Tough fish during arctic power outage!

[addy1]

Addy and others who have mentioned the ventless fireplaces, I'm seriously considering one of them as well. Not really sure where I would put it, as it probably should be in the living room, but all walls are taken up. Would have to do some furniture moving. I've seen them, too, where the tv can be placed on top of them, or maybe those are just decorative fireplaces, not really ones that would heat well. Anyhow, that wall would be the ideal spot, put the tv above, but then I would need a new tv, as my tv is the old type, not a flat screen. All costs money ... I already have propane heat, though, so would not need to add that at least! I also keep my house cool, turn heat down to 60 during the day in winter, and only up to 65 in the evening and morning when I'm awake. I wish I had found a thermometer to see what temp those fish were surviving, or barely surviving in!

The one we have is a ventless stand alone, you can not put anything on top if it is on, the stove gets hot. It keeps our house real toasty, we love the heat it gives off. We normally have it set between 68-70 it bounces a little.

We bought it 4 plus years ago used to just run it off of propane tanks for bbq's.

 

[CountryEscape]

Yep, I think the fireplaces I've seen as tv stands are more ornamental, don't put off much heat, but not certain. They sure have a lot of them on display and in ads around here. Will have to check into them. If I put one in, I want it to heat, not just LOOK like it's heating. LOL
And, I do realize that anything that puts off heat (aquarium heaters, tank heaters, etc.) takes more power, so will keep that in mind, too. And, if I ever get a generator, it's going to run my furnace and just a few lights in the house, water pump, and pond stuff. LOL

 

[addy1]

We have a nice almost whole house generator, need my electrician husband to hook the sucker up.

 

[CountryEscape]

Yep, that's the problem, Addy. I've heard if a generator is not hooked up correctly, it can send power backwards into the electric lines, and harm the people trying to get electric back up! And, I don't think you can have the generator on when the electricity comes back on, right? They just scare me. I would have to have an electrician explain how they work and convince me I could start it (electric start would be a must-have) and move it to where it needed to be safe before I would spend any money on one. The automatic ones that come on and shut off, electrician would have to install, that would be the way to go, I guess. No running cords or starting gas engines. But, they are expensive, too! I'm at the end (one more house past me) of this line, so usually the last to get back up, but so far have never been out more than a day. We survived, and it was arctic -15 temps, so unless it had been out for days and days, I think I will see about what to do for the future. Maybe I will win the lottery and get one with the winnings. Wait ... I need to play the lottery then, and I don't. :blueflower:

 

[sissy]

I have a wood burning fireplace and want to change it to a pellet stove but real estate realtor told me the fire place is what people want here because of abundant source of wood .But pellet stoves give off tons more heat and pellets are 5 dollars for 50 bag here and can last 2 or 3 months since they burn every thing with no ash left behind and you can buy a self feeding hopper .I would love one but not sure it would be worth the investment .I don't really have another open wall that leads outside to put one since there are so many windows in this house .I have 14 windows and 2 sliding glass doors so every room has windows that take up most of the wall space

 

[CountryEscape]

Well, I definitely do not want a wood stove. Had one for the 24 years I was married, and I became a perfectionist at it, and therefore was the only one eventually who fed it, during the night, too. It was our only source of heat eventually (ex remodeled, cut the water pipes for the hot water heat, and never reconnected them ....). I don't want to have to buy firewood, nor cut it myself. More work than it's worth at this stage of my life. I know the ventless propane heaters are pretty reasonable, and for what I would use it for, much more practical. In fact, I could set it up in the basement, and the heat would rise to the upstairs in a power outage like we had.

 

[sissy]

Propane here is very expensive and my problem is that the tank has to be set up so far from windows and doors and with all the hunters here putting it out in your yard can be a hazard .My neighbors had there's hit by a stray bullet .I thought about a pellet stove in the basement also because heat would rise .There is insulation in the floor joists but I really don't think it would matter that much .I think it would still come up and heat the upstairs .Plus if I put it down there it would add to the value of the house since it can be finished off .I could also get the pellets delivered to an out side holding tank and have them directly fed to the stove .Plus pellets are cheaper that way .But is it really worth the cost to do .It could end up costing around 3 thousand dollars .

 

[HARO]

We had a corn stove years ago, similar to a pellet stove, but burns corn. When we first got it, corn was $3.50 for a 55 Lb. bag, and it was cheaper to use the stove than the electric baseboards. The price of corn kept creeping up, and when it hit $5.50 a bag, I figured it was more expensive than electric, plus I had to go and get it once a week., so it went into our son's workshop, for occasional use. I see now the price of corn is $15.00 a bag, AND tha bag now holds 25 Lb.!!!
John

 

[DrCase]

Glad you made it kinda Country
Last Sunday we were 45 deg I thought I could keep the ponds running for the cold blast just 2 days
I looked at my pond at 6 Monday morning ok , by 7 waterfall froze up and already lost 1000 gal or so
just got back them back running again today
I worked in the yard in a t shirt today warm air is coming up

 

[DrCase]

I do have a unvented infrared Nat gas stove at my house for emergencies
and I run a LP gas unvented heater at my farm apartment all winter it works greats

 

[sissy]

corn is expensive because they use it for everything now but pellets are a byproduct of foresters cutting down trees and they go in and take all the stuff they leave behind .They just opened a place here and looked online and they sell 50 lb bag for 2.99 /My sisters hubby just told me before when they were here .If you buy the storage container it can hold anywhere from 150 lbs to 350 lbs and it comes out to 1.75 a lb . but the automatic feed hopper is 59 dollars to buy it .Here lp tanks have to be 4 ft away from opening in a house and have to accessable for fill ups .It would have to be on my drive way side and there are way to many openings and it cannot be with in 15 ft of the driveway and carport .That means for me it would have to be out near the woods .Not a good idea here .I had wanted to change my fireplace into a propane fireplace and they could not find a place to put the tank .

 

[CountryEscape]

Propane trucks here have very long hoses that they pull out to fill the tanks, so it can be in the backyard and they can park in the front and reach it.
I just heard on the news, corn was the highest in 2012 because of the drought, and this year it's less than half that much. They make it sound like prices dropped through the floor, but the prices raised through the roof in 2012, not much corn produced. Now it's more back to normal.
I would worry about pellet companies getting enough stoves out there, and then raising the prices on the pellets. Supply and demand ....

 

[addy1]

Our generator is one of those auto on auto off ones. We don't lose power often, if at all just a burp. Lines are under ground in our neighborhood. The only time we lost it for a few hours was a car wreck.

 

[CountryEscape]

The first year I moved out here, the neighbors both told me to get a generator. They said since we were the end of the line, we would be the last to be brought back up. Well, in the two storms now that have happened since I moved 4.5 years ago, the electric was out 8 hours first time, 22 this last time. There were areas near me, within 10 miles, that lost power for 5 days or more in each storm, so I feel very fortunate. I cannot stay the way I am now, though, I need to do something to be safer in the future. I value my aquariums and ponds probably more and worry more about them than I worry about myself and my dogs, I guess because they depend on me 100%, and the dogs have their own coats for warmth, except the Boston and inside cat, who both snuggled right along with me. :blueflower: