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If you plan to fuel a home generator, by way of siphoning from your car. That is still going to be a lot of trips to refuel your car during any power outage. And if the gas station has lost power, they can not refuel your car.
Neighbors in my town, commonly burn through $150/month of generator fuel. During foul weather, they will burn through a lot more generator fuel.
As I mentioned in post #2
I have 50 gallons of gas on hand.
My generator will use on average 6.5 gal gas for 10 hrs run time, for my needs = close to 8 days, surely power will be restored, or be able to refuel within that time.
Propane generator.
Best bet to have for temporary (or even extended) outage..You can get a large tank (and bury it if you dont want to see it). But, a 50 or 100 gallon would hold you over in a normal power outage.
Fuels are a pain in the ass. Been there too many times. And I also know from personal experience that yes, natural gas service can go down.
As I mentioned in post #2
I have 50 gallons of gas on hand.
My generator will use on average 6.5 gal gas for 10 hrs run time, for my needs = close to 8 days, surely power will be restored, or be able to refuel within that time.
In theory, most months you should not exceed 8 days without power per month. 2 or 3 days without power each month is pretty common.
However to go a week without power, once every second year is not uncommon here on the East Coast.
50 gallons of fuel should be fine for most power outages we see.
WARNING: DO NOT USE PROPANE HEATERS AT ELEVATIONS OVER 5000'. THEY PRODUCE CO WITH THE REDUCED OXYGEN AT HIGHER ALTITUDES.
The altitude issue never occurred to me but anything ventless is going to produce CO and just as important consume oxygen. Ventless natural gas fireplaces have an oxygen sensor on them. Even a gas stove will give off small amount of CO that is inconsequential or lots of it if there is something wrong. Vented heating appliance will not consume room oxygen because it needs make up air and the CO along with other gases is vented as long as you don't have an issue like a blocked flue.
With coal the primary issue is the fly ash. It will accumulate in horizontal sections of flue pipe, especially at an upward elbow and the bottom of the chimney. If you don't clean that out it will eventually block the flue pipe and gases can back up into the house. Typical maintenance for this annually which is something you should be doing anyway because you don't want fly ash sitting in flue pipe over the summer season if you want them to last. Quick tip, you can put T's where a right angle elbow might go. Cap the open end of the T and you can then access it during the heating season to clean out the flyash. Note you can;t sdo something like this with a wood stove because of the creosote which could end up melting out of the joint making a pretty big mess.
You should have CO detector regardless of what type of system if it burns something, they are susceptible to put unhelathy/deadly amounts of CO in the house if something goes wrong. A CO detector does not go off when it detects lower levels of CO because once again even a natural gas stove will put some into the room. They have thresholds based on the level of CO and time, as the level rises the time narrows. e.g exposure to Xppm may fine over 1 hour but that can be deadly over 6 hours. Of course they will go off immediately if the CO level reaches a point that is an immediate danger.
CO bonds to the hemoglobin in your blood and it can no longer carry oxygen. Even if you were laying on the emergency room table given enough immediate exposure you are dead, there is not much they can do. However most people that get CO poisone is from a cumulative effect over time where the immediate exposure to lower levels is not an issue.
Last edited by thecoalman; 01-31-2019 at 12:04 AM..
I was surprised by the "I believe it is gas" comment too, you should know not think, If you have a gas stove piped in Natural gas you can still light it with a match if power is out.
On a primary furnace/boiler the pilot light is going to still be lit, the issue is they have multiple electric controls to operate it and move the heat.
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I also strongly recommend a good wood or coal stove placed where the heat can get to all parts of the house and leave any cabinets with plumbing in them open during severe cold.
A coal stove is typically installed in a basement, they have opening for ducting and these have separate blower motor to help move the heat. If the power fails it will still operate. If you put in a cold air return from point farthest away the heat will naturally circulate between your heat outlet and back to the stove.
The pipe on the the top of this unit is for heat distribution, difficult to see but the flue pipe for the gases is on the back.
If you plan to fuel a home generator, by way of siphoning from your car. That is still going to be a lot of trips to refuel your car during any power outage.
My parents live in semi rural area so if the power goes out they are at the end of the list to get it restored. If a big storm is approaching my Dad will fill all the equipment, snowblower, lawn tractor etc., that comes out to about 20 or 30 gallons. Another 15 or 20 gallons in the fuel containers plus 30 gallons between two vehicles. He'd have almost 100 gallons available. That's easily enough to run the generator for a week give or take a few days but he doesn't run it constant.
2 or 3 days without power each month is pretty common.
Most people will not see a loss of power for 2 or 3 hours per month let alone days. Of course if you live in an area like that more elaborate/costly things should be considered. As I noted installing a coal stove is not necessarily something you would do for emergency heat.
Quote:
However to go a week without power, once every second year is not uncommon here on the East Coast.
Perhaps where you are at, the power went out here this afternoon and I immediately thought of this topic. LOL There is no emergency power however the house is in town and power was restored in 3 hours which is typical for the very rare times it goes out. I'm not concerned about losing power because I have other options in worse case scenario, biggest issue here is draining the pipes and anti freeze for toilet/traps which is really my only concern.
My parents live in semi rural area so if the power goes out they are at the end of the list to get it restored. If a big storm is approaching my Dad will fill all the equipment, snowblower, lawn tractor etc., that comes out to about 20 or 30 gallons. Another 15 or 20 gallons in the fuel containers plus 30 gallons between two vehicles. He'd have almost 100 gallons available. That's easily enough to run the generator for a week give or take a few days but he doesn't run it constant.
They sound a lot like me...vehicle gas tanks plus fuel containers, right down to the lawnmower are topped off throughout the year, with stabilizer added.
I have a wood burning stove and a solar system with battery backup (even though I am on grid power). I don't even notice if the power goes out, my life continues as normal.
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