Power Outage Idaho (Idaho Falls, Clark Fork: home, transfer, college)
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OWS I don't know your exact "North Idaho" location but I trust you are in close contact with your neighbors and watching out for each other. Please post if you need anything to get you by. Our power was out for about 22 hours but homes not far from us were still on the "outage map" last I checked.
Woodsmoke, please seek some warm shelter if you need it. Cold can be treacherous, as you know.
One good, inexpensive emergency heat source is a Japanese kerosene room heater. The good ones are designed to be very low in their carbon monoxide emissions. (Cracking a window a bit is still a good idea with them, but supposedly normal air transfer from inside to outside is enough to use one safely.)
I own a large Kero-Sun. I bought it to heat a garage that I used rarely to work in during winters, but when my home furnace suddenly froze an exhaust bearing over a long winter holiday, I found that it kept my house warm enough to keep everything from freezing and comfortable for me if I wore a sweater over my everyday clothes.
My home was about 1700 sq.ft. on a single level, and the Kero-Sun kept it at about 63º for about 12 hours a tank fill.
While it's no fireplace or wood stove, it's small enough to store about anywhere and is easy to carry around and fill.
I haven't used it for over 15 years now, but I'll always keep it. My present home won't be heated as well by it, but it will still be enough to keep me comfortable in my most used rooms.
I came close to using it once here; 3 years ago, there was a sudden power outage after an ice storm that began around midnight. I woke up cold, but since I had just purchased a gas fireplace insert specifically for heating during a power outage, I wasn't worried.
Until I tried to light the gas fire. I learned the gas fire's interlocks needed electricity to open up the gas feed, so the fireplace was useless.
While I was poking around in the garage, out freezing my butt off in the dark, looking for the Kero-Sun, the electricity came back on.
Then the furnace and fireplace both lit up, and in no time at all, the house was up to 80º and I needed to be cooled off.
I moved the Kero-Sun to a spot that's a lot easier to find in the dark for the next just-in-case event.
We have a Thelin NG gas stove in a bedroom and a Kozy-Heat gas fireplace insert in the living room. Both have a battery pack with 4 AA batteries for ignition backup. I always change the AAs every November. Obviously the blower won't work but radiant heat is better than nothing.
Our small portable generator can support an electric fan heater, good for a small room if nothing else is on except a computer or a TV set.
And don't worry about Woodsmoke, there are enough dogs in that house to make it through a winter. I hope she/or he won't get mad at me for that.
Hey CFF, when you get your electric wiring done on your house, be sure to get a transfer switch or an interlock on your electric panel. You can look these up on the web. These switches let you separate your house electric circuit from the main power lines so you can hook up a generator to your electric panel and not send electricity to the power lines and possibly electrocute people working to fix the power lines when the power is out. That's what I have and I just have to run a thick electric wire to the panel from the generator. You can have the electrician wire the panel to send power to whatever circuits you want. Plus you have control over those with the circuit breaker. No need to run extension cords to everything.
If you go with a big whole house generator, I think there is a transfer switch that would automatically cut the connection to the main power lines to prevent feedback. I'm a cheapskate so I just have a 7500 watt generator to power all the lights and water heater. The generator can't power the house heating system so I just use the wood stove. My cat likes that since he can lie down in front of the wood stove.
Just got back from the nephew's place. Been helping him take care of all the fallen trees. I think he has about 30 lodgepoles that fell. Two fell on his shop. Those were a pain to remove. This is going to be a several week project.
I'm a cheapskate so I just have a 7500 watt generator to power all the lights and water heater. The generator can't power the house heating system so I just use the wood stove. My cat likes that since he can lie down in front of the wood stove. "
It is a misconception that we need a huge generator, and I paid for that needlessly. 7,500 watts should be plenty for a 3 bedroom house, and it is probably strong enough for central heat and air.
I am monitoring our use with a "Kill-a-watt."
Here are the numbers: I'm using two 55-inch TV sets on a Dish Network satellite receiver, 2 medium-size refrigerators, a Chromebox (desktop computer with a 27-inch monitor ) and a modem/router with landline phone, plus a desk lamp. Our usage varies from 400 to 1,200 watts, depending on the refrigerators cycling on and off.
If I need the microwave on high for 10 minutes I turn off the others. It works fine.
I agree the need for the transfer switch. While it isn't an absolute must, it is much safer and more convenient to use instead of the extension cords. Our big Generac came with that, but I can't tie the portable in the system.
The Generac costs about $ 3.00 / hour, same as the small inverter type for half a day. The Generac runs at full speed even if you only charge a cell phone.
Last edited by mgforshort; 01-16-2021 at 02:59 PM..
The "south end"? The southern part of Idaho? Boise area? Boise doesn't get power outages?
An all electric home probably doesn't fare worse. Gas heat won't run without electricity for ignition and the fan.
...
Natural gas? If it's an older forced-air furnace, you might be able to run it without power. Check your manual, or the inside cover of the furnace. You can mimic a gravity fed furnace system - you crank up the thermostat to maximum, take out any filters, & open all the vents to maximum. My old furnace had a pilot light - I don't know if you can light the newer gas furnaces without power - if they use an electronic ignition.
But check your manual anyway - there might be a way to do it - better than freezing in the cold & dark.
But you have to stay @ home & monitor the power - if it comes back up, the thermostat will keep calling for heat.
A large cellphone battery charger, and keep it charged. The big ones will charge up to 2-3 cellphones or a cellphone and an iPad.
A little indoors propane heater. It will heat up a small room nicely. (Right, never use a generator or a grill indoors, of course!)
Big battery flicker candles on a timer. They go on at dusk and will keep going for 6 hours, or you can just turn them on as needed. They used to be very expensive, but you can get them now for $15-$20. We set them to light up at dusk, and there's lights on in the cabin when we come home after dark.
An old-fashioned transistor radio, or even better: a wind-up radio.
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I would also get a 100 watt solar panel, charge controller, and one of those old, sealed AGM booster batteries to charge and run phones, batteries, etc. I use that set-up to run my computers when camping.
Harbor Freight has a 4-panel solar deal, and we can keep our camper battery completely charged with that, but we also use it to charge a battery that keeps our laptop, iPad, and cellphones running.
Hey, I can just go down the list of all the stuff we normally use in our off-grid cabin!
Fighting the cold is so ancient CFF probably has a long list of ways to do it.
I always found the fact that the Innuit have hundreds of different names for snow, ice, and cold impressive. Those folks know more ways to stay warm than anyone. If you learn their language, they could tell you how to do it for any condition winter throws at you.
Dogs can be good people warmers, for sure.
But then, people can be good dog warmers too.
I'm a cheapskate so I just have a 7500 watt generator to power all the lights and water heater. The generator can't power the house heating system so I just use the wood stove. My cat likes that since he can lie down in front of the wood stove. "
It is a misconception that we need a huge generator, and I paid for that needlessly. 7,500 watts should be plenty for a 3 bedroom house, and it is probably strong enough for central heat and air.
I am monitoring our use with a "Kill-a-watt."
Here are the numbers: I'm using two 55-inch TV sets on a Dish Network satellite receiver, 2 medium-size refrigerators, a Chromebox (desktop computer with a 27-inch monitor ) and a modem/router with landline phone, plus a desk lamp. Our usage varies from 400 to 1,200 watts, depending on the refrigerators cycling on and off.
If I need the microwave on high for 10 minutes I turn off the others. It works fine.
I agree the need for the transfer switch. While it isn't an absolute must, it is much safer and more convenient to use instead of the extension cords. Our big Generac came with that, but I can't tie the portable in the system.
The Generac costs about $ 3.00 / hour, same as the small inverter type for half a day. The Generac runs at full speed even if you only charge a cell phone.
Exactly!
I have only had one power outage down here in six years. Had a few less than an hour. But one Saturday morning some drunk decided to take out a pole and it took a day to get it replaced.
I simply plugged in my small camping Honda generator with a 100 foot ext. cord, place the generator as far as possible in the back and plugged in the router, modem, 65" full array LED tv, laptop, and refrigerator and when I wanted, watched TV and surfed the web when desired.
This was a nice spring day, so no heat needed. However, if heat was needed, I could have pulled out an electric blanket and used that, the generator would have had enough.
And if the middle of winter; open up the trailer in the back and move into it. Those large deep cycle batts powering the 12-volt heater will keep it running for about ever with the gen to recharge the batteries every two-three days.
And my two large malamutes would have no problem with no heat for a few weeks.
Natural gas? If it's an older forced-air furnace, you might be able to run it without power. Check your manual, or the inside cover of the furnace. You can mimic a gravity fed furnace system - you crank up the thermostat to maximum, take out any filters, & open all the vents to maximum. My old furnace had a pilot light - I don't know if you can light the newer gas furnaces without power - if they use an electronic ignition.
But check your manual anyway - there might be a way to do it - better than freezing in the cold & dark.
But you have to stay @ home & monitor the power - if it comes back up, the thermostat will keep calling for heat.
Careful now...... You can't operate the gas burners in any standard furnace made in the last 40-50 years as without the main house blower operating. To do so will damage or literally burn through the heat exchanger tubes.
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Better to light a candle
