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fryerandice t1_j1kfen7 wrote

Reply to comment by Dredly in So here I sit in the dark. Wearing flannel-lined jeans and a hoodie. And I get an email from First Energy saying if I don't conserve electricity there may be managed blackouts. WTF? by BeltfedOne

I crank my heat way up before any winter storm, I generally keep my house at 63 and use a space heater in the room I am in, but before a storm like we had the past 2 days, I target 75.

If we lose power, the increased temperature inside my house allows me more time to do the tasks I need to do to protect my property and ensure my families comfort and safety.

Every winter I stock about 15 gallons of gasoline and 15 of kerosene, sterilize my 10 gallon food safe buckets for storing water, and dust off the "oh shit no power" checklist for storing water from the pipes and draining the house pipes etc. I have done one pennsylvania winter weekend in mid january without power or heat for 4 days, i'm not rawdogging it ever again, because sitting in the car to get warm for a little bit every day and not moving from a sleeping bag fucking sucked.

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AFD_0 t1_j1kl2pg wrote

This. After spending an entire week without electricity or any heat in freezing cold weather a few years ago, we finally got a generator and now crank the heat up a bit right before a winter storm hits.

I'm not at all about "wasting energy", but I'm also not about letting my family and pets freeze while huddled over a boiling pot of water for our only source of heat (which is dangerous).

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BirdBarista t1_j1kshmv wrote

I remember being without power during an ice storm for three days in my apartment in Chester County. Most miserable and cold experience of my life. My roommate had a pet bearded dragon and coincidentally worked at PetSmart at the time, and they got permission to keep their lizard at the store for the entire power outage because the poor thing needed its heat lamp to survive.

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fryerandice t1_j1kyt5b wrote

Blanketing off a room and using a kerosene heater puts in work, they're cheap to buy and cheap to run. They can run on diesel as well if you can't find kerosene, although diesel costs more due to road taxes (especially in PA).

Downside is the smell and the soot that gets on everything, but if you really need the heat source, 10/10. They'll heat up a modest living room to the point you turn them off in 2 hours.

I use mine in the garage in the winter when i need to work on cars, I fire it up, eat breakfast, and by the time i get the car jacked up I am in a t-shirt and shorts with the garage door cracked open to cool it off.

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