Alternative heat for power outages

17 years ago

I've lived in the mountains for years but never had a GH in this climate. Before I was always in areas that power or lack of it were not a problem. Anybody have any ideas for alternative heat sources that will not kill the plants( mostly orchids ). Years ago when I lived in Cincinnati I had friends that tried to add more heat with a charcoal barbecue grill when the temps went down to zero and below (the river froze solid) and they lost most of what they had. Carbon monoxide will kill almost anything and can come from wood, propane, butane etc. Anybody tried anything else? All comments appreciated

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Comments (9)

trigger_m
17 years ago
When I built my 14 x 20' greenhouse,I built it with power outages in mind.Here in north Georgia,we normally experience at least one several day power outage every 2 years-sometimes every year.My primary heat source is a vent free propane heater.No electricity required.Been growing for several years now-and All my plants thrive.Never had a problem with carbonmonoxide.I Put my carbon monoxide detector out there-it's never gone off.Just had my proane tank filled Today.So-When I turn it on in November-I just set the thermostat,and forget it for the whole season.I go thru 150 gallons of propane for the whole heating season-Maintaining about 55F at night.We need Orchiddude to Post here-he's been growing Orchids for years using a ventfree propane heater in his greenhouse.
mtnorchids
Original Author
17 years ago
Hey thanks for the info. Not familiar with vent free propane. Can you tell me who makes them, size etc. My greenhouse is small so I wonder how it would work. Thanks for the info
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--We are emergency-ready at our house, including 72-hours of emergency food that doesn't require heating or refrigeration. We've used it several times during ice storms when the utilities were out for a number of days. --We have a bank of marine cell batteries we can recharge with solar panels as our back-up power. We can run our refrigerator for days on end. We also have a 5-in-One Portable Power Pack (available at Harbor Freight) that works well for auxiliary power to run a fan, sump pump, air up tires, jump-start a vehicle, etc... We can also recharge it with solar. We have an Igloo Chest that can be powered with battery back-up power to use to safely keep hot food hot, or you can switch it to the cold mode and use it like a small refrigerator. --All kinds of alternative cooking options. Options which can be used indoors or out. Everyone needs a chaffing dish and sterno (you can find chaffing dishes for a couple bucks at thrift stores). You'd be surprised how much you can cook using this safe-to-use indoors method. One can of Sterno can be used for approximately 6 meals of light cooking/reheating. Charcoal is one of the least expensive storage fuels per BTU. Store it in 5-gallon buckets to keep it dry. A large (20#) bag will cook 1 meal a day for a month. Add a COBB Grill and it will use 8-10 briquettes for 3 hours at 450° for extra economy over a standard charcoal grill. --Be sure to also have several good-quality Thermos bottles and/or thermal coffee urns/servers to safely store any HOT leftover food, or keep hot water hot. Once you've heated water, keeping it in a Thermos bottle means you can have instant soup, instant cocoa/coffee or other hot beverages, instant oatmeal, etc.). I also like to keep a few boxes Mini-Moo's - individual servings of 1/2 & 1/2 - that keep at room temperature. They can be used on cereal instead of milk, or in hot beverages. --BTW - It takes a lot of fuel/energy to heat water, so once you have it heated -- store it. We also have a number of hot water bottles that we'll fill to warm the bed, or just sitting around in a cold room with a blanket over you. The next morning you can use the still-warm water in the bottles for washing/shaving. We also keep a large box of "Hothands" or "Grabber" (there are different name brands) hand warmers (packets that provide heat for around 7-8 hours). With 3 solar ovens, I can heat water in those - hot enough to pasteurize it. --We also store emergency water in the basement in 5-gallon and 3-gallon jugs (100-gallons total), and have a 1,000-gallon capacity outdoors in our rain barrels. If we get an alert there is an ice storm, we'll fill our tubs with water and add some liquid bleach for purifying it, to use for flushing. We have several methods for purifying water without electricity. --Emergency propane heaters (which can be safely used indoors) and our gas fireplace we can use during a power outage. We've used all of these many times during power outages. --I keep a small flashlight tucked into the corner of the sofa. It seems like the electricity often goes out while we are watching TV, so the flashlight is easy to find. We also have ASCELLA LED light bulbs placed strategically around the house (bathrooms and lamps). While the power is on, the bulb charges itself. These bulbs stay lit for an average of 3-hours when the power goes out. You can unscrew it from the socket and use it as a flashlight, but they are especially handy in bathrooms when the power is out, and function well in lamps. They only draw 5 watts of electricity and have a brightness of 150 lumens, and 20,000 hours of life. --I have other solar-powered lights, battery-powered lamps, crank-style flashlights and radios, and I, too, tend to avoid open flames for emergency lighting - especially around curious pets and children. Any open flames are used on top of my kitchen stove. After friends used candles and oil lamps for lighting during a long power outage, their young children developed breathing problems and they had to repaint their home, all from the soot and toxins from candles and oil lamps. -Grainlady
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nathanhurst
17 years ago
Do you have any evidence that CO is toxic to plants? CO is poisonous to humans because it binds more readily to haeme than oxygen. Plants don't use haeme.
orchiddude
17 years ago
Trigger can tell you, its the best thing since PB and J. Gas heat is the best and the ventless heaters you get for the house work great. I have been using them for 4,5,6 or 7 years now, maybe longer. Would not trade it for nothing. Here are some pictures of mine.

The greenhouse is a mess right now, I start fall cleaning tommorrow. :-)

{{gwi:302954}}
The heater is a natural gas, vent free type that goes in the home. This is a 30,000 BTU. They make a smaller one that you could use for the small greenhouse. This one comes on and off as needed. I have a fan up and behind the heater to blow the heat out into the greenhouse. This is just a cheap $12 box fan. Works great.

{{gwi:302955}}
I always have to toss in one of my flowers. This beauty opened up sometime this week. I found it today. Is it not gorgeous or what.

I am looking for a great winter with my greenhouse this year.
agardenstateof_mind
17 years ago
What a striking orchid! I did't realize how large it was until I saw your (or someone's) hand just below holding the stem. Beautiful.

If the gas heater turns on and off automatically, does it use electricity for ignition? If so, what's the backup plan in the event of a power failure? It looks like a nice compact unit.

Diane
orchiddude
17 years ago
The heater is gas only, there is an ignition button but its not electric. You hit the button, it makes a spark and the gas burns. The fan is electric but if the electricity goes out, the gas keeps burning. This prevents the greenhouse from freezing even when the electricity goes out. The fan is not need to heat the greenhouse, but it helps move the warm air around, thus keeping the whole house warmer.

The flower is a large flower. Thats my hand, so you can see how big it really is.

Here is another one. Just opened last week. 4 flowers

{{gwi:302956}}
mtnorchids
Original Author
17 years ago
Orchiddude, your flowers are fantastic. Yellow colored lips are one of my favoritees. Thanks for the pic of the heater. I understand now what you were talking about. can these be connected to portable propane tanks?
orchiddude
17 years ago
Yes, mtnorchids, they can be connected to propane tanks. I think trigger has his hooked to a propane tank. Just make sure when you goto buy it, that you get the heater for propane.

Thanks for the comment on the orchids, I don't really do anything, its mother nature and God that do all the work. I just take pictures of them and enjoy. :-)
trigger_m
17 years ago
Yep,Mine is hooked to a 250 gallon propane tank.Like Orchiddude said,make sure whichever fuel(propane or natural gas)is the correct one the ventfree heater is designed for.They WILL NOT work if the wrong fuel is used.I do know some folks who use the portable 100 pound tanks,but I don't want to have to worry about forgetting to change it out,or getting it refilled in January when propane is very expensive.I use about 150 gallons of propane a year.These heaters are great.I just make sure and clean it out every fall.Make sure the thermocoupler that sits in the pilot light is clean of carbon.They use no electricity-no moving parts.On advice from Orchiddude,I set up a box fan over the heater,and I have an indoor/outdoor ceiling fan,as well as another suspended box fan at the other end of the greenhouse that all run 24/7 to distribute the heat.Before I had all the fans set up,Mold almost took over the greenhouse!You are probably are in the same zone as North Georgia where I am.What size is your greenhouse?I Probably us about 30 gallons of propane a month-those little tanks would need a lot of changing out!The large,100 pound tanks hold about 25 gallons.

Alternative heat for power outages

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Alternative heat for power outages

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