Re: CNN's top 25 innovations
From: Joerg (notthisjoergsch_at_removethispacbell.net)
Date: 01/10/05
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Date: Mon, 10 Jan 2005 01:55:48 GMT
Hi Jim,
>I figured out something I need to buy for MY father. A few weeks ago,
>during a big snow storm in WV, they were without electric power for
>about five hours in the middle of the night. Got VERY cold.
>
>Natural gas furnace, but no electric to drive the blower :-(
>
>I suspect there's a motor-generator set made that runs on natural gas?
>Just rig it up to run the furnace blower and some emergency lighting.
>
>Anyone know where to look for such an animal?
>
>
No idea and I believe it would be overkill. Here is what we did to keep
the blowers of the wood stove going (it doesn't really need them but
avoids that all the warm air gets stuck under the ceiling): I bought a
portable battery-inverter kit. This one is a "Portawattz" (by
Statpower), has I believe a 12V/18Ah battery and just sits there on
trickle charge all the time. When needed we carry it to where we want.
Stove, TV, whatever. It ran the blowers for 6 hours once. Might be able
to do more but then the power came back on. We can also connect it to
the car or a marine battery via one of its built-in cigarette lighter
plugs if needed for really long outages. Cost was about $100, at Sam's
Club. These things are also nice for an extended CAD session on the
laptop while at the beach or some other remote place where nobody
bothers you ;-)
You could also take a UPS that has a huge battery or allows an external
12V marine deep-cycle. Those batteries are also available at Sam's or
Costco. Sometimes the golf cart versions are a better deal but you need
to do a series connection of two for a total of 12V. A UPS would be
easier if your father doesn't want to fidget with stuff in the middle of
the night. The furnace would just keep going as if nothing had happened.
Gas furnaces usually also need electricity for the valve solenoid. But
overall consumption with blower and all should be low.
Regards, Joerg
http://www.analogconsultants.com
- Next message: John Popelish: "Re: Switching power supply behavior"
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- In reply to: Jim Thompson: "Re: CNN's top 25 innovations"
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