Generator issues?

It's not a coal stove, but I found success. I am converting to coal this year blah blah blah... on to the nitty gritty.. Currently I am running two pellet stoves and have had problems with generators, I found a viable solution in a simple Inverter. I went down to my local tractor supply and bought a 1000 watt (Cont. duty) inverter and a battery. I hooked the inverter to the battery and a battery charger to the generator. I was able to run my Whitfield with out a problem. I imagine you could do the came with a coal stove. For ref. my Whitfield is a "Profile 20"

Whether it is coal or pellet, the principles of the control boards are the same.

MiscCheetah wrote:It's not a coal stove, but I found success. I am converting to coal this year blah blah blah... on to the nitty gritty.. Currently I am running two pellet stoves and have had problems with generators, I found a viable solution in a simple Inverter. I went down to my local tractor supply and bought a 1000 watt (Cont. duty) inverter and a battery. I hooked the inverter to the battery and a battery charger to the generator. I was able to run my Whitfield with out a problem. I imagine you could do the came with a coal stove. For ref. my Whitfield is a "Profile 20"

Whether it is coal or pellet, the principles of the control boards are the same.

Be careful, you didn't state what type of control.

If you had problems with generators, chances are they had bad brushes or slip rings or were expensive "inverter generators". Or just too long and small gauge power cords.

Also be careful regarding "the principles of control boards are the same" Many (not all) electronic variable speed digital thermostat controls such as the Coal-trol require a sine wave, not a "modified sine wave" many lower cost inverters output. They actually can live without a perfect sine wave but require a fairly smooth sloped waveform. "Modified sine wave" inverters have no smooth slope, they put out rectangular pulses.

Just a note to be careful saying all controls use the same principles implying they have identical characteristics and requirements. They do not.

Ran my Pocos (with coal trol) on a cr appy Troy built Lowes special for four days - never missed a beat. Life requires a little effort - either in chimney maintenance or making sure you have a little back up power when you need it. There are no free lunches.

coalnewbie wrote:Ran my Pocos (with coal trol) on a cr appy Troy built Lowes special for four days - never missed a beat. Life requires a little effort - either in chimney maintenance or sure you have a little back up power when you need it. There are no free lunches.

Most cheap generators actually produce fairly clean power if cared for. They are a tried and true simplistic (antique) design.

Heck, I've had success with a Chinese ETQ generator - super cheap.

Any generator with brushes and slip rings can have its output deteriorate badly if run in a dirty/sandy environment or stored in a location that causes the slip rings or brush springs to corrode.