Winter Time, SHTF, What do you do?

[Maxx2893]

Have a built in fireplace and nearly unlimited firewood. Funny thus thread was made, about 1 and 1/2 months ago we had an ice storm that took down our power. Power was out for a out 24 hours. Inside the house got down to low 40's. Air mattress on either side of fire place (it's set in wall between 2 rooms) and my dad and I were pretty cozy. Just make sure to wake up and throw another log on before it completely dies down. And have plenty of covers, they shield you from the fire being too warm when logs first catch, and hold the heat in when it starts to die down.

 

[SilvrSRT10]

Have a built in fireplace and nearly unlimited firewood. Funny thus thread was made, about 1 and 1/2 months ago we had an ice storm that took down our power. Power was out for a out 24 hours. Inside the house got down to low 40's. Air mattress on either side of fire place (it's set in wall between 2 rooms) and my dad and I were pretty cozy. Just make sure to wake up and throw another log on before it completely dies down. And have plenty of covers, they shield you from the fire being too warm when logs first catch, and hold the heat in when it starts to die down.

This is why I wanted the wood stove instead of the fireplace insert. I think the wood stove will do a better job of radiating heat into the room whereas a fireplace sends a lot of heat up the chimney. The unit I bought has a fan on it to circulate heat into the room. Bt that's only good while the electricity is on.

But with it being a big steel box that gets heated on all sides, it will convect heat in 5 different directions. I'm also building a brick lined surround around it that will absorb and then dissipate heat as well. And my home is surrounded by trees so we should have an almost endless supply of fuel for it. Has anybody priced insulated chimney pipe lately? Holy cow! We're going to spend more for the chimney than we did on the stove.

 

[kwo51]

Mine has double walled on it. Fireplace coming out and stove going into its place. Now I just need to find one at Lowes or home depot.

 

[SilvrSRT10]

Mine has double walled on it. Fireplace coming out and stove going into its place. Now I just need to find one at Lowes or home depot.

What is it you're looking for? The wood stove or the chimney pipe?

 

[kwo51]

I have a fire place prefab that has been used for 20 years and it is coming out. The corner where it sits will be opened up and a wood stove set back in place.Using hearth and pipes that are here already.Looks like Home depot has the best prices.I need one the will take 20" logs.

 

[SilvrSRT10]

Worked on the fireplace box today. Got the cement board up on three sides and the brick just set in place to get an idea of how it will look.

 

[kwo51]

Outside wall? Ash gate outside ?

 

[SilvrSRT10]

Outside wall? Ash gate outside ?

It use to be an outside wall but we built a sunroom on the back of the house. The wood stove we got is freestanding on it's own pedestal and the ash drawer is beneath the fire box. What I'm building is just the fireproof area where the wood stove will sit.

 

[kwo51]

Cool job!

 

[SilvrSRT10]

I've got a flat screen TV above the mantle. Had to get under the house to run the HDMI and Coax up to it through one side of the fire box. Going to get a couple of those metal 2x4's to build the header that will bridge right over the wood stove. I'll wrap it in concrete board. Don't want anything combustible near it. Also need to build some heat shields for other wiring that's located behind the TV and above where the wood stove will be. Just need to deflect the direct heat away from them.

Then waiting for my chimney pipe to arrive from Home Depot. Then the real fun begins. For some reason the sunroom trusses over the chimney area are 12" on center. My triple wall chimney pipe is 10" wide. I still need to keep it 2 inches away from anything combustible. So a 10" pipe passing between 12" trusses adds up to cutting something out of the way. So I'm going to have to crawl into another tight space with my trusty sawzall to do some customizing.

 

[SilvrSRT10]

We got 5" of snow yesterday with more on the way. They were forecasting possible ice accumulation so I got the generator running in case we lost power. I also got 25 gallons of fuel to run it. Nothing happened. Also had my kerosene heater ready to fire up for heat and boiling water. It's a good feeling knowing you have back up resources for when your primary resources fail. Didn't worry one bit about losing power. I like being self sufficient.

 

[STF]

How do you hook the generator to your house? suicide cord?

 

[SilvrSRT10]

How do you hook the generator to your house? suicide cord?

I do have a cable patched into the circuit breaker panel but I would probably just run things off of extension cords. Our power company is very good a getting the power back on. In fact, it rarely goes off. But in the rare instance that it does, I can run stuff off extension cords.

What makes you say "suicide cord"?

Oh, I know 5" of snow is nothing for many of you. But it's a big deal here in NC.

 

[STF]

I've seen people have an extension cord that has a male plug on both ends and they just plug it into their dryer (220) plug and then into the generator. If your power is out and you plug it into the running generator first then the prongs are live with 220 and vice versa if the power comes back on in your house.

 

[SilvrSRT10]

I've seen people have an extension cord that has a male plug on both ends and they just plug it into their dryer (220) plug and then into the generator. If your power is out and you plug it into the running generator first then the prongs are live with 220 and vice versa if the power comes back on in your house.

Plus, many people don't cut off their main in the panel and backfeed power back out of the house which could kill a lineman working on the problem. This video is the right way to do it.
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-RPJ3qOKPs]How to wire a generator to an electrical panel - YouTube[/ame]

 

[kwo51]

Back feed Transformer 2 x 120 volt lines going in gets primary voltage out the top.Yes can ruin someones day. Good job in making people aware of the back feed problem. If you still have any problem pull the meter.

 

[NickPic83]

Good point to bring up. Not only can u hurt/kill the lineman u can have a big problem if they turn on power with your generator on it and the main on. 2 different sources of power in the same place is never good....

Sent from my XT1080 using Tapatalk

 

[oppo]

I have a fireplace, a lot of wood, trees, chainsaw, a well, and an alternate source of electricity. There is also a lake very close by.

 

[kwo51]

I think staying in Florida is part of my plan.