# Opportunity to make some changes...



## awilson (Jan 7, 2016)

Great thread by Targetshooter on generators... very helpful and got me thinking...Thanks to all who posted!

Just moved to central Virginia about 3.5 years ago...
I'm in a older home (built 1969) with a oil furnace in the basement..tank buried outside.
In the middle of a fairly large remodel: master bedroom/bath, then moving to hall bath, plumbing, electrical, etc.

In our previous home we had: heat pump, Jotul wood burning stove in living room, 320gal LP tank, Bosch tankless LP water heater (nonelectric)...nice set up, then we moved :-/

I know oil has more BTUs per weight than LP. I know once installed that LP would be a little more expensive than oil...

My thought...switch everything to LP and add a Jotul wood stove

Sink a big LP tank, when oil furnace goes replace with LP, *add* a LP generator, *add* a LP tankless water heater...

Does anyone have any experience with similar setups?
Any recommendations?

Many Thanks!


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## 8301 (Nov 29, 2014)

Since the LP furnace, water heater and oil furnace all require a few amps of 120v electricity to run unless you want to run your generator 20 hrs a day during the winter to keep the furnace going I'd consider a battery bank with inverter. It could be charged up either by solar of the generator and provide lower levels of electricity for heat ect when the generator is off.

Keep in mind you want to avoid pulling your batteries down below 50% charge on a regular basis but you can occasionally so let's assume pulling them down to 30% before recharging during a grid down snow storm ect.
3 amps at 120v to run your furnace and a few other tiny things.

Using three 129 amp hr 12v deep cycle batteries( Sun Xtender PVX-1290T AGM Sealed Battery ) (AGMs for super low maintance) with a 1500+ watt pure sine wave inverter (some motors and electronics will be slowly damaged by the less expensive modified sine wave inverters) you can pull 3 amps at 120v for about 8 hours continuously before dropping the battery below 30% charge (SOC).

Keeping a trickle charger hooked to the batteries will assure they stay charged and your generator with a large charger can charge them if the grid is down.

This is an expensive option and you may be better off with a small propane powered generator hooked to your large propane tank. I just like the option of not running a generator all of the time.


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## budgetprepp-n (Apr 7, 2013)

FoolAmI said:


> Since the LP furnace, water heater and oil furnace all require a few amps of 120v electricity to run unless you want to run your generator 20 hrs a day during the winter to keep the furnace going I'd consider a battery bank with inverter. It could be charged up either by solar of the generator and provide lower levels of electricity for heat ect when the generator is off.
> 
> Keep in mind you want to avoid pulling your batteries down below 50% charge on a regular basis but you can occasionally so let's assume pulling them down to 30% before recharging during a grid down snow storm ect.
> 3 amps at 120v to run your furnace and a few other tiny things.
> ...


I"m switching over to a propane water heater I don't think a propane water heater uses any electric at all does it?
I thought it was all maniacal and gas


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## budgetprepp-n (Apr 7, 2013)

awilson said:


> Great thread by Targetshooter on generators... very helpful and got me thinking...Thanks to all who posted!
> 
> Just moved to central Virginia about 3.5 years ago...
> I'm in a older home (built 1969) with a oil furnace in the basement..tank buried outside.
> ...


I didn't think that propane was that expensive. I have propane and only use it for my stove and oven.
Keep in mind that I cook for 3 adults and 2 grand kids -I bake bread- (Gets used a lot)

Cost me $75 to get a 100 lb bottle filled it last for 10 months

It cost $7.50 a month for the stove/oven I don't think that's too bad at all.

I have a 5 tanks stored $375 and I'm set for 4 1/2 years. -that's a cheap prep for that long-
Might as well buy it your going to need it sooner or later- and then your set if SHTF


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## 8301 (Nov 29, 2014)

budgetprepp-n said:


> I"m switching over to a propane water heater I don't think a propane water heater uses any electric at all does it?
> I thought it was all maniacal and gas


The propane tank-less water heater I installed last summer requires 2 amps at 120v for the electronics and safety gas controls (but it probably only consumes a few watts while not running).

The local propane company put in a 100 gallon propane tank (about 500 lbs of propane since they can't fill it over 85% full ) which they said should last 2 people about 6-9 months with average hot water use.

A propane or oil furnace will need more electric power for the blower fan.


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## budgetprepp-n (Apr 7, 2013)

FoolAmI said:


> The propane tank-less water heater I installed last summer requires 2 amps at 120v for the electronics and safety gas controls (but it probably only consumes a few watts while not running).
> 
> The local propane company put in a 100 gallon propane tank (about 500 lbs of propane since they can't fill it over 85% full ) which they said should last 2 people about 6-9 months with average hot water use.
> 
> A propane or oil furnace will need more electric power for the blower fan.


They make a On-Demand heater that doesn't require any batteries and I'm pretty sure a regular gas or propane
Hot water tank doesn't use any electric at all --

Anyone here ever install a gas water heater?


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## awilson (Jan 7, 2016)

budgetprepp-n said:


> Anyone here ever install a gas water heater?


Yes. We had a Bosch Aquastar tankless water heater, with hydro ignition...easy to install. We had someone do the black pipe and we did the rest.
Very nice...even had a three day power outage to test it...awesome! ...then we moved.

We are looking to purchase the same model again.


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## budgetprepp-n (Apr 7, 2013)

awilson said:


> Yes. We had a Bosch Aquastar tankless water heater, with hydro ignition...easy to install. We had someone do the black pipe and we did the rest.
> Very nice...even had a three day power outage to test it...awesome! ...then we moved.
> 
> We are looking to purchase the same model again.


hydro ignition.? Is that where the water spins a generator to make the spark to light the gas?


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## Gunner's Mate (Aug 13, 2013)

if yer in one of the extreme cold places say ( any where north of texas) check out a wood fired boiler system


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## awilson (Jan 7, 2016)

budgetprepp-n said:


> hydro ignition.?


No...The unit hangs on the wall. It has a pilot light. There is an internal pressure switch that senses a drop in water pressure (on the hot side) then ignites the burner for hot water.
No electricity needed at all. Very nice in power outages...
Lots of negative reviews online, but we never had *any* issues with our unit. Install was easy...just follow the instructions...like I mentioned earlier we had someone install the black pipe and we did the rest.








Bosch 1600P LP AquaStar


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## 8301 (Nov 29, 2014)

I read the instruction manual and see how it stays lit (pizo-electric and pilot light) but still don't understand how it regulates gas flow for the changing load not to mention emergency cut offs. But you're right, I see no external electrical hook ups.


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## MaterielGeneral (Jan 27, 2015)

budgetprepp-n said:


> Anyone here ever install a gas water heater?


When we bought our place it had a propane water heater. My wife wanted an electric heater so a friend from church helped me swap them out. The propane water heater did not have any electric going to it.


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## paraquack (Mar 1, 2013)

I've seen some gas hot water heaters that have a draft inducing fan, powered by 120VAC. 
Haven't figured out why???? I don't really need one down here, but I'm looking for an old 
hot water heater that doesn't leak but has a bad gas system or bad electric heater elements. 
I want to put it just before my hot water as a tempering tank to allow natural heat bring the 
water to ambient temperature (110F in the summer). It will save a few dollars on gas bill 
and be a constantly refreshing 50 gallon water supply.


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