The urban residents don’t have any electric backup.
The wealthy do, but if you live in the Portland Metro area, don’t have natural gas heat, and the power goes out? Fairly fucked.
I live rurally and we got super super lucky to not lose power, but we were going to be fine if we did.
This is the coldest it’s been here ina long long time. Other parts of the country would mock the severity, but this kind of weather is rare here.
Portland Gas Electric raised residential rates 17% for 2024. Thankfully all that extra revenue is going towards making the grid far more reliable /S
I place I use to rent was somewhat rural and had electric heat. After spending a snow storm where the inside of the house was below freezing I added a wood stove to the list of requirements to the next place I live lol
I replaced the small wood stove with a king sized stove. If you can spare the space a bigger wood box is fantastic. If you live with mixed, rarely artic, then I recommend the Blaze King. The catalytic burn and the thermostat are great.
If you deal with artic weather then I think Quadrafire might be the way to go.
The fire has stayed smouldering for days. Very little smoke, mostly steam seen when the catalytic burner is going.
One negative comment on the Blaze King is that if you have the thermostat on max high, and get a roaring fire going before you turn the thermostat down, the draw can force the intake to stay open. I would add a butterfly valve to the intake or a damper on the exhaust if I did it again. When I need to redo the chimney next I will do both, with maybe a remote little helper fan to assist with getting the fire started.
I did that once and just chucked a pot of water into the firebox to cool it down. I had so much fuel in there letting it cook off would have been ridiculous but probably not dangerous. Probably.
If it’s more just for emergencies and power outages then I would say a little battery Bank and a pellet stove would be the way to go
I live in a manufactured home so that gets its own set of rules of what I can install in it. Luckily the one I have, which I forget the brand of,has a fire brick baffle to reflect lots of heat out instead of up. I can get this house 85F without meaning to lol
Lake Oswego, Oregon got absolutely slapped by the weather
The urban residents don’t have any electric backup. The wealthy do, but if you live in the Portland Metro area, don’t have natural gas heat, and the power goes out? Fairly fucked.
I live rurally and we got super super lucky to not lose power, but we were going to be fine if we did.
This is the coldest it’s been here ina long long time. Other parts of the country would mock the severity, but this kind of weather is rare here.
Portland Gas Electric raised residential rates 17% for 2024. Thankfully all that extra revenue is going towards making the grid far more reliable /S
I place I use to rent was somewhat rural and had electric heat. After spending a snow storm where the inside of the house was below freezing I added a wood stove to the list of requirements to the next place I live lol
I replaced the small wood stove with a king sized stove. If you can spare the space a bigger wood box is fantastic. If you live with mixed, rarely artic, then I recommend the Blaze King. The catalytic burn and the thermostat are great.
If you deal with artic weather then I think Quadrafire might be the way to go. The fire has stayed smouldering for days. Very little smoke, mostly steam seen when the catalytic burner is going.
One negative comment on the Blaze King is that if you have the thermostat on max high, and get a roaring fire going before you turn the thermostat down, the draw can force the intake to stay open. I would add a butterfly valve to the intake or a damper on the exhaust if I did it again. When I need to redo the chimney next I will do both, with maybe a remote little helper fan to assist with getting the fire started.
I did that once and just chucked a pot of water into the firebox to cool it down. I had so much fuel in there letting it cook off would have been ridiculous but probably not dangerous. Probably.
If it’s more just for emergencies and power outages then I would say a little battery Bank and a pellet stove would be the way to go
I live in a manufactured home so that gets its own set of rules of what I can install in it. Luckily the one I have, which I forget the brand of,has a fire brick baffle to reflect lots of heat out instead of up. I can get this house 85F without meaning to lol