Heat: Post SHTF

[JohnyMac]

As we were all sharing our individual stories of the resent cold, I thought it would be a good time to discuss what you have planned for heat post a SHTF scenario.

Since most folks need electric to keep warm (Electric heat, motor that runs gas or oil burner, fan for forced air, ceiling fan for circulation, etc) what is your plan IF you have no electric?

Please use this cold snap as a wake-up call and take a minute to share with the forum what your plan is. Help out your brother/sister prepper here. 

[Well-Prepared Witch]

Well, we have a pretty well insulated house to start with.  It's something we planned when we built the house.  We have the fireplace, which would be our primary heat source, and a small woodlot that, we plan to carefully manage and expand over time. Depending on why the SHTF, we also have the solar panels, which we could hook up to run our geothermal, which would help a great deal.  Even now we use our sunroom, which is on the south side of the house, for passive heating, so when you open the doors somewhere around noon or one it really warms up the rest of the living areas. 

Assuming no power even from the solar panels, though, I'd seal off most of the house from the main living area with quilts to keep all the heat in the living/dining/kitchen. I'd hang heavy curtains (right now we just have blinds for privacy and our big kitchen window doesn't have anything) to insulate all the windows.  We'd have to keep the fire going 24/7 and live in the "cocoon" of the main living area, but we'd survive. 

[Well-Prepared Witch]

Oh - and assuming we have the alpacas and/or other fiber animals we plan to get, we'll have lots of hand knit warm socks, mittens, sweaters, etc.

[JohnyMac]

You and Mr. Wellie have it well planned out 
My one suggestion would be instead of the fireplace get a fireplace insert. You can leave the doors open when you just want ambiance. Then the doors can be closed and work like a wood stove. Wood stove inserts put out more BTU's and will not steal heat from the room as a fireplace does.

It's also good to know how much wood you will need for a 4-6 month period so it can be stacked, dried and ready to burn. There is nothing that sucks more then trying to cut wood, even previously downed trees, when it is single digits outside.

At the cabin we only have the one heat source as outlined in an earlier post - A jotul Oslo wood stove plus a milk barn electric heater in the bath room. We also have a 5 foot wide ceiling fan hanging from the ceiling in the great room (Living, dining, kitchen). This really does a great job of keeping the heat circulating around the cabin and not roasting out the second floor. 

Currently when it gets in single digits we close off one of the bedrooms on the first floor(Bunk room) plus the bedroom and bathroom in the loft/upstairs. So all in all, we would be good with the exception of the fan as we need electric for that. We do have a moderate solar system and have ran our fan off of it using a converter in the past. So in theory that wouldn't be an issue either as log as we gotz da' sun.

With all of that said, soon as the winter is over, I am going to keep an eye out for a kerosene heater on sale from one of the big box home improvement stores. I would not purposely use a kerosene heater as fuel will be tough to come by but in a SHTF situation...One is none and two is one. I have used one in the past and they burn relatively fume free. They hold about 1 1/2 gallons of kerosene which lasts about 12 hours or so. So in theory you would burn 3 gallons a day or 90 gallons a month if need be. Rather costly but heck I would rather have it and not need it then need it and not have it.     

Last, like you Wellie, our cabin is situated so in the winter we make good use of the sun in our great room via the windows that face south. 

Thanks again Wellie for sharing your situation and plan.

Mr/Mrs home owner with only electric powering your boiler or base boards...What is your plan? 

[Reaver]

Insulation from the warm bodies of my slaves.....

Seriously though I'll most likely stick to old fashioned fire wood and insulation through scraps of modern stuff as well as nature given.