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My 1953 Wedgwood stove has 2 continuous pilot lights for the stovetop and one for the oven. I feel better about having them going because I can always check to make sure they're still on by touching the stovetop. Believe me, they keep the kitchen pretty cozy during the winter (unfortunately they also raise the temp during the summer too.) Same thing goes for my continuous pilot gas water heater. With both appliances, as long as they're maintained well, there is virtually no chance of explosion or carbon monoxide leakage because the blue flame burns cleanly. Of course, I keep CO detectors for each room anyway for safety. It's ironic that my stove was restored in CA, but would probably not be able to be used there due to the regs.
I've decided to invest in a Generator as I can get one off Amazon for pretty cheap. Now just to find the quietest one possible. Also, since this will obviously be outside I'll need a nice long extension cord. How do you get these in your house? It sounds like I'd have to leave a window or door open which kind of negates the purpose of a generator used for heat.
We used to lose power about 4-5 times a year at our old house, due to summer storms and heavy wet winter snows. For a couple years we relied on a portable generator (Yamaha 6600 watt), then we finally invested in a permanent 20KW GE whole house unit, fueled by 3 100 gallon LP gas tanks, with an automatic transfer switch. Sooo much easier than gassing up the older Yammy and plugging/unplugging stuff. Were we to do it over again, we would've gotten a diesel generator instead and plumbed it into the fuel tank for our oil furnace.
Now that we've relocated we've again invested in a whole house genny - a 22KW Generac. This house's heat is fueled by LP gas so we already have a 1000 gallon tank.
I've decided to invest in a Generator as I can get one off Amazon for pretty cheap. Now just to find the quietest one possible. Also, since this will obviously be outside I'll need a nice long extension cord. How do you get these in your house? It sounds like I'd have to leave a window or door open which kind of negates the purpose of a generator used for heat.
Hey that's great news, I think maybe in the back yard somewhere accessible to a door but not to close to the house should be good. As far as the extension cord unless your door has some incredible seals on it you should be able just to put it towards the handle side away from the hinge side and close the door gently. You could do the same with the window just shut it gently it wont close all the way but you wouldn't happen to leave it completely open. You would really just have to play with it and see what works best.
I would suggest the Honda generators the small ones can be very quiet. Look for something around this decibel level. Noise LevelP: 59 dB at rated load 53dB at 1/4 load
You can search for the quite ones so not to keep you or your neighbors up at night.
Having a portable generator is a good move for a disaster where you might be without power for awhile so it lets you charge all your electronics and ect. I'm sure with time you will find other uses for your generator besides the odd power outage.
Hey that's great news, I think maybe in the back yard somewhere accessible to a door but not to close to the house should be good. As far as the extension cord unless your door has some incredible seals on it you should be able just to put it towards the handle side away from the hinge side and close the door gently. You could do the same with the window just shut it gently it wont close all the way but you wouldn't happen to leave it completely open. You would really just have to play with it and see what works best.
I would suggest the Honda generators the small ones can be very quiet. Look for something around this decibel level. Noise LevelP: 59 dB at rated load 53dB at 1/4 load
You can search for the quite ones so not to keep you or your neighbors up at night.
Having a portable generator is a good move for a disaster where you might be without power for awhile so it lets you charge all your electronics and ect. I'm sure with time you will find other uses for your generator besides the odd power outage.
Yeah I'm quickly learning that you pay for quiet haha
The quiet Honda 2000W one is about $1000 compared to some random brand 2000W one that isn't quiet is like $200. Hmmm
Just for an idea. I lift the lid a bit, and swing open the right hand door for the exhaust when it's running. My generator is wired permanently with a transfer switch though.
Looks like I'm back to the drawing board. The 2,000W / 1,600W rated apparently have problems running a 1,500 watt space heater. I've seen this mentioned a lot in the reviews. This is way too difficult to get a bit of heat in my home lol It's too bad we have forced air heat.
I would ask the landlord if he is willing to pay for parts and installation of a PIB and breaker panel interlock (as those would be improvements that you couldn't easily take with you), then you'd be able to power any circuits you like with a generator of your choosing. If you go with a bigger generator, you could run the existing forced hot air.
Before I had an automatic generator, when power would go out I would run forced hot air on the generator to get the inside temperature up to 70F, then shut it down and pile on the blankets to sleep.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr_Geek
Looks like I'm back to the drawing board. The 2,000W / 1,600W rated apparently have problems running a 1,500 watt space heater. I've seen this mentioned a lot in the reviews. This is way too difficult to get a bit of heat in my home lol It's too bad we have forced air heat.
That isn't a big surprise -- most people live in states where it makes more sense to burn fuel directly for heat instead of trying to run a space heater off a generator, so it's not a usage model that comes up very often.
If you went with a bigger generator you could run a small window-mount heat pump from the generator, this would give you heat in the winter and cooling in the summer. A heat pump (air conditioner running in reverse) is much more efficient than an electric resistive space heater, but still needs at least a 2,000W generator to start the compressor.
I think you might have come full circle back to the propane heater solution or the hotel. I think the biggest issue you have is your renting its hard to put in a more permanent solution like what MikeBear has.
Full circle indeed. Maybe I'll just break California law and find a safe heater like mentioned. I have carbon monoxide detectors in every room of my house.
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window-mount heat pump
