What have done towards your prep?

[Lightspeed]

Wow! Our main furnace is rated 25kW and that's over-sized for our 120sqm home. Like you, we installed loads and loads of insulation which I think our installer failed to appreciate. I did the first big service on it this summer and its improved its efficiency a good deal.

For backup and rustic ambiance we have an 11Kw range style stove that has its own dedicated oven. The flue from this connects to a thermal store, which re-radiates heat for up to 24hrs after the stove goes out. As a test we did a full off grid cooking and heating using this stove and it kept up with everything we asked of it. Using wood for intense heat, and coal for slow burn worked out well Min temperature that winter was -20C, so it shows that good insulation very much reduces heating power requirements.

Your wife: Poor, poor woman! Did she have any idea of what she was letting herself in for when she married you? You should let her loose on here sometime, I bet the other side of your stories will be even more entertaining;-)