power outage

[kevinjem]

I have an outdoor wood boiler and the power was off tonight for two hours.Temp is 12 degree,pipe is 3 foot deep in ground except where it comes into the crawl space to furnace.How long can you go without the pump running before the pipes freeze? Water temp in the boiler was 165 when I lost power.

 

[bnew]

I wouldnt worry for 30 hrs++.

 

[joecool85]

You might want to consider having a small gas generator for backup, they really aren't all that expensive and then you can have heat and electricity for some of (or all of) your house. Or, since OWBs don't use a bunch of power, you could do battery backup w/an inverter and a solar panel to keep the battery charged. It would work great for when the power is only out for a few hours. Of course you could make the system as big or small as you want.

 

[mga]

use whatever power you're using for your computer to run the pump.

lol

 

[Upnorth4]

Please Be Careful

A back up generator is a great idea BUT!!! make sure it is connected properly, if not it may kill the electrictian sent to repair the line that went down. MAKE YOU DISCONNECT THE CIRUIT FROM THE MAIN LINE BEFORE TURNING A GENERTOR ON. Someone sent to repair a downed line will likely not treat it as a live ciruit......


Anyway.... I agree your probaly good for at least a full day, the water lines in your house (assuming no other source of heat) would burst long before the burried OWB lines.

 

[MS-310]

I wouldnt worry untill your water in the boiler gets cold. (then just open the door) 2 days you should be ok.

Or just drain the lines!

 

[joecool85]

A back up generator is a great idea BUT!!! make sure it is connected properly, if not it may kill the electrictian sent to repair the line that went down. MAKE YOU DISCONNECT THE CIRUIT FROM THE MAIN LINE BEFORE TURNING A GENERTOR ON. Someone sent to repair a downed line will likely not treat it as a live ciruit......


Anyway.... I agree your probaly good for at least a full day, the water lines in your house (assuming no other source of heat) would burst long before the burried OWB lines.

I guess I take that as a given, but I shouldn't. You're right. If you don't know how to safely and properly install a generator setup, get help from someone who does or pay an electrician to do it.

 

[stonykill]

I guess I take that as a given, but I shouldn't. You're right. If you don't know how to safely and properly install a generator setup, get help from someone who does or pay an electrician to do it.

when the power is out here, I kill the breaker in the house for the boiler, (in case the power comes back on while I'm doing the next step) then remove the back of the boiler, disconect the wire where it comes in from the breaker box, and run a line right to my generator. I know I should just hard wire in a switch, but this entire process takes less than 5 minutes. This isolates the owb from the grid, therefore no one can get hurt from backfeed.

 

[blackdoggy]

It isn't that hard to configure your boilers to be run off of solar it is merely a matter of installing one or two deep cycle boat or truck batteries and a 120 Volt inverter and setting a cheap charging panel on your roof to trickle charge them. Every thing to do this besides the batteries can be found in northern tool's 2007 fall/winter master catalog on pages 26 through 33. I feel it would be more economical and safer to run any outdoor boiler this way so you don't half to worry about freezing in a storm and to keep pipes from blowing not to mention you save the environment a little more lol.

 

[joecool85]

It isn't that hard to configure your boilers to be run off of solar it is merely a matter of installing one or two deep cycle boat or truck batteries and a 120 Volt inverter and setting a cheap charging panel on your roof to trickle charge them. Every thing to do this besides the batteries can be found in northern tool's 2007 fall/winter master catalog on pages 26 through 33. I feel it would be more economical and safer to run any outdoor boiler this way so you don't half to worry about freezing in a storm and to keep pipes from blowing not to mention you save the environment a little more lol.

I'm thinking about doing it this way myself.

 

[blackdoggy]

What voltage and amps is the boiler running? I will help you work out the details on a system if you want me to I mean I have nothing else to do so I can help you all day long lol.

 

[joecool85]

What voltage and amps is the boiler running? I will help you work out the details on a system if you want me to I mean I have nothing else to do so I can help you all day long lol.

Me or someone else? I don't have a house yet, so no OWB for me. I'm hoping to get a house this summer.

 

[blackdoggy]

no wonder your cold lol drop me a email when you get your house and I will help you plot out a solar system to power the boiler.

 

[kevinjem]

Thanks for all the replies. I figured I could go for a few hours didn't realized I could go that long.
I have a generator but haven't hooked it up yet. I just installed the owb this fall and ran out of time to get the generator wired.

 

[ktm250rider]

I used a generator transfer switch that I got at Northern tool for my generator. It provides the safety feature of disconnecting from the grid when switching from grid power to generator power. Middle of the switch is off, up is grid, down is generator. Havent had to use it yet but it was supper easy to install. Now that I think of it, I should give it a try before power actually goes out.

 

[Fubar411]

As a former Omaha resident, I'd estimate you probably have 10 minutes before that pipe freezes (kidding)

Some of the coldest winters of my life were up there, and the WIND, you folks would not believe.

Remember the big ice storm of 97 or 98 that crippled the town? It was a Omahacicle.

 

[joecool85]

I used a generator transfer switch that I got at Northern tool for my generator. It provides the safety feature of disconnecting from the grid when switching from grid power to generator power. Middle of the switch is off, up is grid, down is generator. Havent had to use it yet but it was supper easy to install. Now that I think of it, I should give it a try before power actually goes out.

That's how I want to do my house.

 

[2FatGuys]

If you are looking to keep the pipes from freezing, it takes minimal recirculation for that. The solar panel idea works, but the inverter isn't necessary if you put a second pump inline that is a 12 volt agricultural pump. Sure... they don't push as much water, but the goal is to prevent freezing, not heat the hot tub. Some of the newer 12v ag pumps do a good job of moving a lot of water and may even be capable of maintaining the heat in the house. Northern may have what you need for that or you can check McMaster Carr (online catalog).

 

[joecool85]

If you are looking to keep the pipes from freezing, it takes minimal recirculation for that. The solar panel idea works, but the inverter isn't necessary if you put a second pump inline that is a 12 volt agricultural pump. Sure... they don't push as much water, but the goal is to prevent freezing, not heat the hot tub. Some of the newer 12v ag pumps do a good job of moving a lot of water and may even be capable of maintaining the heat in the house. Northern may have what you need for that or you can check McMaster Carr (online catalog).

Also a good idea. For me not so much though since I was planning on having a generator backup anyway.

 

[Wood Junkie]

If the power goes out here, I'll just have to crowd the wood stove a little..... one reason I think I'll leave it in after the wood furnace is installed!