Category: Warmth / Shelter / Cooling

  • Power HVAC Furnace With An Inverter?

    I absolutely believe that knowledge is power. And if I’m being honest, I never considered trying to run my HVAC furnace off a battery. Why? Because it seems like a real waste of precious battery power, especially since I can keep warm other ways. But that doesn’t mean you and I shouldn’t be aware of…

  • DIY Terra Cota Pot Emergency Heater Variant

    DIY Terra Cota Pot Emergency Heater Variant

    Get yourself a terra cotta pot, 90 degree HVAC duct, small glass jar, birthday candles, and vegetable shortening and you can make a DIY emergency heater with relative ease. Not sure why she made two heaters for this test, but the idea clearly works. I read a few comments for the video, and one person…

  • Vesta Indoor Space Heater and Cooker

    I’m always interested to see new survival products coming to market, and this indoor heater/cooker by Vesta (which you can purchase at MyPatriotSupply.com) is an interesting one. It’s self-contained, and uses InstaFire canned heat, or I assume, any canned heat product safe for indoor use, though I would verify my assumption. For those living in…

  • The Emergency Heater You Need

    The Emergency Heater You Need

    These emergency kerosene heaters are all pretty much the same in how they work, but still buy a reputable brand, like Dyna-Glo, though this Sengoku heater has plenty of good reviews. In any case, so long as you can keep enough kerosene on hand, you’ll have a ready-to-deploy heat source powerful enough to keep a…

  • DIY Reflective Heater

    DIY Reflective Heater

    Here’s a neat way to make your own DIY heater out of vegetable cans by also using items I’d never considered, such as a 100% carbon felt to act as a wick and stainless steel mesh to act as the mantle. Overall, I like the design a lot, though I think the build could be…

  • How to Prepare for Living Off the Grid in Winter

    How to Prepare for Living Off the Grid in Winter

    Climate change means summers are getting hotter, but that isn’t the only impact. On the opposite side of that coin, winters are getting colder and harsher. Even in urban centers, surviving these extreme conditions isn’t always easy. The Texas winter storm of 2021 claimed 246 lives, though some estimates put the number at close to…

  • Inexpensive Off-Grid A/C Solution?

    Inexpensive Off-Grid A/C Solution?

    I happened upon the following video and was immediately intrigued. After all, I’ve been searching for a way to keep cool should we lose grid power for any length of time, and about the best I’ve come up with is to run fans and a window A/C from a small off-grid system I recently purchased.…

  • How to Stay Cool Homesteading During the Relentless Summer Heat

    How to Stay Cool Homesteading During the Relentless Summer Heat

    Life on a homestead is challenging year-round. Families who live off-grid must rely on firewood, generators and other alternate methods of heat to stay warm during the winter. However, staying cool during the summer can be even more challenging. How do you handle temperatures of 90 F and above without air conditioning? The human body…

  • No Air Conditioning AND No Power?

    No Air Conditioning AND No Power?

    The temperatures here in the Midwest (we’re in Kansas City) have been a real pain of late. Fortunately, most of us are blessed with a true modern marvel: central air conditioning. I can only imagine what life must have been like before it existed because even spending a a few hours outdoors in the heat…