kcjenkins Posted January 4, 2014 Report Share Posted January 4, 2014 http://www.whydontyoutrythis.com/2013/11/how-to-easily-heat-your-home-using-flower-pots-and-tea-lights.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Taxed Posted January 4, 2014 Report Share Posted January 4, 2014 Kids on my street were throwing in the air a cup of cold water to see it instantly freeze yesterday evening! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kcjenkins Posted January 4, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 4, 2014 Seems like a box or two of tea lights and a few flower pots and loaf pans would be a smart, inexpensive part of any emergency kit. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jklcpa Posted January 4, 2014 Report Share Posted January 4, 2014 I have a friend in Toronto that was without power a week or two ago and tried that exact flower pot idea. She was trying to keep 2 pet birds warm. It did give off some heat but was not enough. Maybe the room was too large. If you look at that room in the video, the ceiling isn't that high and goes to a point and the room is small, so the cubic feet he is heating isn't all that large. My friend retreated to her business location and camped out there overnight until power was back on at her home. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Taxed Posted January 4, 2014 Report Share Posted January 4, 2014 I would NOT recommend anyone to try that in a room that does not have proper ventilation. You may be nice and warm but you could be breathing all the soot and CO from the candles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack from Ohio Posted January 4, 2014 Report Share Posted January 4, 2014 I would NOT recommend anyone to try that in a room that does not have proper ventilation. You may be nice and warm but you could be breathing all the soot and CO from the candles. So burning candles in your home is now a health risk?? I guess that is due to the manmade global warming phenomenon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Taxed Posted January 4, 2014 Report Share Posted January 4, 2014 So burning candles in your home is now a health risk?? I guess that is due to the manmade global warming phenomenon. You can heat your home with candles but I am not going to subject my family to that See what the Govt. thinks of that idea: http://nepis.epa.gov/Adobe/PDF/P1009D5G.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TAXMAN Posted January 4, 2014 Report Share Posted January 4, 2014 I have heard of water freezing b4 hitting ground this way but never seen it done. Must be a neat trick. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcb39 Posted January 4, 2014 Report Share Posted January 4, 2014 I have heard of water freezing b4 hitting ground this way but never seen it done. Must be a neat trick.They showed that and several other "tricks" on our local news the other night. Today is OK, but Mon, everything is already preparing to shut down for the polar plunge in temps. Records are shattering daily. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lloyd Hudson Posted January 4, 2014 Report Share Posted January 4, 2014 About 40 years ago I drove over the road truck. Soup can with pillar candle kept cab warm (warmer) in sub zero weather. Stranded in snow in Wyoming. More concerned about freezing than carbon Monoxide. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Taxed Posted January 4, 2014 Report Share Posted January 4, 2014 Make sure you set the cold water faucet at the highest level of your house to drip slowly at night, otherwise you risk freezing the pipes that may be buried in the exterior walls. I saw the plumber at my neighbors this morning, and I think i know what happened there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack from Ohio Posted January 4, 2014 Report Share Posted January 4, 2014 You can heat your home with candles but I am not going to subject my family to that See what the Govt. thinks of that idea: http://nepis.epa.gov/Adobe/PDF/P1009D5G.pdf You need some education in science, and you need to get out more.... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catherine Posted January 4, 2014 Report Share Posted January 4, 2014 If you do need to use the candle-heater trick (great idea!) choose a smaller room and if it's that cold hang blankets over doorways. Have also heard of folks putting up a tent in living room and camping out; body heat will keep a tent warm inside a house. When I lived in central Mass., we would have the power go out for days at a time in winter, several times a season. Anytime a storm was predicted, we had clean plastic buckets i the tub, full of water. Wood stove ready. Long-burn candles ready. You can cook lots of stuff on a wood stove top - and more in a gas or charcoal grill outside. Annoying for many days but completely do-able. Easier in winter in some ways as there are no worries about food spoiling; put it in a cooler full of snow! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Taxed Posted January 4, 2014 Report Share Posted January 4, 2014 Do you remember the October 2011 snowstorm in MA with a foot of snow and power outage for a week! Cooked all three meals on my gas grill outside on the deck and filled two large coolers with snow and none of my meat products were spoiled. We all slept in one room in sleeping bags! I could not believe how many people were claiming for food spoilage? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clay Posted January 4, 2014 Report Share Posted January 4, 2014 We have fleece bedsheets , with a blanket and comforter - VERY warm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Taxed Posted January 4, 2014 Report Share Posted January 4, 2014 You need some education in science, and you need to get out more.... I will take your suggestion and checkout some science education at my Community College, if that will help me figure out why burning candles in the winter in a sealed room (no fresh air ventilation) is not bad for my health! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grmy2h Posted January 4, 2014 Report Share Posted January 4, 2014 Be sure your heat pumps are clear of snow and ice. If its removable with a broom, remove it. Do not try to pry snow or ice off as you could damage your system. If the snow or ice is not removable, switch your t-stat to emergency heat until the snow or ice has been removed to avoid your system running when covered with snow/ice. Emergency heat will bring on your heat strips or back-up gas or whatever your back-up source is and the heat pump will not run. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Taxed Posted January 4, 2014 Report Share Posted January 4, 2014 May be the newer homes in MA have heat pumps but most older homes have either gas or oil fired furnaces for winter heat. I replaced my oil heat with gas heat about 12 years back and now I am saving money considering how the heating oil prices spiked in the last few years. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SFA Posted January 4, 2014 Report Share Posted January 4, 2014 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catherine Posted January 5, 2014 Report Share Posted January 5, 2014 Do you remember the October 2011 snowstorm in MA with a foot of snow and power outage for a week! Cooked all three meals on my gas grill outside on the deck and filled two large coolers with snow and none of my meat products were spoiled. We all slept in one room in sleeping bags! I could not believe how many people were claiming for food spoilage? I do indeed. We missed the storm itself, as we were in NY state visiting Gwen at college (she was at Wells for her freshman year; now at Keene State in NH - MUCH closer). Got back the day after the storm. We still had power but the block behind us and the block across from us were both bereft for a week. Had two neighbors' freezer goods in my freezer for that week. Folks across the street borrowed by kerosene lantern for light at night. No gas in our neighborhood; the line stops about a 1/4 mile from here. When we moved here oil was $1.18/gal. Last delivery we got was $3.90/gal -- up almost four-fold in ten years. Makes propane look intriguing, I'll tell you. Three times in ten years folks surrounding us have had week-long power outages. First one was a truck that took out a pole that brought power across Rt 2. Then two storms - one of the hurricanes took out the whole area behind us, then the Halloween snow/ice storm took out behind us and across from us. We have a working fireplace, gas grill (and gas burner than I use for canning as my electric stove can't handle the prolonged heat needed), candles and kerosene lanterns -- and skills honed by years in the hinterlands of central Mass where the power went out all the time. A week without power with an infant and a toddler grows you some mighty coping skills. Double when you get that once in summer and once in winter in the same year. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Taxed Posted January 5, 2014 Report Share Posted January 5, 2014 >>> No gas in our neighborhood; the line stops about a 1/4 mile from here. When we moved here oil was $1.18/gal. Last delivery we got was $3.90/gal -- up almost four-fold in ten years. Makes propane look intriguing, I'll tell you. My first house we did not have Gas either then a neighbor on my street took up a signature campaign for 2 streets (may be 40 houses) to bring gas line from the main road to the side streets. We committed to converting from oil to gas if they would run the pipe to the house. This was 1979 and submitted the proposal to Baystate Gas. After 1.5 year they did it. You guys need to get signatures going with a commitment and submit to your local Gas co and see if they would extend the gas line. $3.90/G will bankrupt you if this cold continues! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Posted January 5, 2014 Report Share Posted January 5, 2014 We had our mini-split air to air heat pump installed in September this year. Definitely not a new house (built in the 1860s) They go for about $3000 installed, (and then a $600 rebate from Efficiency Maine, bringing it to $2400) and ours heats our entire downstairs until it gets down below -5 degrees or so outside and then we need to run the furnace (oil, forced hot air). It'll actually keep heating down to -15 degrees but it gets less efficient at those temperatures, and can't move enough heat to keep up in our old house. We spent about an extra $100 in electricity in the month of December and used almost no heating oil (about 1/16 of a tank since October) Compare that to last year which was a lot more mild, we went through about $300 in fuel oil in December. It won't be long before the thing pays for itself. As a bonus, it'll do air conditioning and dehumidifying in the summer, and a quite a bit more efficiently than a window or floor unit. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kcjenkins Posted January 5, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 5, 2014 You can heat your home with candles but I am not going to subject my family to that See what the Govt. thinks of that idea: http://nepis.epa.gov/Adobe/PDF/P1009D5G.pdf Good grief, is there nothing you can not find to criticise? I did not suggest using candles as a regular source of heat, but if you are without heat in a storm, it's certainly healthier to breath a little smoke than to freeze! And for such a situation, that link is irrelevant, because, 1 tea candles do not use lead wicks, 2 tea candles do not contain incense, and 3 we are not talking about prolonged use, plus they said in your link "studies regarding potential human health effects associated with soot from candles were not found in the literature search." If you are in a real serious situation, of course you are going to choose a small space to keep warm, and breathing in candle soot is a lot safer than most other options like propane or sterno. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Taxed Posted January 5, 2014 Report Share Posted January 5, 2014 In my part of the country we see too often people using indoor open flame gizmos to get heat setting their house on fire. I used to have kerosene heaters 20 yrs back. Now it is used only in the garage to keep the pipes from freezing. If it is a question of freezing to death or inhaling little bit of soot then I can understand. Like one poster said he spent the night in his truck stranded with a candle. But that video, he was in a room, far cry from being frozen to death. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lion EA Posted January 5, 2014 Report Share Posted January 5, 2014 This morning was interesting. In the hour we were in church, the sleet coated everything with ice. We couldn't go down the church stairs. We went through the basement and up a shorter flight of stairs that was partially under the building so less slippery. Then, tried to find as much snow-covered grass as possible to walk on to get to the ice-rink quality parking lot. Going up my steep hill was a real challenge also. And, everything, roads, church property, everything, had been nice and clean and dry and sanded and cindered and "ice melt"ed before church began. After, even the handrails were ice covered, so you couldn't get a good grip to hold yourself up from falling. My yard now has a shiny sheet of ice over the snow. I'm really glad we have a gravel driveway and not blacktop coated with ice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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