Heating and Cooling

by Bryan A. Thompson

Last Updated 2/10/2003

 

Overview

If it's between 45F and 85F outside, you probably don't need to worry about heating and cooling issues during an extended energy outage.  In times of extreme heat or cold, it is essential to address heating or cooling issues.  Children and the elderly routinely die during these times without heating or cooling.

 

Heating

See the heating survey page for information on how much energy it takes to heat your home.

Heating in an Emergency

Don't try to heat the whole house.  Only heat one or two rooms.  I heated my 300sqft apartment with an 8000BTU propane heater in 0 degrees F weather.

Hot water - If you still have hot water but no heat, you can do the following things:  Get a hot water bottle, use it as a personal heater, or run a hot shower or bath and use a fan to distribute that heat.  This is not the most efficient use of resources.

Don't use a propane or charcoal BBQ grill for heating. Several families died in St Louis this winter (2002/2003) this way.

Heating Fuels

See the Fuel Comparison Chart (or as an Excel File) for more information.

Natural Gas - If you still have natural gas available during an outage, you're in luck.  Remember that it's still necessary to power the HVAC fan motor to distribute this heat.

Propane - If you have a propane furnace, you need propane and you need electricity to power the HVAC motor.  This is a great source for heat.  Indoor Propane heaters are available, but they still require a vent to the outside and so you will lose some heat through that vent. 

Wood - This always impressed me as dangerous, and the fuel takes a lot of space to store.  It's messy.  And there is a *lot* of heat in wood - 30 Million BTU / cord in hickory and birch if it's dried properly.  It's also one of the cheapest ways to heat.  However you lose 20% of the heat up the flue - they're only about 80% efficient. 

Electric Heater - These consume a lot of electricity.  If you can heat another way, do so.  If not, use oil-filled heaters (DeLonghi makes great ones) - they're more efficient than resistance coil models and stay hot longer, so they better allow for time-sharing of electrical sources. 

Kerosene Heaters - I've seen so many homes destroyed by heaters that I wouldn't think of using this for heating.

 

Cooling

See the heating survey page for information on how much energy it takes to cool your home.

Cooling in an Emergency

If it's not too hot, you might be able to get away with a fan for cooling.

If you still have cold water available, you can use frequent cold showers or baths to cool off. 

Cooling Fuels

See the Fuel Comparison Chart (or as an Excel File) for more information.

Electricity - If it's not too hot, you might be able to get away with a fan for cooling.

Humidifier - This works in some lower humidity (arid) climates, but only makes the situation worse when the humidity is high.  These require a small amount of energy to run the fan motor.

AC - If you have central air, you need a LOT of electrical energy to power the AC and HVAC fan.  If you have a small window unit, you might be able to power this from generator or battery/inverter power.  DeLonghi makes some portable AC units that duct heat through a hose to the outside, but they're expensive.

 

Heating Water

It takes 422.04 Watt Hours of energy to heat water from 32F to 212F.  It takes 229.77 Watt Hours of energy to heat water from 32F to 130F. 

See the heating survey page for more information on how much energy it takes to heat water for cooking or bathing.

Heating Water in an Emergency

For Bathing: 

Use a solar shower.  They cost about $15, hold 5 gallons, take about 3 hrs to heat water from 60F to 108F on a 70F day.  They're supposed to work on cool days, too. 

For Drinking:

Boil it in a pan.  If you have electricity, use the coffeemaker.  Otherwise, use the BBQ grill or wood stove as a fuel source. 

 

Refrigeration

Click here for more information on refrigeration in an emergency situation.

My refrigerator requires 23W of Electrical Energy when operating in steady-state mode.  This is a legitimate use for electricity and can easily be sustained by a UPS.

 

 

Insulation

It's a great idea to take care of insulation issues before emergencies happen.  Then it will require less energy to heat or cool your house and save you money in the process. 

Things that help insulation are weather stripping around doors and windows, storm windows, expanding foam in exterior cracks and around electrical boxes, more insulation in the attic, wrap an insulation blanket around the hot water heater, insulate HVAC ducts, etc.

Click here for more information on insulation.