Unexpected Power outage

[Ken07AOVette]

If you want to do it safe(r), and I think this has been discussed before the cheapest easiest safest way is to run an outlet from the furnace breaker and plug in the furnace. When the power is down, plug the furnace into your generator feed. Then there are no reverse plugs or something stupid, and there is no chance of a back-feed onto the grid.

The best way is with an automatic switch of course.

[Grizzly Adams]

Originally Posted by bpoppa85

To be clear I'm not saying every time the power goes out I'm going to be doing what I offered as a possible solution. I live in town, and have always had very reliable utility power. I am not in a million years going to spend thousands of dollars on a back up generator and transfer switch solution. If you live in the county or an area where frequent power outages or unreliable utility power is the norm than that is an option you would have to consider for yourself. If it is however -40 and the power goes out in my house, and there are reasons to believe it may be a prolonged outage then you can bet your a## that I am either going to feed my furnace directly from a generator or backfeed my panel and shuffle some breakers around to make the best of the situation.

Through experience I've found even if your furnace is off for half a day, shouldn't be big deal if you live in a modern well insulated house.

Grizz

[fishtank]

Originally Posted by Ken07AOVette

If you want to do it safe(r), and I think this has been discussed before the cheapest easiest safest way is to run an outlet from the furnace breaker and plug in the furnace. When the power is down, plug the furnace into your generator feed. Then there are no reverse plugs or something stupid, and there is no chance of a back-feed onto the grid.

The best way is with an automatic switch of course.

thats what i was thinking , i talk to a hvac guy and he said it would be best that the furnace have a constant power, like hook up directly to the panel. Another thing he point out if the power source its not clean power, it hard on the furnace and might risk of frying a board .

[Brankon]

Originally Posted by 58thecat

Just don't do,this at all...if something as stupid as this has a issue and you hurt, kill someone or have a fire it's all on you.....this has been discussed here on the forum just use the search engine and there are some great answers and some not so....I went with a generator, outside receptacle, dedicated electrical Cord from genny to house, transfer switch to its own panel to run the house dedicated required necessities....master electrician, permits and all inspected to code....ohhh and by the way thx to all who assisted me on this.

In my opinion, a transfer switch and a dedicated cord or running extension cords is the only viable method of having power during an outage. As stated in my post above and other posts, it doesn't matter how carefully you do it, there is still a risk of the homeowners dumb decisions that might take the life of an innocent power lineman that is just trying to restore power to your home

[Brankon]

Originally Posted by Ken07AOVette

If you want to do it safe(r), and I think this has been discussed before the cheapest easiest safest way is to run an outlet from the furnace breaker and plug in the furnace. When the power is down, plug the furnace into your generator feed. Then there are no reverse plugs or something stupid, and there is no chance of a back-feed onto the grid.

The best way is with an automatic switch of course.

You hit the nail right on the head with that one!

[elkhunter11]

Originally Posted by Grizzly Adams

Through experience I've found even if your furnace is off for half a day, shouldn't be big deal if you live in a modern well insulated house.

Grizz

For a few hours, I can just fire up the wood stove in my basement, and use my generator to power the fan, as well as running the fridge and freezer. My woodstove is a higher end unit that has heat exchangers and a fan that blows across them, and it puts out over 70,000 btu.In summer, I don't need the woodstove but I may need the sump pump instead.

[Austin]

Isn’t the easiest solution is to pay more in carbon tax so the extreme weather gets fixed. Lol