Should You Buy a Standby Generator?

Another kind of oil heaters. They're old school and safer than some forms of heat. The modern kerosene heaters may end up with less maintenance. I wonder which one produces the most BTUs? These are called perfection oil heaters.

They cost between $50 to $100 US dollars.

Last Edited by Don'tBeAfraid on 01/28/2013 02:39 AM

Hi Koffee, hope you got your furnace fixed. If it has to be broken, it's good that it happened when it wasn't that nasty weather that just passed, or in the nasty freezing stuff coming up again after Wed.

Be careful with your electric heaters and check the plug where it goes into the wall occasionally, k? They pull a lot of electricity.

A good bedtime trick if you have some cast iron cookware is to heat it either on top of your stove or in the oven, wrap it in a towel and put it at the foot of the bed. Guess some people might get all fancy and use electric blankets, but in case you don't have, or want one....LOL.

If you're concerned about frozen pipes with electricity going out, Pex pipes seem to do well. They expand and contract so even if they did freeze, they wouldn't break like copper ones. Another good thing is that a separate pipe goes to each thing using water, so if something did happen to one, you'd have a good chance of having the others still work.

Hoping your furnace is humming away and you're all snug now.

Good Evening, Nines,

Yes, I'm enjoying the warmth tonight, without my multiple layers of clothing.

It ended up being a cracked ignitor again.

I know what you mean about the plug getting hot. I was taking turns with the oven and the heater, just to give the electric heater a break. When I went to unplug it, it was so hot I thought it was starting to melt.

Thanks for offering the other tips.

I'm just hoping that it doesn't crack again because that might mean it's an electrical problem, according to the repairman.

We'll see. I know my electrical bill will be higher this month, fun fun.

Thanks again, you're a sweetheart.

SO happy you got it fixed. Looks like there's another real cold weather front coming up. Sure hope it's not your electrical system. UGH!

It's good you checked the plug and found it was hot. Bet they could start a fire. Maybe the electric bill won't be as bad as you expect, since you didn't have the furnace running. Hopefully it will even it out. Stay safe and warm.

A lot of people don't understand electricity. This isn't a criticism, just a short attempt to explain it.

Current is the flow of electricity through a conductor (a wire). Imagine you're floating on a inner tube on a river. A lot of current means you're zipping along with some speed.

Each conductor (wire) has resistance to the current of electricty. That opposes the current. Imagine that same inner tube with you on it, but now flowing fast over rocks. Each bump generates friction and heat but you don't notice it...much unless the current is high...then the ride is very uncomfortable from each bump.

The longer a conductor is, the more resistance it has. This resistance cause voltage to drop in a conductor.

Voltage is the potential to do work. Imagine a huge lake, it's flowing down a waterfall and then feeding the river that's flowing your inner tube along. The huge lake is a potential of water. That's an analogy of voltage.

In a home, if you were to connect a hair dryer to a wall by itself, the cord will get hot. Why? A hair dryer is a heater, and it pulls a lot of current (flow of electricity).

If you were to connect a hair dryer to an extension cord, then the cord would get very hot. The voltage would drop, and in order to continue to feed the same current flow will have to increase more and more. It will kick out the circuit breaker eventually, because a circuit breaker measures current and keeps operations safe.

A fire could happen when too many devices are used on the same plug or if a long extension cord is used on a circuit that need a lot of current, often a heater.

I hope that helps some to clear it up. I made it as simple as possible.

Last Edited by Don'tBeAfraid on 01/28/2013 10:50 PM

Good Evening, DBA,

Thanks again for that explanation and all the information you provided on this thread. You're a human encyclopedia!

It's so nice of you to try. Thank you for the effort. Here is what I have to contribute:

If you smell something like burning rubber, rush around pulling plugs.

A washing machine has to be unplugged from the wall socket before any metal object comes in contact with the screws. Even then it may try a sneak attack. Never trust them.

Electricity is mysterious. Most things are solved by duct tape and WD 40.

If it should move but doesn't, use WD 40.

If it moves and it shouldn't, use duct tape.

Electricity defies that. Never trust it.

You are quite welcome. You and Nine's and a lot of regular GLP posters offer a tremendous gift of your own time, talent, and treasure to GLP.

We have stuff stored up in our brains. Some good experiences are in there too. The trick is not messin' up people with the junk and bad experiences we have and communicating that stuff.

I am always glad to serve.