NO POWER? Here's How to Keep Your Home WARM With a Car Battery!

During a big ice storm, my neighbor called me on the second night. "Elias, the gas is still on. I can smell it at the stove. But the furnace is dead silent and the house is getting colder by the hour. How can I have gas and no heat?" It's a question a lot of people ask in their first winter outage. Almost every modern gas furnace needs a little electricity to run, even with a full gas line. The good news is that it needs far less than most people think, and with the right battery, the right equipment, and the right hookup, you can keep it running through an outage. In this video I explain how it works, what you need, and how to do it safely, because there's a right way and a dangerous way. What you'll learn: 🔥 Why your gas furnace stops when the power goes out ⚡ Why a gas furnace needs far less power than an electric heater 🔋 Why the battery doesn't heat your house, the gas does 🔌 How a battery and an inverter turn stored power into house power 〰️ Why you need a pure sine wave inverter, and how to size it 🔋 Car battery vs. deep-cycle battery vs. portable power station 🛠️ Why you shouldn't splice into your furnace wiring yourself, and what to ask an electrician for instead ⚠️ Battery safety: hydrogen gas, sparks, fuses, and charging the safe way 🧪 Why you should test your setup on a mild day before winter ❄️ Keeping your furnace vent pipes clear of snow and ice 🏠 Always having a backup plan for when the battery runs out At the end, I share the six things I'd never go into a winter without for keeping a gas furnace running in an outage. A word on safety: don't cut or splice your furnace wiring yourself. Have a licensed electrician install a proper plug or transfer switch, following your local code. Use a pure sine wave inverter sized for your furnace. Charge lead-acid batteries only in a well-ventilated space, away from flames and sparks. Never charge a battery by running your car in a garage, even with the door open. Clear snow and ice from your furnace's outside vent pipes after every storm, have your furnace serviced every fall, and keep a battery-powered carbon monoxide alarm on every level of your home. Never use a grill, camp stove, gas oven, or outdoor heater to heat your house. 📖 There is more than fits in any one video. I gathered the whole of it into a book. You'll find it at eliasyoder.com. Winter is long, but it always ends. Stay warm until spring. — Elias Yoder #PowerOutage #GasFurnace #WinterPrep #EmergencyPrep #HomeHeating