***HELP*** Weekend STORM advice

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JediNight

JediNight

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Apr 10, 2007
Messages
131
City & State/Province
PA
So I just moved to PA.
This weekend storm looks massive, I’m concerned about power outages.

I’m in an apartment and the thought of no heat and being trapped (roads will be impassable) is a bit concerning.

So I’m asking the campers in the group, what do you recommend for a portable heater that can run safely on fuel in an apartment. Something fuel efficient that can run for a long time, plus I’ll buy some additional fuel(Propane?)

Hoping to buy this at a Home Depot or Lowe’s.

Thanks 🙏🏼
 
Not sure if I would use a fuel-powered heater in an apartment due to fumes and fire risk, but perhaps someone else who knows more could chime in on that.

I would however stock up on food, water, warm clothing (socks, hat, gloves especially) and emergency supplies (medications and first aid). The chances of someone freezing indoors are actually pretty low, but if the storm is particularly intense, you may be on your own for a while (road closures, store closures). Oh yeah, and don't forget about flashlights and batteries. /wink

Hope things are alright.
 
Oh yeah, and it pretty much goes without saying, but don't forget to charge up everything (power banks, laptops, cell phones, batteries, etc.) now while the power is still on.

P.S. I just thought of re-chargeable hand warmers. These are too heavy for me to hike with, but maybe worth checking out for home use.

Good luck.
 
AMRaider said:
Not sure if I would use a fuel-powered heater in an apartment due to fumes and fire risk, but perhaps someone else who knows more could chime in on that.

I would however stock up on food, water, warm clothing (socks, hat, gloves especially) and emergency supplies (medications and first aid). The chances of someone freezing indoors are actually pretty low, but if the storm is particularly intense, you may be on your own for a while (road closures, store closures). Oh yeah, and don't forget about flashlights and batteries. /wink

Hope things are alright.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I'm all set on everything else, especially flashlights.

I've seen camping video's of folks using something portable/propane like.
I figured if it's safe for a tent, heck I have even seen them being used by folks camping in their cars, something
should be ok for apartment use.

I just wanted to double check with all the campers in the group.
 
I tend to hike pretty light, so a portable heater (with fuel) probably isn't something I would carry. I also sleep hot, so a blanket and good sleeping bag is usually enough for me. I have heard of portable heaters used in tents, but I definitely would not use one in a vehicle due to the risk of fumes. Tents of course breathe a bit better, so the risk of CO poisoning is lower. Sorry I couldn't be more helpful. GL.
 
AMRaider said:
Not sure if I would use a fuel-powered heater in an apartment due to fumes and fire risk, but perhaps someone else who knows more could chime in on that.
Click to expand...
Yeah, some folks take crazy risks. Camping gear for staying warm is usually a bad idea if used indoors. Hate to say it, but bundling up in Winter clothing is going to be best.
AMRaider said:
I would however stock up on food, water, warm clothing (socks, hat, gloves especially) and emergency supplies (medications and first aid).
Click to expand...
The time to stock up on Blackout supplies is long before a massive storm is approaching. Dealing with a giant mob of people grabbing everything and anything at supermarkets and other retail stores is not when you should try to stock up. Desperate people sometimes turn violent.
AMRaider said:
The chances of someone freezing indoors are actually pretty low, but if the storm is particularly intense, you may be on your own for a while (road closures, store closures). Oh yeah, and don't forget about flashlights and batteries. /wink

Hope things are alright.
Click to expand...
Hope everyone in the storm's path makes it out alright.
 
Always assume power will go down, stock up on food, supplies, fuel, booze and enjoy. I personally I would love to get stock somewhere in a country with few feet of snow for a few days, or even a week. In a city it is no fun.
 
JediNight said:
For anyone interested, I ended up purchasing a Mr. Buddy portable heater + several gas cylinders.
It's "indoor" rated as well, plus my apartments smoke detectors are also carbon monoxide
detectors.


Just wanted to have something for the ultimate crap hits the fan scenario.

Hope everyone in the storms path stays safe and well.
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I would suggest you get a separate battery powered carbon monoxide detector and fire extinguisher and place them next to the heater itself. Those little green bottles of propane can freeze up enough to keep the pilot light lit but cause an inefficient burn of the heater elements. If you can your better to run the heater from a 20 pound propane tank and a long hose with a filter attached. A 20 pounder will last me 3 days on high using my buddy heater.
 
The main concern indoors is making sure indoor temps don't fall so low that pipes freeze. A building has a huge thermal mass. It will take several days of no heat to get to that point, if ever. It depends how cold it gets outside. During the day allow sun inside to get passive solar heating. At night pull shades or curtains over windows to keep the heat in. My house holds 15° to 20°F above average outdoor temperatures when I do these things with no heat at all. Averages will drop to about 15°F over a 4-day stretch next week. Even without heat I don't have to worry about pipes freezing. And I can boil water on the gas stove to warm things up a few degrees. I did that during hurricane Sandy when we lost power for four days.

To keep myself warm I would just bundle up as if I were going outside. The cat will be OK also. He has nature's insulation.
 
AMRaider said:
Not sure if I would use a fuel-powered heater in an apartment due to fumes and fire risk, but perhaps someone else who knows more could chime in on that.

I would however stock up on food, water, warm clothing (socks, hat, gloves especially) and emergency supplies (medications and first aid). The chances of someone freezing indoors are actually pretty low, but if the storm is particularly intense, you may be on your own for a while (road closures, store closures). Oh yeah, and don't forget about flashlights and batteries. /wink

Hope things are alright.
Click to expand...
That really shouldn't be that big of a concern if you watch what you're doing, but I would tend to either reach for something kerosene powered (if you can get it fairly easily) a few center draft lamps, be it Rayo, Plume and Atwood Royal, or Aladdin lamps, or a couple Heater Buddys, either in the suitcase style that takes 1 pound tanks or the radiant grill tank topper. Just be sure to crack a window just enough to get a finger into the gap, keep you a CO detector handy, watch where you have anything that might burn, and in general the common sense stuff. While I am prone to leave a Sun GWR6 or something small going as I sleep, it may be best if you put everything out when you go to bed. After the storm, though, Miles Stair may be a good resource to look at on managing a heater as well.
 
Consider making a room within a room. Remember making blanket forts as a kid? Throw blankets over a table and sleep/live in there. Even put a blanket on the floor for insulation. It's surprisingly effective. Even taking a tension shower curtain rod + shower curtain to block off a room / windows can help.

Take some inspiration from the Japanese, who don't generally have central heating. Close off unused rooms. Sleep with a hat on.

If you do run the Buddy heater, crack open a window for a little air exchange.

Also, set your cell phone to it's power saving mode. If power goes out, everyone's going to be on their cell phones and your cell phone will be trying to do all of its background data stuff with them, using more power. As the cell towers die, it'll use even more power trying to communicate with distant towers. Turn off Bluetooth/NFC/wireless charging/sync/background processes.
 
TPA said:
Take some inspiration from the Japanese, who don't generally have central heating. Close off unused rooms. Sleep with a hat on.
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I've been doing this for the last few years, even though I have central heating (oil-fired hydronic system). I also blocked the radiators in the unused rooms with 2" pieces of insulation on top so there is minimal energy wasted heating rooms I'm seldom in. Besides that I keep the thermostat on 60 and just use an electric heater in whatever room I'm in to make it comfortable. Right now it's 15°F outside. My bedroom where I am now is 65°F. My mother's bedroom, which is closed off and has the radiator blocked, is 52°F. That will likely drop into the 40s when the really cold spell hits next week. I'm keeping the rooms I'm in comfortable with minimal overall energy use.

I have a bunch of bike lights which can double as power banks to recharge my cell phone. I'm almost finished recharging all of them.
 
Not sure if it would be applicable unless you have a balcony or attached outdoor area but, the portable diesel heaters may be an option. All the outback camping crowds use them for their trailers and rooftop tents. Also great for garages and sheds…. As long as you can run the exhaust outside!
 
sledhead said:
Not sure if it would be applicable unless you have a balcony or attached outdoor area but, the portable diesel heaters may be an option. All the outback camping crowds use them for their trailers and rooftop tents. Also great for garages and sheds…. As long as you can run the exhaust outside!
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Thanks for the info, unfortunately no balcony for me.

Luckily, only a couple of more hours of snow and it’s over.

I say we easily got 2 feet of snow here.
Thank goodness power held up.
 
I only got about 6 inches of snow, and no ice. Did get some wind, but I don't think that it was as bad as other areas. You folks in the South that got the freezing rain, I feel for you. I've been through that before, and lost power.
 
I hope everyone is okay now that it's over. Have noticed something odd though....
In NYC, we haven't had a major Blackout or even a minor Brownout since 2003, during that historic Blackout. Though parts of Queens did get back power by the end of the first day. Took weeks for other parts of NYC to get power up and running. But since 2003, it hasn't been an issue. At least not in NYC. Different story in other parts of New York. Wondering if Con-Ed. was forced to take serious preventative measures or face a massive fine from the city. I don't think it's just coincidence. Enough time has passed since then that it has to be intentional.
 
They probably buried cables underground, so they are not affected by element as wires on poles are. Decades ago I used to live in the area with overhead wires, one day I'm coming to my house and hear loud crackling noise, and a guy with a blue Con Ed hardhat running back and forth, then as I pulled up closer I saw burning wires on poles, sparks flying, entire block was shorting and burning, con Ed electrician did something wrong, and burned entire block worth of wires, lol He had a bucket truck there so I assume he went up to do something but screwed up bad. It was not even a disaster that caused outage, well it kind of was, disaster with a hat on, lol
 
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