And where does one find such a switch?
I can find DPDT switches in "electronics" but they don't have the "form factor" as your regular AC switches.
** Posted fromWhat you need is an alternative heat source that doesn't use AC power.
Kerocene heaters are one possibility.
A "ventless" LPG heaters are also OK.
They can keep one room confortable and a house from freezing in most conditions.
A generator will cost much more than a "backup" heat source and may be difficult to impossible to start when you really need it.
** Posted from
When we protect stupid people from hurting themselves, aren't we screwing up nature's natural selection process? Shouldn't we let nature weed out stupidity instead of encouraging it's growth in the human populace?? ;>)
Red
I have a simple system. After the power enters the house, the line is split one line has a light bulb and siren - this is left on to tell me when the power is restored. The other serves the contents of the house. No chance of running the generator longer than necessary.
re: No chance of running the generator longer than necessary.
I assume part of your plan is to never leave home during a power outage.
Years ago, I cut an electrical cord off a junk appliance. Three wire cord. When the power was off, four days, in year 2003, I wired the furnace to a power cord, for temporary use.
Switch off the breaker, to the furnace. Side of the furnace, is a connection box. Open the box. Remove the wire nuts, and wire the wires coming out of the furnace to the wires on the power cord. Match the colors. Black, white, green. Run an extension cord under the front door, and plug into the generator. Securely chain the generator to a tree, and a mean pit bull dog. Generators are a high theft item during blackouts.
The generator will power the boiler. When the electric comes back on, reconnect the wires. Close the junction box, and then turn the breaker on.
My power cord was free. The wire nuts are already in the junction box. I already own the extension cord.
So, a transfer switch and more wiring is less expensive?
I leave a radio turned on, and a couple lights. plugged into the "house power". Run a couple chosen appliances off extension cords from the generator. No chance of hurting a lineman by back feeding. Alerts me when house power is restored.
Any electrical supply house will order you one for about twenty dollars for the public and somewhat less to an electrician that they deal with regularly. They're a stock item at RV repair and parts outlets but they price them outrageously. Leviton # 1286 is one twenty ampere model that is readily ordered through a supply house.
Perhaps I should have said the simplest and least expensive code compliant method.
If you are going to spend money on an alternative heater then spend it smart. Buy a vented cabinet gas heater with a window venting kit. Those heaters take their combustion air from the middle layer of the triple walled vent pipe and exhaust their products of combustion through the center pipe of the same assembly. They burn no heated air and leave nothing inside the home but heat. They do cost more then a portable or unvented combustion heater but they don't have the long track record of causing and aggravating respiratory ailments in children and the elderly. They also lack the portable combustion heater's long record of death by fire or asphyxia.
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