We had the power go out and we used a propane lantern which gives lots of light and some heat. Also we have a small 2 burner propane stove that we keep in the bathroom closet for just such times as the power going out. It can be assembled in a few minutes and taken apart to store in about the same amount of time. It's still in the original box and isn't 2 inches thick. When it gets cold from the lantern not being able to put out enough heat, we would light 2 burners on the stove for a few minutes to bring up the room temperature. It would be 3 to 4 hours before we would have to restart the burners on the stove.
This year I got a Mr. Heater that has an oxygen depletion sensor on it. So it would turn it's self off if the air started to get bad. I got it at Bimart and is like this one at Northern tool.
I had bought 10 gallons of gas for the 5,000 watt 6200 watt surge generator, but when I asked Tammy if she wanted the generator turned on, she said no. If the power had been out longer we would have hooked it up to the well for water. Using a big generator like that one can sure use up 5 gallons of gas in a hurry. My neighbor got a 7500 watt Honda inverter generator and the engine only runs as fast as it needs to for the load. Where mine runs at full speed all the time. I would have used 3 times as much gas as he did, so I was really glad not to start the generator. I really need to get a smaller one for small loads to save on fuel costs.
I live out in the country where there isn't to much chance of my generator being stolen. But I do have a logging chain and a big lock handy.
Richard W.