Anybody use a generator for OWB?? how many watts does it take?

[Landmark]

I have a Central Boiler 4030 owb and as you know it won't work without power. I'm wanting to get a portable generator in case of power outages and wondering if anyone has any knowledge on how big of generator I will need. I can take time to add the watts up and get total but figured I would save some time by asking here first.(sorry just being lazy) Somebody is probably using a generator to run their OWB and will know what will cover the total load. thanks in advance for the help.

 

[GF#2]

I have a home made OWB but it is built very similar to the CB. The draft fan and the digital ranco control I'm using draws 1 amp the pump draws .75 amp and the indoor air handler draws 2.2 amps. The entire heat system draws just under 4 amps at 120 volts. That works out to 30 watts. I heat the house and hot water and the cloths dryer with the owb and cook with gas so i can run my entire home with the exception of the AC unit on a 6500 watt genset with no problem. That includes the deep well.

 

[Landmark]

I have a home made OWB but it is built very similar to the CB. The draft fan and the digital ranco control I'm using draws 1 amp the pump draws .75 amp and the indoor air handler draws 2.2 amps. The entire heat system draws just under 4 amps at 120 volts. That works out to 30 watts. I heat the house and hot water and the cloths dryer with the owb and cook with gas so i can run my entire home with the exception of the AC unit on a 6500 watt genset with no problem. That includes the deep well.

If I understand right, your pump, thermostat, draft fan and air handler use 4amps at 120 volts. if that's right, then I believe the total watts will be 480 not 30. either way that is far less than what I had originally thought. thanks for the input

 

[GF#2]

Oops......... I divided instead of multiplying..... 480 is correct

 

[Rockarosa]

I have a Cozeburn OWB and when the electric went out I used a 3200 watt generator that I bought at Aldies, it ran the furnace and microwave, coffee pot. refrigerator and television. Since then I put in a transfer switch and bought a 6500 watt generator. I have oil fired hot water heat in the house so it was also running 3 pumps to heat the house. I like the transfer switch. it's a lot safer.

 

[Landmark]

I have a Cozeburn OWB and when the electric went out I used a 3200 watt generator that I bought at Aldies, it ran the furnace and microwave, coffee pot. refrigerator and television. Since then I put in a transfer switch and bought a 6500 watt generator. I have oil fired hot water heat in the house so it was also running 3 pumps to heat the house. I like the transfer switch. it's a lot safer.

I think 3500+ will do what I want. owb, furnace fan, fridge, well pump, and a light or two. other than that I can cook on the grill and read a book.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

I think 3500+ will do what I want. owb, furnace fan, fridge, well pump, and a light or two. other than that I can cook on the grill and read a book.

The well pump will be the deciding factor... You really need to look at the motor plate on it, to see how many amps it draws...

SR

 

[crazy4saws]

I aggree with sawyer rob on the well pump. I too have a 4030 CB. Lost power a lot last winter so I'm much more prepared this winter. I ran my furance and wood boiler along with a few lights off an older 3kW generator about 4 times last winter on average run times of 8hours each time. I didn't run the well pump however I have an 8kW generator aswell if the smaller wont run the well pump. That smaller generator just sipped the gas and was perfect for the small load it had.

One thing i learned when calculating amp draw and generator size is to consider inrush current. I've been in situations where a generator has rated for the amp draw of a load however the inrush current woukd trip the generators breakers. But that may not apply to yiur situation.

Hope u get it all connected or figured out before you actually need it for power. Good luck

 

[ponyexpress976]

Get yourself a military surplus MEP-003a generator and run your whole house if you need to. They are big but putter along at 1800 rpm's. Fuels costs really aren't that bad. They will run rings around a big box store genset and probably be around long after you are taking a dirt nap with regular/proper maintenance.

 

[steved]

The well pump will be the deciding factor... You really need to look at the motor plate on it, to see how many amps it draws...

SR

It depends on if its a submersible or shallow jet, and how deep the water table is...

I have a 1HP submersible that only draws around 4 amps on each phase, but I also have 280 feet of water in a 300 foot well.

Its not as cut and dry as you would think...

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G730A using Tapatalk

 

[NSMaple1]

Oversizing a generator is all too common. Here, when the power goes out & it gets time to fire up a generator, size doesn't matter as much as fuel consumption. I do all we need and more with a 3kw inverter generator that uses very little - I used to have a 5500/8500 Craftsman that could suck down 5 gallons in just a few hours. Great generator, but you had to have a small army of gas cans behind it - and there is no way I'm driving 10 miles to the closest gas station from where I live in a snowstorm, just for genny gas. The 3kw will run our shallow well pump fine, but even at that, I don't usually run the pump until absolutely necessary. With a large cushion tank you have quite a bit of water in reserve - and as a bonus your pump won't run as much and it will not use as much electricity when the power is on. Having 3 toilets in the house helps with running the pump in an outage too - keep a plastic barrell full of water in the basement to use for toilet flushing & you're down to very little water use over the course of a couple day or so outage.

I don't think you could buy a generator that would be too small to run an OWB - they don't use that much juice. Beyond that, you might want to monitor how much juice your house is really using before picking a genny. Then re-assess that based on how much of what is using that juice is really necessary to use in an outage. Between the fuel use, and upfront costs, bigger isn't always better.

 

[Rockarosa]

With my 6500 watt I installed a 4 circuit transfer switch that I wired my 220 volt water pump. my kitchen, my living room and then my oil furnace because I need to run the inside circulating pumps. It all works fine but it does run through the gas.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

It depends on if its a submersible or shallow jet, and how deep the water table is...

I have a 1HP submersible that only draws around 4 amps on each phase, but I also have 280 feet of water in a 300 foot well.

Its not as cut and dry as you would think...

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G730A using Tapatalk

The fact that it's NOT "cut and dried", is exactly why I suggested he look at his pump specs to see what "his" pump draws...

When the power goes out here, I start my little Honda 2000 inverter gen set... It will run a couple of things at a time, like my fridge, some lights in the house and the fan on my wood stove. OR I can plug in my sump pump and the fans or what ever needs to be run, I just can't run everything all at once.....and I'm OK with that...

For the most important part of all "water", I don't need a generator... I have an artesian well, the water just shoots out of the ground and getting a pail of cold, clean drinking (or what ever else) water is just a pail away,

If I need more water than that, I have a couple nicer "spring fed" ponds,

For an extended power outage, if I want, I can run a trailer mounted PTO genset that I have in the barn. I just pull it up to the house and run it with a small diesel tractor. It easily runs my whole house for showers ect., you can't even tell that you are on generator power...

SR

 

[Landmark]

The fact that it's NOT "cut and dried", is exactly why I suggested he look at his pump specs to see what "his" pump draws...

When the power goes out here, I start my little Honda 2000 inverter gen set... It will run a couple of things at a time, like my fridge, some lights in the house and the fan on my wood stove. OR I can plug in my sump pump and the fans or what ever needs to be run, I just can't run everything all at once.....and I'm OK with that...

For the most important part of all "water", I don't need a generator... I have an artesian well, the water just shoots out of the ground and getting a pail of cold, clean drinking (or what ever else) water is just a pail away,

If I need more water than that, I have a couple nicer "spring fed" ponds,

For an extended power outage, if I want, I can run a trailer mounted PTO genset that I have in the barn. I just pull it up to the house and run it with a small diesel tractor. It easily runs my whole house for showers ect., you can't even tell that you are on generator power...

SR

I am ok with having to switch what I'm sending juice to. if I can run well pump only just on a need water basis that is good enough. we don't loose power much but when we do I want to be ready. thanks for all the helpful ideas and advice from the replies.