Off-grid post 2-22-21

 

Off-grid post 2-22-21

Texas has caught a lot of negative publicity with respect to the recent cold. Trust me, I've been living here all my life, as I'm in my mid sixties, I've never seen anything like this. How can you prepare for something that almost never happens?

Like a lot of people in this state, I wasn't ready for this. I thought I was, but nope.

The power went out only briefly. If otherwise, I would have had a problem. The problem was with the furnace. The trouble is, it didn't work like I expected it to. The problem seemed to be with the battery. Even though I would recharge it daily, it still didn't work for long. Evidently the cold was causing the battery to discharge very quickly.

That was part of the problem. The other part was maybe not a good enough battery. As of this writing, I haven't checked it out yet. But I substituted a better battery, or so I thought. It still didn't work worth a damn. So the problem remains a bit hidden.

One thing I noticed is that when it warmed up again, and the furnace only needed to be used sparingly, it worked fine. Evidently, the cold was complicating the problem that it already has.

Therefore, some ideas for improving upon the situation could be in order. I wouldn't want to press my luck again.

One idea is to bury the battery. This idea is like the idea I had previously to use a geothermal trick to aid in climate control. Go down a few feet, and it would never freeze. The battery should work better if it is sheltered a bit better.

But that may not work because of hydrogen gases accumulating. This one may take a bit of studying to come up with a better answer than what I have now. What I have now isn't adequate for this type of situation. This doesn't happen hardly at all around here, but you want to be ready for anything.

I do have a 2-cycle generator that may have helped. It wasn't set up though. Maybe that is all that is needed. A little boost to the generator to help the battery run the furnace. All you need there is to set the thing up, and keep a supply of gasoline in case it is needed. Since it is 2 cycle, I need an additive for the gas, but didn't have any.

A propane generator with remote control could be even better.