Running off of generators or inverters

You just told us not to use a conventional (common) generator on your stoves unless we want problems.

Since you didnt publish this fact until after I purchased my stove are you willing to refund my money?

If a line conditioner would help I have two of them, cheap. These are used for very sensitive electrical equipment. We had to use these for a controller that was hyper sensitive to spikes. PM me if interested.
Steve

As a contractor I have had several generators. I have never seen anything that would not run on one. I ran all over during the Ice Storm hooking up to peoples houses and nothing ever failed. And I did not hear of anyone having problems. I am sure there is some issue or it would not be discussed, just what causes it unless the generator is out of whack?

Kevin

Rick 386 wrote:So gerry_g,

What should we be using for back up power when we lose it from the grid ????

Is there anything that us low budget mortals can buy or create somewhat cheaply???



Rick

Any CONVENTIONAL generator(alternator) NOT INVERTER. BTW inverter generators cost MUCH more than conventional generators!) 2000 watts or more. 2000 Watts is overkill, my Pioneer runs fine on an $150 ETC 2000 Watt generator. It has a no name Chinese engine.

I suggest paying more attention to the engine brand than anything else - get a brand name that will likely start when you need it.

Use Stable in your gas and start the generator at least every 3 months to keep the carb clean.

Johnshan wrote:You just told us not to use a conventional (common) generator on your stoves unless we want problems.

Since you didnt publish this fact until after I purchased my stove are you willing to refund my money?

It wasn't addressed to me but there are MANY devices that won't work off of inverter generators. Perhaps the inverter generator manufactures should warn folks???

The cheapest and most common "generators" a actually alternators!

Johnshan wrote:
The idea that you need to purchase a pure sine wave generator to run a stove that costs half as much is ridiculous.

The cheapest generators are true pure sine wave! (Actually they are alternators). Pure sine wave INVERTER generators are VERY expensive.

There seems to be come confusion here:

- Conventional generators (alternators) are pure sine wave and the cheapest!

- Modified sine wave inverters are more expensive but lightweight. A terrible choice for many applications.

- "pure sine wave inverter generators" are the most expensive. They are better than modified sine wave units but still can cause problems with many devices unless significantly over sized.

I'm curious about this too. I was thinking that 100% of generators made pure sine waves. I honestly do not know.

<edit> I just found these remarks online:

If I'm not mistaken, most cheapo gas gensets ARE sinewave.. they don't have much choice but to be sinewave, given that they generate power using a rotor and a coil.. The problem is that they tend to be noisy because of the rotating contacts. This creates hash.. but can mess with hi-tech electronics.

gas generators are real sine wave sources and we have not had any issues with them.

I would recommend using a surge protector with gas generators to protect against really dirty power spikes, but outside of that any ordinary gas generator should be fine.

gerry_g wrote:

Johnshan wrote:You just told us not to use a conventional (common) generator on your stoves unless we want problems.

Since you didnt publish this fact until after I purchased my stove are you willing to refund my money?

It wasn't addressed to me but there are MANY devices that won't work off of inverter generators. Perhaps the inverter generator manufactures should warn folks???

The cheapest "generators" a actually alternators!

Honda states their inverter generators are for home use and include water pumps,furnaces,electronics,microwaves,tv,etc...they describe inverter technology by stating..

"High quality power output"

"The precision of Honda's inverter technology ensures its power is closer to "line power" more than any other generator design. Our inverter generators produce power that is as reliable as the power you get from your outlets at home."
So why would any homeowner think these would not work on their stoves,they will power everything else in the home. I trust Honda and their description and don't for a minute think their the problem.

No one should relay on one source of heat.

If you have electric baseboard, the power may go out = COLD
are you going to call the mfg and tell them they make a bad product.
If you have nat gas boiler, the power may go out = COLD
You going to call the mfg and tell them they make a bad product.
if you have an oil burner same thing.

some devices don't like certain power signals.

This sounds like it really needs to be directed at col-trol. not LL, they did not build the product that is making theres inoperable.

I have equipment that wont run on any of my 3 generators. But it runs fine off my grid tie inverter. And even my cheap o inverter that I keep in the glove box of the car.

I have a gas generator that I use about two or three times a winter when I lose my power, it runs my refrigerator, freezer, well pump, oilburner, lights in five rooms and my LL stove and I have never had any problems.

There have been a number of posts buried in other threads regarding issues running off of generator power. There is much confusion regarding this.

To start with, there are several type of "generators" I'll call one "A" and the other "B"

A - Tried and true generators

a1 - a true generator with a light fixed field windings and heavy rotating armature which produces the output. These have brushes contacting the slip rings to conduct the output to stationary outlets. Slip rings are continuous around the armature shaft, no switching occurs such as with a DC generator's commutator.

a2 - Alternators. These have the heavy duty power producing windings stationary and have a rotating light weight field. They can easily be designed with no brushes to wear and are far easier to make since the rotating parts are lightweight.

There are variants of each that use permanent magnets, and variants of each that can have a variable field to automatically regulate voltage.

Type A generators produce very clean sine wave outputs and are pretty resistant to abuse. An undersized unit may drop voltage or stall if long term overloaded.

If any electrical noise exists (other than some worn brush intermittent contact), the noise is created by the load, not the generator.

B - Inverter generators

These have a DC generator or alternator driven by the engine and an inverter (not unlike battery inverters) that produce AC. The types vary by the type of inverter stage.

b1 - "modified sine wave". They are not sine wave at all, just produce rectangular pulses with the peak the same as a sine wave and the average per cycle the same as a sine wave. (not really average, rather RMS fore those knowing what that means). Modified sine wave wave units drive resistive loads (such as standard light bulbs) and universal AC/DC motors well. They also drive switching power supplies (computer) fairly well since these only care about the peak voltage. TV's and monitors may take offense to the electrical noise they create. Many AC only motors (such as blowers) can have difficulty with this wave shape.

b2 - "pure sine wave" - actually an good approximation of a sine wave.

Inverter generators are smaller, lighter and more expensive than conventional generators/alternators. They have some limitations that should be understood.

Most of the rest of this discussion regarding inverter generators also applies to battery powered inverters.

The MOS switching transistors can not handle surges, spikes or out of phase loads well. They have to cut out for their protection if any surge or spike exceeds the MOS transistor's limit. For example, they are very poor at driving switching or feroresonate supplies (such camper converters) unless specifically designed for such usage. UPS inverters for computers are specifically designed with high peak surge capability.

Inverter generators are often less able to handle spikes or surges. They also are generally less able to handle phase surge current due to a fan motor being out of phase due to slip. Thus oversize if used.

How does this affect coal stoves with electronics or fans?

First, the power cord for ANY generator must be fairly heavy duty. They are generally long and folks often plug extra stuff in.

If the extra stuff produces surges or spikes, the generator output will be distorted at load side in particular. Inverter generators are usually more affected at the generator itself due to very lightweight armatures (little mechanical energy storage) and MOS transistor limitations.

Electronic speed controls (including Coal-trol) are sensitive to how clean the AC is. They count of the shape of the waveform to some degree. Forget using modified sine wave inverter generators!

Conventional generators/alternators are always a wise choice. They are rugged and squelch surges/spikes and out of phase current well.

Sine wave inverter generators generally should be noticeably over sized since most are less tolerant of surges/spikes than conventional units.

With any generator remember one usually keeps the generator outdoors! This means DON'T use a light duty extension cord. (common homeowner outdoor cords are 16 gauge!)

Before blaming ANY electronic device operating on generator, look over the variables in the supply and other loads. Small generators are not as "stiff" as the power grid.

Gerry, thanks for the confirmation. Very informative

I've not tried to run my stoker with my Generac 4000 though I'll say I built a mini dune buggy having a MIG wire feed 125 Amp welder plugged into that generator amps, the welded is happy after all these years, it has a fan and some pretty sensitive microchips.

gerry_g,

First off, I forgot to welcome you to the forum. Your input on these generator issues has helped a lot.


Now, where do we look to find out what is making our gas engine generated power ?? Most ads only list the engine and output maximum values and not how the power is created.




Rick

Thank you Gerry! Very good.
This is definitely getting bookmarked to my control panel.
-Len