Just wondering when the electricity goes out will my gas furnance, which is obviously electronically controlled, still works ? I am talking about a brand new high efficiency furnance with no pilot.
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20 years ago
power outage and heat
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- posted
20 years ago
I don't know about the newest furnaces, but our gas furnaces have never worked during power outages. Both of ours had a safety switch that shuts off the furnace when there is no power. As I understand it, without the fan to circulate air the heat exchanger would quickly overheat. This would shorten the life of the heat exchanger if it happened frequently.
Rick
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- posted
20 years ago
on gas furnaces you have an electric blower motor that moves the hot air our of the furnace.. if you loose power the electric motor does not work and the control for the gas does not work.... it stays shut due to lack of electricity, and even if this did not shut off the gas you have safety sensors in the box that will cut off the gas if it gets too hot in there due to the fan not working and getting the heat out of the box... so the answer is NO, the furnace will not work... i got the same thing and was considering putting a gas pipe extension from the kitchen stove to the den(in the wall) and if we have a power out for extended time at least we can put an old time gas heater in the den to keep the home from freezing(years ago the power went out for about 12 hours and the temp. was down to 15 degrees, we had the gas oven on and the gas cook top all filled with big pots of water boiling away to keep some warm air in the house.... did not do much with the 15 degree temp.... adn this is in south louisiana where it never hardly get down that low..... well i never did put the pipe in and i never bought an old time heater... but one day i will need one....
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- posted
20 years ago
also with no pilot light, it will not even start.
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20 years ago
Nope. You need electricity to power the blower fan. Without the blower fan, you'd just heat the furnace itself and the heat wouldn't circulate through the house. You'd probably damage the furnace in the process (actually, I'd be surprised if there wasn't a safety mechanism preventing the furnace from turning on if the power's out).
Regards,
George Wenzel
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20 years ago
No.
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20 years ago
No, it will not. Sorry..wrong answer...think about it...
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20 years ago
my post was correct , get a generator, dont BS
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20 years ago
Does anyone know if an automobile with a power inverter could be used as a stopgap to run a household furnace, and if so, how?
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20 years ago
Well, us heating and AC guys know how to do that. If you have to ask, you're not skilled enough electrian to attempt it.
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20 years ago
either the inverter or alternator won't be able to handle a furnace load. any idea how much current it takes to start a furnace?? did you ride the short bus??? your rediculous lawnmower answers had me laughing. but now some poor bastard is going to cook a lot of electrical components... Chip
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20 years ago
:Last furnace motor I had to power with my system, a very small furnace, took 1000 watts. This is a decent sized inverter. It will draw down a car battery in a hurry and your alternator won't keep up. Buy a wood stove.
MH
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- posted
20 years ago
Most inverters have a little bit of short term overload capacity. But, supposing maybe you tell us about starting current? How many furnaces have you checked with an ammeter, and what kind of readings did you get?
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20 years ago
allrighty then. the fan alone on mine is 220v. the starting amperage for the furnace and fan collectively is almost 39 amps. i just fired it up and checked it with an amp clamp. let's see the 110 inverter supply that. suppose a 1000 watt inverter, even at 110v that's only 9amps. where the hell is it going to get the short term overload from?? most inverters tell you not to start inductive load equipment in the first place!! an automotive alternator can supply 110 a/c before the rectifier, we used to make generators out of them. but it can't supply the amperage necessary for a large inductive load. try it at your house and let me know how it goes. i'd also like the specs to the furnace you tried. Chip
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20 years ago
39 amps isnt that apx 4200 watt, i think you mean 3.9 amps are you sure its 220v
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20 years ago
Thousand watts sounds a bit much. Did you check it with an ammeter?
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20 years ago
I live in a trailer, with a Miller counter flow furnace. I'll check the amperage later today, and get back to you.
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20 years ago
I'm surprised that you're running a startup current of 39 amps. That sounds quite high.
Mine is a Miller, 80K BTU counter flow with natural gas. The power supply is
115 VAC. When the inducer fan kicked in, it drew 0.75 amps, and with the entire furnace pumping out heat, the circuit started about 7 amps, and then I was getting readings between 4.6 and 6.5 amps, depends if I used my UEI meter, or the cheapie from Harbor Fright.So, I thank you for two things. First, I'll need a larger inverter than I thought (700 watts at least) and I'd better plan on having some serious storage battery to run the furnace. It did run really nicely on my 2500 watt Coleman during the ice storm this april.
Second, I left my ammeter turned on (the Harbor Fright one) this afternoon when I was fixing a customer's refrigerator, and the battery woulda gone dead if I'd not turned it off.
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20 years ago
Quit X-posting!!
If you want to put it here......... ..then copy and paste it to a new thread here. (but, don't x-post)
We don't need anymore Wanna-bees hanging around!!
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- posted
20 years ago
Hi George, hope you are having a nice day
On 25-Aug-03 At About 05:55:17, George Wenzel wrote to All Subject: Re: power outage and heat
GW> From: George Wenzel
GW> In article , GW> snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com says... >Just wondering when the electricity GW> goes out will my gas furnance, >which is obviously electronically GW> controlled, still works ? I am >talking about a brand new high GW> efficiency furnance with no pilot.
GW> Nope. You need electricity to power the blower fan. Without the GW> blower fan, you'd just heat the furnace itself and the heat wouldn't GW> circulate through the house. You'd probably damage the furnace GW> in the process (actually, I'd be surprised if there wasn't a safety GW> mechanism preventing the furnace from turning on if the power's GW> out).
it wouldn't even light in the first place due to the fact it needs power to even light the pilot. not to mention opening the gas valve.
-=> HvacTech2