Attn: Construction and/or ecology/engineering experts:

Since there isn't any emergency preparedness forum on Ask-Me, I'm posting here, and hoping it's a practical place to post.

I'm considering preparing a rear center bedroom for emergency preparedness.

The room's dimensions are indicated in the pics in below URL.

See where I placed the royal-blue arrow?

That's where I'm considering opening a hole for a fireplace (chimney shaft) to be hugging the rear wall of house, directly where the blue arrow is pointing. That's the part of the house furthest from any tree's (elsewhere around the house, trees shroud more).

Which is the best bet & least costly in case of total cutoff from power for, say, several weeks or months?
Fireplace? Woodstove? (where to get logs)? Other means of heat?
What's a fair price for a construction guy to charge me for installation?

As for a generator, that might be very expensive, and I'm very weak & so not sure I could handle something like that independently. I've learned from experience that my best bet is not to have to depend on others.

Finally, I don't have a natural water source. Well drilling here is very costly & full of red tape due to local regulations & water monopoly. I got that info from a local company which installs pumps. Besides, due to the population density here, a local engineer had told me that if too many people decide to drill wells, it can vastly lower the water table due to competition for limited supply.

Given this, and referring to below pics, what are my best options toward emergency prep?

Here's my pics:
North bedroom pics (http://powerpics.tripod.com/index.html)

Some questions here.
1. How much storage area do you have to store coal and is that readily available?
Zero clearance wood/coal combination stoves will heat the house for months on end and also give you a flat area on top to heat up/cook food.

The other option is am LP wall mounted heater and set a big tank outside.

If you are trying to get to the bear basics possible a solar cell to charge a battery for a D.C. lamp would be a thought. That with and or in combination a wind generator for electric with the battery's as back up.

What do you do for water. Water off the downspouts can be recycled for toilet usage. And or depending on the climate a water tank can be filled as an emergency back up . Also the water from the tub'shower can be captured and reused for flushing toilets.


What do the people in the area do. Or is this in case the system collapses. What Geo are you in for freezing?

Hi, sorry for the delay (since I need breaks between computer time due to EMF). Re: storage, I guess I'd have to storage the stuff in the basement, because outdoors wouldn't be secure enough (not to mention that the only overhang near the garage has a patio on top of it, which is crumbling to the Nth degree & may soon collapse. The garage is also a no go, since the patio is also on top of that with no overhang above. Wet has been seeping in since the 1950's.

As for the basement, there are sometimes floods, despite that a few years ago, a professional job was done digging a trench surrounding the house & then filling with crushed rock surrounding the window wells at a downgrade. But prior to the trench & crushed rock, there were much worse floods.

What is an LP wall mounted heater?

I'm in NY, temperate zone. Cold from approx. October through April/May. Freezing from approx. Nov. through April.

Hi jally. There are two basic gas's used in a home. One is natural gas which is supplied by the city and its low pressure. The other is LP which is liquid petroleum,which is high pressure. This come in different tank sizes and is under higher pressure with a regulator in it to step down the pressure so it can be used for a gas furnace or gas stove or a gas space heater.

Here's is the site for the wall mounted LP heaters
Buy Lp Gas Wall Heater at BuyHardwareSupplies.com (http://www.buyhardwaresupplies.com/?t=5&m=g1&itemNumber=49958)

Propane tank Dealers.
Propane: Exceptional Energy (http://www.usepropane.com/find?utm_campaign=Equip&utm_source=Google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_content=Tank_A&utm_term=propane%20tanks)

Propane tank Dealers.
Propane: Exceptional Energy (http://www.usepropane.com/find?utm_campaign=Equip&utm_source=Google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_content=Tank_A&utm_term=propane%20tanks)

The link had many check-boxes stating "add this service".
I had no idea which check-boxes to click.

Please understand, I'm clueless about these issues.

Just now I had a handyman here at the house, and he said a wood stove makes more sense than a fireplace, and that it can be placed on ceramic tiles with a flue extending up & out the roof. He said wood is more readily available here than charcoal.

So now I'm wondering whether to search for a wood stove locally, or rather, online. I'd like a stove which uses the least wood due to secondary combustion area (see Optimum Stove Burning (http://www.mastersweep.com/opt.htm) - though it's sort of over my head.

Frankly, I'm still open to anything that's least expensive maintenance-wise over the long haul. What I can use is a printable Dummies-type article with simple diagrams explaining your below words, and another which gives diagrams explaining the propane/LP rigup.


Quoting you: If you are trying to get to the bear basics possible a solar cell to charge a battery for a D.C. lamp would be a thought. That with and or in combination a wind generator for electric with the battery's as back up.

fireplace? Wood stove? (where to get logs)? Other means of heat? Not to be tripe here but get wood from the trees or people that sell it.

I build masonry fireplaces and wood stove chimneys. I would certainly get a wood/coal combination stove. If the wood is scarce at time then coal could be used.

I have a perfect Gov site for you to look at for approved wood stove manf. Pay attention to the efficient ratings and the clearances for th install and check with your local codes on there install specifications
http://www.epa.gov/Compliance/resources/publications/monitoring/caa/woodstoves/certifiedwood.pdf

I build masonry fireplaces and wood stove chimneys. I would certainly get a wood/coal combination stove. If the wood is scarce at time then coal could be used.
When I phoned my local vendors, they said they have stoves as follows:
Either wood
Or pellet
Or propane

No mention of wood + coal combo's. The woman sounded surprised that there even existed combo stoves.

Thanks for the PDF!
BTW - the quote given for the Lopi sounded most affordable (if one can call $1200-$1550 for stove & $1500 for chimney affordable).

Do you think the Lopi would be both user-efficient as well as space-efficient? I understand some take up more room than others. But I guess the handyman will check that out tomorrow at the stove store.

If you don't have much strength left, then you don't want to be hauling around bags of coal or dealing with cords of wood. Your best bet is a propane wall furnace or fireplace. These will work with no electricity and you won't have to worry about smoke. Only thing you have to do is make sure your tank doesn't run dry. If you get a big tank, you will be good for months. I would seriously look into propane heat, as there is almost no maintenance involved, and zero physical labor to operate them. Hope this helps. If you go with coal, or pellet or corn, be careful, as most of these models require electricity to operate the auger. Only other electricity free stoves that I know of are wood, but like I said, they require a lot of manuall labor. Wood stoves warm you many times over. Cutting, loading, unloading, splitting, And of course when you actually get to burn the logs. Then there's the mess to clean up afterwords. Yet, I still love a good wood fireplace. Lee.

Not sure where you live but wood/coal combos have been around here since the late 70s We even have 'corn stoves"
Harman Stove Company - Add Beauty and Warmth to Your Home. Pellet Stoves, Wood Stoves, Coal Stoves, Gas Stoves and Fireplaces, Fireplace Inserts (http://www.harmanstoves.com/list.asp?id=53,45,1,10,12,19,20,21,26&title=Harman) Pellet Stoves

US Stove HotBlast Wood/Coal Furnace — 1100 CFM Blower, 119,000 BTU, Model# 1537G | Wood | Northern Tool + Equipment (http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_6970_200395370_200395370)

Transocean Ltd. Wood & Coal Burning Stoves for Heating and Cooking (http://www.transoceanltd.com/appliances/woodburn.html)
Basically A wood stove won't burn coal properly but a coal stove will burn wood. The difference is the shaker grate for the coal. Coal needs to burn from the bottom and wood doesn't care top/bottom/side. The diff in chimney is the wood can crate creosote and coal is a cleaner chimney. A coal stove needs a deeper burn chamber then wood to load for BTU.

Mygirlsdad:
It's already in the works - the handyman will soon be getting the Lopi woodstove.
Note he was aware of coal as well, but he said we're in the NY suburbs & the cost of delivery of coal from Pennsylvania to here is more costly than wood - which predominates here.

Just curious:
Which costs more - propane? Or wood?

The cost of the Lopi will be approx. $3,172
The handyman's labor may be approx. $2,000
A cord of wood is $200
Total - approx. $5,400

I'm told if I burn the wood sparingly - just in the small bedroom - it can last several winters. (I forgot if the handyman or dealer or Lopi guy told me that)

A cord of wood is $200
The relatively here is how big of a fire you make for diff BTU usage and what kind of wood it is

The other big factor is getting an actual Cord of wood. A cord stacked is 4' deep 4' high and 8' long. Now that is abused simply because of how loosely its stacked. If you look up the definition of a cord they left out the most important part. A cord of wood is the measurements I posted but after its stacked properly a squirrel will not be able to crawl through any gaps in the stacking. This is from the old days when only wood was used to heat the houses. It was used as a standard for honest cords to cords to compare prices. The lasting of a cord greatly depends weather its all hardwood or mixed hardwood or all softwood. The prices vary greatly on the mix of a cord.

Some more info..
http://www.jwiwood.com/faq/cord.html

According to the dealer, I was ripped off but good. The handyman had told me that the dealer hadn't included the flange, so he asked me for a $400 check for needing to buy it "elsewhere". Just today the dealer told me that wasn't true. The handyman also had never delivered to me the dealer's invoices, so I had no way of cross-checking. Even though I was skeptical all along about the "few hundred" he kept asking for "more supplies" I played along, since I was psychically worn out. The total paid to the handyman came to $1,200, and he was extremely aggravating to deal with (long story) & did shoddy work. He left a gap between the flange & flue wherein the corrugated liner is visible, yada yada. Very depressing. Here's the pic:
http://powerpics.tripod.com/woodstove/woodstove_pics.html

Re: cord - so you say that when it's tight-packed, then it's 4' x 4' x 8'? If so, I wonder how I'll make room for it all.

P.S. It just occurred to me - what if a bird or who-knows-what-else decides to descend the chimney and down into the stove? I'll get the creeps!

And furthermore, what about when it rains? Can't that come down into the stove? These questions didn't occur to me until now.

OK, it's now December. Here's the update re: above saga, for the record, hoping it helps anyone out there avoid what I went through.

It turned out to be a nightmare.

Here's why. Nobody warned me (not the woodstove seller, nor anyone else) how VERY important it is to get a licensed guy to install the stove, no matter the cost. Elsewhere on askmehelpdesk y'all can see my posts relating to the woodstove issue all along.

The latest nightmare:

After all the monetary and extreme physical pain I went through, I'm now wondering whether I'll even qualify for the tax credit.

See, I finally found out the IRS form number (5695) would have entitled me up to $1,500 credit INCLUDING COSTS OF INSTALLATION!

The wood stove seller (a guy in approx. his 70's prone to rambling & interrupting easygoingly, in a "I know better than you" fashion) never emphasized that credit includes costs of installation, during my initial inquiries to him via phone months ago (at the time I first posted this question on askme). He only said that as long as I have proof that I purchased a wood stove, that would entitle the credit. He should have told me the credit includes costs of installation AND that the credit would probably only be valid if it were installed by a licensed guy.

I feel like :( due to my terrible luck, the likes of which nobody can imagine (I'm not just talking of this wood stove saga, but decades upon decades of such experiences in all stripes).

I was dealing with a handyman referred by a local reputable serviceman (this serviceman happened to be the handyman's cousin. I'd phone him for a reference, after trying and failing to reach other local references referred by neighbors, because he's a very nice trustworthy guy who'd bailed us out when a local utility company damaged our sewer lines during telephone pole installation. His dowsing talent enabled us to ascertain that the utility company was the culprit. Apparently, the serviceguy had not been aware that due to current economic times, his handyman-cousin was in desperate straits, who therefore wound up way overcharging me, and wasn't even licensed in this area. To boot, the serviceguy begged me as a favor to please get the licensing people off his handyman-cousin's back because the guy was suicidal, has a wife who's bipolar, and due to all that, was about to swallow a handful of pills, so he had to bring his cousin in for treatment.

That leaves me in a position where I can't very well ask that nice serviceguy to ask his suicidal unlicensed cousin to sign an invoice stating that he'd installed my stove. Not when the licensing people have been sending him letters due to my own letter to the county consumer complaints office, not when he'd asked me for either cash, or else checks made out to cash (which I'd complied with NOT due to gullibility, but rather because his cousin had been so decent on previous service calls, which is a long story in itself).

I'd rather risk thousands in monetary loss, than risk that guy's suicide on account of me.

Long story, where:

I'm the big loser all because I was never warned.

I'm the big loser because I'd tried and failed many times to reach friends/acquaintances of local neighbors who'd said they used handymen, but I needed to hear their references.

I'm the big loser because it was the end of Aug. & soon the weather might not have been conducive to getting a serviceperson or wood delivery, which was the reason for my rush to get a handyman, and why I desperately phoned the nice serviceguy for a reference.

SO AGAIN HERE'S A WARNING:

TO ANYONE INSTALLING A WOOD STOVE - USE ONLY PEOPLE WHO ARE LICENSED TO INSTALL WOOD STOVES! IT WILL SAVE LOADS OF GRIEF AND MONEY!