Last night the pilot light on our furnace decided to take a vacation while it was 18 degrees outside.

I quickly realized that I have very little understanding of how the heating system in my house actually works. After putting together some makeshift plans for keeping the family warm through the night, I headed out to see if I could get things working again. Luckily, I was successful.

(For a more detailed wright-up of the experience, see my blog post, Domestic Adventures )

This episode clearly brought home the reality that if we suffer a power failure during the winter, our home will become un-livable very quickly, possibly within a matter of hours (my wife and I would probably be OK for a while with our cold weather gear, but it's hard to keep a seven-month old warm enough in sub zero temperatures for an extended time). Our furnace is gas fred, but requires electicity to work, and we have no wood stove or fireplace.

So, two questions:

1) How can I lean more about how home heating systems work, so that I might be able to diagnose and repair a problem on my own without putting myself in danger? I believe I got lucky last night when I fixed the problem, and don't want to rely on the same luck in the future. I imagine that this could save me some money over time as well.

2) What strategies do others have for keeping their homes and families warm when their primary heating system is out? Are there better (and less expensive) options than installing a wood stove? How much does a wood stove cost anyhow?

Thanks for any advice the group can provide.