[solved] Prepper propane connection 'secret' found.

[Lumos]

Thanks Again and Again for your kind thoughts Archon.

We have been fortunate in the past years that any outages have been non-threatening and either short enough to just wait them out patiently - or get into bed and let the blankets do their job until the lights came back on...BUT=>

Now, in 2021, there are too many goofy things going around - way too much craziness IMO - and really no ways to know if ANY of the foretellings have any credibility.

So, despite our own poor financial condition - I have spend some $$ on these things and will make the plumbing mods so as to be in readiness for...whatever.

If nothing comes to pass - will I feel foolish or sad that some $$ was spent on this ??
Nope, not at all.

Our winters sometimes bring us many feet of heavy snow and also temps as low as -30F at times.

No amount of added, layered clothing can keep one warm enough during any extended outage - and the unavoidable damages caused by frozen water pipes after they've frozen solidly, burst and then thawed out is really bad.
(I know because I've been through this before.)

Fortunately in the event of an outage of more than some hours I have access to the water shut off in this multi-unit place and can also drain most of the pipes down to that low point to avoid disasters - but that will not keep the occupants safe and warm whereas what I've detailed here will at least help with that situation within a limited space.

I compare these ideas to having and needing a car to get around in;
It is not a matter of IF that will sometimes break down as much as a matter of WHEN.
Therefore having a way to get that car towed in for repairs (like via AAA) is a good plan for most folks as that tends to pay for itself year after year even if only used a couple of times.

[Archon]

Experience teaches us and those who are wise learn from other's experience before
learning the hard way. We suffered in Hurricane Sandy here on the East Coast and
a friend of mine died as they tipped an oil lamp over and the whole building quickly
caught afire. Oil fires can't be put out with water and this was in winter time and
no lights.

That is life threatening at those -30F temperatures and those kind of snow amount!!

A real risk of being frozen as no one will be able to come to your aid.

You are doing the absolute right thing to be proactive and responsible for your well being which
can quickly escalate to saving your own life and your family and friends.

Cars have a habit of not wanting to start in those temperatures and trickle charging car batteries to prevent
sulfation and even a solar trickle charger is a good idea.

AAA is useful and you will make that up for just one tow and if people can share the membership
that is even better.

Don't even get started about how crazy things are this year...

I am reminded God did not instill fear in us that is of Satan.

Keep your prayers and faith to God in these time as God won't let a life giving
thought die which will benefit mankind. I pray constantly for us all in this world.

Blessing always my brother Smithnowt!!!

[Lumos]

Greetings and Thanks Once Again Archon.

Your reply brings to mind 1 specific thing=>



BatteryMINDer Model 12117: 12 Volt 1.33 Amp (12V 1.33A) Charger/Maintainer/Desulfator

The back story for this thing...:
I only get and keep older cars by preference - and my previous 25 y/o car got its battery from my even older car before it.

You see, at a time when I had been seriously ill and unable to work, the really old car's battery had failed and all I could manage was a wally mart el cheapo 1-year battery.

The next winter I heard of the BatteryMINDer and chose to spend the $25 on it rather than saving up to buy another battery later.
BEST CHOICE EVER (for me) !!

That 1-year battery gave me 9+ years of perfect starts courtesy of that little BatteryMINDer box.

In fact I'd still be using that same battery today except that it went away with my previous old car.

When the mains power is working OK and I am at home, that tiny box lives most of the time under my old car's hood, connected via an extension cord and no matter how cold it may be, my old car starts right up EVERY TIME.

In fact, it works so very well that when I often used to work weekends at my distant office, I had a much longer cord with me to connect it there.

Closing note:
There are knock offs of this product and I tried 1 or 2, but they did not work as well as the real deal.

Having to buy a new battery for your car too often CAN be avoided by desulphating the battery you've got - especially if your car sits for a week at a time like mine so often does.

PS:
No link for buying it is here because it can so easily be found just by searching on its name and model number.

[bigbaddog]

Last night we had a wide ranging power outage.......Came looking for a way to make our own electric and found this!!!!! Wonderful... this will solve a lot of our "survival' needs and even with a source of our own electric will make our life a whole lot nicer the next time we lose power!!!
THANK YOU!!!!

[Lumos]

Thanks for your thanks Bigbaddog !!

As mentioned in the OP, we do have central heating for our little place - but even with the power on and plenty of propane it is so poorly installed that it ain't worth using at all.

So in addition to being emergency-ready per the OP here, I added a tee to our single propane line, ran a new line up from the basement - teed that again and valved it that we have one of these now connected (which I had in storage already) :


And even on the coldest, windiest days this winter, we had great heat for the main rooms that we use the most.

Yes - propane has gone up in price sky high, but lucky for us the 2 full tanks that have been sitting outdoors, unused for years have 1 shut off and the other just about used up now, so come fall we'll have that company take the 2nd tank away.

The goodness of that will be to lower the minimum delivery size 'cuz even right now we could not afford even the smallest allowed delivery from them.

Aside of that superb heat source - the 2nd connection was made for the hose shown in the OP, which is valved off and plugged for now - but 100% ready for anytime we'd need it for cooking or lighting.

Even with that propane heating, our electric bills this winter were truly scary high - so it is many times that scary to imagine if we'd used ONLY electric heat for this winter !!

[dandyrandy]

The device in last post, will run off any amount of pressure, low to high.

The pressure coming from large propane tanks, to fire up furnaces, water heaters, dryers and stoves, is higher than what is desired for smaller units. Furnaces, water heaters and dryers, all have a pressure regulator, built in. Many smaller devices, do not, and can create a big problem, both from leakage, CO2/C01 and unburned fuel.

You would be best to put an inline regulator, after the "T" in the "primary small device" line, as those 1 pound canisters, put out different pressures. Those smaller devices, are supposed to be used outside, or at a minimum, with the small tanks.

I know you mentioned not wanting an electric generator, and one wouldn't work for an apartment dwelling situation, anyhow, but if living in a home, you can install, or have installed, an external plug, that feeds into your circuit breaker box. Then you only have to make sure you turn off the main breaker, before firing up the generator, so it don't backfeed into the normal electric supply line. I actually have the entire setup ready to go in my own home, as soon as my hand heals from the recent surgery.

[Lumos]

@Dandyrandy:
Your reply could seriously scare some folks !!

I will add that if someone is NOT experienced with fuel gas plumbing they probably should NOT be tinkering with it anyhow.

As to our situation=>
That heater has its own built in regulator - our portable stove does as well.
I have several spare regulators on hand in case of need, and;
If the lights were out for longer than a day, we'd likely use a propane lantern connected properly to a 20# camper tank for lighting whenever candles would not suffice.

Generators are for rich folks !!
Having anything less than an installed generator WITH a properly connected transfer switch is just a noisy, inefficient way to run some small stuff and maybe a refrigerator, tops.

Having one of those things running noisily outside one's dwelling if the SHTF would also be a grand way to invite a home invasion - kind of like a flashing 'COME ROB US - WE'RE PREPPERS' sign !!

If/when folks get hungry and desperate that is a time to be as low key as possible to try NOT to attract attention.

Sure, having canned and dry goods on hand is a great idea if the stores run dry, but not a setup where one would brag to other folks about it, for all those same reasons.