Re: Probably insignificant when offset against the days they are working optimally
but you need the grid power to the gas network's pumps to keep going as well
Do you? I was once told by someone who used to work on the gas pipes that the two new pumping stations near where I lived at the time were self-powered. That is, that they used some of the gas in the pipes to power a small gas turbine which both pumped the gas and (could) generate power for the control systems. Sort of makes sense, though of course it may not be the same for all pumping stations. They don't half make a racket.
As for running the central heating, two points.
First, do not try running a boiler on a cheap UPS. At least, not one which has a "normal" circulating pump and fan. They really don't like the "modified sine wave" or "stepped square wave" outputs. I have found that newer heating pumps - the sort that are speed-controlled either internally or externally - seem to work, though I have yet to try one for more than a minute or two. The speed control is basically a switch-mode power supply so is better able to cope with odd inputs. We get more than our fair share of power cuts around here.
Secondly, a few winters ago we had a "gas cut", not because the pumps had stopped but because the local regulators had frozen. Gas only came to the village in the 1960s when a chemical plant opened up nearby. The regulators for the village were put in (or near) the gatehouse of the chemical plant. When the plant closed those regulators were not moved. The site was cleared except for the gatehouse which is, of course, now derelict. The "incidental heating" the regulators used to get no longer happens.
M.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
