Vector 3,000 watt power inverter question

The last one had it in an attached garage with the door open. IIRC the other incident the generator was right outside the house. Take carbon monoxide from a generator very seriously.

blower

Thought of that to increase run time but don't think it changes starting requirements

Watts are watts, and to get 3KW out, you have to put a bit more than 3KW in. 3KW at 12V is 10 times as many amps as it is at 120V so to estimate the current required at the input you can multiply the current rating of the 120V device by 10 and come out pretty close.

Heating with electric resistance running from an inverter is not very feasible. You'd be better off to use one of those forced air kerosene heaters and run that from the inverter. The combustion is a MUCH more efficient way to heat, just make sure you have some ventilation.

What I did on the last power outage is use an inverter to run lamps and small appliances at night, then during the day a generator to run the heavier loads and charge a deep cycle marine battery I had the inverter on. It worked well, but the generator is borrowed so I plan to hack together one of my own using an old lawnmower engine I have and a car alternator which will run the inverter and charge the battery. I tried running the furnace off the battery and got about 40 minutes out of a fully charged deep cycle so that isn't really practical. I could have maybe run the heat pump from the generator but it would have been pushing it so I just stuck with the backup furnace.

Can't you run an extension cord in under a door or through a window? Also if you have an exterior receptacle you can backfeed through that, just make absolutely sure you shut off the main first and don't try that unless you know what you're doing or you can cause some real trouble. You can also drill a hole through brick for a conduit and put a plug outside that connects to a generator transfer switch by the panel.

Should do - it puts a choke in series with the motor. With a centrifugal fan the load is light at start-up - you could even add series resistance and cut it out once the fan is running.

Pointless. Build a 12 volt heater. But the batteries will be humungous.

If I bought one, I would run the fridges and the furnace motor only; and maybe a CFL light or radio.

You can get units that run off bottled gas. I keep a small camping unit to cook and heat food in a power outage.

Good old incandescent bulb is obsolete. CFLs have matured and are available in wattages from 5 to over 100W and are far more efficient than incandescent. Pick some up at your local hardware store and try them out.

Why an electric heater? Far easier/better to use a Calor gas etc heater designed for flueless indoor use.

Do the sums. The average large car battery has a capacity of 70 amp/hours and watts are volts x amps so that is approx 840 watt/hours. But you have to reduce this considerably at high current drains.

I can use a car battery via an 300 watt invertor to run my gas 'wet' central heating system in the UK - its peak load requirement is only about

150 watts when a valve operates and about 50 with the pump running.

Best guide on emergency heating and cooking etc is to see how the motor homes do it.

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You need very hefty power leads to connect it to the battery. What did you use?

I'll also bet that the Vector unit is good for a lot less than

3000 watts c> I just bought a Vector Maxx SST 3,000 power inverter. Hooked it up today to

carbon

using

In his post he used a car battery. Cars are kept in garages. See my other reply about carbon monoxide.

In addition to my other post, for cooking during a power failure I use this:

along with a 30# propane bottle and regulator. This will run an amazingly long time on that. This unit is WAY better than the usual Coleman camping stove setup. CO warnings apply. JR

Mike wrote:

My ancient Tripp-Lite 1200W UPS works just fine off a generator, I hear a lot of newer ones don't though.

If I could get even one of my cars into my garage I'd be a happy guy. For the time being though they sit in the driveway, as do the cars of most people I know.

Agreed, though I used an inverter at night in that same storm. Some A-hole down the street ran his generator 24 hours a day, I bet he'd love it if I mowed my lawn at 3am this spring.

It's much more convenient if you do so.

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