Good day!
Currently, many people are buying various electric heating devices. It seems these are mostly individuals who heat with gas and fear that the gas supply might be cut off during winter. Or they believe that heating with electricity is cheaper than gas, which is nonsense and would remain so even if gas prices continue to rise. If people start using all these devices they are buying now, utility providers will face serious problems.
My oil tank is full. However, my oil-fired central heating system would also fail in the event of a power outage, because suddenly many gas customers would want to heat electrically. Therefore, I wonder: How should one realistically prepare to at least keep the heating system running? I have a small power generator, with enough capacity to supply electricity to the heating system. But the system is not designed to simply plug into a socket; it is permanently wired.
Would it be a good idea to have an electrician modify the system so that, if necessary, the plug can be unplugged from the outlet (which must be located behind the heating emergency switch) and connected to the generator, which could be placed outside the heating room window with the cable fed through the window?
I have several cans of Aspen fuel stored for this small generator. Aspen is chosen to ensure that even after years of non-use, nothing clogs and the device remains ready to operate. But I would need to significantly increase my fuel supply.
What kind of preparations have you made?
Matthias
Currently, many people are buying various electric heating devices. It seems these are mostly individuals who heat with gas and fear that the gas supply might be cut off during winter. Or they believe that heating with electricity is cheaper than gas, which is nonsense and would remain so even if gas prices continue to rise. If people start using all these devices they are buying now, utility providers will face serious problems.
My oil tank is full. However, my oil-fired central heating system would also fail in the event of a power outage, because suddenly many gas customers would want to heat electrically. Therefore, I wonder: How should one realistically prepare to at least keep the heating system running? I have a small power generator, with enough capacity to supply electricity to the heating system. But the system is not designed to simply plug into a socket; it is permanently wired.
Would it be a good idea to have an electrician modify the system so that, if necessary, the plug can be unplugged from the outlet (which must be located behind the heating emergency switch) and connected to the generator, which could be placed outside the heating room window with the cable fed through the window?
I have several cans of Aspen fuel stored for this small generator. Aspen is chosen to ensure that even after years of non-use, nothing clogs and the device remains ready to operate. But I would need to significantly increase my fuel supply.
What kind of preparations have you made?
Matthias
haydee schrieb:
France already had to massively import electricity for heating last winter. Now even more power plants are offline, and electricity imports are increasing. That’s why we’re still using so much gas for power generation. The grid needs to remain stable. The nuclear power plants are only partially offline due to heat and water shortages; many are offline because of issues like cracks. They don’t know which of these can be restarted in winter.
So, it will still get cold there in winter, regardless of whether or not gas comes from Russia.
A power outage lasting a few hours is annoying — but manageable. If it lasts for days and affects more than a small area, public order becomes the issue. I’m glad to live in the countryside. Somehow, people manage together to keep everyone fed and warm. Phew, I remember a multi-day, locally even weeks-long power outage here in the Münsterland region. Snow froze into ice on the overhead lines, which caused poles to snap (due to insufficient maintenance and under-built structures stemming from misguided “cost-saving”). Generators were scarce, farms became ice islands, etc. Not pleasant, even here in the countryside… 😳
Pianist schrieb:
PPS:
In my opinion, it is quite questionable how 2-3 million electric cars in the next few years are not considered a problem, but 2-3 million portable electric heaters supposedly are...
After all, electric cars are not all charged using home solar panels, especially not in winter.It’s quite simple: with an electric car and an average daily distance of 30 km (18.5 miles), you need about 5 kWh of electricity per day. In contrast, a 2 kW portable electric heater running 24 hours uses about 50 kWh—so a factor of 10 more. The charging stations with 22 kW, including those in public spaces, can be remotely controlled by the grid operator, meaning they can be switched off when needed. The same applies to heat pumps. None of this is possible with portable heaters plugged into standard sockets.
i_b_n_a_n schrieb:
Phew, I remember a power outage here in the Münsterland that lasted several days, in some places even weeks! Snow froze into ice on the overhead power lines, which caused poles to snap (due to cost-cutting, they were neither maintained nor built strong enough). Generators became scarce, farms were isolated by ice, and so on. Not a pleasant situation, even out here in the countryside... 😳 I’m not saying it will be easy or that everyone can stay safely in their homes. But many resources and community support are available. Just milking all the cows by hand alone is a big task.
X
xMisterDx9 Aug 2022 12:22Scout** schrieb:
It’s quite simple: with an electric car and an average daily distance of 30 km (20 miles), you need about 5 kWh of electricity per day. A 2 kW space heater running continuously for 24 hours, on the other hand, uses about 50 kWh. So, a factor of 10. The 22 kW charging stations, including public ones, can be remotely controlled and switched off by the power utility. The same goes for heat pumps. This is not possible with space heaters and standard outlets... Well, if you add up nonsense like that, of course it becomes a problem.
A space heater does not run 24 hours a day...
A heat pump can only be remotely controlled if I purchase the cheap heating electricity.
If I have a regular tariff, the utility cannot (!!) switch off the heat pump.
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