Heating My Home During a Power Outage
Where There’s a Will, There’s a Better Way
For those who have been following my attempts to become more self-reliant, here’s the latest update from my ongoing research. I continue to search for the best ways to heat my 1700 square foot house if there was a power outage during the winter.
We just had our chimney cleaned.
The guys were great. They looked like kids to me, but then that’s becoming the norm these days. Afterwards, we sat on my patio and had a quick discussion about a wood-burning insert. I was so wanting to go that route, but it turns out that our home, built around 1970, has a prefab fireplace. After doing a lot of reading, I’ve determined that an insert isn’t appropriate for us. The young consultant recommended a single insert model but I’m not completely comfortable with going that route. As much as I would love an insert, I’ve decided to explore all other available options, largely because my prefab fireplace is about 50 years old.
My bad — but I really didn’t know that much about prefab fireplaces.
They became very popular in the fifties, but they were never designed for the hot fires of an insert. So …. I’m disappointed, but ready to move on.
I’m now considering other options.
I LOVE my power station. It will run some lights, my freezer and refrigerator, as well as recharge my phones and fans. I can recharge the power station in four or five hours with a couple solar panels or with our gas inverter generator in about 90 minutes.
Yeah, it’s THAT fast.
I live on the edge of a city in a small housing development. I really like battery power stations because not only are they efficient but they’re also quiet and clean. That means they can be run from inside the house. There’s no worry about carbon monoxide nor do I have to be concerned that someone would steal it. My battery power station is stored in a cool space and when in use usually sits in my kitchen where I can keep my freezer and fridge running. It can power my freezer for 20 to 24 hours. I can charge it while in use. I’m addicted to these wonderful units. Personally, between solar panels and battery stations, I think more and more people are going to go this route.
There’s at least one unit that I know of that can be recharged at an EV station which means that even an apartment dweller could successfully use it.
During the summer if we had a damaging storm, we’ve had three so far this year, I could manage. I’d miss my AC, but I do have a very shady side to my house where I could designate a small room for our special place to relax, read, and cool off. With two very powerful battery powered fans, we could stay comfortable enough, I hope, and I could recharge the fans with my power station.
But the winter is another story.
I have no desire to go without heat during an outage. Since the wood insert may not be a good choice, I’m now doing additional research on either buying a second but larger power station, putting in a smallish wood stove, or getting a standby generator installed.
We heat with natural gas, so the last choice although expensive would be easy to do.
My battery power station isn’t the biggest one available by any means. I own an original Ecoflow Delta 13. The Ecoflow engineers, however, continue to improve and expand on their products. I could invest in a larger unit and even have a transfer switch installed so that it could run my furnace whenever I lose power. In the long run it would still be cheaper than a standby generator.
So, there you have it!
I want to do something this year. If I go with a wood stove, I will still have my power station to run my freezer and refrigerator, lights, and phones. I’d be nice and warm, too, at a much cheaper price. We’ve had loads of experience heating with a wood stove as we lived in Maine for 32 years.
I have a consultation set up this coming Thursday with a professional to discuss my options when it comes to a standby generator. So……….
Little baby steps, eh? I’m 71 years old and although I’ve been quite an adventurer most of my life, I’m starting to realize that I’m no longer Wonder Woman. It’s sometimes a little difficult for my husband and I to admit that we’re entering that time of our life where we might be forced to scale back our hands-on approach to problem solving. Ugh! Yet, my practical side knows the truth and usually manages to intervene on behalf of my idealistic-dreamer side. Thank goodness.
Stay tuned. And feel free to share any ideas you may have for heating your house in the winter if there’s a power outage.
Teresa is a retired educator, author, world traveler, and professional myth buster. You can find her books on Amazon.
