Who is Prepared for a Week Long Power Outage

[rosewoodsteel]

So, who out there is ready if an ice storm leaves them in the cold?
How will you protect your hot tub and keep your house warm?

[Tman122]

I'm ready. But drain and winterize the hot tub and forget about it. Protect your family and your house, it's worth a lot more.

Forgot to add. Ice storms usually occur when the temp is reasonably mild. So you have time to think about it and do your drain refill with little risk of damage. I have lived in Minnesota for 40 years (was in Seattle before that) I have seen ice storms but as i said, mild temps. I worry more about brutal cold but it won't be ice. So you will have power. The colder it is the lighter the snow. A few days ago I moved 4 inches of snow with my leaf blower.

I gota get a wood stove.............

[Jacuzzi Jim]

 Buy a wood stove and drain your spa.   Or get a generator that can hndl the load.    I'm in the Pac NW so our winters are not near as cold as Tmans, but we can lose power occasionally, that and I just love wood heat power outage or not, we also have a heat pump but if I am burning wood I am not using power.

 And agree family warm, hot tub second! 

[rosewoodsteel]

I absolutely agree, family (and pets) first.
We have had a Buck, catalytic wood stove for 14 years now, and use it every winter. When you have heat pumps, wood stoves just make a lot of sense.   With the wood stove, and the generator I installed last year, I am more prepared than I have been at any time in my life.  Having the generator, of course, insures that we will never have any more power outages in our area.      

[Tman122]

Wow, is your gen set big enough to run your tub? If it is is it gas or diesel? And do you keep gas/fuel on hand? I have up to 20KW available at work if I need it but own two 2KW for aux power which will work tandem if I need 4KW. I also have a covered male plug built into the outside of the house that powers an outlet inside. The previous owners did that.

[rosewoodsteel]

Tman, 
Nope, I do not have my hot tub circuit included. (Given the fact that it draws too many amps and the Coleman wasn't even operational at the time anyway..)  I have a Generac XP10000, which is a 10KW generator (running watts) 12K peak.
I installed the panel in my garage and trenched over to the shed for the electric.  There, I installed the inlet box, along with an exhaust system, and a fresh air intake system (louver on one side of the shed and louvered exhaust fan on the other side of the shed).   I transferred the circuits I needed in case of an emergency from my existing panels to the generator panel. Depending on need,  I can then pick and choose the circuits needed during a particular period.  (Well pump, lighting, microwave, refrigerator, entertainment center, ceiling fans, water heater, computer / router etc.) I, of course, cannot run everything at a single time.   When my new tub arrives, I guess my "outage game plan" would be to run an extension cord to the tub and power a unit heater in the cabinet, if needed.       I store 80 gallons of (Stabil) treated gasoline, which I rotate when needed.

[rosewoodsteel]

I might add, I was hesitant in the past go with a generator, because of it's cost effectiveness (and how seldom they are used).  But, after our power was out from the derecho of a few years ago, we decided it was time to be better prepared.  It is no fun to be without power for over a week, with temperatures in the 90s and no shower to be had...   When I was in my 20s, maybe.  But those days are far behind in the rear view mirror.   

[Tman122]

With that gen you could bypass the heater on your tub and just circulate with a jet pump pretty easy. Or like you said with an Arctic you could just run a space heater or a couple trouble lights inside the cabinet.

[geprice]

Yes to having a plan but hope it doesn't occur.  We survived nearly a week on a portable 5K years ago.  Today we have a Cummins Onan RS20A w/whole house transfer.  It's 17KW on NG.  I have an external L14-30 in place for back up with the portable if needed.  Thanks to some advice from Chas a few months back I can toggle one side of the Grandee's flow switch from the in home Gen panel or remotely with web access which controls the heater.

[rosewoodsteel]

Geprice,
Sounds like you are ready for anything.  Great setup!

[rosewoodsteel]

We each has to weigh our options (cost, energy source, etc.).   If I had NG in my area, I definitely would have gone that route.   If you blink your eye, you'll miss the transfer.

[wmccall]

So, who out there is ready if an ice storm leaves them in the cold?
How will you protect your hot tub and keep your house warm?

I'm ready. The first thing I would do is nothing for about 3 days.  I do have a generator that I would carry enough capacity for me to run the tub heater for a few hours at a time.   

[SerjicalStrike]

If you have a generator, just buy one of the ~$30 space heaters you can buy at your local hardware store.  Make sure it has some sort of thermostat, even just low/med/high so that it will shut off if it gets to hot.  Open up the equipment bay and put that in there and run it on low/med until you have power back.  If there are vents, throw a heavy blanket over those to minimize heat loss.

This should keep your spa from freezing for a few weeks.

[rosewoodsteel]

When my new tub arrives, that is just what I plan to do.   Of course, now that I have a generator, we will never have another power outage.

[JRunner01]

If you have a generator, just buy one of the ~$30 space heaters you can buy at your local hardware store.  Make sure it has some sort of thermostat, even just low/med/high so that it will shut off if it gets to hot.  Open up the equipment bay and put that in there and run it on low/med until you have power back.  If there are vents, throw a heavy blanket over those to minimize heat loss.

This should keep your spa from freezing for a few weeks.

How does that help things?  Doesn't the lack of water circulation by the circ pump freeze the inner hoses and such on the other sides of the tub that aren't exposed to the space heater?  At least in my Hot Springs model, I don't see how the space heater warmth would reach the other 3 sides of the tub, unless I haven't looked close enough.