Privacy   |    Financial   |    Current Events   |    Self Defense   |    Miscellaneous   |    Letters To Editor   |    About Off The Grid News   |    Off The Grid Videos   |    Weekly Radio Show

Letters To The Editor

More Ways To Heat Your Home When The Power’s Out

To read the story referenced, “8 Foolproof Ways To Heat Your Home When The Power’s Out,” click here.

 

My electrically-fired oil-burning furnace makes hot water, pumped electrically through baseboard heaters throughout my home. Sans electricity, sans heat. My furnace is fed from a 1,000 gallon oil tank in my basement, which I fill up every autumn. So when the electricity fails, I switch this tank from the furnace over to a gravity-fed “Alaska” oil stove. The “Alaska” stove uses a unique heat-powered carburetor that – once burning – will continue to run until the oil supply is taken away. Through a damper arrangement in my stove pipe, I switch the main chimney from the furnace over to the Alaska stove, ditto the oil feed. The Alaska stove is started by squirting a couple of tablespoons of “fire starter” paste in the center of the firebox, then starting the oil feed from the main fuel tank. As the oil begins to trickle in to the bottom of the firebox, I light the fire starter. The burning fire starter energizes the carburetor, which distributes the oil through the walls of the firebox; they take light and the cycle begins. The Alaska stove delivers 85,000 BTU of heat 24/7 and uses 2 gallons of oil per 24 hours. Beginning with 1,000 gallons stored in my basement, and assuming no heat will be needed between April and October, I figure that I could go for three years with the oil on hand.

‘The Wiseman’

**********

We use a free-standing propane fireplace to heat during the winter in AR during our awake hours. At night we use the heat pump and emergency electricity to keep the home temp from dropping too low. Since we moved from FL we love it because you can really get warmth from it. 38000 BTU — no electricity needed. Some people here have propane wall heaters that don’t need electricity.

Howard

2 comments

  1. how can i pull up old off the grid news letters?

    • Are you looking for a particular story? You can search for specific keywords at the top-right box here: //www.offthegridnews.com/?s=Search…

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

Off The Grid News