(ET) How the E20 saved Christmas...

[Chris Zach <cz alembic crystel com>]

So..... On the 23rd the power went off here at about 11am. This sucked 
as the winds were at 60mph and temps were at 35 and dropping by the 
minute towards zero. No clue as to when the power would come back so it 
was going to be a race against time to keep the radiant heat pipes from 
freezing during the night....

Ran extension cords from tractor to house and got ready. Brought some 
100ah batteries and 17ah batteries from the Robomower in for inverter 
power for my fireplace insert. With that in place I fired up the insert, 
ran it hot, and used the batteries to run the fans to keep the house warm.

Nightfall came and I decided to try firing up the heat system. I have 
hot water radiant fired by gas, but the system needs power for the 3 
Taco circulation pumps and they're pretty good sized. About 200 watts to 
keep them running but a large current to get them going....

And of course my 1500/3000 watt inverter exploded when I plugged it in 
earlier today. These things happen, so I was down to a 1000 watt backup 
inverter.

First I tried to start the pump motors with the 1000 watt inverter. No 
dice, it could not start them. So I plugged in the 900 watt rotary 
inverter to the E20 and sure enough the motors came up one by one. Heat 
had returned!

Ran it for about two hours to heat the whole house, then stopped to 
check status: The tractor was fine, wires were cool, and the batteries 
were getting low, but still worked even in the 0 degree F cold and 60 
mph winds. Thus the kids and I played monopoly with lights on downstairs 
(battery inverters) until 10pm when I went out, turned off the inverter, 
let things quiet down.

So.... The E20's rotary inverter is good to have. Even though it's only 
900 or so watts it has the torque to start the big motors and keep them 
going. Glad to have it!

Chris