02-11-2026 — Winter easing?

Howdy all. Yesterday we got a break in winter. Just a single day. I was reading reports that this area was below freezing for 19 days straight. Not a total record, but longer than any stretch in last 30-40 years. I checked and it was more like 26 of 28 days. All but two days in a 4 week stretch. That was a long freeze.

Look at that. Above 32 degrees Fahrenheit for almost 12 hours. It was GREAT!

This was my AC unit out back yesterday morning as the sun started shining and Temps started rising.

This morning, it was no longer giving me the single finger salute. The sunshine beating down on the metal AC unit made all melt away in the mid 40 temperatures.

Even the driveway is almost clear. And it is the first time I’ve seen the street in a couple weeks.

I made good use of the WarmUp by getting two items that were not functioning, working again. The truck’s windshield washer fluid was frozen in the tubes, and by leaving the garage door open, I was able to get the truck warm enough for the motor to blow the lines clear. And the windshield is clean again.

Also, my generator, like most portables, has an operating range from like 20-105 degrees Fahrenheit. And with propane, unlikely to start below in negative temperatures. I started it up yesterday, and let it run for 15 minutes. It took a few tries to convince it to start. But now, it may be ready to go when needed. If it is too cold, I have a “Buddy Heater” (also propane) that I could start up in the garage and take out and point it at the generator, to get it warm enough to start. I’m hoping that once started, it will create enough heat in the box structure, I built a few years ago, to keep itself at operating temperatures.

That is not good enough for me. I’ve created a “plan” to add battery power storage in the garage, and a UPS backup for the furnace, inside the house.

First the UPS. I will have an electrician/handyman, add a cord and plug to the furnace unit. Right now it is hardwired into a switch outside the unit, and that switch will be replaced with a wall outlet. The change is a common setup fix. You keep the furnace plugged into the outlet, and it runs like normal. During a power outage, you add an extension cord to the plug, and plug the extension into a generator. Well, instead of doing that, I will have a battery power station (UPS) with about 2K watt hours of storage, and a 2K inverter, plugged into the outlet, and the furnace plugged into the UPS. When street power drops, the UPS will keep the furnace running for hours. It is a gas furnace, and the wattage used is just for the blower and ignition and things like the thermostats. Likely to be 400-600 watts when running — and that isn’t all the time.

This will keep the house warm while I try to get power restored.

However, if the power stays down for many hours, other backups are needed.

I’m looking to purchase the EcoFlow Delta Pro Ultra X (DPUX) setup. It has a 12KW inverter, on a group of batteries storing 6KWHours each. I would have 3 of the batteries. That’s about 18KWH. I normally use around 30KWH of street power each day. That includes things like AC in summer, and a space heater in winter. So real requirements should be less than that. I, would obviously just use the furnace to heat the whole house higher in winter (using gas), and just allow it to be a tad warmer in summer.

So what happens if it is a multi-day outage? That’s where the generator gets used. By adding a “generator rectifier” box between the non-inverter generator I own, and the DPUX, it will convert the 240Volt AC output from the Generator to DC output like solar panels create — photovoltaic (PV) technology. The DC (PV) electricity will charge the DPUX quickly, and can even be used as what they call “passthrough” energy. I will be using around 7200 watts from the generator (on propane) to recharge the DPUX batteries. Less than 3 hours to refill the batteries for over a half day of backup power for the house. Each 20 pound Propane tank lasts about 8 or so hours on the running generator.

You can see that I would have multiple days with just the 2 twenty pound tanks that are connected to the generator. And a few more with the backup tanks I have.

I have already accumulated the 2KW power station (UPS) and all of the parts needed to do that update. And I have the rectifier also ordered and am waiting for delivery. The big piece ($$$$) is the DPUX. Those ain’t cheap. Once I pull the trigger on that, I need to get the Electrician on the schedule.

The Electrician won’t be cheap either. He will need to use 50 Amp cable, through conduits, to 3 or 4 new 50 Amp inlets/outlets on the wall. And install the rectifier between a couple of them. I’ll leave the decisions on where, and how, those are done, to the experts.

Here is a poorly drawn version of what I am expecting.

Oh, I see I missed a couple of items in that write-up. First, the DPUX will normally charge up from a new 240volt wall plug outlet. To get room in the existing panel, I am proposing taking the existing four AFCI breakers for the bedrooms (1-2-3-4) and replace with two Duplex AFCI breakers. Put bedrooms 1 and 2 (the northern bedrooms) on one, and bedrooms 3 and 4 (the southern bedrooms — actually used for 3D printers and Lasers) on the second Duplex AFCI breaker. This frees up to pole for the 240Volt breaker.

A secondary reason to do this is to get rid of those faulty Sieman single AFCI breakers. They SUCK. They are know to have false - fault tripping issues. Apparently there is an existing lawsuit on this that has been going on for years. They made revisions to the firmware of newer versions, but some users are still getting trips. Very annoying. But, their Tandem - Duplex AFCI breakers don’t seem to have the issue. So, I’m hoping to eliminate the nuisance fault tripping I get in 3 of the 4 rooms. — The one room that hasn’t had them, is Kitty’s bedroom. She doesn’t use much in the way of electronics. Just a night light and an alarm clock that hasn’t had the right time on it in years…

I am willing to pay the necessary price to have continuity in electrical service that makes it easier to Enjoy Life