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Old 02-01-2019, 12:00 PM
 
Location: Northern panhandle WV
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You might consider a generator that uses either gasoline or propane, a dual fuel model that is what I have and I tend to use Propane, I have two 40 gallon tanks that I bought when I had an RV.

I also suggest a wood or coal burning stove in the house somewhere, even in the cellar.
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Old 02-01-2019, 12:23 PM
 
Location: Forests of Maine
37,272 posts, read 61,027,360 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by thecoalman View Post
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.
The power line that runs through our town, makes power available for about 1/3 of the parcels in our town. That power line runs through a dozen other towns before it gets to us. During storms trees blow down when a tree blow down pulls down a power line, power may be lost to many towns.

The only storefront business in our town is a gunsmith. His insurance required that he must maintain a generator that comes on automatically whenever the grid goes down.

For 6 years we tried to incubate chicken eggs each Spring. But we were never able to do it successfully because in those 6 years we never had grid power continuously for 21-days.

The power grid in small rural towns on the East Coast is not reliable.

During our first eleven years living here, we never experienced a calendar month without a power outage. Which was our motivation to get solar power. Just as we finished building the solar power system for our house, that last month we were on the grid, we had an outage that went over 5 days.



Quote:
Originally Posted by thecoalman View Post
Better than nothing but the BTU output on them is relatively small amount. The largest ones are about 22K BTU. In 0 degree weather with average 2000 sq. ft. home you may need need 2 or 3 of them just to keep it around 50 to 60. Average home would be 2*4 construction, reasonably insulated and half decent windows.
Our primary heat source is a wood stove, our secondary heat source is a kerosene heater. Our current kerosene heater is 200kBtu.
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Old 02-01-2019, 12:42 PM
 
Location: State of Grace
1,608 posts, read 1,477,018 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by harry chickpea View Post
" You’ll need a reliable water filtration system too, and access to a natural lake, river, or stream. I highly recommend Berkey systems; we’ve been using their largest model (the Crown Berkey) for years!"

If you are using CERAMIC filters, and understand the limitations, great. I've researched and written extensively on water purification. Personally, I wouldn't give my dead cat water from a BLACK Berkey, and I find the company ethics reprehensible.

That is all a side issue to the keeping warm in winter issue and I won't further discuss it here.

On THAT subject, ANY plan B is better than none, and a lot depends upon how much one is willing to spend and how much PITA activity one wants to spend keeping warm. I cut and slugged trash birch into a barrel stove a few winters. It got old.

Hello, Harry!

We use multiple charcoal filters as well as ceramic ones, and we’re delighted with the tested quality of our water. We’ve had no negative experiences with the company’s code of ethics, and I find it interesting that the US Military uses only Berkeys overseas, where sickness and death from unclean water is ubiquitous among civilians.

While primarily about heating possibilities, the OP’s stated scenario was survival during extended power cuts, so it seems only prudent to make mention of other needed preparations which the OP may not have thought of. I hope so. In any case, we are each responsible for our own choices, so any sensible soul is going to peruse all of our offered experiences and then (hopefully) conduct his/her own research as well.

Blessings to you!


Mahrie.
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Old 02-01-2019, 01:41 PM
 
5,455 posts, read 3,343,714 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kavalier View Post
I am not getting a lot of info on the Web on how to survive/heat my property in the winter if the power went out and it is dangerously cold up here in Minnesota this time of year.



I was wondering what the most prudent way to HEAT my house/property if/when a power outage occurred in dangerously Winter cold like it is now?



I don't have a fire place. I don't have fire wood. I don't have a sunflower heater (or whatever they're called).



Any suggestions?



I believe my furnace is run on gas.

If your furnace runs on natural gas then you are covered except for power for lighting and electrical devices. But if there is an interruption in gas flow you are wise to be prepared with a gasoline generator. If you have the money ($180 - $5000), install an automatic transfer switch for the generator you buy. When power goes out the generator is automatically started up for nearly seamless power transfer.

As well you can designate which electrical circuits you want activated and which ones you don't really need light to use them like the garage, storage room, basement etc.

Reduce or eliminate power usage for unnecessary devices in your home.That way you won't need as powerful a generator as larger spaces require.

Google "transfer switches for generators".

Another method is installing a "Franklin" Stove and burn wood. They are available in any home improvement or fireplace stores. These stoves put out a lot of heat especially when you set the flue correctly. You can also cook on top of them and make hot water for washing, making coffee, etc. By closing off rooms you won't be using it keeps the heat near the rooms you use the most. That leaves lighting as a problem but it really isn't when you use coal-oil(dimmer) or kerosene(brighter) lamps and lanterns.

Google: "Franklin stoves for sale"

You know, all of these things can be done! It's not scary.

I lived in the WA bush in a house built in 1898 (open plan 2 story) for a logging camp foreman. There was no running water (well), nor electricity (Briggs and Stratton gas generator), nor refrigeration (in bucket down the well). We did our cooking/baking using an old 1920s wood range with oven and top warmer shelf. Before we bought the old range I cooked everything on the fireplace even baking cakes and biscuits.

Having a bath though wasn't much fun. The stove could only heat about 3 metal buckets of water at a time and you had to wait quite a while until the water was hot enough. It doesn't even come close to filling a regular sized modern tub even when you add a bit of cold water to tone down the hot. No soaking had. Most of all we had sponge baths and went into town for showers at friends.

We used the old wood outhouse as our latrine. We installed a pot bellied stove in the lower level next the staircase so heat would rise to our bedroom. We also slept on the floor when nights were colder next to a very old very large stone built fireplace I had topped up high with logs from the woodpile I had split. We'd haul the mattress downstairs.

I was 19 at the time and it was a new adventure every day learning new ways to cope. Most of it was "necessity is the mother of invention". The happiest time of my life.
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Old 02-01-2019, 04:52 PM
 
41,815 posts, read 50,834,307 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mahrie View Post
I grew up (in Scotland) with coal fireplaces in every room, and it’s dirty, messy, carcinogenic, and I don’t remember ever being comfortably warm.

Anthracite is completely different animal that the coal you were burning. To get it to burn in a fireplace it would need to be a very soft coal, probably more like a peat. You could never burn anthracite in a fireplace in any meaningful way. Anthracite is the highest rank of coal and nearly pure carbon, it's has a consistency like glass. It's smokeless and burns with a nice blue flame. While I can't speak from experience most have suggested it's about as dirty inside the house as wood or even less of a mess.


Quote:
but then we live in the wilderness (high up in the mountains) in Canada, and there’s no coal within hundreds of miles of our home.
You might be surprised, I have a few forum members from Canada. Of course it may not be practical either way. As I noted earlier you really need to be the Northeaster US to consider this, the further you get away from the Northeast PA area the cost goes up and the availability dwindles.




Quote:
We don’t use lights at night because the gold-trimmed window casts a warm, cozy glow around our cabin.

Like this?











The most important question of all is do the cats approve?



Is that hilarious or what? That's stoker unit that is automatic and thermostatically controlled. The cat in the first picture is laying on top of the coal in the hopper. *not my cats, it would be dog if it were my pics.





One more? Can you feel the heat?






I know most people get this idea in their head when you say coal, can I assume the pictures of what you had in your head about burning coal were not what you thought? I didn't even post any of the antique stuff... maybe just one. What is funny about this stove is someone in Quebec owned it and it made it's way back to New York. It's a rare model.



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Old 02-01-2019, 05:06 PM
 
41,815 posts, read 50,834,307 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Submariner View Post
Our current kerosene heater is 200kBtu.

That is not a typical kerosene heater. My buddy sells and services them, think the largest ones he had were "monitors", they were like small furnace and even had exhaust to outside but that was years ago. Don't know what the BTU rating was on them but certainly not 200K. That is a substantial amount of heat, not saying you are wrong but are you sure that is right?
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Old 02-01-2019, 05:11 PM
 
Location: Forests of Maine
37,272 posts, read 61,027,360 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by thecoalman View Post
That is not a typical kerosene heater. My buddy sells and services them, think the largest ones he had were "monitors", they were like small furnace and even had exhaust to outside but that was years ago. Don't know what the BTU rating was on them but certainly not 200K. That is a substantial amount of heat, not saying you are wrong but are you sure that is right?
Yes, kerosene heaters are fairly popular in this area ranging from 150kBtu to 250kBtu. The heater I have now is 200kBtu.
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Old 02-01-2019, 05:26 PM
 
41,815 posts, read 50,834,307 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kitty61 View Post
If your furnace runs on natural gas then you are covered ....

Nearly any gas furnace/boiler requires power to operate. There is electrical controls and more importantly fans/pumps to distribute the heat. It would be possible to set up a system that will naturally circulate the air or gravity fed boiler but I'm going to guess that will pretty difficult with modern gas unit.


It's quite a common thing to do with coal, you can even hook into existing duct work. The difference over gas is you are starting with something that is quite adaptable to that. As far as gravity fed boiler goes first and foremost you would need someone that knows exactly what they are doing and those skills are not prevalent in the industry.



While on the topic I'll offer quick tip for boilers in case your pump goes bad. Any boiler should have flow control valve. This will typically be found on the supply side for the heat. What this does is prevents water from gravity feeding onto the boiler. There is lever on the top and you can open this valve fully in case of pump failure. It may or may not work but in a lot cases the water will gravity feed into the pipes.
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Old 02-01-2019, 05:27 PM
 
41,815 posts, read 50,834,307 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Submariner View Post
Yes, kerosene heaters are fairly popular in this area ranging from 150kBtu to 250kBtu. The heater I have now is 200kBtu.

That must have flue?
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Old 02-01-2019, 05:48 PM
 
5,878 posts, read 2,805,381 times
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Here at the Lodge most of our out lying cabins are around 450 sq.,Primary heat is small oil fired furnaces W/ hot air, each cabin also has a wood stove .The furnaces keep the cabins at 60 degrees to around -15.the woodstove if used along with the primary heater will keep the cabin at 55 down to better than - 40 with no problem. Since nearly all the cabins are rented by hunters who know how to dress ,this is just fine with them. We go sub -40 a number of times a winter.

In the main lodge we have forced hot air powered by two wood furnaces and diesel generators.one always on standby Like the Submariner said in Northern New England we lose power a lot.
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