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Comment by vl | Hacker News Reader

Great! How do you heat your house when power goes out for three days straight in the winter?

I don't! But that was also true when we had gas.

Was it? I’ve lived in the Northeast for over 40 years. Multiple power outages per year, including some that have lasted several days. NEVER had the natural gas go out. The gas distribution lines run compressors on gas itself, no dependency on the grid.

In our house we have central heat which requires a fan to blow the warm air to all the vents. No power = no heat, regardless of the fuel source.

We also don't have prolonged winter outages here since there's no snow (coastal california). If that was a common problem I might strategize a little differently or have gas as an emergency backup.

Homes in the Northeast will often have radiator heat, hot water which circulates by convection. A modern boiler might need electricity for the computer controls, but an old one won't.

Modern heating systems need electricity to work even if they generate their heat from gas.

Yep, I have oil heat and our boiler needs electricity (I think for the ignition - maybe something else). Definitely doesn't work when the power goes out.

As a New Yorker who loses power for extended periods of time seemingly every year now, the opposite is true for me. I've never had a gas outage, and being able to use the stove when the power and the heat are out to cook a warm meal is a huge boon.

Electricity goes out here semi-regularly, but the gas has never had any outage in the 20+ years I've lived here.

It's certainly very nice to have gas even when power is out. Means I can cook just fine on the gas range, the water heater is working so I still have warm showers.

And, while I haven't done this too often, I can run the house heater fan off a small generator, it doesn't take that much power. So I can even heat the house when needed if power is out, with the gas furnace.

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