[trip286]

Originally Posted by Chainfire

Your AC solution will not work where I live. Our humidity is too high to get much evaporative cooling.

We have all become spoiled. The first AC I lived in was when I went to boot camp. I do not remember being miserable as a kid in the summers, but I sure would be now.

I've been in north Florida in the summers and winters, it's climate is not very different at all from north Mississippi.

[ellis36]

I have and use a free-standing stove for winter, and plenty of trees. The only propane I use is for the cook-top, and I have a 300 gallon tank of propane. No A/C would be a real problem. Unfortunately, my house isn't conducive to cross-ventilation.

[c3shooter]

For heating for any period of time beyond the amount of fuel you have stored, replacement fuel becomes the driving factor.

Unless you have a natural gas well, then NG, Propane, etc will stop when your tank is empty. Getting through a week long ice storm- not a problem. If you are looking at TEOTWAWKI, then something else is needed. For most, that will be wood- for a few folks, coal.

Wood pellet stoves are nice, but need a specially processed fuel, and electricity to run. A wood stove, wood burning furnace, fireplace or fireplace insert can burn most of what will fit. Stay away from stuffing a wad of paper trash in one unless you want to learn about chimney fires.

Wood stoves can be as simple as an inexpensive sheet metal heater, which has a SHORT service life, or as pricey as an airtight soapstone wood stove. An intermediate cost is a heavy steel wood stove, such as the Englander or Papa Bear style. Us? Wood burning furnace, connected to the ductwork in the house.

Where/how are you going to get wood? Under normal circumstances, you can buy it, or harvest your own. Armageddon- what do you do when there is no more gas/oil for the chainsaw? We do have axes, handsaws, and splitting mauls- but the chainsaw gets everyday use. Spare chain, file, and 2 cycle oil is good to have on hand.

It would be very difficult to build a wind power electrical system that could heat a home, but solar can help with heating- active or passive systems. There are also systems that produce methane gas from digestion of organic matter- but would be better used as a fuel for engines or for cooking than trying to heat with it.

Wood heat CAN reduce your utility bill a lot, and keep you going when the grid is down. Be prepared to spend time educating yourself about stoves, chimneys, and wood. The attraction of the thermostat and heat pump is that you don't get up a 4 AM because the house has gotten chilly, and you do not have the work of hauling wood, cleaning out ashes, and maintaining the stove and chimney.

[JTJ]

We had an Earth Stove when we lived in Washington. I would cut and stack quite a few cords. The Earth Stove was nice because you could cook on it and we did several times when we had power outages. Just make sure you have an outside air source as a wood stove or fireplace will use up the oxygen quickly.

[HockaLouis]

Use oxygen and produce Carbon Monoxide and other junk. Fire fumes inside without fesh air, you die. That's clear to everyone, right?

There are radiant heaters that consume the fuel and do not produce CO, but be careful. For Y2K I had 120 lbs. of propane. 40 now and the intent is to use it to cook, along with liquid fuel stoves, if electric is out, not heat. I'll freeze to death? Hope not. We keep the heat below 65 in the Winter anyway and about 60 at night. 'course that's not 12-degrees below 0. Layers of clothes might really have to work and get me thru an emergency that I suppose could be as bad as Valley Forge. We have oil heat which is relied upon and kept accordingly at least halfway filled at all times as part of the plan here...

Only so much wood we could gather vs. everyone else trying to do the same thing (though we are amongst alot of timber). And would hate to fight over it. Gas chainsaw eh? Mine's electric. Might have to think about that someday...

[fireguy]

I would love to be able to build a thermal mass rocket stove in my house. I need to butter the wife up a lot more before that'll happen though. These things are very efficient and still heat after the fire goes out through the thermal mass that radiates for a good long time.

YouTube

YouTube

[c3shooter]

Fireguy- please do NOT build what is shown in the video- your homeowner's insurance is going to go away if you do!

Don't get me wrong- thermal mass can be VERY useful- we have a triple flue chimney that has about 12 tons of concrete- takes 3 days to fully warm up- and radiates heat for 3 days after fire is out- BUT- that chimney is concrete block,with a clay tile liner, and space between block and liner is concrete.

What that video shows is an unlined chimney made of adobe, with no way to clean the creosote that WILL eventually build up. Serious violation of bulding codes.

The Latin word holocaust denoted a type of furnace where the flue passed under the floor- warming the room, and using thermal mass to even out delivery of heat.

You can also look up Trombe Wall- uses thermal mass to store solar heat. Saw one that outer glass wall had a fold up cover- inside was lined with 55 gallon drums of water, laid on side, painted black. Daytime, open cover, sun's heat warms water in drums. Night, close cover, warm water radiates warmth into house.

[fireguy]

Originally Posted by c3shooter

Fireguy- please do NOT build what is shown in the video- your homeowner's insurance is going to go away if you do!

Don't get me wrong- thermal mass can be VERY useful- we have a triple flue chimney that has about 12 tons of concrete- takes 3 days to fully warm up- and radiates heat for 3 days after fire is out- BUT- that chimney is concrete block,with a clay tile liner, and space between block and liner is concrete.

What that video shows is an unlined chimney made of adobe, with no way to clean the creosote that WILL eventually build up. Serious violation of bulding codes.

The Latin word holocaust denoted a type of furnace where the flue passed under the floor- warming the room, and using thermal mass to even out delivery of heat.

You can also look up Trombe Wall- uses thermal mass to store solar heat. Saw one that outer glass wall had a fold up cover- inside was lined with 55 gallon drums of water, laid on side, painted black. Daytime, open cover, sun's heat warms water in drums. Night, close cover, warm water radiates warmth into house.

I know what you are saying about the chimney problem. If constructed correctly these rocket stoves burn almost all of the particulates and flammable gases before they even reach the outflow. If I ever get a shtf cabin I'll give it a try, code name "Hunting Shack".

[mcb]

Wood in the winter. If you are going to heat with wood educate yourself on how to do it safely.
I have an old farm house built before ac. Many new houses are designed to have ac older houses on the other hand took advantage of things like cross breezes and knowing when to open or close windows and curtains.

[OzarkRecluse]

Nothing different than we do now. All we use for heat is wood. It's saved our butts several times when electrical lines have gone down.