How Long Your Stoker Fire Lasts After Power Outage...

wnycoalier · Post by **wnycoalier** » Wed. Nov. 19, 2014 11:09 pm

8 minutes before my alaska goes dead- Sometimes 15 mins. I have exceptional draft and my barometric damper on the conventional chimney is usually wide open when running. I bought a $20 inverter and and use an old battery with an extension cord at the ready. I swap the power cable and flip the switch and problem solved.

stovepipemike · Post by **stovepipemike** » Thu. Nov. 20, 2014 8:16 am

This little Keystoker almost gives me time to rig the generator, sometimes I can catch it and sometimes it catches me. It is so easy to relight that it is a big "so what- ho-hum". Mike

lpd54001 · Post by **lpd54001** » Thu. Nov. 27, 2014 11:21 am

It could be just minutes in Alaska 140 Dual Feed if running a low burn. The higher the burn would be a longer time. I always used a power venter and this year a chimney. No difference, it needs the fan blowing into the flame to burn. No fan, no flame. Power was out just yesterday when I got home. The stove was still hot, but no fire.

Pacowy · Post by **Pacowy** » Fri. Jan. 02, 2015 7:21 pm

I've been told mine will hold the fire for a day or more, though I'd prefer not to find out through experience.

It wasn't a power outage, but my stoker broke a shear pin in the early hours this morning, when I was scheduled to catch up on zzz's. By the time I figured out something bad had happened, it had run for about 4 1/2 hours getting only air, at a rate that would support combustion of 60 lb/hr, leaving the boiler stone cold. After killing much of another hour on diagnostics and pin replacement, I was quite surprised to find the pot had enough hot coals to fire back up (i.e., without relighting) as soon as the feed was restored.

Mike

windyhill4.2 · Post by **windyhill4.2** » Fri. Jan. 02, 2015 8:27 pm

Roughly how many pounds does that pot hold ?

Pacowy · Post by **Pacowy** » Fri. Jan. 02, 2015 11:53 pm

As a complete WAG I would say around 35 lb.

Mike

windyhill4.2 · Post by **windyhill4.2** » Sat. Jan. 03, 2015 6:50 am

My Crane 404 handfed holds 40#,if your pot holds 30-35# that is quite the impressive bed of hot coals in that pot.

Pacowy · Post by **Pacowy** » Sat. Jan. 03, 2015 11:16 am

windyhill4.2 wrote:My Crane 404 handfed holds 40#,if your pot holds 30-35# that is quite the impressive bed of hot coals in that pot.

It's 26" in diameter. Is most impressive when the blower is running; no blue ladies here.

Mike

windyhill4.2 · Post by **windyhill4.2** » Sat. Jan. 03, 2015 12:25 pm

Can you get close enough to make a short video sometime or will it just melt the camera ?

Pacowy · Post by **Pacowy** » Sat. Jan. 03, 2015 12:32 pm

windyhill4.2 wrote:Can you get close enough to make a short video sometime or will it just melt the camera ?

I've tried a couple of times but the glare factor has been too high.

I may try propping the fire door open and taking the video from across the room.

Mike

windyhill4.2 · Post by **windyhill4.2** » Sat. Jan. 03, 2015 12:35 pm

I never thought of the glare factor, maybe you need to use a welding helmet to shield the lens ?

ur12 · Post by **ur12** » Mon. Jan. 05, 2015 8:24 am

Has anyone ran their stove using a power inverter for an extended period of time?

I have a Hitzer 608 that I set up with a power inverter and deep cycle boat battery.I gave it a test run last month to see how long it would run,but I noticed the fans sounded alittle different in pitch so I plugged back into the house current and the fans sounded normal again. I didn't want to burn up anything so I haven't experimented since.
The inverter is 750watts from harbor frieght and I used it before with no issues.