- Oct 3, 2007
- 1,539
We've lived in Northwest NJ for almost five years now. In three of those five years we've had multi-day power outages due to storms. Now some of this is a function of the storms themselves-Hurricane Sandy this time, the October Noreaster last year, and "Snowmaggeden" before that. Some it is also a function of the fact that this is a rural area (though I live in a subdivision) and it just takes a while before they get us back on. The main problem with no power for extended periods for us is no ability to cook indoors easily (electric stove), no hot water (electric HWH), keeping the food cold, and keeping the basement dry. I'm beginning to seriously look at a standby generator setup powered by propane (no gas here)-maybe even with an automatic start. They're pretty pricey, but so is missing days of work every year to try to keep my house in one piece. Anybody have one of these units? I'm not looking to be able to run my house as if nothing happened, I just want to be able to run essential systems without running electrical cords through a window, down the basement steps, across the living room, etc... It would also be nice to have something with an enclosure that could run at night with little disturbance to others.
Finally, I'm really leaning toward converting the house to hot water baseboard for more than a few reasons anyway. I'm seriously considering a non-pressurized system with some homemade solar flat plate collectors for supplemental heat. Obviously we'll need power to run the boiler pump, but I'm hoping that wouldn't be a huge load. Much better insulation would be a good thing too so that the house could stay warmer longer when I'm not home to stoke the boiler. Any other good ideas besides stocking up on batteries?
Finally, I'm really leaning toward converting the house to hot water baseboard for more than a few reasons anyway. I'm seriously considering a non-pressurized system with some homemade solar flat plate collectors for supplemental heat. Obviously we'll need power to run the boiler pump, but I'm hoping that wouldn't be a huge load. Much better insulation would be a good thing too so that the house could stay warmer longer when I'm not home to stoke the boiler. Any other good ideas besides stocking up on batteries?