Ah, the joys of home ownership….
The furnace decided to not do its thing yesterday. I’m hoping it is something as simple as a bad thermocoupler that needs replacement. But, the issue remains, in the middle of a Montana winter, how do you keep your house warm enough to keep things going and keep the pipes from freezing?
Dude….I’m prepared for this.
I have two kerosene heaters sitting in storage. One is none and all that. Anyway, I pulled the plastic bag that I was using as a dust cover off it an, to my surprise, found an index card clipped to the top of the heater….”Cleaned, run for half hour, filled – 11/2018″.
Apparently, four years ago, Past Me decided to do some forward thinking. Set up the heater, put fresh batteries in the electric ignitier, and -poof- … heat. Since I have electricity, I grabbed a box fan, put it near the heater, pointed it at the ceiling, and let ‘er rip. The thermostat steadily climbed and after an hour or so I had a gain from 57 degrees to a balmy 66. Thats actually warmer than I usually keep the house in the winter.
Still waiting for the furnace guy to show up, but in the meantime there are a bunch of takeaways that I need to act upon:
- Inspect and operate the heater at least once a season.
- Make sure heater is filled 100%, has spare parts, spare batteries, matches to light it if batteries are unavailable, etc.
- Lighting the heater with matches is a convoluted affair. I need to drill a hole in the side of the casing so that a fireplace match can be inserted to light the wick manually
- Biggest takeaway: my heaters are two different brands and models. I need to get two identical ones for logistics and operating simplicity. Thats gonna be a few bucks, but I think it’ll be worth it in the long run.
In addition to the heater, I always keep fire extinguishers, CO detector, fuel siphon, and other related materials handy in a large ammo can.
In addition to the kerosene heaters, I also have a couple of the Mr Heater ‘Buddy’ heaters. They are, in my opinion, ideal for spot-heating a small room. My computer room is a spare bedroom measuring about 11×10 and this thing does a wonderful job heating it up and keeping it warm for several hours on one 1# propane bottle. Highly recommended product.
In the meantime, I need to see how the furnace guy replaces the thermocouple. The replacing isn’t the hard part, its getting access to the thermocouple thats tricky. But…fortunately a life of quiet survivalism left me with plenty of options to keep things close to normal heat-wise.
That’s why I use wood to heat with. The less mechanical gizmos to worry about the better. So far since I started the stove up in Oct I’ve used one face cord. Have a kerosene heater as well. That price is up over a buck a gallon from last year.
But I do have a small house.
I agree with Michigan Prepper, I use wood heat also. Maybe living in the same state with lots of trees might have something to do with it. The big advantage to wood heat and oil lamps is if they stop giving of heat and light I can generally figure out why. —ken
I use the oil lamps as backups to my battery lanterns. They do work well. If the power is out can cook on the wood stove. Warming canned soup or other canned items. The kerosine heater works for that too.
I’m very glad I grew up with grandparents that had one foot in the nineteenth century and the other in the twentieth. Learned the old ways and they were lessons which have served me well every since. Sometimes the old ways work better then the new fangled just gotta have it plastic crap that is made in China and last a shorter time then the sea voyage to bring that junk here. The only good thing that comes over is the cargo containers. Those might come in real handy if I had the room for one.
Montana winters have to be tough, good job on the back up heat. Was down in the rare 20’s last night which made me love our Voglezang boxwood stove even more, $300 at Ace Hardware about 12 years ago and still going strong. One cut up pallet (oak if I can find them, check behind tile and flooring stores) will heat nearly the whole house. Free is a good price.
And those boxwood stoves have a nice large top so you can cook on them if you need to.—ken
Just make sure the pallets you are using are not treated, or you will be releasing toxic chemicals in and around your home.
did. thanks. and cooking bacon in a cast iron skillet over a wood fire makes me glad I’m a carnivore.
I’ll second the Mr Heater, Buddy heaters. I’ve got a bunch in the single bottle config, and one or two in the double bottle setup. I’ve got the hoses, and the fuel filters to run them off BBQ bottles too. We used a couple and gave out a bunch more during the “big freeze” here in Texas.
I learned during that event that the kerosene heaters have a wick. Didn’t actually know that. Couldn’t find my kerosene anyway. THIS year I’ve added another identical heater and two big jugs of kerosene. One went to my BOL, one is in offsite storage here. I will be running them this winter, at least as a familiarization session.
And during the big freeze we also used the electric heaters that look like old school radiators, the “oil filled” ones. They work great if you have power or a gennie, and paired with a small ‘turbo’ fan, they will heat a whole room very nicely.
Multiple options for fuel, different levels of risk and knowledge required for use, different choices for appropriateness, all are good things.
Glad you quickly got it sorted.
nick
Watch a YouTube video on how to replace a thermocouple, super easy. Replacements can be bought on Amazon. In the meantime remove the current one, clean it with steel wool or super fine sand paper and replace. You can clean and replace them almost indefinitely… I keep a spare hanging by the furnace to speed the process, clean the old and rehang it for the next time.
CZ,
As far as D.I.Y. goes, YouTube can be your friend. There are lots of residential HVAC repair channels to chose from there. A simple search can reveal many options. Good luck and stay warm.
Muleskinner
RE: Furnace Thermocouple.
1) Buy a spare (if that’s what it is)
2) Ask furnace guy for top 5 reasons your model furnace fails to operate.
2b) Buy spares for (at least) the first 3 of those 5 reasons.
3) Ask furnace guy to do a once-over of the system for other potential failure points
3b) Rectify the discovered failure points (if any)
I, too, have a Voglezang boxwood stove here in Crapstone, WI. If I shut bedroom doors, it will heat the whole house if it is 20 degrees or higher outside.
Below zero, it will be toasty warm near the stove which also happens to be near where most of the pipes are located. The rest of the house gets pretty cold.
All in all, very effective.
An added bonus is to save some of the ashes in a metal trash can. After an ice storm, you can sprinkle wood ash onto pavement (or gravel road) for instant, excellent traction.
After a few ashes are put down, I can walk up my iced, sloping driveway in penny loafers. Also, the ash is darker than the snow and ice, so the “solar shovel” gets to help out, too.
How long does stored kerosene last? I have a couple of 5 gal cans that are about 5 years old.
If there are no wide temperature fluxuations that might cause water condensation kerosene and fuel oil will last forever. And No1 fuel oil can usually be used in place of kerosene but might be a bit stinky. And No2 fuel oil can be used in old diesel engines. I don’t know about new ones, you would have to ask a mechanic about that. I know what I have just said after over 50 years experience doing it regularly .—ken
Thanks Ken
Wood
Wood don’t need no stinking thermo coupler!
I concur, 23 degrees outside, 72 degrees in the house and basement.
“In addition to the heater, I always keep fire extinguishers, CO detector, fuel siphon, and other related materials handy in a large ammo can.”
fire extinguisher – very smart
carbon monoxide monitor – very smart
Glad to see the Commander is still on his game 🙂
Commander, I’m totally in sync with you in that I own and regularly use kero heaters, Aladdin lamps and Dietz hurricane/railroad lanterns to knock the chill off. I add just a little alcohol when I fill a 3-5 gallon jug to offset any condensation. What I haven’t been able to find a definitive answer on is whether kero containing Sta-bil or Pri-G creates dangerous fumes indoors.
You don’t need Sta-Bil in your kerosene. Kerosene and fuel oil don’t go bad. It’s the additives in gasoline and diesel fuel that go bad. Those Dietz lanterns are the best. I have one with a 1911 date on it that my grandfather gave me in 1959 to run my trap line with and it’s as good as new. I have several more and I buy the same model so that the globes are interchangeable even after 100 years. I made a comment above in which I said I had over 50 years experience. That was a mis-type. It’s over 60 years. Old fingers and old eyes….—ken
I live in south Texas in an all electric home. Being from Chicago, originally, I thought I was well prepared for winter storm Uri a couple of years ago. And I was, except for one thing…I was in one of those areas that CPS turned off the power to and left it off for more than 4 days. No heat. I had not anticipated that, as never in my time living up north did we lose electrical power during a storm. Since then, I have bought a couple of Mr. Buddy heaters (and a CO alarm, I already had the fire extinguishers.) And a bunch of the 1lb bottles. Haven’t had to use them yet, but I will likely run one just for the experience around Christmas. One thing I realized during that time was that if I needed help, no cavalry would be coming. You have to be your own cavalry.
Kerosene folks go visit miles stairs wick shop for info and spare wicks, ignitor buttons etc. I use the round dynaglo model non electric fan type, so it is grid down useful, and have many spare wicks to last a lifetime. I forgo the batteries lighting and use those extended barbecue type lighters, simple. Kerosene does keep forever, get it in metal drums, not those diet sized plastic jugs at stores. And for those wood burner folks, plan for regulations to come hot and hard. There will be carbon taxation schemes imposed on residential wood/solid fuel-pellets users just like industry and utilities. It will be a fee attached to property taxes due, pay up or be evicted. The funds will be skimmed of course but rebates to greener furnace retrofits will be offered. The tax assessors website already has your wood stove and fireplaces listed, the flir-thermal cameras and drones will find the unlisted underground guerrilla type heaters. Study the agenda 2030 type of plans for your future. Who is going to stop it? Republicans? Voting? Plan accordingly and stay frosty.
I sure hope you are wrong about those wood burner regulations but I found out a couple months ago that the new outdoor wood burning furnace model I got to replace my worn out one is now illegal. So you probably nailed it. —ken
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That hurt to read.
Okay, I don’t understand. You are burning kerosene in a portable heater indoors?
Doesn’t that release toxic fumes that aren’t being vented?
Something here I missed?
Kerosene heaters can be used indoors safely since most houses arent exactly airtight. Kerosene heaters that are functioning properly are safe in a house with minimal venting. Most houses are drafty enough that it isnt an issue, but you can always crack a window just in case. I play i safe and keep a CO detector going just in case. Really, its probably not much different than running a gas stove indoors.
DON’T fill if the unit is going to sit in a garage or potentially moist environment. We picked up a kerosene heater a week before the power cut out on 12/23 (bought from my sister, had been used for a brief period, then stored for several years).
It smoked. Badly enough that my asthmatic daughter and myself had to leave the room, as we were coughing uncontrollably.
If the heater is partially or fully filled, moisture can get into the system, and it WILL smoke, until it’s been fully dried out.
We learned.