On Mon, 31 Dec 2012 18:24:12 -0500, "Stormin Mormon"
wrote:


There are a number of ways to heat your living areas..and the big one
is.."minimize them"

Ayup. My thought was to put up the tent in the smallest room, my
office.
CY: Could help.

In the case of a power failure when your heater blower is down etc
etc...move your living area into the kitchen. Hang blankets or old
sleeping bags from the doors leading to the rest of the house to seal
the kitchen off from the rest of the house. Then use your (gas) stove
to keep the kitchen warm. You DO have a gas stove..right? Or a Gas
Oven?
If not..you could...could be well and truely ****ed when it gets
cold. Pull a couch or recliner into the kitchen to sleep in. You do
have Co2/CO detectors..right? Put one in the kitchen before closing
off the rest of the house.

If you live in an Electric House..you have another complication or 10,
besides higher costs for power in most of the US.

Gas furnace, electric everything else. And I'm on a well, so water is
what I keep around or can drain from the water heater.
CY: I save juice and soda bottles. Fill, stack, put in cabinets.

heat just that room. Having a bathroom means you can use the terlet
as long as you keep a faucet running and if your water supply freezes
up..you can use the water you filled the bathtub with. You did fill
the bathtube..right?
CY: A tsp of "RV holding tank fluid" makes the toilet a lot more pleasant.


**** in a 5 gallon bucket and keep adding a bit of kitty litter after
each "deposit" and when its filled, take it out and dump it in the
garden, then reuse the bucket as your toilet.
I need to get one of those nice little terlit seats for a 5gal bucket.
I saw one for $8 somewhere, and I have plenty of 13gal kitchen bags to
line it and cover it in between uses.
CY: Some RV fluid helps, a lot. And fill the bathtube.



It really doesnt take a lot of "energy" to heat a single bedroom,
particularly a small one. In many cases..2 people can do it with just
body temperature down to about 20F..add a couple dogs/cats and a TV

Sorry, no dogs, cats, (or TV, without electricity.)

CY: Oh, well.



That being said..you can and SHOULD make a "heat spreader"

Take a 8-12" piece of black plastic PVC or cardboard tube, about 7'
long, and put a 4-6 inch 6 or 12vt muffin fan, or a number of them
and mount them at the top or bottom of the pipe. Stand it up in a
corner and run the fans, so they pull the air down from the ceiling
and push it out at floor level. It doesnt take much fan to get a cycle
going and keeping that warm air moving from the ceiling back to the
floor, where your toes are.

Good idea. I've seen these for homes and have suggested them to
clients with cathedral ceilings to help them save heating bills.
CY:Sounds good.


Save your 45 watts for powering the muffin fans, the radio and a LED
lamp or two for reading, popping zits and counting the holes in the
ceiling tiles when fits of boredom set in.

I have battery powered ham radio and weather radio. And plenty of LED
lamps, booklights, floods, etc.
CY: Good man.

One assumes that you will be using those massive watts to charge at
least a couple 12vt batteries, right? If not..when the sun goes down
or the clouds are overhead...you have zippo for power. Stock up on
batteries, stock up on Coleman fuel and mantals. Add some batteries to
your megawatt power system.

Coleman fuel is so godawful expensive I gave away my lantern when I
saw it at $43/gal on Amazon. I have an alcohol stove, a propane
burner stove, a small propane BBQ, and a 20# propane tank which I keep
full. A single (so far) #29 deep cycle battery is connected to the
solar array for electrical storage.
CY: Camping stores, fuel less expensive there. Kmart, Walmart.

Or, for many, lead free motor fuel works just fine - at least in a
pinch.

During cold weather..close off that room and open a window and let it
cool off nicely. Then test all of your preps and make sure they will
take care of your situation when the power goes off. Better to do it
when you can experiment, then when you are suddenly in the dark and
nothing has been staged.

Everything above..Ive used in some of the coldest badlands in the US
and survived quite nicely.

OK.
CY: Other sources of heat include gas range, candles, oil wick lamps,
camping fuel or propane lamps. Propane torch, camping cook stove.



With adequate ventilation. There's always a few deaths on cold May 24
weekends from people sealing up the tent and running the heater to
stay warm.