> If you get a nasty February ice storm that cuts a power line, you can be without electric power in 0F weather for up to 5 days I live in Indiana and we've ha

> If you get a nasty February ice storm that cuts a power line, you can be without electric power in 0F weather for up to 5 days I live in Indiana and we've had power outages like this during both winter and summer. What sucks is that newer (last 25 years) gas furnaces have fancy-dancy blower motors (power vent) and if I lose electricity, I also can't run the furnace because the power vent won't work. My gas water heater was the same way. Last time it failed (they only last 10 years these days), I switched to electric because the power vent on the gas water heater was so noisy you could hear it throughout the entire house. My house is somewhat livable in the summer heat with a power outage because I have a basement, but in winter, forget it. Having said that, I'm not so keen on spending $10-15K to convert two gas furnaces to heat pumps.