Battery operated heater?

[gale]

A few winters ago our power went out for about 3 days. I'm paranoid that it might happen again and my fish will freeze. Is there such a thing as a battery heater? Or some other solution just in case? If our power goes out we will have no water either and my stove is electric. The only possibility is getting hot water directly from our water heater but I'm not sure if that will stay hot long-I have no idea if the water heater itself uses any electricity or not.

 

[smithrc]

you wont get a battery opperated heater... for a 50W heater running at 12V

50/12 = 4amps of current... 4000mA...

Anyway - I digress...

No the batterys will go flat quicker than a quick flat thing.


The other alternative would be a UPS (Uninteruptable Power Supply) normally used for PC's

 

[gale]

The other alternative would be a UPS (Uninteruptable Power Supply) normally used for PC's

Doesn't a UPS only work for a few hours at most?

 

[Lateral Line]

A battery will drain very quickly providing power for a heater, not a viable option. A quality UPS will drive a few hundred Watts for a few hours, if you are lucky, no more. I would have suggested using one for you filter, but in another thread we discussed just this and it didn't work well, this thread.

If I were you, I would buy a bottled gas stove, the kind used for camping for example. Not only can you warm water for your tank, but you can have a cup of tea once in a while whilst you wait for the power to come back online.

If you are out on a farm, as your location suggests, then a generator of some kind may well be a prudent investment at some point.