do you have a diagram of your setup? Thanks