blueshoes
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Location: Regional Dan-istan
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Post by blueshoes on May 29, 2017 12:25:38 GMT 10
Are there ways to cook in/heat an enclosed space without giving yourself/others carbon monoxide poisoning?
If say there was a lockdown scenario (pandemic, fallout) in winter and your family needed warming up or just a cup of tea for morale what would you do?
I am thinking out loud here, maybe some sort of battery powered electric hotplate or something?
Virtually every stove I have seen has involved some sort of flame or requires a wall plug (possibly not an option if you are in a makeshift bunker)
Edit to add: once upon a time I had a USB mug sized hotplate but the thing was woefully ineffective and my hot coffee went cold sitting on it..
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Post by Joey on May 29, 2017 13:09:33 GMT 10
If you have a flue for fire related heat source like a potbelly stove. Otherwise one can be rigged up using all manner of items. A hot water system can be made from a fire setup like this simply by coiling a copper water pipe around the outside of the fore section that can have a gravity fed water source above it.
If on the run, a great way to make a effective fire place is by using 2 steel truck rims stacked or welded to each other and a grill/plate over the top.
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paranoia
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Post by paranoia on May 30, 2017 0:15:53 GMT 10
Are there ways to cook in/heat an enclosed space without giving yourself/others carbon monoxide poisoning? If say there was a lockdown scenario (pandemic, fallout) in winter and your family needed warming up or just a cup of tea for morale what would you do? I am thinking out loud here, maybe some sort of battery powered electric hotplate or something? Virtually every stove I have seen has involved some sort of flame or requires a wall plug (possibly not an option if you are in a makeshift bunker) Edit to add: once upon a time I had a USB mug sized hotplate but the thing was woefully ineffective and my hot coffee went cold sitting on it.. Electric heating requires so much power I wouldn't be doing using it without a grid system, you'd need to run a generator (combustion engine, turning a generator to generate electricity then heating a panel heater) which has so many levels on inefficiency in the chain of devices that you're loosing most of your input.
It's pretty easy to see how a USB powered heater wont work, USB 2.0 was half an amp, 3.0 is 0.9 amps. At 5V x 0.9A... that's 4.5 watts. Not going to work. I have a 400 watt panel heater in our living room that simply 'takes the edge' off the winter at a very low cost but without thick walls, decent insulation & appropriate curtains, it would be completely ineffective.
Best way in my opinion is LPG (if you're worried about smoke that is) vented directly outside in a separate system. You use thermal transfer through water/coolant to get the heat into the room you're trying to warm. I saw this setup working well on a tour of the Mt Lofty botanic gardens nursery (they grow all the plants for the three botanic gardens in Adelaide, not open to the public but if you do a course there you can usually have a snoop around) They had a singular large LPG boiler unit that fed copper pipes in 3 different glass houses. The pipes ran the perimeter of the glasshouses around the base and they were kept very warm through the winter. If you set your pipes up correctly you don't need a pump, thermal siphon is sufficient to circulate the system.
If building a new house you can get these copper pipes put into your foundation for a very efficient heating system, I've even seen the heat generated through solar means.
This all still leaves issues with cooking. If you have a fireplace that you can cook on, it can be converted to run on gas. There is a lot to this conversion (needs to be sealed properly but can be done). I'm yet to find an LPG or natural gas fireplace that's designed from the outset to have cooking capability.
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token
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Post by token on May 30, 2017 7:41:46 GMT 10
Cheapest, quickest option for the end of the world for dual heating and cooking would be to make your own or purchase someones diy woodstove from gumtree or ebay. Or, purchase one and add to the flu so that it exhausts outside. www.ebay.com.au/itm/Portable-Camping-Wood-Stove-Wood-Heater-Pot-Belly-Stove-Fire-Fireplace-/292126884187?hash=item44041e815b:g:-4gAAOSwCQZZI8Ep$189 and $20 delivery. Personally speaking, every house needs a wood heater that can be used as a stove if your a prepper imho even if its an ornament awaiting use at the end of the world. Lots of folk used these in the old days for their kitchen stove, and they are making a comeback these days selling new ones. They heat the house, stove top cook, oven cook, and have a wetback for heating water all from wood. Wood is available everywhere, wood burns hotter, cleaner and is efficient and cost effective, go wood! www.ebay.com.au/itm/Antique-Cast-Iron-Wood-Stove-Oven-Original-Enamel-Colors-Water-Heater-And-Tap-/132202413038?hash=item1ec7e0bbee:g:9b4AAOSw9OFZJQpj |
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Post by graynomad on May 30, 2017 8:22:04 GMT 10
Here's what we use for heating and cooking in winter.  |
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grumble
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Post by grumble on May 31, 2017 17:00:34 GMT 10
Are there ways to cook in/heat an enclosed space without giving yourself/others carbon monoxide poisoning? If say there was a lockdown scenario (pandemic, fallout) in winter and your family needed warming up or just a cup of tea for morale what would you do? I am thinking out loud here, maybe some sort of battery powered electric hotplate or something? Virtually every stove I have seen has involved some sort of flame or requires a wall plug (possibly not an option if you are in a makeshift bunker) Edit to add: once upon a time I had a USB mug sized hotplate but the thing was woefully ineffective and my hot coffee went cold sitting on it.. To answer your question there are a couple of ways you can go with this
one way is get a small solar array that feeds a 12volt system you can get small kettles that run on cigarette lighter plugs they are not the greatest but if you have enough power stored then they may be worth checking out
secondly get some MRE heaters for heating up your meals they are not cheap but they will do the job of heating a meals without other heat sources
3rdly you can buy small space heaters that have a low oxygen level sensor on them that shuts them off if it detects low oxygen levels you can use these to heat up a small space and heat water at the same time
each method has its own problems and costs associated with them it all comes down to what you wish to do
Another way to address this is to also look at other methods of keeping moral and temperature up for an example make sure you have plenty of high calorific treats on hand set up tent in the largest room in the house and make this base camp its surprising how much more warmth can be trapped at night by sleeping in a tent in a house make sure you have enough clothes for layering so you don't need extra heat sources find games and activities that get people moving sure they will burn energy but that why you have the high energy foods on hand I mean if it really is the end of the world start getting people to move furniture around to harden rooms against forced entry things like that set up exercise plans make sure you have a couple of exercise machines nothing like trying to beat someone's else's personal best on a rowing machine
I think you get the idea though think of ways to keep warm and happy before you need fire
here are a couple of this for you to think about
www.anacondastores.com/camping-hiking/camp-furniture/heaters-fire-pits/primus-mr-heater-portable-buddy-heater/p/BP90032454 www.anacondastores.com/camping-hiking/camp-furniture/heaters-fire-pits/primus-mr-heater-little-buddy-heater/p/BP90032453
www.anacondastores.com/camping-hiking/camp-cooking/camp-cooking-appliances/waeco-perfect-kitchen-kettle/p/BP90024814
www.anacondastores.com/camping-hiking/camp-cooking/camp-food/back-country-flameless-heater-pack/p/BP90034128
www.bcf.com.au/Product/Engel-Cooler-Warmer-8L/130954?menuFrom=571605
that's just a few things to have a look at to give you some ideas
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 1, 2017 12:05:34 GMT 10
Hi, interesting topic..... I had a situation a while back needing to heat food and make a cuppa. in a location in which a fire was not suitable. I had brought a 12volt mini kettle at some camping store a long time ago that was supposed to plug into your cigarette lighter of your car and be able to boil about 500 ml of water drawing about 15 amps....
So I used a solar panel to keep a battery charged up and found I could not only make a cuppa with it, but after cutting the top out of it with a hacksaw was able to fit a standard size soup can or baked beans can in it so it did a great job of putting hot food on my table too. Since then I have added a couple more to my collection for the same purpose. Of course if you are running it from your car battery you need to be aware of running the battery flat if you don;t run the engine while it is heating your food, unless you have a some way of recharging worked out.
Happpy prepping
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Post by ziggysdad on Jun 1, 2017 17:26:50 GMT 10
Methanol/Ethanol Fuel Gel -  Attachments:
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blueshoes
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Location: Regional Dan-istan
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Post by blueshoes on Jun 3, 2017 12:01:08 GMT 10
Thankyou for all the suggestions  I hadn't thought of chemical heat like MREs or the back Country one Grumble linked, will grab one and give it a test run - probably good to have in a BOB/GHB I was kinda thinking of a situation like after an unexpected (but survivable) nuclear strike or mild chemical incident where you might be holed up anywhere trying to avoid fumes - home, in a temporarily fortified room at a friend's or relative's house, with others in a concrete basement under a building.... A fireplace/pot belly is good if you can swing it, our house doesn't have one and I can't justify the expense to HWMBO. Nonethess a good suggestion that stands on it's own two shoes |
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spatial
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Post by spatial on Jun 3, 2017 16:51:41 GMT 10
Thankyou for all the suggestions I hadn't thought of chemical heat like MREs or the back Country one Grumble linked, will grab one and give it a test run - probably good to have in a BOB/GHB I was kinda thinking of a situation like after an unexpected (but survivable) nuclear strike or mild chemical incident where you might be holed up anywhere trying to avoid fumes - home, in a temporarily fortified room at a friend's or relative's house, with others in a concrete basement under a building.... A fireplace/pot belly is good if you can swing it, our house doesn't have one and I can't justify the expense to HWMBO. Nonethess a good suggestion that stands on it's own two shoes One disaster that we should be aware of is bio-weapons, where an engineered plague is let loos and basically one is housebound to avoid getting infected. I have a 2 butane stove $20 at Bunnigns and and $4.45 for a pack of 4 butane canisters. Good for cooking when raining or needing to be indoors. I have a box full of canisters get at least one packet a month. it will cook and heat for you.. You can also get a heater that uses a canister, LOL I just googled it and found one for >$70 (never seen them before!!). Butane is clean burning and I would not think an issue indoors.   |
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