Comment on Anyone else notice this??
Canonical_Warlock@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 weeks agoAt least in my area, propane is the goto if you have no city gas hookup. If you want to go oldschool then you have a fuel oil furnace. Keeping enough wood on hand to heat a house over the winter just isn’t practical for most. Even just heating his wood shop just while he is using it my dad can burn through 3 full cords of wood every winter. My grandpa used to heat his trailer house with wood and he often went through 4-5 full cords in the winter.
I 100% agree that wood is cozy but it’s way easier to just keep a tank of propane or fuel oil on hand.
Grabthar@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
For sure, most use oil or propane as a primary heat source when gas isn’t available. But those rely on both expensive fossil fuel and electricity to run, so a backup that doesn’t depend on either is handy, especially with all these once in a century storms we get every year now. Wood makes for a cheap, effective backup. Used to be so common in housing too. Now we just get gas furnaces and gas fireplaces for show. Still, I wouldn’t go out of my way to get a woodstove. I agree that a backup generator is plenty for most situations. But if you have an older home with a fireplace, keep a half cord around and make sure the chimney is clean.
HiTekRedNek@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Propane doesn’t need electricity to work… The tank is pressurized, and opening a valve allows it to flow.
Grabthar@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Unless you have an old system with a pilot light, you are probably dependent on an electric ignition system. Those have been the norm for a couple decades now for propane and natural gas furnaces.