Can I survive the arctic blast without power?

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00:00-Intro
01:25-Upgrades
08:25-Turning the power off
09:42-4 hour update
13:21-7 hour update
17:39-12 hour update
19:15-stats and graphs
21:22-Final thoughts
23:18-Update on CO readings

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[rager]

Your wife is like "I don't care about your silly test, David. I've got things to do."

[StanleyPugh]

From a northerner, if you have super sealed windows, crack one a bit when running a kerosene heater.
You need fresh air. Great video! I dabble with solar as well.

[VW_Fan]

Thank you for displaying the temperatures in celsius! Greatly appreciated.

[terrysystems]

Kerosene heater: You need a fresh air intake feeding air directly to the heater. A dryer vent tube from a window to within a foot of the heater can do the trick. ANY combustion based heat will need a fresh air intake. In an old drafty house, it's not an issue. In a modern "tight" house it can be a real problem. Also, if you heat a mass (bricks or water) and move them around it can better distribute the heat. Lastly, if your house has a fireplace, a pellet stove fireplace insert is an extremely efficient emergengy heat source. My unit will heat half my house and pulls less than 500wt for about 10 minutes during ignition and less than 100wt once lit and running. I use about 3 bags of pellets a winter in Arkansas at $6 a bag.

[saberpeep]

The mismanaged texas power grid has turned everyone into a survival prepper lol

[Laceykat]

It is always a good idea to get to know your emergency equipment BEFORE you need it.
My dad had me change the tire on my first car BEFORE it was flat so I knew where everything was and what it was for.
Great video. Thank you again.

[raptorchow]

If you're burning things for heat inside your house, whichever way it's done, extra ventilation is always going to be needed (and our houses aren't designed for that kind of heating). (Good job on the experiment, it takes a lot of dedication to be that thorough!)

[allseriousness]

For me this is my favorite type of video you make. Amazing to follow along seeing the narrative of your place being damaged by the famous Texas freeze, seeing you upgrade your setup, and seeing you overcome it now and run experiments. Also the data you share is amazing. More of this!!!

[jacobr]

Honestly that sponsorship with ecoflow was well worth it, just look at how many things they've sent you over the years! They've also listed to you & updated one of the things you didn't like about it not every company does that, they definitely seem like a worthwhile company.

[justinvandermerwe]

Inaccurate detector aside the problem with the carbon monoxide is that it weighs slightly less that air. If warm it will rise and fill the room from the top (which is why your counter top carbon monoxide detector didn't show anything for ages and then spiked up to a crazy amount). This is why if you have a carbon monoxide detector in your home it's usually installed high on the wall or the ceiling.

[gallantghost]

The only plausible explanation for the temperature dip in the bathroom is that it must be haunted. Ghost had some ethereal enchiladas.

[waldevv]

Insulation makes such a huge difference, it was -30c here a while back and I shut off the heat completely and the room temp only went from 19 to 16c in like 12 hours.

Electricity was really expensive on that day since my electricity cost is calculated on an hourly basis, saves money on most days but certainly didn't that day hence why I went to such drastic measures

[kevingauthier]

Being from a cold state (Wisconsin) my main concern is to keep the furnace going. This is the most efficient way to heat as we have gas. I assume you may have electric. I worry about freezing pipes. I have a small generator to run furnace and a light or 2. Also I giggle a little when Texans talk about surviving the cold and snow.

[justintraer]

Welcome to camping with 8bit guy

I was waiting for him to pull out a step 2

[brownmsoe]

Being a Wisconsinite and very familiar with winter, the bigger concern for you if you lost power and thus your heat. It is your pipes freezing and bursting that is the main concern. Recommend insulating the pipes and using recessed valve spigots for your exterior water. This places the actual valve at least 10 inches into the wall and thus inside the home.

You could install a wood stove in your home if you don't have a fire place. Besides looking pretty when not in use. They come in handy. Can easily keep an entire living room warm and cook food. Plus you have dedicated pipe for exhaust gases. No concerns for CO2 or CO. Wood is a lot cheaper than candles and provide more heat, even if you buy precut camp fire wood. But you can always get tons of cheap or free wood. Fallen trees, old bark chips, and so on. Just make sure not treated with chemicals as it smells.

Another thing to do is to just simply dress in warmer clothing. Wearing multiple layers makes a huge difference. Need to keep home not as warm. Up here no one uses electric heaters to warm house as primary source. 99% use Gas or Oil heat. Oil is not very common unless in deep country. But even then, many have converted to propane as it is cleaner (for environment and literally) plus cheaper to buy usually.

I am sure Hank Hill would have no problem getting you set up with propane and some propane accessories.

[micksam]

Your heatpumps [the mini split and your window unit] are -way- more efficient than those space heaters could ever be. Also having your gas furnace on the smart panel would have been a good idea, just don't have the outdoor AC on it and it should be more than possible to run the fan and gas.

[MapVette]

You might be careful about only heating living areas. It makes sense, but I'd be concerned about pipes freezing, so may want to try to dedicate some amount of heating to those locations (kitchen and bathrooms especially) as well.

[DOPPELgameplayVIDEOS]

Nice video! By the way, I once bought that same Air Quality Monitor because I saw it in the old video, and I quickly found out it was FAKE. There's no actual sensor in there, I can make the Carbon Monoxide reading reach 800 by blowing really hard at the vents with my mouth which makes no sense because humans can't generate Carbon Monoxide. Ended up returning it.

[SetitesTechAdventures]

Your point at 21:40 is not useful because you can't predict the length of a power outage. The utility will often estimate a short period of time to restore power and end up taking 2-3x longer. When the power is out, if there is a safety risk you need to focus on duration. Your usage of camping heaters is a good idea though, as for heat specifically, going with a fossil fuel is a good idea. If you do this test again I'd be interested to see something like a Mr Buddy heater since propane has less of a CO risk. Kerosene is cheaper but propane is safer.

You could also reach out to Vevor and get one of their diesel heaters. Since those use a little electricity to get started I think thats a useful test too.

[RevJR]

This is a great start to the new year. I'm glad you're doing this approach like you talked about. Very informative!