Well, we have four fireplaces, which have definitely come in handy during our occasional power failures here in our mountain home. This house is also all adobe ( brick) inside and outside, which absorbs the heat of the sun from outside and heat from our furnace inside, and holds it quite long. But, that said, we still toy with the idea of backup solar.

Yes, dedtired, I know what gravity is. I've never heard it described as a factor for a fireplace, with or without electricity.

We have a whole house generator and a gas fireplace.

Our place in PA also has a whole house generator, 2 wood burning stoves and a gas fireplace - along with 6 cords of oak firewood that we harvested from fallen trees.

"We have gas backup heat"

I was gonna comment about the dutch oven but thought the better of it.

We have two back-up heat sources. Right now they are storing up heat from the radiator. (Picture of the cats wouldn't post.)

I also have gas furnaces and a heat pump. The heat pump is electric and the gas furnaces have electric ignitors.

I have a gas fireplace too which would work in a power failure but its fan wouldn’t blow.

My parents were saved by their gas fireplaces during the Great Texas Freeze Out last year. They ran them wide open and were able to keep their inside temperature in the mid to upper-40's. With blankets and multiple layers of clothing, they survived, although not comfortably.

Our alternative heat sources have traditionally been as follows:

When we had a gas range with pilot, we’d put a big pot of water on and hang out in the kitchen.

In our current house, we set up a space heater in the kitchen till the furnace guy gets here.

If it was a power outage, we used to go to my folks’ house (15 minutes away, either on a differnt grid or had the generator going)

We have a gas fireplace, but i’m not sure it generates much heat. Most goes up the chimney anyway.

At home we have 2 wood burning fireplaces and a gasoline generator. At camp a propane generator.

We were just talking about this tonight. We have a big house that has two furnaces. We don’t have enough backup heat source. We have two gas fireplaces, two wood burning fireplaces ( we don’t use, lose heat up the chimney ), two Kerosene heaters from Home Depot, 3 portable generators from HD too (1 big 2 small). We won’t be able to keep the pipes from freezing if we lose power for a long period time. We are thinking about a whole house generator tonight. DH is going to check out the prices. For now he is going to put in switches on furnaces for connecting to a generator.

For the weekend place in the country, we have two generators (1 big 1 small) from HD, 1 pellet stove , 1 portable propane heater, 1 kerosene heater. We aren’t there much during the winter months, always worry about power outages.

Gas fireplace.

My back-ups, 2 mini-splits, will only help if I lose my boiler. I'm screwed if I lose electricity for any length of time in the winter.

no, but we don't get many nights/days of really cold temps here. it's worse in the summer when we lose the a/c.

-30c up here, so freezing. We have EPA rated wood stove in basement. oil furnace and planning on putting a pellet insert into our fireplace. . Oil is way way too expensive, wood is messy and no nat. gas in my area.

I lived in a historic house in the south that had gas floor heaters. They worked when the power was out because they had old mercury thermostats. I dont exactly understand how they worked but I know they did. We had an ice storm and the power was out for a week but we had heat. I would put big pots of water on the floor grids so we would have at least warm water for washing. What causes the propane to move from my outdoor tank to the water heater in the house?

Our generator is plugged into a transfer panel. It will power anything in the house that the size of the generator will support. Oddly enough DH was outside today setting up a new generator. It is a little bigger than our present one. That one will become our back up. He wants to be able to use the microwave which the present one would do if most of the other things in the house were turned off-until the water pump came on. Bigger generators use more fuel, something to consider when you live in the boonies and cant get more easily. Our power goes out several times a year and sometimes for extended periods (days) We do not live on the moon. Our power company pays dividends instead of keeping the lines clear.

Nope - if the power goes out at my home, I walk down the 19 flights of stairs, get in my car, and use the heaters there. My cottage uses electric heat, and there I have a propane fireplace (I also have a small generator, but it won't power the baseboard heaters).

We have three fireplaces two of which have never been used in the almost 40 years we have lived here. One is in a bedroom and who likes a hot bedroom, one is in the living room where no one goes and the other is in the dining room with a woodstove in it. We heated by wood for decades and then quit and got a new gas furnace. If the power goes I'd be scared to start the stove because it's been a few years and the chimney hasn't been cleaned. We have a little wood in the backyard.

" Many gas log inserts for fireplaces are gravity fed and need no electricity"

The term is simply a nickname, not a scientific term. Not meant to be taken literally. It refers to a gas device run by pilot light.

We have a kerosene heater and a wood burning fireplace.

And each other. 😊

Right now we are home with a huge storm taking place. We have a wood stove, generator, fireplace, battery operated and my sons will come and shovel us out. We are close to the ocean, one mile so we may have to leave. We have never left yet in the 64 years we've lived here. I'm still recovering from the massive tree that came down and into our home, I was four feet away and pieces of glass got at me. More than anything, I was never afraid of storms but now I am as we have a huge amount of land. Flooding is in our harbor which is two miles from us. We will survive.

I love my wood stove. I also love my generator.

Best of luck to Yayagal and all the others who are in the path of this storm. The older I get, the more uneasy I am about extreme weather events.

After the two ice storms and eight days of power outages in December 2000, we said we'd would never be without a backup again. We did better than most during the February Apocalypse in Texas. We have a gas stove fireplace that also burns wood, but decided not to use that because a lot of heat also goes up the chimney. We boiled water on our stove and powered a couple of heaters with our portable generator. The temps in the lower parts of the house were in the 50's. We could have stayed warmer, but we were trying to keep the pipes from freezing. We have winter clothes that we drug out and down comforters. I have my Yankee Candle emergency candles and we strategically used them and the outdoor solar lights around the house. The generator also powered a couple of lamps and the coffee maker. I could cook on the stove top and in the toaster oven so we had warm food. We were pretty comfortable.

Here we have a generator to keep the well pump + fridges/freezers working and a vent less stand-alone gas log fireplace. We also have a portable propane gas heater which we'll use during long power outages (like the icestorm last year). A typical bbq propane tank will last for about 48 hours....pic below...

Today's a good day for a fire...

Annie, yes it is a good day for a fire. High 19F low 3F I think I'll have my hubby start one this evening. Bring out the popcorn popper and fire sticks for toasting marshmallows since the grands will be here. .

Firemen dread these conditions. There will be deaths related to supplementary heat and light sources. Please be careful about adequate venting, power cords (overheating/tripping dangers), overuse of kitchen appliances for heat, candles.

The only good thing about high winds is that they can move the storm out faster.

Great advise chisue.

Agree. Indoor fires on windy days are not a good choice. Besides the potential to spread sparks, wind can cause backdrafts in venting.

"The term is simply a nickname, not a scientific term. Not meant to be taken literally. It refers to a gas device run by pilot light."

I've never heard the term used that way before and it seems an odd choice but I've learned something. Thanks

I have a wood fireplace but I don't feel safe to burn wood it anymore because the brick chimney needs to be pointed. I do use those fake logs and a little heat would come from that but not much. Plus any seasoned wood that I had from trees we cut down or fallen limbs, I got rid of it 2 years ago. Split wooden logs are expensive now. I saw a bag of cut wood at one of the gas stations and it was $80

I've only got a woodburning fireplace in the LR. My stove is gas, so I can light it with a match and cook. I've had power outages in the winter before, fortunately no longer than 2 days (for me, not necessarily for the rest of the area.) We had a huge ice storm Christmas Eve one year that knocked out power in most of the metropolitan area; I remember chipping and digging the car out to get to work at 6 am and seeing transformers blowing all over the place. I thought it was lightening at first!

Hope everyone is safe and warm! Been a super busy day at work today.

Current temp is 7º with a stiff wind. I have a transceiver acting as a scanner, and a call just came through about a structure fire. I thought of Chisue's comment about firemen hating these conditions.

Maire, you've given me firewood envy. I shopped for well-seasoned firewood this year, not wanting to make more work for my son, who cuts his own wood to heat his house. I just wanted to use my woodstove in the evening, to bring some warmth to the rooms upstairs, but no one had dry wood. At least they were honest about it. I'll make a note to start looking for a firewood source early, before the season starts.

Toronto Vet, you brought a memory from the great northeast blackout that took place in 1965. I think Canada was affected too. I was just married, and we were living in midtown Manhattan, on the 21st floor. We had guests for dinner--from Sardinia. I never realized it could be tiring to walk down stairs until I walked the 21 floors. Of course, afterward I had to walk back up. I wore a white brocade dress, and somehow in all that chaos I managed to spill black candle wax down the front of it. The things we remember . . .

The power went out yesterday evening. My son arrived quickly with an armload of wood, and hooked up the generator. He headed back home, but hadn't even gotten across the road when the power came back on. Repeating one of my mother's old sayings, I told him "No rest for the weary," as he came through the door to undo everything,

Yes the fireplace has been inspected and the wind is under 40mph for the gloom and doomers

Alisande - There are lots of downed trees on our property and every now and then DH and the boys will cut a fallen oak into logs and drag them back to the house with the utility vehicle. Then we'll rent a hydraulic log splitter and they'll split the wood and stack it. Because of the pandemic we haven't been up there that often so we haven't used much.

I checked the Nest thermostat and it's 9 degrees at our place in PA Here in South Jersey near Philadelphia we're up to 18 degrees.

"Yes the fireplace has been inspected and the wind is under 40mph for the gloom and doomers"

This seems a default attitude you have for anyone with whom you disagree. Not necessarily for this matter but you should entertain the likelihood that for some percentage of the instances, people whom you think this of have better informed and more reasoned opinions than you have. It's true for all of us.

I had a whole house generator installed but when we first moved to cold country, we used one of these Kerosene heaters and they can produce a lot of heat. They can be used inside if the right type of kerosene is used along with some other safety precautions. For example, we always kept 2 windows across from each other open a few inches for ventilation. We also have/had carbon monoxide alarms. Even with the windows open in 15 degree weather, it would keep the first floor warm. Fortunately, we only had to use it a couple of times.

Now we have a heat pump that heats our house til its gets below 32 degrees outside. Then our forced hot air oil furnace kicks on. We also have portable generators if we lose power.

We also have a wood burner that burns wood and coal but haven't used it in probably 5 years because my sinuses have gotten so much worse over the years I cant stand a wood fire.

I would never use a propane heater and most especially a kerosene heater. The fumes are toxic to me. The smell is unbearable.

I would never use a propane heater and most especially a kerosene heater. The fumes are toxic to me. The smell is unbearable.

Different alternate heat sources can certainly have downsides. It is best to be prepared with backups that are not toxic even if some may not be an ordinary choice. (And of course there are dangers to consider, carbon monoxide and so on.) Last year, hundreds of people died from unexpected and prolonged cold in the Texas disaster, I hope that everyone has a backup method they can actually use.

"Last year, hundreds of people died from unexpected and prolonged cold in the Texas disaster,"

Isn't it also true that hundreds got sick and a not-inconsequential number died of carbon monoxide poisoning, from using combustion fueled heat sources in their homes?

I'm sure many did, I mentioned the danger of carbon monoxide, above.

Yes, there were some deaths from freezing and also some from carbon monoxide poisoning. We had the news like I mentioned earlier. One of the downfalls was that a lot of it was about how many people had died each day.

@Kathsgrdn....was it you that was looking at an electric fireplace? Are you still considering one?

No, Nicole, it wasn't me. I have thought about getting one for my bedroom in the past but not lately. I vaguely remember a post about them not too long ago, though. I'm been wanting a soapstone fireplace forever but the company I want one from, you have to go get it yourself or have delivered to a dock and pick up.

Some terminology is odd. We once rented a cottage in Kent that had a wall radiator with the printed information: Stored Night Heating. Wha? Turned out it meant the device sucked up electricity at lower overnight rates and stored it for later use. I presume it had some batteries. A little convoluted, do ya' think?

We do not have any back up.

chisue, if by Kent you mean England, I'd say foreign country, foreign practices.

I once visited a work colleague, an American working in London, and stayed with him at his mews flat. I remember I got in on Thursday afternoon because he needed to go to work the next day. I slept late, got up, went into the bathroom to take a shower, and there was no cold water. The flat was a bit cold too. I called him at work to ask if there was something wrong with the hot water. He laughed and said no, it was fine, but the boiler was on a timer and only on from like 6 to 8 in the morning and then again 6 to 9 in the evening. I'd have to wait until dinner time for hot water AND heat.

Pre-payment of gas and electricity usage in many UK homes for decades was done by putting coins into payment meters, as with a juke box, mounted on a wall. When you used up the amount prepaid, it shut off. I don't know if those still exist today but again, foreign country, foreign practices.

Edit to add:

Error pointed out by patricia, thanks. There was no HOT water. Plenty of cold!

I assume you (Elmer) meant no hot water instead of cold which is what you actually got. Metered electricity was the norm in a lot of England. It makes sense to not make hot water when no one is home. Do they still do that?

Corrected, thanks.

It was as easy then as it is now to not waste energy heating water when it isn't being used - tankless heaters. Not a timer, that's ridiculous. I was living in a Continental European country at the time and that was what we had. I'd never noticed it before but I did afterwards - if you pay attention in European movies filmed in the 50s, you find those scrawny things with opening and exposed burners hanging on walls, often in the kitchen. Ours was in a bathroom on a floor above the kitchen It worked very well. Funny enough, both our dishwasher and clothes washer were plumbed to cold water only and had onboard electrical water heaters to heat water as needed to function, so the tankless heater was only for bathroom and kitchen sink uses. Cold only connections may still be the case there for such appliances. It does lengthen cycles to allow time for water to heat but they work just fine.

We also had a way to not waste energy heating an empty home. Also, then as now, it's called a thermostat. We turned it to off when we left and on when we returned.

My reaction at the time in my colleague's flat was that what I experienced was another example of what I'd seen as being a British propensity to sometimes do things in unusual and awkward ways, different from what was done elsewhere (not just different from the US, different from Europe too). Such things form a long list but another example is their using fused plugs on ring circuit wiring instead of properly fused (now breaker protected) individual circuits wired as in Europe and North America.