ᐅ Heating System Reliability During Power Outages – What Are the Options?

Dear members,

This is my first post in the forum, and I am looking forward to becoming part of the community.

I work as an IT technician, and if I can offer any advice regarding home networking, home automation, etc., I am happy to share my knowledge and provide help at any time.

Regarding my concern:

I have a ground-source heat pump in my house that heats a cistern. For the particularly cold months, the system is supported by a water-based pellet stove, which is centrally located in the basement and also serves as a heating source. Unfortunately, there is only one chimney in the house connected to the pellet stove, and I would prefer not to have an external chimney added to the outside.

This means I am completely dependent on electricity and cannot heat during a power outage. Therefore, my question:

Does anyone in the forum know of a water-based hybrid stove that can be operated with either firewood or pellets, which I could install in place of the pellet stove in the basement?

So far, my search has been unsuccessful.

Thank you for your responses and efforts.

Best regards from Munich

Markus

How about a reliable backup generator?

It should also be available in a performance and quality class capable of running a heat pump, and still be significantly cheaper than installing additional heaters.

Aside from that: Do you live so remotely that you experience regular power outages? I can’t even remember the last time we had a power outage. And if it happens, it usually lasts only a few minutes to a few hours. Until then, a modern house won’t cool down much.

Best regards,

Andreas

Are we talking about a new build? In that case, you can turn off the heating even in winter and won’t notice it for hours, or even a whole day, unless the house is built with timber framing.

Otherwise, a fire in the basement won’t help much if the necessary pumps are not running.

@andimann - My question was not about a backup generator?

@Alex85 - The heat produced by the pellet stove alone (about 20% ambient loss) is quite noticeable, so the location would already be suitable for that.

Then you have a warm basement. By the time the living areas could seriously be considered “heated,” the power will already be back on…

Hi,

Freddy123 schrieb:
@andimann - My question was not about a backup generator ?

I did read that. But to heat your house, you will need electricity; without it, no circulation pumps will run, no controls, nothing. In other words, without power, your water-bearing hybrid stove simply won’t help at all. You can of course manually feed the stove and stay close by. It will definitely get warm there. But the rest of the house won’t really heat up because the circulation pumps won’t operate.

So, you’ll end up spending a lot of money and still be in the same situation as before. It just won’t work without electricity!

But go ahead, good luck!

Best regards,

Andreas