Why does your furnace require so much power? Is it an antique or
something special? All electric, no fuel? We have a 1 1/2 year old oil
All-electric. And, according to a source, currently the _cheapest_
form of utility heating given 4.3c/kWH current rates. I figure about
$200/month for heat in winter, or about 2x what it would be using a
pellet stove instead. Firewood, of course, is even cheaper. We
grow it on our property.
$700-$900/month range. Our boiler, installed was less than $2,000
Just over 2x what I have paid for the generator, which _could_ run
it if I could magically somehow switch it over to 3-phase power
for the outage. (The magic is in the switching and wiring, I
know exactly how to do it inside the furnace. It has five big
resistive elements, were I to add a sixth [there's room for eight]
it would make up for dropping to 208V, and would be a perfectly
balanced load. Anybody know of a source for a nice cheap 6PDT
25A knife switch?)
Every time I ran the numbers my best bet has always been to find
a surplus big honking generator and just live with its excesses.
Even better is _two_, a small 24x7 efficiency unit for 110V
circuits, and the big kahuna hooked to the furnace and started
by the thermostat.
I'm halfway there! (Modulo wiring and switching.)
-- Jim
