Rita: Glad to hear that the info about solar showers was helpful. As for larger quantities of hot water, available when the sun is not shining, there is no single good answer. The fact is, if we lose power we will all have to learn how to get along on much less hot water than we have been used to. Some ideas to help in such a situation might be kerosene or propane heaters, where you can heat large pots of water. If you have a fireplace insert with a flat top, these can be used to heat pots of water. The ultimate in a loss of power situation would be an old fashioned wood stove, if you could get one. They are quite expensive. Using any of these solutions would require a store of fuel for however long a power failure lasted. One other idea... if you have a Weber grill, you could put pots on this to heat hot water; just stock up on charcoal briquettes. I noticed the one suggestion of building a fire under a hot water heater. This wouldn't work unless your hot water heater was well away from any combustible material; it would probably require structural modification to make most hot water heaters work in this manner. Further, if the municipal water supply fails, this will not work unless you have stored enough water (difficult, unless you have cisterns or a pool), or have your own well. Another thought... if you use LP or natural gas to heat your home, it will not work if the power goes out. There is probably electronic ignition, and fans have to force the air through ducts, etc. You'll have to have a back-up generator to make the system work. That's not cheap, either, even if you can get one at this late date. Good Luck

Ed

-- Ed Cooper (ed@edcooper.com), March 23, 1999