Propane Ends the Pain of Winter Outtages

Unusually cold weather is forecast for the Northern half of the US. That barely seems like news but it does cause anxiety for what you can do to stay tepid or to head off the pipes from freezing when the power goes off. An ice storm can knock down power lines and block roads for days at a time. Unfortunately oil and gas heaters need air circulation fans to move heat around a house. Most also need electrical power to ignite the fuel. Depending on your particular circumstances and what region you live in a Winter power outage can be anything from discomfort to disastrous.

Portable propane heaters are a cheap and convenient way to keep a Winter power outage from turning into a nasty experience. Portable gas heaters come in several different sizes of heat output capability, so how do you determine how many heaters you may need, and what sizes to get?

Here’s a speedy method for answering the question about what size portable heater you may want. Portable heaters are rated in BTU. To figure out how many BTU you need to heat an enclosed space to a livable temperature you must first calculate the volume of the room in cubic feet. The formula for volume is L x W x H. That’s the Length of the room x the Width x the Height to the ceiling. For example, an 8×10 room with an 8 foot ceiling has a volume of 640 cubic feet (8x10x8).The next step is to multiply the volume calculation of the room by what we’ll call an arbitrary ‘insulation factor.’ A well insulated room has an insulation factor of 2. An underinsulated room has an insulation factor of 4. So for our 8×10 room you would need a propane heater that was rated between 1,280 BTU and 2,560 BTU depending on your estimate of the insulation factor and how warm you wanted to heat it. To only prevent freezing pipes then you could probably go with a factor of 1.

You can get propane in 1 pound cylinders which are available everywhere and are easy to store. You can use the same propane cylinder to fuel a Coleman camping stove. If gasoline storage is not a problem a portable camping generator would provide AC electricity for lights, TV and radio.

Related posts:

1. The Electric Power Resource Of Personal Preference Is Nowadays Propane Generators Increasingly more homeowners are purchasing portable generators in the...
2. three Reasonably priced Garage area Heater Selections When you use your garage as greater than just...
3. Inexpensive Heating System Utilizing Electric Powered Space Heating Units Let’s face it, any home will always possess a...
4. Facts about Electric Heaters Electric heaters are the most common and popular types...
5. Choose Reliable Gas Suppliers To Fill Your Cylinders It’s intriguing how various words can mean numerous things....