Pragmatic Preparedness

A site for practical preppers. A place to go to learn resiliency and preparedness for those looking to get into the prepper world.

Actively Heating a Small Space During a Power Outage

First, the content of this article is targeted to those who do not have a fireplace or other permanent heating solution in the small space they are trying to heat. (More power to you if you do have a permanent solution.)

Second, actively heating a small space will always work better when paired with passive heating (or heat retention) mechanisms. See this article for more ideas on passively heating a space. 

Finally, heating a space is often a luxury. Heating the person is vital. See this article for more information on keeping your body warm.

The risks of keeping a space warm with no electricity can actually outweigh the benefits, so let’s quickly review the pros and cons:

Pros of Keeping a Space Warm:

  1. Can reduce chances of death or injury from hypothermia and frostbite
  2. More comfortable for everyone in the space
  3. It may be the only feasible option for certain bodies (e.g., infants, those with certain physical or mental health challenges, and many pets like fish and birds).
  4. Can stop water pipes from bursting
  5. Morale booster

Cons of Actively Keeping a Space Warm During a Power Outage:

  1. Increased risk of death or injury from:
    1. Carbon monoxide poisoning
    2. Oxygen  deprivation
    3. Fire
    4. Smoke inhalation
    5. Explosion
  2. Equipment and fuel can be costly and bulky
    • Currently, electrical options that mitigate the risks of fuel-based solutions are typically inefficient or they are much, much more costly than fuel-based solutions

For comparison, during the Texas Winter Storm of February 2021 there were 148 deaths directly occurring from exposure to extreme cold. There were 19 deaths from carbon monoxide poisoning and 7 deaths from fires that were attributed to the same storm. 

It is up to you to determine your best course of action to keep your household safe and comfortable during a winter power outage. 

Battery banks are a great option in general for power outages and they seem to really be growing in popularity, but at this point they should generally not be relied upon as a warming solution due to the intense power needed for heating. For example, this battery bank could power the full size fridge/freezer in my kitchen for 6-7 hours; however, it could only power my favorite space heater for about an hour and a half on the heater’s lowest setting. That’s not much heat. 

Also, in contrast, that battery bank alone (without solar panels or the space heater itself) costs significantly more than my three recommended portable fuel-based, indoor heating devices combined even with 24 hours of fuel for each. 

In my mind, that’s 1.5 hours of single-point of failure heating versus well over 72 hours of triple redundancy heating for the same financial cost. (The true math is not quite that simple, but the cost to benefit ratio remains greatly in favor of fuel-based heating resulting in the best bang for the buck in most cases. Space is also a consideration, but the fuel-based devices I recommend are all fairly compact and portable.)

However, one additional cost for fuel-based solutions that should always be considered is safety equipment. You should not use a fuel-based heating solution indoors without a carbon monoxide detector and a fire extinguishing device. Ideally, you would have a detector like this because it not only checks for carbon monoxide, but it can also detect leaks of natural gas and even propane. Whatever detector you choose, you’ll want to make sure it has a battery backup and a visible readout is always a nice-to-have. A basic fire extinguisher like this should be at hand whenever and wherever you are burning something in your house. 

Also, always remember that you’ll need some amount of ventilation. Even if your fuel-based device is not producing significant carbon monoxide, it is consuming oxygen and you don’t want to run low on that.

And, my recommendation would be to not actively burn any fuel if everyone is asleep. I would try to have enough passive heat retention to keep comfortable through the night and reduce the risk of unattended combustion or carbon monoxide poisoning. 

My recommended strategy for fuel-based heating in your home would be to start with one of these and work your way up to three of them in whatever order works best for you. Personally, I would go with one of each, but I’ll explain why after I go over the devices themselves:

  1. Mr. Heater Buddy: This is pretty much the de facto fuel-based heater to have for preparedness and/or camping and it is designed to run off of 1lb. disposable propane tanks. It is thoroughly reviewed on YouTube and the rest of the internet and it’s a rock. The primary concern I have seen is when using adaptor hoses to hook this up to a 20lbs propane tank as those hoses can leak oil into the Mr. Heater Buddy that clogs it up. 
  2. VESTA Self-Powered Heater & Stove: This is relatively new to the market, but it uses chafing fuel for both heating and cooking. Not all chafing fuel is indoor safe. This chafing fuel from Sam’s Club is usually the best buy for indoor safe fuel for the Vesta.  
  3. Mr. Heater Big Buddy: This is basically the big brother of the Mr. Heater Buddy and can generate up to 2x the heat, if you’re willing to use 2x the fuel. 

If Two is One and One is None, then why do I recommend all three?

First of all, any is better than none, so only get what you can afford and makes sense to for your circumstances, but for me, this is a case where three is actually closer to two.

Two heaters are always better than one. While I wouldn’t recommend running multiple fuel-based heaters in the same space for a prolonged amount of time (due to oxygen consumed and carbon monoxide produced), it could be handy to help heat up a space quickly and then drop down to one heater for maintenance. Also, I would like to be able to heat two separate places at once. I would always want one in my microclimate where the people are, but if the water is still running, it would be nice to be able to heat up the bathroom and/or keep the pipes from freezing in my basement. Another consideration is that, if someone is sick, I may very well want multiple microclimates.

Two Mr. Heaters are better than one because if one fails, you can still use the fuel for the other. (If the Vesta breaks, I can still use the chafing fuel on its own for cooking and heating, albeit with less convenience and effectiveness.)

I also like the Vesta because it provides a rudimentary cooking solution that is indoor safe and it provides a drier heat than the Mr. Heaters. Propane heat can produce a lot of condensate water as a byproduct so I would like to be able to alternate between the fuel types. 

If you do want to use the 20lbs tanks for the Mr. Heaters, remember that while the green 1lbs tanks are considered safe for indoor storage, the 20lbs tanks are not. They can leak and that can result in explosions. (One workaround I’ve seen is to keep the 20lbs tank in the window well with the hose running through a notch in a pool noodle that fits in the open window gap.) Also, an adaptor hose is required to connect 20lbs tanks to the Mr. Heaters. Unless you are using a Mr. Heater branded hose, it is likely that the adaptor hose itself will contain oils that will clog the heater and prevent it from working. This is a commonly reported issue and can be greatly mitigated by using a fuel filter.

There are myriad other options (e.g., candles, kerosene heaters, diesel heaters, etc.) but I feel that they tend to have higher learning curves for safe and effective usage as well as fuel storage. For beginner preppers who would like the flexibility of using this gear for camping in addition to emergencies, I would recommend the Mr. Heaters with the consideration of the Vesta for an alternative that also supports cooking.