Chemical heat pads as an emergency heat source during extended power outages

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kingofnobbys

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A couple of weeks ago we lost power for 4 days (no gas in this how and no wood fired heater).

Been thinking about an alternative standby heat source should this happen again (pretty likely as these storms seem to be becoming more frequent and more intense).

Options suggested include :
- getting a good portable generator (pricey) big enough to make a difference.
- getting LPG heating installed (in our all electric house) so least we have gas heating in winter to keep the house warm (expensive) if we loose the ability to run the reverse cycle aircon or backup fan forced oil heater and our offpeak hotwater is no longer heating due to extended power outage.
- getting a wood fired stove (or the sort you can cook on if necessary) but need to have access to drive firewood , not a very environmentally friendly option and good wood heater/stoves involve a bit expense to buy and install (safely).
- keeping a big portable gas bottle fill and getting out the camp stove so some water can be heated (to fill a hotwater bottle).
- buying some medical chemical heat packs of the sort used for arthritic pain and sports injuries (these can be recharged easily and heat to a handy 54[SUP]o[/SUP]C and are relatively cheap to buy
 
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How about a gas burner, kettle and a couple of hot water bottles? Infinitely Reusable, you can control the fill temperature, and when you're not filling bottles, you can make a cuppa

Edit - you already said that :rolleyes: I don't know that you'd need a big bottle, our little camp stove went for 2 - 3 weeks on a 4.5kg bottle...
 
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How about a gas burner, kettle and a couple of hot water bottles? Infinitely Reusable, you can control the fill temperature, and when you're not filling bottles, you can make a cuppa

Edit - you already said that :rolleyes: I don't know that you'd need a big bottle, our little camp stove went for 2 - 3 weeks on a 4.5kg bottle...

That's what we used , only we didn't have a hotwater bottle in the house and with no shops open and road closures , we couldn't dash out and buy any and needed at least a dozen of them (2 per lizard and some for ourselves too).

Was OK for heating a frypan so we could cooks some of those steaks that had thawed or were nearly thawed out in the freezer and to heat some canned soup in a saucepan so at least we had something better to eat than cold sandwiches.
 
Power outages of a week or two won't harm your animals, if you leave them alone while they are cool/cold. The only time you may need back-up power would be if you have eggs in an incubator, or possibly if you have fed a snake a very large meal just before the outage, or you have highly tropical species (but even then it's unlikely they will be adversely affected). Reptiles have to deal with all sorts of sudden variations in environmental conditions, and the common denominator when it gets cold for a few days is that they don't move around, which is why they should not be disturbed at this time. This applies equally to lizards and snakes.

Take the time to reflect on the variable conditions our animals encounter, and survive without harm, in their natural habitat. The only threat to their health in captivity, in most cases, is well-meaning interference by keepers - 24/7 or 24/7/52 heat is simply not necessary.

Jamie
 
Gas stove for cooking and a wollen jumper and bed socks to keep you warm!
 
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