Emergency power supply for oil central heating

I just have to prevent the house from cooling down so much that the water supply line freezes and the pipe bursts.

So we are talking about weeks and longer...

Hi, something like that will hardly be suitable for [Gretatauglich] because local emergency power supply is inherently not very efficient. You can also very effectively prevent the house from freezing with a wood stove. For the pipes to freeze and break, you would need very significant subzero temperatures and probably have no heating for a week or more. If you know how much electricity your heating uses, you can possibly make do with the power outlet in the car (they usually provide 150-200 W). Or get yourself a good inverter that converts the 12 volts into clean 240 V sine wave. For that, the car would then have to idle in front of the house. The alternator in the car provides between 0.8 and 2 kW depending on the car. It costs about 0.8 l/h. That is the most inefficient solution but with the advantage that it is first probably already available and second works in case of emergency. Emergency power supplies need permanent maintenance and care if they are supposed to run when needed. Best regards, Andreas

Of course, you can also get yourself a power station with a solar panel. That way, you are somewhat self-sufficient on the go, at least for the essentials. They start at a few hundred euros, but then with one kilowatt or less. That is more something for camping. Some can be connected together. For the very large models consisting of multiple batteries, you easily pay a five-figure amount. The question is how much that is worth to you and how you can connect it to your oil heating system.

I think the generator would still be the most economical and practical solution. However, it's inconvenient if you can't also use the fuel in your car. Only Aspen is not indefinitely durable either (max. five years in a sealed container, one year in an opened container). Maybe you just give away the stuff shortly before it expires and then stock up on new cans.

If you want to get a generator, I would recommend a diesel generator. Because if you have an oil heating system, you also have enough diesel (heating oil) for the generator in case of an emergency.

I know now it is said that you are not allowed to do this. But when it comes down to it, I wouldn’t care as long as I have a warm butt.

It takes a few days for the pipes to freeze. Then the water must be drained from the heating system. Whether drinking water still comes from the tap is questionable anyway.

I would be more concerned about the rats coming from a flooding sewer.
When pipes freeze, it is referred to as a blackout far longer than 72 hours.

Is safety still guaranteed then, or must one expect looting? For many, the refrigerator is empty.

Let's assume the system requires 200 watts. If you want to run it for 24 hours, we would already need a battery capacity of 4.8 kWh, or am I making a mistake?

The system doesn't run continuously for 24 hours, unless it's really freezing cold. For emergency heating, fewer operating hours should suffice. We run our heating for about 6 hours a day up to an outside temperature of 5 degrees (without increasing the flow temperature) - but it's not underfloor heating and it's an old building. A new pump is definitely beneficial here; it should draw between 20 watts at partial load and a maximum of 50 watts. The heating control won't consume much power once the heating is on. The power required for ignition would be interesting. You can also try connecting a power meter to the heating system and measure consumption and peak power over a few days. For that, you’d first have to switch to a plug, or you can measure the values at the connection with a multimeter while it’s running.