Still looking for a low cost back-up heating system for moderate climate. Have no desire to re-invent the wheel. Feel sure somebody out there has got a system that doesn't cost a great deal and is effective and reliable back-up system. Feel free to email me if you have questions about primary system.

-- ken ballard (steelframeme@yahoo.com), July 29, 2001

Answers

Ken: How about a high rate of recovery water heater plumbed to a pump and baseboard heaters controlled by a zone valve?

-- Frank Hill (fmhill@absolute-net.com), July 29, 2001.

In a moderate zone, a simple solar setup coupled with a storm pit or buried air tunnel of banded lid drums could produce 65 degree heat piped into a house with no basement. If you have a basement. the addition of skirt greenhouse glasses to heat it could warm your house. Countryside issue vol 84, no 4 (July/August 2000 showed the greenhouse skirt on pages 44,45 of the Anathoth Farm article. Salvaged items could be used for the majority of the construction.

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), July 30, 2001.

Hi Ken, Why not just go with wood? Just install a small wood burner in corner and use stove piping to vent it (if you don't have a chimney be sure and use the double walled stove piping -- people will tell you don't have to but the chance of fire is just not worth it, that stove pipe gets really hot). You can get by on less than $300-500 and there is just something about a fire going on a chilly night! You can always find wood for free and if you don't need it for weeks on end, it is cheaper in the long run. If you have good airtight woodburner it really does not use much wood.

-- Karen (db0421@yahoo.com), July 30, 2001.

What are you looking for here? Is it just a backup to something like air-conditioning or something else dependent on electricity? Is it just needed to stop you freezing, but you don't really expect to need it, so if you did you'd also be prepared to bundle up warm in thick clothes and blankets, and keep the internal doors closed so you'd only need to heat a limited volume?

If so, I'd look for ex-Y2K stuff, and estate sales. You don't need to be in a big hurry, so you can take your time, watch the classifieds, and watch the garage sales. Particularly watch for kerosene heaters or a heater to run off bottled gas - neither is quite ideal, and neither is quite as safe as a dedicated heating system, but they will work, and I'm envisaging something you don't expect to use, at least for more than a few hours a year.

-- Don Armstrong (darmst@yahoo.com.au), July 30, 2001.