Power outage!

So we had a nasty storm blow through here last night and we lost power for about 18 hours. Long enough for my tub to get a little cool for comfort. Just wondering what kind of affordable options are out there for backup power. I know there are generators and such, but they are a little out of my budget at the moment? What other options are out there?

The easiest is a catalytic heater (propane) they are cheap and easy to use can be used indoors (well vented) simple and effective. There are chemical shipping heat pads as well they get quite hot so you need to plan a bit of where is needs to be placed. They also use up oxygen so again they need some air flow as well.

For short term fix I your going to be home during the power outage I would recommend a propane heater.

http://www.amazon.com/Mr-Heater-Sing...propane+heater

My parents use one of these during the winter time to help heat their home because it's cheaper than running central heat.

I've been wondering myself and am thinking that with a UTH I don't use a lot of power, a UPS from APC would do the trick and my snake is right by my PC so its a win-win.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/15105344?a...l5=pla&veh=sem

That looks good and affordable.

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Originally Posted by 357

I've been wondering myself and am thinking that with a UTH I don't use a lot of power, a UPS from APC would do the trick and my snake is right by my PC so its a win-win.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/15105344?a...l5=pla&veh=sem

That looks good and affordable.

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be careful if you are using a proportional thermostat. I just got a herpstat 4 and they sent a warning for thermostats. one, they use a component called a triac. this is what regulates the power. and they give warnings with some generators, most don't output clean enough power and the thermostat will not work properly. computer uninterruptible supplies, are not recommended as they typically produce modified sine wave that will not allow the thermostat to work properly. this information came from documentation that came with my proportional herpstat 4 from spyder robotics.

While I can't recommend a generator, I can suggest filling water bottles with hot water if you feel your tubs are too cool now. Hot water bottles in socks work great for when in a pinch.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by don15681

be careful if you are using a proportional thermostat. I just got a herpstat 4 and they sent a warning for thermostats. one, they use a component called a triac. this is what regulates the power. and they give warnings with some generators, most don't output clean enough power and the thermostat will not work properly. computer uninterruptible supplies, are not recommended as they typically produce modified sine wave that will not allow the thermostat to work properly. this information came from documentation that came with my proportional herpstat 4 from spyder robotics.

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Could only afford the hydrafarm so I think I'm all set :)

Hah! We lost power too for a while, fortunately it's so blazing hot and humid here the only thing that was happy about it was my ball python!

Shen: What? This is perfect! :cool:

Thanks for the suggestions. Normally a power outage this time of year would be just fine. It's usually warm enough to not be too much of an issue. My biggest problem is that I live in a basement and without AC, it's only 70-75 degrees. What about heat packs, like for warming your hands in the winter?

The UPS (APC1000) I actually own it will only power my computer for 7 min after the power goes out. They usually do not have enough power to run a heat system for long. There are battery systems that will work I have been designing one that uses 2 deep cycle marine batteries and a switching pure seine wave inverter but it is very costly.