Comments on: Keeping Warm

By: Understanding a Ductless Heat Pump | level27

Understanding a Ductless Heat Pump | level27 — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 11:40:03 +0000

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By: Tomato Lady

Tomato Lady — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 07:51:53 +0000

Maven Koesler–That sounds like a good set-up. Can you say how much wood you burn in, say, one cold month?

By: Maven Koesler

Maven Koesler — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 18:42:44 +0000

We live in a 4000sq/ft 2 story barn we are converting to a house and meeting space. Currently we get all our heat from a 1970’s model Ashley wood stove. It does a good job since we stuffed the walls with R-30, and it will do even better when the main drop ceiling goes in and gets its’ blanket of R-30!

By: Val

Val — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 22:08:36 +0000

in a pinch cayene pepper can be mixed with mud and used as a poultice on wounds because it clots blood, but you do have to be careful because it can burn the skin. use cautiously especially depending on the sensitivity of your skin.

By: Val

Val — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 22:04:33 +0000

I live in Canada (and no we do not have winter year round – only 4-6 months of the year). I have a small house 832 sq ft and it is only heated with a wood cook stove. it is not ideal – it has a too small firebox and has to be replenished every half hour. it is not so pleasant waking up to -50 in your house. Brrrrrrrrr – dont want to get out of bed !!!! my newest purchase is a wood stove with a big firebox and hopefully that will keep the house warm for most of the night. i also live off of the electric grid – i have solar panels, huge batteries and a generator for back up. in the summer there is enough electricity that i can run a small fridge, small freezer, lights, tv and small electric appliances (not the electric kettle yet) and in the winter there is much less electricity stored, so the freezer is unplugged (hey its freezing outside and that is where my freezer is – under cover, but outside) and this year i want to make a fridge in the wall vented to the outside.

By: Naomi

Naomi — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 17:56:06 +0000

I haven’t used the red pepper in my socks, but I have used it in my eyes (tincture, 4 to 6 times daily), and if it won’t burn my eyes it certainly won’t burn your skin. It does cause warming of the skin, just as it caused a little sting in my eyes, but that went away quickly. Sprinkling powder in your socks is not going to burn the skin. I don’t even know for sure if it will help warm your feet; I just read that once and I believed it because I am such a huge believer in the wonderful powers of cayenne pepper, which I won’t go into here because this is about winter heating. I am considering trying this soon because I’m diabetic and have cold feet nearly all winter and want to see if that helps.

By: Linda Stahr

Linda Stahr — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 03:40:05 +0000

My husband and I live – as my friend put it the other day – like the Ingalls family. We heat our entire house (all 2300 square feet) with a Vermont Castings wood stove, and cook on a Monarch Antique Wood Cookstove. The combination of the two stoves keeps the house toasty on the main level and comfortable on the other levels. We tell the children to put a sweater on if they’re cold, and pile blankets on their beds to keep them warm. When it’s REALLY cold, we bake cookies and cinnamon rolls and all sorts of fun things that keep the house warm and fill our bellies. We lost partial power to our house for a week last winter, with only enough power to keep the two freezers and two refrigerators running. (Try watching TV and making toast when you don’t have full power… SOMETHING doesn’t work, and it’s NOT the toaster!) Our house survived us not being in it for the week by an oil burning furnace that’s older than Dirt. It kicks on when the temperature in the house gets below 45 degrees. Aside from that, the wood stove does wonders for keeping warm… and for cooking on. I’m a fan of the hot chocolate too. I put a dash of cayenne pepper in it to just get the spices flowing.

Good luck keeping warm in your neck of the woods! Mine sees more rain than anything else, but it’s still enough to be cold.

By: MK

MK — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:50:34 +0000

I have a generator which is plugged into our house by a special electrical connection put in by an electrician when we need it. I can control from the panel box which breaker gets electric. The only thing we used the generator for is our pump for the well and refrigeration. Water is the number one utility you must have. I can heat water in the waterheater if necessary. The big problem is that generators take gasoline and while I store quite a bit with a stabilizer added, it gets used up quickly unless you are careful in running the generator. As I said in a prior post, we lose our electric for a week at a time. In severe ice or hurricanes, the gas stations can’t pump because they don’t have electric. BTW, cell phones go down too because the cell towers while battery backedup, eventually need electric. I have many battery operated lanterns so lights are not a problem. I also have a solar oven, but it can’t be used effectively in the winter. There are small folding camp stoves you can use with the attached propane canisters for emergencies. My advice is to have as many redundencies for water, cooking, sanitation, refrigeration, and washing as you can think of because there is always another hitch in the situation. This of course, isn’t a “keeping warm” advice, but maybe you can think on these lines about cost savings for the winter when you do have power.

By: MsRobyn

MsRobyn — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:33:31 +0000

Hmmm… I’m just curious, no one has mentioned buying a small generator? I have often thought I needed one, on the other hand I have never been without power for very long. I don’t live in the country though, I’m a suburb girl at the moment. I have heard how handy a generator might be in the winter. Just a thought.

By: Tomato Lady

Tomato Lady — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:14:23 +0000

nancy–We haven’t posted one, but here are a couple good ones.
http://www.marthastewart.com/article/draft-dodger
http://www.flickr.com/photos/notmartha/sets/72057594068949613/
Martha’s is for windows (or doors) and the second one mimics those that go under doors and don’t have to be removed when you open them.