Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.
I sleep much better when the room is cold. So, I usually keep the heating vents in the bedroom closed and never worry about putting in the storm windows. This morning, though, when I woke up I could tell it was colder than it should have been. When I left the cold bedroom the rest of the house wasnt nearly as warm as it should have been. Hmmmm. Checked the thermostat. “REP BATT”. Ok, batteries went out in the programmable thermostat. Swapped em out. “REP BATT”. Okay, now it isnt funny any more. Removed the unit from the wall, checked the contacts, double checked the operating instructions, checked for a reset switch.
“REP BATT”
*sigh* Ok, I guess I need to go pick up and install a new one. Then I noticed that one of the batteries I just put in has some dirt/grime on it. Hmmm. Maybe I just installed equally fail batteries? Trot down to the bunker and crack open a 36-pack of Duracells. Swap ‘em out.
“57* HEAT ON”
Much better. 57 degrees in the house. Coolish, but not critical.
Which, of course, got me to thinking what the scenario would have been had this been a more serious failure. After all, while I can tolerate the cold fairly well by hiding under a couple down comforters my water pipes would prefer to be kept above 32 degrees. Fortunately, we planned ahead. We have a couple electric space heaters, a small propane heater (w/ a goodly amount of propane), and two kerosene heaters with about 60 gallons of kero. Won’t keep the house at greenhouse temperatures but it’ll easily keep the overall house in the 60’s and can put one or two rooms into the 80’s if needed. (Although, honestly, 63-65 is where Im most comfortable and thats where I usually keep the thermostat in the winter.) I once rented a small bungalow that had, as its sole source of a heat, a gas space heater in the living room. all the other rooms were unheated. I remember throwing the covers back in the morning and seeing steam rise. That, mi amigos, is cold.
Between the propane space heater and the kerosene heaters we’d be able to keep one room as a ’safe room’ for warmth. The rest of the house would get bloody cold, and we’d have to drain the piped to keep them from freezing, but we wouldnt be freezing to death in our house like some folks have out in the plains states during monumental blizzards. Heck, at this point if the power went out for a few days I’d just throw the dog on the bed, put both down comforters and a couple wool blankets on top and just sleep through it. I could use the sleep.
So..the point of todays post…if youre heat went out today, and its 5 degrees out, and it looks like your not gonna get the heat back on until Monday, are you prepared to heat your house in another way to a point where your pipes dont burst and you dont freeze to death? Extra bonus points if you can do it without giving yourself CO poisoning (get a carbon monoxide detector [or three] if youre gonna play with propane/kero heating…cheap insurance.)
