[Justme11]

If the power goes out during an ice storm and extended freeze, that is one of the few ways to keep your water lines from breaking.

Power can go out pretty easily in an ice storm and stay off for a week.

Moderator Note Please read post 79.

 

[Rural Buckeye Guy]

Great idea. Ice storms are nasty. Hard to move around on, easy to break a bone or worse, often drags down power lines to the house. Fixed quickly in suburbs snd cities but could be days or a week in a rural town or property. My in-laws rely on a generator to run thier furnice. They have a wood stove too but they only keep a cord on thier covered porch, which is more than enough to supplement a heater but goes fast to heat thier house to its usual sauna temperature. They are elderly so we got them a hsnd pump to refuel it out of the 30 gallon gas containers. Eh. Thier choice.

 

[thequintessentialman]

Trying to get mine going now. %#@! pitcock will not pass fuel. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot. Lunch and then back on it.

Have portable kerosene and LP back up heaters so hopefully good... if it doesnt outlast my fuel reserves.

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[BadgeBunny]

Not Texas but in the path nonetheless. Already have wood in and genny set up -- just in case. Though they say ours will be more of a snow event than ice. Thank God. We were without power for 2 weeks from the ice storm in October. And I couldn't help at all. That was the most miserable we've been in our 20+ years of being together. And we've seen a few things in our time.

 

[woodyp]

I wish to God I could figure out how to hook the generator up to the gas furnace. I mean I can get to the blower on it by unplugging it from socket. Doesn't mean it's gonna turn on if I can't power the thermostat which I understand has some kind of 24 volt step down on it from 120. Two portable gennys...neither wired to the breaker panel. Unfeasible location. Got a fireplace and two big Mr. Heaters though. And I ain't backfeedin' nuthin' btw!

 

[Hammer 1]

I wish to God I could figure out how to hook the generator up to the gas furnace. I mean I can get to the blower on it by unplugging it from socket. Doesn't mean it's gonna turn on if I can't power the thermostat which I understand has some kind of 12 volt step down on it from 120. Two portable gennys...neither wired to the breaker panel. Unfeasible location. Got a fireplace and two big Mr. Heaters though. And I ain't backfeedin' nuthin' btw!

Can u pull the breaker and wire it direct. We have outside meter loops here. My furnace breaker is out side.


Just reread your whole post. Been a long day.

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[NW GUY]

HUH..
MY thermostats are direct wired to the furnaces and get their power from the main furnace board.
otherwise, how does the thermostat communicate with the furnace?

 

[NW GUY]

WHAT REALLY injures a lot of folks in ice storms other than falling limbs etc, is simply falling on the slick ice.

Every spring we go through skating rink ice as the snow melts off the top and at night the freeze puts a new ice sheet on the ground.

If you play golf, you are covered, same for any other footgear that uses metal cleats or spikes.
I have a dedicated pair of muck boots from Tractor Supply that I screwed hex head screws into the lug part of the soles.
Easy to slip on, but you won't slip wearing them. Even the dogs will slip and slide around but I keep my footing.

 

[woodyp]

My whole breaker panel is inside the house in a closet. I just don't understand how the whole thermostat thing comes into play. I ASSUME it ties into a different hot wire using its step down transformer then runs to the heater itself in which case I don't know how to power the furnace blower and tie into the thermostat with a generator in one place. Yep...I'm an electrical idiot! But I'm alive! Pretty sure I can't hook up to its 12 volt line into the heater control panel with 110 off genny if that's the way it works.

 

[Hammer 1]

Well I went to my property out in the country. Small 2 room mobile home on 1/2 acre I've owned for 25 years. One of my lovely neighbors has helped themselves to my wall mounted propane heater. Was going to get it set up for my mother just in case. Ended up buying one from the propane shop. 20,000 btu for $450. Its free standing or wall mount. The lines to get propane have been a steady 10 vehicles deep for 2 days. Glad I have bottles filled.

Wife just picked up the 3 and 4 yr old grandkids to go along with the 2yr old we have. Im being a total jerk to my wife's daughter and SIL. I've been preaching hard times to them for 4 years. Same old BS answers,"we're coming to your house".
Not so grasshopper!
I can only keep 800ft warm in my house in a total outage. Expecting mid 20s for the high next few days in NE Texas. Every thing is fueled up. Wrapped the wife's hen house, promised her I'd light a fire in a grill if her girls get to shivering. Got games and books for the children. Guess I need to get the percolator out of the camper. Hope it doesn't get to bad. I volunteered for after hours service. 2 hr minimum OT every time I leave the house to do emergency water shut offs.

Y'all stay safe.


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[maintenanceguy]

Two possibilities:

Unless you have something really weird, the thermostat either gets its power from the heater or it is battery operated and requires no power. The 12 volt power also comes from the heater. Get your heater powered up and everything else will work.

I re-wired my heater so that it is now plug connected. I have a twist-lock receptacle mounted above my furnace and the furnace plugs into that. When power goes out, I run an extension cord and plug the heater into the generator instead.

 

[Aberro]

I wish to God I could figure out how to hook the generator up to the gas furnace. I mean I can get to the blower on it by unplugging it from socket. Doesn't mean it's gonna turn on if I can't power the thermostat which I understand has some kind of 24 volt step down on it from 120. Two portable gennys...neither wired to the breaker panel. Unfeasible location. Got a fireplace and two big Mr. Heaters though. And I ain't backfeedin' nuthin' btw!

Most modern furnaces just have a 110v plug you could plug into an exstenion cord, t-stat gets its power from the gas furnace. (Or wire it to a 110v plug.). It will work fine on a generator. (HVAC tech here). The 110v plug serves as a cheap disconnect which is required by code.

‘Folks with electric heat are screwed. 2 heat strips is 10kw,

The only problem is gas supply, I have seen low natural gas pressure in extreme cold weather, (so many furnaces running) causing gas lighting off problems.

Those with a propane tank will not see that problem, unless it down to -40 degrees. Propane will not boil, put off gas, at that point.

 

[thess02]

I wish to God I could figure out how to hook the generator up to the gas furnace. I mean I can get to the blower on it by unplugging it from socket. Doesn't mean it's gonna turn on if I can't power the thermostat which I understand has some kind of 24 volt step down on it from 120. Two portable gennys...neither wired to the breaker panel. Unfeasible location. Got a fireplace and two big Mr. Heaters though. And I ain't backfeedin' nuthin' btw!

Kinda late for this weather but one of these can power your furnace blower and controls. You can use the genny's remaining outlets for other power needs. Amazon.com: EZ Generator Switch - Generator Manual Transfer Switch Universal UL/CSA Approved: Garden & Outdoor

Or.....spend some more money on a setup like this. I have this setup for our current 8kW electric start genny....easy for the wife to use. Amazon.com: Reliance Controls Corporation 31406CRK 30 Amp 6-circuit Pro/Tran Transfer Switch Kit for Generators (7500 Watts).,Gray: Garden & Outdoor

 

[Offrink]

I understand this is a big even for you in the south but honestly, here in Michigan, it typically isn’t a big deal. This is one of those things that me and mine plan for. Whole house back up generators, 6 more back up generators of varying sizes over three houses, 2-3 torpedo heaters each, 3-4 kerosene heaters each, wood stove in one house. With winter temps possible for 6 months it is incredibly important.

 

[blacklab]

If the power goes out during an ice storm and extended freeze, that is one of the few ways to keep your water lines from breaking.

Power can go out pretty easily in an ice storm and stay off for a week.

One of the things I do to help keep water lines from freezing when the power goes out is open faucets so a trickle of water is coming out. Having the water running helps

 

[Panchovilla]

Two possibilities:

Unless you have something really weird, the thermostat either gets its power from the heater or it is battery operated and requires no power. The 12 volt power also comes from the heater. Get your heater powered up and everything else will work.

I re-wired my heater so that it is now plug connected. I have a twist-lock receptacle mounted above my furnace and the furnace plugs into that. When power goes out, I run an extension cord and plug the heater into the generator instead.

This is exactly what I have set up. Just plug the Genny into a transfer switch on the furnace. Thankfully I have a gas furnace. If I lose power it takes about 300w to run the blower. Thermostat runs off furnace.

 

[Aberro]

This is exactly what I have set up. Just plug the Genny into a transfer switch on the furnace. Thankfully I have a gas furnace. If I lose power it takes about 300w to run the blower. Thermostat runs off furnace.

Cross your fingers gas pressure does not drop due to heavy furnace usage.

 

[Panchovilla]

Cross your fingers gas pressure does not drop due to heavy furnace usage.

Meh, go to plan B or C. It's already worked before though.

 

[redfin]

My whole breaker panel is inside the house in a closet. I just don't understand how the whole thermostat thing comes into play. I ASSUME it ties into a different hot wire using its step down transformer then runs to the heater itself in which case I don't know how to power the furnace blower and tie into the thermostat with a generator in one place. Yep...I'm an electrical idiot! But I'm alive! Pretty sure I can't hook up to its 12 volt line into the heater control panel with 110 off genny if that's the way it works.

Probably need someone who is familiar with electtricity,the thermostat should be powered by a 24 volt transformer that has its power supplied from the furnace breaker.it’s doable but lots of room for injury,damage to equipment,electrocution!

 

[lasers]

The cold caused our power to go out this morning. It was -10F and predicted to get down to -33F tonight. Once I determined it wasn't anything in the building causing the problem I called the power company and they said they would try and get someone out this afternoon.

After I hung up the phone I hooked up a vent less propane heater in the kitchen. Then I brought the solar battery bank into the living room and set up a couple lights encase we didn't have power back before it got dark, as well as to power the TV and a fan. Then I also set up a kerosene heater in the living room because the propane one wasn't enough.

We got power back around 5:00. There was a loose connection at the transformer and everyone using more power to keep their housed warm caused it over heat. Instead of disconnecting power completely it dropped one leg to 56 volts so things in the house were trying run but couldn't.

I am glad I had everything ready. Even 5 hours without heat would have had me quite concerned in the cold weather. As it was my only real concern was if I should also hook up the propane stove so we could cook supper or not.(we ended up just making sandwiches)

The one neighbor left home after a couple hours without heat and my other neighbor was very concerned of their plumbing freezing if power was out all night.