Our adventures in micro-homesteading
Heat.
We live in Minnesota, so we get cold in the winter time. A secondary source of heat is absolutely vital up here. You have many options, but I recommend a heat source that is simple, off grid, and uses a fuel completely different than your main source. We heat with electricity. Our backup heat source is kerosene heaters.
Kerosene technology is incredibly simple. It utilizes a wick, a simple wick height control mechanism, and kerosene fuel. They are basically just super sized oil lamps. Kerosene is an oil, not a gasoline type fuel. Kerosene and fuel oil are actually very similar. Kerosene stores well, is safe to store, and has a high energy concentration. Try to buy kerosene right from the pump. You are looking for clear K-1 kerosene. Usually, farming co-ops have this. It is usually a bit higher in price than road diesel. WARNING: Kerosene, like any combustion process, creates deadly carbon monoxide. Follow all manufacturer instructions for safe use of kerosene appliances.
There are generally 2 types of kerosene heaters: Catalytic chamber radiant heaters and convection heaters. Radiant heaters head objects by converting the flame into radiant heat, and convection heaters heat the air, much like a typical house forced air furnace.
Propane is another fuel source that is useful in emergencies. I do NOT focus on propane for emergencies for a few reasons. Firstly, propane is under pressure. Leaks can be explosive and empty your tank without you knowing, you need special fittings to use propane, you need special tools to transfer propane from one container to another. Also, propane depends on a lot of parts for operation, such as regulators, thermocouplers, hoses, seals, etc. If any of those parts fail, you don't get heat.
The benefits of propane are there for consideration, though. Propane stores indefinitely, assuming it doesn't leak from the tank. Propane can be purchased cheap in bulk compared to other fuel sources. Propane burns clean, with no sooting on start-up or shutdown like kerosene does. Propane also can be dialed up and down for more or less heat output out of a given device. Kerosene heaters are designed to operate within a tight area of adjustment for best combustion. A 10k BTU kerosene heater needs to put out roughly 10k BTU's during operation for top efficiency and a clean burn. However, a 10k BTU propane heater (depending on model) can run at 10k, 7k, 3k BTU's (for example), and still burn cleanly on any setting.
If you cannot get bulk kerosene, or choose propane for your emergency fuel, I would advise you own multiple propane heaters and have spare parts on hand. Be sure to keep multiple propane tanks on hand as well, as valves can freeze (I know this from experience), or you could have other problems. I will say that I have a propane powered portable heater that runs on 1 pound propane bottles I put in the vehicles if I must venture out when it is especially cold. I also keep a tank mounted propane radiant heater around. We have also started using indoor safe propane catalytic radiant heaters for when the electric heat is controlled. Easy on, easy off, no fumes at any time. There is nothing wrong with diversity, especially when it comes to heat in the northern states. I consider propane a convenience fuel, for when parts are easily available. I consider kerosene the fuel I can depend on if it MUST work.
Aside from propane, kerosene or any fossil fuel, you can look to wood stoves. Wood burning is the original “green” fuel, and it is still useful today. These systems can be a significant investment, especially if you have to install a chimney from scratch. A chimney that runs through your house can easily cost a few thousand dollars, just in the double wall pipe! If you have a wooded lot, or have access to land to cut on (usually farmers are more than happy to have you come in and take out standing dead trees at no charge in exchange for you keep the wood and clean up at least most of the mess), consider wood. If you have access to wood you cut yourself, the fuel to run the wood stove is practically free. Wood heaters come in many shapes and sizes. You can install outdoor wood hot water heaters that transfer the heat indoors via hot water lines, you can install an actual working wood kitchen stove that you can do all your cooking on easily. There are add-on wood furnaces where the fire heats an air plenum and the hot air is blown around your house using your HVAC ducts (these require electricity, though). Of course, there are the standard wood stoves that heat rooms very well. Lets not forget the old time fireplace, or fireplace insert.
Whatever type of fire burning appliance you choose, I would advise an outside sourced fresh air intake, such as is required in mobile and manufactured homes. The reason I recommend them is that wood heaters use an amazing amount of air. If the air is sourced from the room, air from outside (that is cold) must come inside and be heated again. If you have a tight house, you could also have draft problems. If you use an outside sourced fresh air intake, the stove is only using outside air that you aren't trying to heat, so the draft is better and your house stays much warmer. All you get is the heat!
If you choose any type of outdoor wood stove, I would like to advise you to think about prevailing wind. For us, we almost never get a north-east wind. That means that the absolute best place to put your wood burner is to the north-east of your house, between 50 and 100 feet away. This will minimize the amount of time your wood stove is blanketing your house in a cloud of smoke. When we lived in our mobile home, the wood stove was placed just on the north side (broadside) of our mobile. Quite frequently, we would have smoking coming in through the windows and vents. A few times, we had to evacuate the house because the carbon monoxide detectors were going off. Not a good situation.
While there has been much discussion over the EPA regulations on wood stoves in the last few years, I will say that based on what I have seen the new double burn stoves extract much more heat out of your wood, and have much cleaner chimneys than the stoves of yesterday. These new stoves introduce fresh air into the top of the combustion area, and actually create a secondary fire of the un burned smoke above the main fire. This results in using all available fuel and a cleaner chimney with less emissions. While I don't like government mandates, these new stoves seem to be much better than the old technology. You also end up burning less wood to keep the same room temperature. It is a win/win situation. The only item of note on these new stoves is that they require well seasoned wood, preferably hard wood, free of dirt or debris.
When getting an indoor stove, make sure you get one with outside sourced fresh air. Yes, you have to put another hole in the wall for the air intake, but since you are not using air from the room for combusion (which is replaced with cold air from outside), you get all the heat, none of the open fireplace issues.
One last note about wood heat is to check with your insurance company and local codes/laws first. Most towns have restrictions on wood stoves, and most insurance companies do not like them. For us, a wood stove costs $150 a year extra on our house insurance premium.
And don't forget the simple supplies for your regular furnace. A lot of force air central furnaces have burners that fail, thermocouplers that fail, fuses, relays, and more, depending on the model and type. It is also a good idea to keep filters on hand, as full filters reduce efficiency significantly. Find out what your furnace is equipped with that is not only likely to fail on you, but cheap to buy and easy enough to change it yourself. As a child, we woke up more than once (and always on Sunday morning when the supply stores were closed it seemed) to a cold house due to the electric ignition element having failed, or some other simple failure. After a few of these events, spare parts were kept on hand. If you run propane, regulators can fail, but these require replacement by someone who is trained to repair propane systems, and is then capable of leak testing the system before putting gas back in. Still, having what you need on hand means your propane tech doesn't have to supply parts, or have the right parts on hand. You have what your system uses.
Also don't forget: Keep your fuel tanks full! You'd be surprised how many people forget to check their fuel level (be it propane or fuel oil) and run cold due to simple lack of fuel! Remember that running out of propane means your system must be leak tested before your tank can be filled again as well!