Emergency Backup Heat ?

Wood stove, if you want to get fancy you can probably find one with a coil in it to heat water and run thru your pipes, maybe? with convection and definitely with a very small generator.

A large portable kerosene heater, along with a sufficient supply of kerosene -- and a plan to hole up in (& heat) only one room if it will be an extended outage.

pax

Probably the first thing to keep in mind is that humankind managed to survive a pretty long time, in some pretty hostile environments, without modern furnaces. So start by acquiring some warm clothes (think layers and think wool or polypro or other good synthetics) including hats, gloves and socks, along with some decent sleeping bags and milsurp wool blankets.

But to your question, I'd agree that a professionally-installed wood stove, with at least a couple cords of seasoned firewood, will be the best bet. Depending where you live, you might want to add a chainsaw, fuel and oil, spare chain, and sharpener. If your house isn't designed to accommodate a wood stove, or you don't want to spend $1000 or more, then it's Plan B.

Plan B, I think, consists of two options: kerosene or propane heaters. Both of these options have the same problem, namely they consume oxygen and give off carbon monoxide (so does the wood stove, which is why I suggested "professionally-installed"). These heaters have the potential to kill you and your family, so take the time to learn how to use them properly, which at a minimum means cracking a window a few inches to vent the room. Yes, it will let in cold air; do it anyway.

If you go the kerosene route, a good unit will run around $75 to $150, and I wouldn't buy a "$30 special" because you might regret it, if you're still alive. Kerosun is generally regarded as a good brand. Then get some spare parts and 5-gallon fuel containers and fill them up.

If you go the propane route, make sure you get a catalytic model that's rated for indoor use. The Heater Buddy (I think that's the name) and it's big brother are well regarded. Again, you're looking at $75 to $120 or so. Then buy a bunch of 1# propane canisters or, better yet, two or three 20# tanks (with proper hoses and fittings to connect to the heater). Remember that if the propane gets cold, like below 20 or 25 degrees or so, it won't work as well, so you may have to bring the fuel canisters inside before using them, which is also a little scary.

If you use a wood stove, kerosene heater, or propane heater, I strongly recommend getting battery-operated carbon monoxide and low-oxygen sensors, and placing them at the same height you sleep. Also, a decent ABC-type fire extinguisher is a must.

Finally, I know I'm sounding a little paranoid about using kerosene and propane heaters indoors--especially since I've used both many times and I'm still alive--but do a web search on either and add "carbon monoxide" as a search term and you'll see that there are a lot of sources that flat-out say "don't do it," and a fair number of people who die every year from doing it. So I'd say "do it," but be careful.

SteelyDan's right, on all counts.

One more think about kerosene heater safety: whatever you do, do not put kerosene in a used gasoline container. The leftover gasoline will contaminate the kerosene, and cause all sorts of nasty possibilities.

pax

My back up includes a 4000 watt generator that will run 14 hours on one tank of fuel. It is big enough to run my furnace and well pump. These are not run at the same time. I issolate the curcuits that I wish to power. So far the longest that I have had to use it has been for 3 Days... Don't have a Wood stove at this location. (there is a plan in the future for however...) I'm set for now, unless the natural gas goes out....

I use propane to heat my garage....

Kerosene heater for short-term and Woodstove for long-term. Always
crack the window open when operating either of these so both you and
the fire can breath and operate at peak efficiency.

These don't have to be burned all day long. Use it to take the chill
of the interior of the house. Don't worry about heating at night
as this will be unnecessary if you're wearing a fleece night cap, PJs,
wool socks, and under a thick feather comforter next to your closest
significant other It's also just safer to not have a fire going....

Most of our heat escapes off the top of our heads. Wear a cap, sweater,
socks, etc indoors and you'll be warmer. Close-off any rooms away
from the heat source that you're not using.

We have gone for a week at a time doing this with only a small woodstove
when the outside temp was in the teens during the day and single digits
overnight. Ration your wood, but don't let the interior of the house freeze
through. Use passive solar as much as possible, too.

Finally, you can never have too much firewood. But, I'm sure I've
forgot something in all this.

So far no one has mentioned it, but insulation can be important in that it helps retain the heat, regardless of what the source is. I am sitting in a house where the builder insulated both the interior walls as well as the exterior ones, the ceiling/floor between the upstairs and downstairs, and the roof of course. Some may see this as overkill, but it makes a significant difference in the heating/cooling bill. If insulating your house in this manner is out of the question, consider only doing certain rooms. In an emergency you could live in those, and close off the rest of the building.

Also, don’t forget the windows and glass doors. Heat goes through them like a knife through warm butter.

Edit - I had my post window open for quite a while before i submited ( was second to respond, but 5 others posted while i waited to finish) the point is that some of my points are now redundant.

My input is from my school days of physics and thermodynamics, not as an experienced home owner, builder, or wilderness survivalist- i would suggest input from all such people too.

You need to keep your body tempurature up.

1. warm clothes... very warm clothes will signifacantly reduce the heat loss from your body

2. Heating your immediate environment/room/home. The smaller area/volume of air that you have to heat the better. If you can seal off one room, you will not waste heat into the rest of the house.

also that space should be as well insulated as possible to keep heat from escaping. Would an interior room(one that doesnot have awall against the outside) hold heat better? seal windows, doors, maybe prep the walls in advance to have good insulation.

3. Heat sources. I don't know of how to heat your home other than burning something. Just be careful that the combustion is vented so that you do not suffocate yourself.

wood stovesare very good. But if you are very desparate, you may need to burn other fuels, so you would need to provide a venting system that does not waste your heat, or compromise your heat seals.

I am interested to see what other poeple add becuase i don't believe i know more than most others.

I don't think it's been specifically mentioned, but start out with how many cubic feet you need to heat, how well insulated is it and for how long do you need to heat it. This is because it's not so much the source of heat that you choose, it's how much fuel can you store that will be your limiting factor.

As an example, I have no way to use wood-fired anything for backup heat. I'm forced to use kerosene heaters. Given the amount of space to heat, the insulation (or lack therof ) in the house abd available storage space, I can store kerosene for a week. After that week, we have to hit the lifeboat (our RV), which I generally have enough fuel to keep warm for 2+ weeks.

Not as much as I'd like to have, but in all honesty sufficient for anything short of a real TEOTWAWKI situation.

In 1992, we lost all power for 5 days during the winter. I had a Kerosun brand Kerosene heater that provided heat, light for night activities and a place to sit a pan full of soup or stew to cook. I would run it during the day and into the night until we actually laid down to sleep. It worked great. We were even able to boil water to add to the bathtub for bathing. I still have it for emergencies today.

A word about heating systems from a native New Englander...

Yes, forced hot air is wonderful. Radiant flooring is the cat's meow. Problem being with both of these is not matter what the fuel source is, the circulation pumps or air handlers are dependent upon electricity. You have two separate, distinct points of failure.

As antiquated as it may seem a gas boiler with steam radiators will not be disabled by lack of electricity. The pilot light will provide the trickle charge to operate the thermostat and natural convection will circulate the steam to the radiators. I know all this from first hand experience, losing power several times in a house so equipped and never losing heat.

However, if you don't feel like retrofitting your house, a good wood or pellet stove in the basement, properly connected to a dedicated flue, can heat your whole house. Pellet stoves have the advantage of being self-feeding from a hopper. This allows you to sleep through the night uninterrupted. A real luxury! As is waking up from a sound sleep with the heat already on. As an added bonus you can cook on top of a cast iron stove.

Remember to take steps to keep your pipes from bursting!

Hmm... I've got oil forced air heat. And the wood stove in the basement is also ducted/thermostated to control the furnace fan to distribute wood heat throughout the house. So, all I need is to fire up the generator. (6000watts) There's a few cords of seasoned split wood stacked out back too. On a cold night, if I stoke the stove with wood at midnight, and close the damper down a bit, not enough to choke it out, then by 5am, the house is still warm. That's even if I turn off the furnace fan. The best thing is insulation in the walls and ceiling. What ever heat is generated inside, needs to stay inside.

Or if it's getting that bad out, the 25' camp trailer out under the carport on the leward end of the shop always has full propane tanks and charged batteries. If it gets really nasty out side, I'll put the trailer inside the shop! Complete cooking amenities there.

-Steve

I can attest to the utility of a wood burning stove, having used one for years growing up. Being able to cook on it during power outages was very nice.

You can put blankets on the walls and additional carpets on the floor of the one room you intend to keep warm for additional insulation. A seperate set of sleeping clothes, perhaps flannel pajamas or fleece, along with a cap and socks or booties will keep you warm while sleeping.

In the extreme have some low temp rated sleeping bags and ground mats or other insulation to put under them and use them indoors. Being indoors keeps the wind off you and is a little warmer than outside even without heating.

Radiant floors do indeed take electricity to pump the water thru, but very little, compared to a forced air system. (about an amp and a half total for two circulation pumps.) Also, there is a big thermal mass in the gypcrete floor, so it stays warm for hours after the power goes out.
Back to emergency heat- I used a woodstove for 25 years . If you are in a city area it may be difficult these days to use one legally. Around here in the rural areas you can always count on some idiot in a hollow having their stove choked down as far as it will go and filling up a whole little valley with dense smoke- on a cold morning, the smoke goes up about 50 feet , cools, and drops down as a nice miasma to fill up the bowl. So use dry wood and don't damp your fire too much.

I was gonna suggest a 642, but I see you're talking about keeping your house warm

Wood stove, something like these:
http://www.regency-fire.com/Wood/Stoves/index.php
http://www.woodstove.com/

Here's some info on heating with wood:
http://www.woodheat.org/

how much juice?

How much does it take to fire the furnace? Could you wire in a manly enough "UPS" to launch the furnace a few times?

When I built my house, I included a finished basement. I put a Buck stove (airtight wood stove) down there, along with a hidabed sofa.

In the Machine Room (where the HVAC, water, electricity, etc enter the house) I have room for a freezer, gun safe, and shelving units with canned goods, flashlights, spare batteries, oil lamps and oil, Coleman Dual Fuel lantern and stove, hand-cranked radio and a 1.5KW generator. (the latter is to power the freezer and refrigerator to keep food from spoiling.) When the power goes out, we go down into the basement to live.

In the Ozarks we have ice storms every couple of years or so, so my system has been well-tested.

In addition, we have 4-wheel drive on all our vehicles, chains for them, and a chain saw to cut downed trees.

Get a Warm Morning propane heater. Those will work without electricity.

When I lived in a house where a wood stove was not appropriate I stored 55 gallon drums of kerosene and had a couple of high quality portable kerosene heaters.

I actually used them during a multi-day power outage. Not much fun. No matter what anyone says kerosene heaters are smelly. Kerosene heaters also require a fair bit of maintenance and tinkering to keep them reasonably clean burning. Small kersosene heaters require frequent filling. You WILL spill kerosene from time to time and it is not pleasant. But it sure beats being frozen. Oh yes-- handling 55 gallon drums of anything is not much fun unless you have a hand truck made for drum handling.

If possible (and appropriate for your area) I'd go with a good wood stove and tighten up the energy losses in your home.

Comment on the kerosene heater: Stay away from the box-like radiant heaters, and get the convection model. It looks like a small barrel on a saucer. They are the nutz. They provide lots of WARM AIR, which can circulate, they put out just enough heat at the top to allow you to heat a large pot of soup or stew to a slow boil, and the ones I have have a glass insert that allows a nice white glow to suffuse at night, just perfect for a night-light. We would locate it in the family room during the day, and in the hallway by the bedrooms at night. Can't speak highly enough of them. Also, the kerosene smell was MUCH less pronounced than the radiant style.

Editted to add: Kerosene is much easier to scrounge, trade back and forth, and share than propane. It has a much, much longer storage life than most other liquid fuels like gasoline or diesel fuel. It won't leak away if the container or other plumbing is compromised, like propane, either. Just FYI.

You said "We". Isn't cuddling under the covers an option?

Antibubba, attempting to get intimate with your loved one while icicles are dangling from your twinkie will get you divorced - fast!