Backup heat

[NAMASafetyDirector]

Was looking for some ideas or experieces on backup heat for my 1450 sq ft. Manufactured Home. House has a full slab under crawlspace and insulated 2x4 wall skirting. Had my furnace go out the other night (-23 of course) for a few hours till i got parts. At this time i dont have a back-up heat source so I was obviously pretty nervous. I have an outdoor wood boiler that heats my garage but there is already an A-coil in the plenum on my furnce for AC so theres not much room in there for another exchanger. The layout of the living space doesnt lend itself to a LP fireplace. ALso considering some sort of electric source. Any ideas from people with my same layout would be appreciated! Ive looked at a ton of options but sometimes some fresh eye's on the problem helps a bunch! thanks all!

[Tom7227]

A couple runs of electric baseboard should be able to cover you for short periods of time. Could get pricey if you wanted to wire the entire home but maybe doing a couple of rooms wouldn't be too bad. You may have to camp out in those rooms if things are off for quite a while.

[delcecchi]

Cheapest and easiest looks like it might be something like this.

Mr Heater. 80 bucks at FF. 30k BTU. One or two of those would keep stuff from freezing and make the place habitable. (You would need a couple of the 20 lb bottles too)

A big buddy would work but runs off those 1 lb bottles.

[fivebucks]

Our furnace went out a few years back and it was a few days before the new one was installed. Century Point Energy gave us some plug in space heaters with the blower fans and even though it got down to zero our house stayed above 50 and no pipes froze. I would think electric space heaters would work for you in a pinch with a Mr. Heater periodically if needed but just don't sleep with it on.

[fastkaw]

The cheapest way is to have new parts for your furnace on hand.

In most cases you onley need 4 or 5 and you would be up and running again.

If your furnace is 15yr. old or older, spend the money on a new one.

The new furnace's are only 33" tall that will give you lotes of room

to install both a/c coil and boiler exchanger coil.

Hope this helps

[Smoker]

Plus with the new one if you don't want to put in a water coil you could put in a electric plenum heater

[ncesi]

One can buy some electric heaters that plug into the range outlet or dryer outlet for about $300.00. I rent them but sell a lot of them to people whom go for the winter. They simply plug then into the outlets and set the thermostat at minimum which is about 45 deg. and leave knowing that the heaters are keeping the home from freezing as long as the electricity is on.

[highlife4me]

I can easily heat my 26' 5th wheel with a $15 ceramic heater when the temps are in the low 20's. I would think a handful of them would be more than enough to heat a house in an emergency.

[Surface Tension]

Power supply went out on my furnace on a Sat afternoon with lows in the -20.

3 electric heaters, one on each level kept the house comfortable. Was at Dey Appliance 1st thing Mon morning for parts.

[NAMASafetyDirector]

Thanks for all the ideas guys. Guess i should have clarified that Im looking for something hands off since I do at times leave the state for work for 3 week periods of time. Im going to get something that if the furnace goes down that the backup just takes over. It's really tough to cover all the bases. I like the idea of the plenum heater but if the power goes out while im gone then im pretty much screwed. LP fireplace that does not need electriciy is probably going to be a strong contender. I am leaning towards the heat exchanger for the outdoor boiler as well as that decision is obvious from a cost saving standpoint. Anyway, I'll get it figured out! Thanks everyone!

[jerkbait]

Does someone keep your wood boiler going when you are gone? If so then I would add the heat exchanger to the furnace. They are flat and should most likely fit in even with the A-coil. I know at my last place that is what we had put in. I think the heat exchanger was only 3-4" tall.

[delcecchi]

One can buy some electric heaters that plug into the range outlet or dryer outlet for about $300.00. I rent them but sell a lot of them to people whom go for the winter. They simply plug then into the outlets and set the thermostat at minimum which is about 45 deg. and leave knowing that the heaters are keeping the home from freezing as long as the electricity is on.

My biggest concern with heat is if the power goes out, which is more frequent than a furnace breaking. But we have natural gas.

[LightningBG]

Thanks for all the ideas guys. Guess i should have clarified that Im looking for something hands off since I do at times leave the state for work for 3 week periods of time. Im going to get something that if the furnace goes down that the backup just takes over. It's really tough to cover all the bases. I like the idea of the plenum heater but if the power goes out while im gone then im pretty much screwed. LP fireplace that does not need electriciy is probably going to be a strong contender. I am leaning towards the heat exchanger for the outdoor boiler as well as that decision is obvious from a cost saving standpoint. Anyway, I'll get it figured out! Thanks everyone!

Tough call if you're gone for long periods of time.

The furnace of course could go out and electric could back it up, but of course the electricity could go out.

Any space heaters, gas or electric would need to be manually turned on.

As for the LP fireplace, wouldn't you still need to manually turn it on?

They do make direct vent wall furnaces that need no electricity. Could maybe install one and have the thermostat set low, like 50, so it would kick on if you were away and the temp dropped below 50 (or 60 or whatever you choose). Home depot sells them i see. I'm sure others too. The one I'm looking at right now is 30K btu and costs about $600.

Some other backups....

When my grandparents used to go to AZ for the winter, they had some type of a lamp hooked onto a temperature sensor. They put a red light bulb in the lamp and put the lamp in a front window. If the temp got below a certain temp, the lamp would kick on. The neighbors could see the lamp and would call us to come check it out. (they lived in town and neighbors could see it). (this wouldn't help if you were out of town, unless the neighbors could deal with whatever issue was at hand).

If you have a phone line, you could buy a sensor that would call your cell phone if the temp got too low. Then you could try to get someone over there to deal with the issue.

"Freeze Alert Monitor Auto Dialer

Dials up to 5 numbers when temperatures inside drop below 42ºF!" $50

[Tom7227]

Curious about the phone device. Land line or cell phone used to make the call? If you don't have a land line and poor cell reception then what? What happens if the power goes out, does the thing work then or not?

Having some mechanism that notifies the homeowner and a neighbor seems like the best bet. The red light in the window works if possible. How about some sort of flashing light outside the house? Something that was an LED would maybe work the best.

[delcecchi]

Curious about the phone device. Land line or cell phone used to make the call? If you don't have a land line and poor cell reception then what? What happens if the power goes out, does the thing work then or not?

Having some mechanism that notifies the homeowner and a neighbor seems like the best bet. The red light in the window works if possible. How about some sort of flashing light outside the house? Something that was an LED would maybe work the best.

I have two alarms. One monitors temp and moisture and turns on a light in the window that the neighbor can see.

The other monitors temp, moisture and electricity and is connected to my land line and will dial up to three numbers until someone answers. So far the only time I have been called by it were electrical outages. We are at the end of the line so it might not have been noticed depending on the cause of the outage.

Bought my alarms at FF.

[Cheers]

Menards also have the alarms . I am also in the market for one . Also wifi thermostats may help allowing you to monitor your heat from any where in the world via internet

[delcecchi]

Menards also have the alarms . I am also in the market for one . Also wifi thermostats may help allowing you to monitor your heat from any where in the world via internet

Again, no electricity no wifi. Land line phone from ma bell works no matter what. I don't know about phone from cable company.

[DANR]

Again, no electricity no wifi. Land line phone from ma bell works no matter what. I don't know about phone from cable company.

[fastkaw]

Get a back up generator (gas nat.or lp. powered) comes on when

the power go's out. Not cheep but dependably.

[LightningBG]

Looks like my local M store has two versions in store. One of them does require AC power. Doesn't say much else. The other will call if there is a power failure, temp or water alert. I guess that would at least alert you to power failure.

Here is the description.

Quote:

"The HomeSitter is an affordable and easy to use alarm dialer that monitors the alarm conditions we are most worried about when we are not home and calls three phone numbers to alert you, a friend or neighbor when these problems occur! It actually talks to you about your home!

Low or high temperature extremes - calls if temp drops below 45°F or above 85°F

Water leak or flood - monitor a washing machine, toilet or failed sump pump!

Power failure - warns you by phone of prolonged power failures"

All of these seem to use a landline. If you had a cellular one, you'd probably have to pay or monthly service.

I guess a big questions are... do you have a landline? If you are out of town and there is a problem, do you have someone who could go deal with the problem?

[Cheers]

The only concern I had with the Mernerds units where that the both have a generic prerecorded message, I opted for a slightly more expensive unit off the webb that allowed me to make a personal message to provide more instructions on what I would like the responder to do .

[delcecchi]

The only concern I had with the Mernerds units where that the both have a generic prerecorded message, I opted for a slightly more expensive unit off the webb that allowed me to make a personal message to provide more instructions on what I would like the responder to do .

Yeah, I hear you. The first time my alarm called me, I hung up thinking it was some sort of spam robocall.

BTW the only calls I have gotten so far have been power outages.

[leechlake]

BTW I'd not spare any expense. I just got a call from our place from the Septic guy. Septic froze and then for whatever reason when he got there he plugged the pump in and went outside. A pipe burst while he was outside and made and absolute mess in the basement. So now I get to have a plumber come out and fix things and shut the whole thing down til Spring. Fun Fun Fun.

[delcecchi]

This is an unheated place? My guess in that case is that the pipe burst due to not getting all the water out of it in the fall. It doesn't become apparent until the water is turned back on.

I know this from personal experience. Twice I have missed one pipe and had water spraying in the spring when I turn the pump on.

If the place was supposed to be heated, then this doesn't apply and never mind. We do not heat our cabin in the winter.