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Heat for newborn litters and older pets in a power cut

Litters in their first weeks, elderly dogs with arthritis and short-coated breeds in a cold kennel all depend on electric heat. An outage on a winter night puts them at risk.

The first weeks are the risky ones

Newborn puppies and kittens cannot regulate their own body temperature, so a whelping box relies on a heat pad or lamp and a warm room. If the power goes overnight the mother can only do so much, and a chilled pup weakens quickly. Breeders often sit up through outages, rotating hot water bottles and watching the thermometer instead of the litter.

What it would keep running

Whelping box heat pad or lamp
Room heater for the litter
Heated beds for older dogs
Kennel or cattery heaters
Heated water bowls

Designed to just keep going

The battery and 15 kW hybrid inverter run in UPS mode, so heat pads, lamps and the room heater carry on without a break. Behind the battery, a PEM fuel cell turns stored hydrogen into electricity for as long as the store lasts. Hydrogen keeps for weeks without losing charge, so a store filled on night-rate power well before the litter is due will be there on the night it matters. There is no engine to fuel, so nobody has to leave the litter to go and start one.

How it works →

The H2OME loop: an electrolyser splits water into hydrogen, the hydrogen is stored in a tank for weeks, a fuel cell turns it into electricity for your home, and the water returns to the loop.

Older dogs and outdoor kennels

Beyond litters, heated beds for old dogs, kennel heaters, cattery heaters and the warm water bowl that stops freezing on frosty mornings all count. The system is designed to run the house and these together, within 15 kW continuous. It is honest power, not cheap power: round-trip efficiency is 30% or less, so it is a backup for the cold nights rather than the way to heat kennels every day.

Questions

Can a heat lamp be left on during the switch-over?

Yes, it is designed to carry on without any gap because the battery and inverter run in UPS mode. Keep your usual safe setup for heat lamps, including distance and guards, as you would on grid power.

Will it run kennels some distance from the house?

It powers your home's circuits, so anything already wired from the house switchboard is covered. A separate kennel block with its own supply would need to be looked at in pilot sizing.

Is it a cheap way to heat kennels every day?

No. With round-trip efficiency of 30% or less, stored power costs more than grid power. Use the grid day to day for kennels and heated beds, and let the system cover the outages when the animals need it most.

Elsewhere

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