This is why I'm not sizing the standby generator to power the resistance heat....but the wifey wants her AC in the Texas summer, so there will be enough generator power the central AC.
 
I guess my post should have been worded better.  I'm trying to figure out if burning wood in the fireplace is the best backup heat option for temps below 45 or so (when heat pump efficiency falls) .  

We want to keep the fireplace a wood burning fireplace...so no wood heater insert.  Retrofitting the existing firebox with a forced air heat exchanger is an option (Heatilator?)

We will be putting in a propane tank for the standby generator and gas grill, so an alternative to relying on burning wood  is installing a LP gas outlet in the living room and getting a big ass blue flame or catalectic free standing LP heater, that would normally live in the garage until it is needed during a power outage.  The down side to vent-less propane heat in a foam insulated home is that every gallon of propane burned you release almost a gallon of water into the air.  So in addition to replacing combustion air, you need to manage humidity.

I have the ryobi 18v pole saw and a 10in hand 18v saw. They work amazing and last a long in 1 battery (4ah) I have 6 batteries.
I also have a gas sthil, cuts great but don't use it much. 18v so much easier.

Sthil makes battery saws also, but I have so many ryobi tools already.

Also in a pinch a receipt saw with a tree blade works very well.

Other than that I feel that I was pretty prepared for these winter storms. Learned watching my Dad during the 1978-1979 ice storm and the prolonged 1983 icy weather here in Dallas.

My brother and I had to throw 800 dallas morn news papers that sun morning, wow. Took a while but we got them out. Dad had to drive us as we were not experienced on ice, lol ??

Interesting....I think I might have to sous vide a couple of extra pork chops etc...next time I am making some for supper.  I usually don’t freeze things after cooking.  I usually freeze some raw and seasoned in vac bags that I can just toss in the water.

I assume like most telecom providers they use commercial AC power to charge batteries that feed the equipment and provide some back up power. Most small sites cell sites etc have only 4-8 hours battery before they shut down. Some sites have back up generators. Others require them to trailer a small generator to the site for prolonged power loss. With a widespread event like this I wouldn’t depend on have uninterrupted service.

@buckshot_jim how long do those last on a full charge?

A flat blade shovel. Using a spade to shovel the driveway and sidewalks sucks.

To be honest I never imagined I would need to shovel snow at my house.

Thanks. I need to add another battery lantern. And wanted some real world consumption figures.

Chickens do not need a heated coop. Chickens will be fine into even sub zero temperatures as long as they are dry and out of wind. I have 2 dozen chickens, I wrapped the coop in tarps and didn't let them out to free range for 3 days (my coop is bigger than some folks runs are so they were fine). Too many people burn their coops down trying to heat them. I have family in Maine and NH with chickens, they don't heat their coops.

We faired well, we never lost power so we lucked out there but our house is OLD (like 1890s) and we have invested in upgrades that gave us options. We spent almost 4K this year getting the 2 main wood burning fireplaces inspected, relined, new caps, flews etc. So we had wood heat, We also retro fitted 2 fireplaces with gas where previous owners had taken the tops of the chimney stacks down when a new roof was put on. So we had gas, wood and electric heat options.

I need to winterize the pipes under the house. I was smart enough to drip them but the hot water line still froze. So pipe insulators and heat tape will be going in this spring. I want to pick up a few 40lb propane tanks. I have a bunch of 20s but I would like to be able to get a dual fuel inverter.

We had plenty of water, food, and such. We faired far better than most.

For those that needed snow shovels, go to Harbor Freight and grab one of these. I use it for other work but it was perfect for snow.

$20 HF shovel

+1 on the person that mentioned the wood burning insert. Fireplaces look pretty but are not that efficient. I wished I had a wood burning stove when I built, but I am making it a priority to get one before this spring (to prevent me from procrastinating until next winter). It would take a huge load off the heat pump and electric heater. If your heat source is going to be wood stove and you only need to run the HVAC fan to distribute the heat, you generator needs can be scaled back quite a bit. Fortunately, I never lost power during this.

My house was finished about 3 years ago. My plumber made sure to bring the pipes in both the house and well house through the slabs, so I had no problems with freezing at all. The foam will serve you nice, but you might want to get an insulated garage so the pipes, softener, etc., dont freeze up in the garage. I paid a few thousand extra for the garage to be part of the foam "box" of the house and an insulated garage door and it was worth every penny this past week. I also had no problems with my outside hose faucets with nothing more than a standard hard foam cover on them, due mainly to the spray foam in the 2x6 exterior walls.

As far as a generator goes, the propane ones use A LOT of fuel, depending on your HVAC needs. If you seriously want to get one to cover your loads for a sustained amount of time, we are talking 500 or 1000 gallon and never let it fall below 60-70%. If you are living rural, chances are you will need a tractor, which allows you the option of a PTO generator. They are super efficient and it's pretty easy to safely store an extra 55 gallon drum of diesel long term.

Things I'm adding or doing.

Larger water storage containers. Thought I was good. Was not.

Couple of camp buckets

Revamp or complete rethink about attic insulation

New solar charger

Stash of hygiene / body wipes

While my emergency lighting was good, it could be better.

Backup propane heater

Service the generator, and get some hard rubber / steel tires. Seriously tubeless inflatable tires in freezing weather just suck.

Bite the bullet and go whole home generator

Let me start with . I am single no kids .   I am easy to keep happy.  I have both camping gear and house preps ( mainly  geared towards hurricanes  ans such ) . My plan is to stay put in suburbia as I have no where to go to  and my elderly parents would not be able to go.    

Early preps :
When I bought my house in 2009  I was told the area lost power in Katrina/Rita for like 6 weeks.   One of the first things I did was to install a back up generator. Generac 20 kw NG with a whole house switch.    My whole area is electric only, I had to get the gas company to come run in a gas line from the commercial building behind me.

I also have  portable gas generator ( plus 25 gallons of fuel) that I need to get the tri fuel adapter installed on as I have plenty of propane tanks for my bbq grils etc  that would greatly extend the run time of my portable generator.

I also swapped out my electric water heater to gas  and my electric furnace to gas ( I waited until the appliances needed to be replaced. )  By doing that my generator really never runs at 100% rpm  it chugs along at 50%rpm quit happily.

I also had a radiant barrier sprayed in my attic and a LOT of shredded  insulation added including over my garage (where my washer dryer water heater and HVAC system live ).  That was done mainly to reduce electric bills in the summer , but I think it helped me a lot as many people in my area lost pipes in the attic ( mainly ).  I also dripped all my faucets quite extensively and as far as I can tell had zero issues.  I do expect a high water bill vs what I normally have this time of year.

The radiant barrier KILLS cell signals and tv signals  etc.  I had just got around to installing a WeBoost cell phone booster system as my phone 99% of the time will not ring when I am inside my house  as the signal is to week.   Ironically the 4 days of no power I had the MOST cell signal strength ever..  ( cricket aka ATT)  cell service was overwhelmed and  I ended up just texting instead.    I had already installed over the air tv antennas so I could at least watch the news etc.  I lost internet hours after the area lost power and it did not come back - even after power was restored I would say that it came back about 30 hrs after normal power was restored.  I had also just rewired my Ham radio antenna a few weeks before.  

I have also replaced all windows with double pain low E gas vinyl windows
I have replaced the whole exterior with hardie plank ( used to have the fiber board)
I have all windows coated with a film - https://armorglass.com/

I had purchased plenty of oil / filters / spark plugs etc  to do the basic maintenance on my generator .  


Heat wise :
I had the gas furnace that worked the whole time  / kerosene heater with @5 gallons of kerosene / wood fire place ( that  barely puts any heat out, I need to find a fireplace insert that the wood sits on and blows air through the tubes and out into the room )  /  and an electric space heater that the portable generator can also run  / I do have a wood stove that sits on my patio that I use for chilly nights outside . I am trying to decide if Ineed to pick up some  stove pipe so that if needed I can move the stove inside and run the exhaust pipe out a window that is able to have the top removed ( would use plywood with a hole in it to fill in the hole.  )  Realistically  Houston does not that cold that often and I suspect that I will need more HVAC back ups vs heat back ups.  

Food wise :
I had plenty of food ( fresh / refrigerated / canned / frozen / freeze dried / long term / MRE's etc ) and ways to cook.   I found that I basically was just eating sandwiches as I did not feel like dirtying the pots and pans etc.   .  To be honest I realized I had so many ways to cook / preps that while I was still somewhat normal I did not bother to get them out .  If my electric stove / microwave etc would have failed , I had propane bbq / charcoal bbq / wood bbq/ propane cooker and if needed sterno's and lastly over an open firewood fire.

Water wise :
I have many cases of bottled water so I did not bother filling up my 300 gallon tank in the garage or breaking out the https://waterbob.com/or the smaller water tanks / containers used for camping.  

Just prior to the Cold weather:
I went and double wrapped all my exterior faucets with the pipe insulation left over from the last cold snap and then also put plastic bags over everything to keep it as dry as possible. I gassed up both my vehicles.   Made a quick light grocery store run to refill what I had used since my last normal grocery buy.  I also went to my parents house and made sure their house was a freeze prepped as I could make it.   They also have a generator etc.   I made sure that I started and ran my generator for an  @ 2 hours the day leading up to the cold weather to make sure the batter was fully charged and that the  generator was functioning properly.   I made sure all the gates were locked / secured and that my exterior security cameras were functioning.  

During the Cold:
I did a little driving around mainly as I was bored and to get more experience driving on ice etc.   I also checked in on my parents twice day  to make sure they were good.  Took some photos etc.  As the power was out everyone seemed to be staying inside.   Once the internet / cell service went down more people came outside . I was also able to watch tv  listen to the HAM radio etc for  information .   I heard a lot of neighbors complaining the kids were bored  etc.  They all have internet or cable streaming etc.   No one had board games etc.  

What  I need to fix :

My exterior motion security lights stayed on ALL night when the generator was running. I need to install a light switch to kill power to my exterior lights.  I went out after dark and it was VERY obvious I had power based on my exterior LED motion lights staying on all night.  

I need to see what I can do to reduce the noise signature of my generator.   It was amazing that how loud that sound signature was when standing on the street in front of my house.  Maybe a wooden enclosure or something to help deaden the sound or at least direct it upwards .  

My cold weather clothing   are  not designed for 12 degrees with a wind chill of 0 ..   I did remember today that in my hunting bag are the chemical hand warmers I bought years ago that I never used.  

My old chain saw that I rarely use needs to be replaced as the bar oil tank has a major leak and dumped all the bar oil out.. and the local repair shop refuses to touch it ..  

I need to restock my supply of antifreeze  and windshield washer fluid at not only my house but at my parents house.

My parents have a liquid cooled generator and it would not start at 0300 when they lost power.   I was able to get get it started  not long after dawn when I stopped by to check on them..  suspect the battery was old ( 2019) and they forgot to plug in the oil sump pump warmer the night before and the radiator over flow tank was bone dry  I added the appropriate fluids and then manually started it . It would start run for 2-5 minutes and shut down.   I think once I was able to get it warmed up the sensors saw oil and water flow and let the generator run.   It then ran for @ 50 hours with no issues.  
I need to get  repair / service tech in to service their generator and make sure their are no other issues.  

I need to do an oil change on my air cooled generator as  I exceeded the 40 hours run time between oil changes as outlined in the owners manual.

That the guest bathroom that never gets used.. I  need to re do the under sink pea trap as the slow drizzle caused it to back up and leak .

That one of my parents outside faucets failed where they had taken off the single faucet and put in a double faucet. I was able to cap it and then re wrap it better.  

That I have pvc pipe and fittings from irrigation projects , but that my PVC  glue dried up... but with out the correct adapter  they wont work on my pipes.  

That those pipe repair clamps should be in my tool box  as my water pipes in my house are all galvanized

That I should get some automotive heater hoses in various sizes with screw clamps to make temporary repairs .  

That my parents are getting forgetful / and are embarrassed that they cant psychically do what they used to  and I need to double check that what they say they did .. they actually did .. .with out making it to obvious.



Observations :

Most of my neighbors had no clue on what to do .  A lot of them ended up with broken pipes etc etc.  I had a few in a round about way ask if they could come stay with me.  I played stupid on those requests and turned the conversation around to what are you going to do to be ready for the next event.  IE  why is your portable generator not out and running.  ..Oh it doesn't work ...  wait   ,, you mean the generator that stopped working 3 years ago that you said you would take in to get repaired ,, yeah   never did that  did not want to spend the money on it..        

I did loan out tools etc for people that needed them  , like ladders and such .  I freely gave out advice on anything I could .  I helped where I could etc.  

But a lot of my neighbors apparently thought that they could just come to my house and stay for the duration of the storm.....  hopefully they understand that I am not responsible for anyone but my family .  I did get  some side eyes from the mothers / wives when I did not pick up on the obvious hints being dropped by them.

That having  UPS battery back ups on key systems is fantastic .. as long as the other side of that key system is working ( ie internet etc )

 As I have written this , I have become aware of how much COLD weather /heating etc stuff that I have.   I live  by the coast and we deal with HEAT and HUMIDITY more than cold  . All of my cold weather stuff has been accumulated by preferring to camp / hunt etc  when its cold outside ..   I have never been able to sleep when I am hot.   So pretty much all my camping etc is done during the winter.  In this case it has served me well.  

That while I enjoy my carefree single lifestyle ,, having a plus one does have its benefits.  

That I need to work faster on paying of my house so I can start looking for land to buy and build on in the country.  

I didnt heat mine and it got down to about 10 here at the worst point.  They did fine.  They kept on laying too.  I did make sure to go out with warm water every day though.  It was an ice block every morning.  Other than that I let them do their thing.

Starts out as hints, then hints with side eyes, then direct asks, followed by demands, then threats and it goes from there as things get progressively worse.

Get a roof rake. You might never need it again but for under 50 bucks you can clear off the snow and prevent ice dams and collapses.

ETA-lots of good advice in this thread, couple things I didn't think of even up here in the snow belt

@buckshot_jim

How good are they on low? Can you read with it if it is next to you? Could you charge it from your car?

The only thing I was lacking last week was point heat, like a heater in the master bath or my front hose spigot - the only places where I have pipe on exterior walls.  Didn't have pipes freeze but would have been better prepared.  Will remedy.

I was more interested in charging from my car, since when the weather says bad weather is coming I fill up both cars. That way have gas if need to bug out, or can get warm in the cars if no heat.

In a lot of ways a hurricane or big cold storm like we get isn’t that bad. You know at least 24 hours before it is coming. I lived in earthquake country, and you have no idea when one will strike. In the ‘89 earthquake I had just driven through the Cypress Structure when it collapsed. I was at least able to make it home.
I used to carry a back pack in my truck that I had supplies in to last a day or two if I needed to walk home. At home I had a small plastic shed away from anything with camping gear, propane stove plus a rotating supply of propane tanks. Plus MRE’s and drinking water.

One thing I’ll be doing is increasing my preps so I have more flexibility on when to restock.  The panic buying post storm is going to make it a pain.

Tell folks your motion lights are solar and swap them for solar units. I have them on my chicken coop they work well enough and it eliminates questions quickly.