Ugh! Another Dang "Prepping" Test

Another one of those events that test whether or not you have workable back-up systems for you important stuff.  Like your one and only heat pump!  So, it has been pretty cold lately, but the heat pump has worked beautifully keeping our house nice and warm.  Friday night and all day Sunday it snows, a lot.  Sunday morning we discover our heat pump is dead.  Nothing.  No heat.  No blower.  Nothing.  Checked all the breakers.  No problem there.

Crud.  At least it is under warranty.  Call the repair guys.  Sorry, due to the road conditions no work is being scheduled until Monday after 2pm.  WTF?  Great!  The temperature is supposed to be 10 freakin' degrees Sunday night!

Prepping test!  Went to the store and bought two space heaters.  (Funny how I could make it to the hardware store but my HVAC company could not get out for emergency repairs.)  I got electric because kerosene heaters scare the hell out of me.  I know electric heaters won't work in a power down situation, but they were not expensive and my wife and daughter will snag them real quickly since they complain I keep the house too cold.

Anyway, I set one at each end of the house.  Then I cranked up the fireplace insert in the middle of the house.  Just had it cleaned two months ago so I know it is safe and ready to use.  I go out and split a bunch of bigger logs into smaller logs to last until late into the night.

Final result?  It hit 10 degrees outside but never fell below 60 inside.  Not bad!  The heaters put out a good amount of heat for their size.  And the Buck Stove insert, with blower, put out a tremendous amount of heat!

Prepping test grade? "B"

Why not "A"? 

1.  I am almost out of wood.  A few more nights and I would be out of wood.  Need to get more.

2.  In a power-outage situation I would not have the heaters or the insert's blower.  I would still have the middle of the house warm, though.

I really hope the repair guy shows up today!

Comments

[Bustednuckles]

Dammit, I ran out of propane yesterday. Fixed thattonight. It's only in the forties here in WA State, thank God.
I put ya on the Blogroll and will b stopping by.

Best of luck to ya.

Busted

[jjmurphy]

Thank you, Busted.

I appreciate it. You are up on my blogroll, as well.