Buddy Heater Run Time | 1-lb & 20-lb Tanks
How would you heat your home in the event of a power outage?
Our friends in Texas and the rest of the plains and points east found out last week when they had their unfortunate occurrence.
Here at my place we have a fireplace, with a wood stove insert. I have lots of wood for burning. My only problem at the moment is i don't have enough kindling. I can always make kindling.
At my old house, we had a wall furnace. That unit does not require grid electricity to operate. It uses a millivolt generator to operate the gas valve. So if electricity goes out, the wall furnace will continue providing heat as long as natural gas still flows.
There are propane heater units available to purchase which can "safely" be used indoors. Safely is in quotes because all combustion produces gases which are non breathable, and you can easily die when using these heating devices.
These units have a sensor on them that shuts fuel off when low oxygen levels are detected. When using these units for heating, or any other combustion device, open a window slightly to allow for fresh air entry.
When i was a kid growing up in northern Texas, our heat came from a unit that had propane supplied to it thru a rubber hose attached to a valve coming out of the wall. Light the heater with a match and you got open flame heating right there. Usually had one in the front room only. My dad was always worried about asphyxiation due to carbon monoxide, so he always made certain a window was slightly open.
So, if power and natural gas goes out, how do you keep warm? Maybe some intramural activity under the covers? Hmm?
When living in my 30' travel trailer in Twin Falls and Caldwell, Idaho, I used a Buddy Heater in my trailer during the day and I didn't have a problem with it except no thermostat on it and would get very warm in my trailer. So I would crack a window to let some cool air in. I wasn't entirely sure about night when I slept so I would use the trailer's furnace. Using the Buddy heater saved a lot of money for it is very economical to use, sipped propane instead of gulping propane that my furnace did.
ReplyDeleteI have been considering buying one of these units. Glad to hear some real world experience with it.
DeleteFred, I used an adapter hose kit so I could run off of a 30# tank instead of those little green bottles it is designed for. I strongly recommend the adapter and a filter that screws on to that and then a house with the appropriate propane fittings. They say don't have the tank in the house, but I did, just had a water bottle with soap in it to spray the connections to detect leaks... bubbles mean the connection is leaking and make sure your fittings are tight. I never had any problems and my trailer had a propane monitor, never went off. I am sure they make home monitors. The Buddy heater and the adapter/filter and hose was less then a hundred bucks.
DeleteThat sounds like a plan to me. Didn't know a propane monitor was available. I will look into that and the hoses.
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