Hurricane Sandy Generated Home Heating Crisis

[docrocky]

As if all the tragedies of the Sandy Hurricane were not enough, now a cold snap is adding to the profound overall misery. Please bear with me on what may seem to be a bit lengthy.

For a number of years I have been concerned that the Terrorists who are constantly at work researching our (US & Canada) Achilles Heels to bring us down. Now in the summer months wild fires or disruption of electrical grids could create havoc but there are many back ups and alternatives. Many food chains, gasoline /oil supply chains could be disrupted and cause trouble but they could be temporarily withstood , such as not driving a few days or even a week, or going without a certain food for a while. But think of the natural gas we need to heat our homes. Since at present the main supply lines come from West to East and have to cross the Mississippi, those pipe lines are extremely vulnerable as I see it. Way back in the 70's I lived in Albuquerque. New Mexico which was struck with a unbelievable cold snap and a lot of the newly built housing developments had the feeder pipelines too small to keep up with the demand and this created 2 weeks of profound misery... Albuquerque. was not supposed to get that cold.

Now back to H. Sandy and the N.E. With all the wood and press wood debris could all that potential fuel be used to heat a small segment of a dwelling.? I am assuming most of these structures in the urban areas do not have fire places; wood or coal burning stoves; gas or oil furnaces which can be used without electrical power and as it gets cold they can become very miserable and dispirited.

I happen to live in medium sized city in NW Ohio. I have a gas furnace and a gas heater insert to my fire place. I can heat if the natural gas is not interrupted and my furnace will work if I supply electricity with my gas driven generator. But if the natural gas is cut off, what then, and this affects hundreds of thousands, say for instance in Mid January of Feb. Over the past few years, we have cut down thousands of ash trees because of the borer insect, imported from China. Tornadoes or wind storms have also knocked down countless oak, maple as well as other reasonable fire wood trees. I have cords of cut and split firewood piles but no where to use them other that my pole barn several miles from home. Most of the homes in our urban setting do not have proper chimney setups to burn either wood or coal.

Question: Is anyone familiar with a small furnace that could be quickly set up outside a dwelling and the heated air or water pipe sent to the home, with reasonable chimney? I looked into the outdoor furnaces on the market but they are too big for emergency usage and too costly for very infrequent usage. Or, if you set up a wood burner in the house, how much detail would be required to chimney out the smoke, say you had a 2 story house and didn't want to cut thru the roof? I guess this might sound a bit "survivalist" but I really think its time to stock up a a few very essential items, heat being one of them.

I have often wondered why a few hunters died in their campers from carbon monoxide or people in cabins where firewood would be more that plentiful but no small portable wood burning stoves available.

Any thoughts or suggestions????
Thank You and have a Good Wellbeing Day

 

[whistlepig]

We use a pellet stove for emergency heat. It's easily run off a portable generator and can be vented through a wall.

 

[docrocky]

Whistlepig: When you say "vent through a wall" I assume you mean the chimney and is it a double liner? Also how high do you need to have the chimney to clear the roof line?
Could you attach a picture as to what you mean. I was trying to generate something more as to a simple portable device that large numbers of people could gain access to an set up for emergency usage. For my own situation, I have a sliding glass door that I would replace 1/2 with a plywood or temp wood wall with an out let for the chimney and hook it up to a small indoor wood stove, but again how high does the chimney pipe need to be extended?

 

[dave1949]

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I sort of feel like I am helping you burn your house down .. but there these light-duty stoves you might look at. Google "tent stove" for more.

The chimney, if going out a doorway in a house as you described, would probably need to clear any overhangs and the eaves of a single story house.

I think all things considered, you would be safer and it would be more economical in the long run to outfit your house with a proper cook or wood stove and chimney. If you are looking for a product to use in emergencies, they exist, but people probably wouldn't buy them in any quantity. I would not give such a tent stove -- to be jury-rigged to a flimsy chimney -- to anyone. If they knew anything about wood burning, they wouldn't need one. If they don't, it's too dangerous. They would be lighting them with fuel, overheating and so forth.

 

[newbury]

I have cords of cut and split firewood piles but no where to use them other that my pole barn several miles from home.

With firewood going for about $100/cord, and you HAVE a fireplace why don't you remove the natural gas insert?
I've got natural gas heat in Virginia but maintain my two fireplaces.

 

[BHD]

If one has the proper chimney one could probably safely take the panes out of a window and use a sheet tin insert into the window opening and affix the chimney on the out side of the house, with proper clearences.
with minimal damage or change to the structure,

but one of the problems, in most places, with out inspections and permits your probably breaking a book full of laws, and if you did have a fire most likely your insurance would not not cover the loss.

 

[whistlepig]

This is how our pellet stove is set up:

 

[3930dave]

A buddy of mine is a fan of wood pellet stoves. We often exchange info on interesting new product designs, he sent me this link recently. Window mount pellet stove:

Window-Mount Pellet Stove | Princess Auto

I haven't checked myself, but I recall him saying that Northern Tool had this too.

RV furnaces put out good heat, but most people shouldn't graft one of these onto their house, for a few reasons. Not the least, they are typically only approved for RV installations. Your home insurance company would not be impressed.

If you have an RV with a working furnace, then one strategy may be to shutdown the house (ie. drain the water pipes), and weather out the disaster in the RV. In your driveway, or elsewhere, an RV may be easier to heat than a large house. Disasters are one reason to keep RV plumbing anti-freeze around; it could prevent having some extensive plumbing repairs to do if the heat is off long term in your home.

Kerosene heaters are another option, some do not even need electricity to run. You need to watch the fresh air requirements when using these indoors - Reading (and understanding) the manual for these kerosene heaters is critical !

Here's to keeping warm, and being better prepared !

Rgds, D.

 

[CalG]

My neighbor has a pellet stove set up similarly. Through the window with sheet metal replacing the glass pane.

He envy's my wood stoves, and I envy the clean aspects of wood pellets ;-)

He tried burning corn one year, but the smell made everyone hungry ;-)

ps, for a single room, and the use of Kero, an Alladin mantle lamp gives lots of heat with it's light. It's what we used in the front room during the recent power outage.

 

[brokenknee]

Another vote for a wood stove, I use it as my primary heat source, (electric baseboard is just to expensive)

Some expense to get set up, however a new cat stove puts out very little if any smoke I am told. I live in the country and still use an old smoke dragon wood furnance that came with the place.

Even though I have 40 acres, it is mostly poplar and pine, I purchase a grapple load of hardwood for $70 a cord in 10 cord lots. These are full cords, not face cords.

this years load

 

[CalG]

Though I burn wood also, It might be noted that when the North East cities were burning wood at it's peak, Vermont and New Hampshire were logged bare to the very northern regions,

There is just not enough forest acreage as we "farm" it now

 

[Stimw]

About 5 years ago I bought one of the Harbor Freight wood stoves and put it in an old doublewide mobile home. I made a sheet metal panel that fit an opened window with a perfect hole for the pipe to go through. Set it on a layer of concrete blocks, 4' from the wall.
The stove put out so much heat that it scared me!!! I even put a box fan on it and the pipe which made the home very warm. I would not let it burn over night or when I wasn't home. I sold the stove!
If you put one of these stoves in a concrete basement and ran pipe out a basement window high enough to vent properly it would make a big difference either temporarily or to supplement your heat it would work very well!

 

[brokenknee]

Though I burn wood also, It might be noted that when the North East cities were burning wood at it's peak, Vermont and New Hampshire were logged bare to the very northern regions,

There is just not enough forest acreage as we "farm" it now

To bad, My second choice would be a pellet stove with a small Honda generator to operate it.

 

[BHD]

most any pellet stove I have seen needs electricity,

 

[brokenknee]

most any pellet stove I have seen needs electricity,

Yes they do, a small Honda generator will run them just fine.

Also a lot of discussion on how clean that electricity needs to be without doing damage to the computer boards that operate them.

 

[3930dave]

most any pellet stove I have seen needs electricity,

True, but most people concerned with this level of preparedness would plan to have an electric generator already in place. The auger on a pellet stove doesn't take much power, and any built in air circulation fans could easily be run off all but the tiniest generators.

But, point taken, I prefer simple designs in many instances, and esp. so in emergencies. Go old school, buy a quality code-approved wood stick stove and enjoy.

Always liked my Gramma's old cookstove, with the white porcelain front. Quality reproductions today are outside of my price bracket though..... uch:

Rgds, D.

 

[dave1949]

This is how our pellet stove is set up:

View attachment 287422View attachment 287423View attachment 287424View attachment 287425

A pellet stove seller around here installs a 3-4 foot long vertical section of pipe that would tee off of what you have outside. Their reasoning is it provides enough natural draft to clear out any smoke lingering in the burn pot if the power goes out.

 

[smiley]

Quote Originally Posted by BHD View Post
most any pellet stove I have seen needs electricity,

Yes they do, a small Honda generator will run them just fine.

Also a lot of discussion on how clean that electricity needs to be without doing damage to the computer boards that operate them.

Although my primary heat is a 1920's kitchen wood/coal/gas range with oil furnace backup if the fire goes out at night, we also have a pretty basic pellet stove insert in the fireplace we use occasionally when we want short term heat and don't want to bother firing up the woodstove.
Just to see if it would work, we ran it with a Cobra 800 watt inverter for about an hour and it ran fine. Don't know how long the battery would last without starting the generator or car to recharge, or how it would work with models with fancy electronics.

I will add that although potentially dangerous, most any small woodstove can be rigged through a tin/window pane in an emergency situation. The smokepipe MUST go well above at least the eaves and isolated from any combustibles and downdrafts can be a problem especially on the leeward side of the house. Anyone should get help from professionals or knowledgeable woodstove owners in setting it up. You should study the problem, possibilities and acquire knowledge ahead of time and have enough smokepipe on hand as it would be off the shelves in an hour in a real emergency.
The window pellet stove mentioned by others looks like a real possibility for heating a room or two.

 

[ray66v]

Have you thought about converting your gas fireplace to propane? That would seem to be the easiest way to go.

 

[lockhaven]

pellet stoves are OK but wood is better if you have the supply, the pellets are expensive as far as burning outside that is a given with the outdoor furnaces if you already have hot air heat it should be simple to tap into the duct work already in your house. I heat totally with wood and use a small stove right now the outside temp is 39 and inside 75 and I have used less then a wheel barrow of wood today.