JIC Portable Heaters

CLHC

Flashaholic
Joined
Dec 25, 2004
Messages
6,001
Location
PNW|WA|USA
It's the cold season again and in some parts of the USA (World) some do get colder than most. Also there maybe power outages. Unfortunately in my neck of the woods this is a common occurrence during the winter season. So besides the emergency generators/flashlights/radios/water/food/FAKs, etc., etc., what portable heaters do you have/use/recommend for emergency use and outdoor recreation?

Always on the lookout for other alternative portable heaters for that Just-In-Case situation.

Here's the ones I have:



Of course when using gas type heaters indoors, CO is a BIG factor that cannot be overstated.
 

NoNotAgain

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Jan 25, 2014
Messages
2,364
Location
Blue Ridge Mountains, VA
I think that the better way is to use a generator, even a small one, just to run the house heating system. This way the house furnace is vented into the chimney.

The method of running the house furnace from an extension cord from a generator was discussed in the power outage thread here.


Poppy,

I have a diesel generator wired to the house for emergency power. The problem with a generator besides also having a risk of carbon monoxide poisoning is the need for fuel to run the generator. The tank on my generator holds 15 gallons and I keep a 55 gallon drum on hand. The fuel I have will run the generator for 3 days. Rather costly to run, full time.

The pictured Big Buddy heater has a built in CO monitor and will shut the heater off if excessive levels of CO are encountered.

I purchased a military truck I had to go to Michigan to recover in the middle of the winter. Those trucks are cold around town much less on the highway. I took my Big Buddy and a 20 lb bottle of propane that I bungee corded inside the bed and ran the hose inside the cab to keep warm. Also works great for keeping the windows defogged.
 

Poppy

Flashaholic
Joined
Dec 20, 2012
Messages
8,359
Location
Northern New Jersey
NoNotAgain,
you must have a BIG generator if it'll go through that much fuel in three days.

I have a 5000 watt Coleman gas generator, and I think I went through about 10-12 gals a day for a 3 1/2 day outrage. I ran it about 20 hours a day/night. I certainly could have run it less.

My furnace is natural gas, forced air. It is rated at 82,000 btu. I don't know how that compares to those portable heaters.

Snipped from another site, speaking of the furnace blower motor:
An old 1/3 horsepower blower motor will use up to 1400 watts on start-up and a continuous 800 watts while running. An old ½ horsepower motor will use up to 2100 watts on start-up and a continuous 1200 watts while running.
A new 1/3 horsepower blower motor will use up to 900 watts on start-up and a continuous 500 watts while running. A new ½ horsepower motor will use up to 1500 watts on start-up and a continuous 800 watts while running.

One of those little honda inverter generators that do 2000 watts would be sufficient to supply heat, and a few lights, and a few chargers. You could cycle it on and off as you need heat, and use flashlights when it is off. I think that they sip fuel.
Equipped with Honda's exclusive Eco-Throttle System, the EU2000i runs up to 9.6 hours on less than one gallon of fuel

Don't get me wrong, I think it is a good idea to also have a back-up heat supply, especially if you are in a earth quake area where your natural gas lines may be broken.
 
Last edited:

Poppy

Flashaholic
Joined
Dec 20, 2012
Messages
8,359
Location
Northern New Jersey
I see the specs for one kerosine heater is:
23500 btu/hour
12 hours on 1.9 gallons of fuel.

so that's 6.3 hours per gallon. times 23500 btu's per hour, or 148,050 btu's per gallon.

Using a Honda inverter generator, and natural gas, one might get 82,000 btu's per hour times 9.6 hours/gallon of gas, plus my natural gas. That equals 82,000 X 9.6= 787,200 BTUs per gallon of gas.

Therefore one would get about five times as much heat from a gallon of gas, running an efficient generator to power the blower motor of a furnace, if he had available natural gas to burn as a heat source.

Edited... I edited the calculations in the comparisons above
 
Last edited:

NoNotAgain

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Jan 25, 2014
Messages
2,364
Location
Blue Ridge Mountains, VA
NoNotAgain,
you must have a BIG generator if it'll go through that much fuel in three days.

One of those little honda inverter generators that do 2000 watts would be sufficient to supply heat, and a few lights, and a few chargers. You could cycle it on and off as you need heat, and use flashlights when it is off. I think that they sip fuel.


Don't get me wrong, I think it is a good idea to also have a back-up heat supply, especially if you are in a earth quake area where your natural gas lines may be broken.

Poppy,

I have three generators, one military MEP003 which is a four cylinder, 10,000 watt diesel generator. It's not portable in the fashion we normally think of. You can run this one for weeks at a time.

A Coleman 5,000 watt cast iron low RPM Briggs & Stratton that isn't fuel stingy. This engine only runs at 1800 rpm, but they're a big bore long stroke engines.

The last one is a Honda EU2000i. The Honda running in eco mode and half power, runs for 6-8 hours on a tank of fuel (less than a gallon). Hook up the optional outboard fuel tank and it would run for days.

During past couple of power outages, I've run the gas generators, two hours on, one hour off and check the oil. You have to watch the frequency on the gas models as the higher the load, the more frequency shift you get. Frequency isn't real important to resistive loads, but most new refrigerators can be harmed. Purchase one of the plugin Kill-o-watt meters and plug your items in and verify the amps, volts and frequency.
 

Poppy

Flashaholic
Joined
Dec 20, 2012
Messages
8,359
Location
Northern New Jersey
I edited my calculations above. I didn't think them all the way through last night.

It's a shame those inverter generators are so expensive. I don't have one, and wish I did, but $800 for something that might get used once every ten years... ouch!

Are those inverter generators as prone to hz shift as the regular ones?
 

Poppy

Flashaholic
Joined
Dec 20, 2012
Messages
8,359
Location
Northern New Jersey
Poppy,

I have three generators, one military MEP003 which is a four cylinder, 10,000 watt diesel generator. It's not portable in the fashion we normally think of. You can run this one for weeks at a time.

A Coleman 5,000 watt cast iron low RPM Briggs & Stratton that isn't fuel stingy. This engine only runs at 1800 rpm, but they're a big bore long stroke engines.

The last one is a Honda EU2000i. The Honda running in eco mode and half power, runs for 6-8 hours on a tank of fuel (less than a gallon). Hook up the optional outboard fuel tank and it would run for days.

During past couple of power outages, I've run the gas generators, two hours on, one hour off and check the oil. You have to watch the frequency on the gas models as the higher the load, the more frequency shift you get. Frequency isn't real important to resistive loads, but most new refrigerators can be harmed. Purchase one of the plugin Kill-o-watt meters and plug your items in and verify the amps, volts and frequency.
I just checked, and found that I have the same Coleman 5,000 watt cast iron low RPM Briggs & Stratton that isn't fuel stingy.

I'd like to add, that it IS NOT QUIET!!! I considered trying to add a larger muffler, but found that would not make a difference. The problem is that the clanking of the motor itself is LOUD! I had to put it into a sound insulated deck box with an electric powered fan for cooling/ventilation. But looking at the published decibel levels of various manufacturers, it seems that if they get over 3500 watts, they are all pretty loud.
 

NoNotAgain

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Jan 25, 2014
Messages
2,364
Location
Blue Ridge Mountains, VA
I edited my calculations above. I didn't think them all the way through last night.

It's a shame those inverter generators are so expensive. I don't have one, and wish I did, but $800 for something that might get used once every ten years... ouch!

Are those inverter generators as prone to hz shift as the regular ones?


Poppy,

I've run the multimeter and the Kill-o-watt P2 on mine and found the Honda to be rock solid on frequency. The thing is that inveter units aren't rpm dependent. The same goes for the 2000 watt inverter mounted in my truck for AC power on the go.

You'd find uses for the Honda if you had one. Years back when Honda first came out with small generators, I purchased two of them to use for my outdoor photography for powering my flash units. I assumed that since I was powering a 2400 and 4800 watt second powerpack that one unit wasn't going to be big enough to handle the load without killing me moving it around. The Honda's proved me wrong.

The Honda can also be purchased with a 12 charger cord. It's got enough guts to hotshot your car if the battery goes dead. The 45 pounds of the Honda beats the 150 lbs of the Coleman for mobility.
 

Poppy

Flashaholic
Joined
Dec 20, 2012
Messages
8,359
Location
Northern New Jersey
NoNotAgain,
LOL... you're killing me :laughing:

Poppy,

You'd find uses for the Honda if you had one.

.

Just like, I didn't use a flashlight everyday, until I put one on my keychain? :)

When Sandy hit, my generator stayed at home, then went to a friend's, then to my brother's, and then to his friend's house, before it came back home to me.

Maybe if it was more portable it might have moved around more, but it would have helped more people, but not me.

I can appreciate the fact that smaller and more mobile is desirable, undoubtedly, I use my plug in power tools, only when my Li-Ion tools won't quite do the job.
 

Borad

Enlightened
Joined
May 27, 2011
Messages
227
I'm just glad that there's clothing and sleeping bags/blankets that are rated for freezing temperatures. I just keep enough warm blankets and clothes available. Which reminds me, I don't currently have a comforter. I'll be looking for one.
 
Top