Also keep in mind that it's important to not only have a heavy enough gauge of extension cord, but length is important too. If the 12 Ga cord is too long for the current needed, it will drop the voltage too much, and possibly overheat. As with most things, especially electrical, you can't just use a blanket procedure for every general case. Know what you are doing! And I know someone somewhere will do this so I'll say it beforehand...don't hook up to your car and run it WHILE it's in the garage, even if the door is open. Prevailing winds can blow the exhaust back into the garage (and the house) and give you carbon monoxide poisoning. I personally know of a couple where the (educated) husband did this with a generator, and ended up in the hospital, almost dying.

You said to connect the black negative first, BUT, as a retired mechanic, it is always been to connect the red first, then the negative to prevent any sparking.

A few things to be aware of, the starter battery in vehicles are not deep cycle batteries. They are only designed to give a large inrush current to start a vehicle and power the electronics. They don't really survive being drained flat more than a handful of times before they refuse to take a charge again. Also all batteries have what is called a surface charge, where they will read 12-14v volts but lack capacity or rather "umpth." A lead acid battery requires like 12 hours for a proper charge. So stating that going out and running the engine every now and again for 10 minutes will only ever give some of that surface charge back, and people are going to end up with a dead starter battery. The last time I did this I ran the engine the whole time. These days cars tend to be efficient at idle. Except for those that kill the engine on idle, hybrids, and EVs. Another thing I'd warn about is the alternator can only supply so many amps for so long...so one might try to load down the alternator to the point of killing the rectifier diodes, then the alt needs replaced. Another factor being that some alternators depend on higher RPM for the output to be useful. My 03 Ford Tarus dumps 40 amps into my 100AH lifepo4 deep cycle for like the first 30 seconds that the engine is running, then drops down to around 30 and then varies between 20-30 until it's topped off. Thats only 390 watts figuring 13V@30A. I have 15 ft 2 GA jumper cables going to the battery /w 2kW sine inverter in a milk crate in back seat floor board. Tried to run 1200w space heater and alternator still only gave me 30A, heater still took 65A from the deep cycle. Food for thought.

My dad is a now retired electrician, I have seen him do some crazy things. This is a great idea.

Ran a inverter in my Prius on one tank of gas For a week and powered my house (furnace, refrigerator, lights and more) perfect.

just had a electrician enable my brand new furnace for outlet power-plug !!! i now have a Dewalt 1000W invertor nearby, and showed my family how to connect everything - all this inspired by YOU last year :)

That’s a great idea for an emergency and don’t suffer from Artic cold 🥶 weather here in Texas where the politicians run to the Caribbean while the rest of us the working class are left behind with a inefficient power grid that killed dozens of unfortunate Texans last year due the insane freezing temperatures without electricity…Thank you for sharing this idea that will be a great help in case of a emergency but also buy the right stuff and don’t go cheap and be safe thanks for your advice and I hope we never have to deal with that kind of situation again and our families be safe I will keep supporting your channel watching the videos to the end give likes and commenting and sharing with friends and family 👋😊👋

I'm in Buffalo and was prepped with the outlet and inverter on my car thanks to your video last year! Thanks!!

I powered my refrigerator with an inverter from my sports car after the 2020 Iowa Derecho. It worked great. The generators got bought up immediately. $70 for an inverter and I was back up and running.

i keep a small 300w inverter that goes in the lighter port inside my car. sometimes i use that to power my starlink at my farm when power goes out. it's super useful.

THANK YOU!!!!! You have answered many questions I have had about connecting auxiliary power sources to my Forced Air Gas Furnace!! You have the best solutions I have seen in a variety of Videos! In the late 1980's I was trained in, and awarded an Associate Degree in "Environmental Technology", especially Commercial HVAC, and learned a lot..... at the top in my classes. However, the market for attempting my own HVAC Service Business was poor in my region at the time, so my Business attempts were not successful, and I abandoned the trade. That training has since served me quite well in my own domestic needs, and the needs of my family and friends, and I try to stay informed about newer idea and techniques, mostly in the electrical and plumbing trades. Your videos are very informative and enlightening..... THANKS AGAIN!!

My vehicle already has an inverter, so i see how this is done. This is awesome info. Could use this for many things . Great video.

Yup, bought a Nissan Titan last December. Two days later we had a big snowstorm and I lost power. I heat with a pellet stove that has a battery backup but it only lasts for about three hours. That ran out then I thought about the plug in the bed of my new to me Titan. Ran a cord in the door and plugged the pellet stove in and kept warm!!

I watched your original video on how to do this and did it to my furnace after buying the inverter and making clamps. Works Great. Hope you know how many families you may have saved with this modification. Awesome.

you should connect the positive first, then connect the negative (black) to the frame of the car to avoid sparks near the battery.

Cool video I forgot you could do that thanks for reminding me. Sometimes I hook my vehicle up to my trickle charger and figured out running the cord down under the vehicle is better so you don’t have to close the hood on it.

Connect the positive cable to the positive terminal on the battery then connect the negative clamp to the engine block or the car's frame. This method keeps the spark away from the explosive hydrogen gas that the battery produces.

Glad to see the update ❤ The the jumper cable clamps are definitely a excellent upgrade👍👍

This is a very cost-effective way to at least keep the pipes from freezing in an emergency. I wouldn't leave the vehicle off for long, though. Your car battery isn't meant to be deep cycled, and you will be burning your limited supply of gas in the car pretty inefficiently, but this could get you through an otherwise very bad night. Stay clear of those cheap inverters that plug into your cigarette lighter. Those are only good for like a laptop or a single small light. You need to connect the inverter directly to the car battery like this for any electrical loads that are even remotely substantial.

Be sure to rate your inverter’s surge power rating to be better than the surge current for the furnace motors. That was what I found to be the downfall of one on my tries to do this. This example is for a small furnace. Second, lead acid batteries, do not let the charge fall below 50% of the batteries rating, or you will be replacing it very soon. A great way to destroy one. Also, always use some kind of charge controller if you are going to use a Lifepo4 battery to run the inverter. This is to save your alternator, but you will still have to monitor the alternator’s temperature, as this will most likely be charging longer than with the lead acid, per charging cycle.

My diesel truck has 2 batteries and 2 alternators. I already have an inverter installed as well as one in my enclosed trailer. Thanks for reminding me of this use. I also have a wood burning stove that can heat the whole house very well. Charging cell phones and tablets is handy as well.

Very cool my brother. Love emergency situations solutions that you put out there. Very much appreciated 😊

Thanks. Good info. Currently -1 degrees F . Nice to have a backup plan.

Great idea!! I have a whole house generator with a hookup to power our breaker panel, but I like to be prepared with this setup as a backup incase generator doesn't start or stops working etc, to atleast keep furnace operating

Wonder why I never thought of this?? Very clever, thanks for waking me up. Plus, I already have everything I need.

GREAT IDEA! I have an 8000 watt gas generator but I always worry that one of these days it's not going to start when I need it. I can use this method, plugging it into the connector that I plug my generator into (the one that connects to my electrical panel). I can just flip the back-feed interlock and only turn on breakers for the furnace and a light or two until I can get the generator running.... Thank You!

It's very rare to not have power where I am at, but I didn't think of using my truck's bed plug in to run the house heater. Good to have in mind if it happens.

I'd LOVE to see you do another video like this where you put a Battery Backup system in the mix that can be used while it is being charged. This would allow for more time between having to start the vehicle as well as a way to monitor when more power is needed by watching the battery backup system for low voltage. Thank you for your videos! Preciate you and HAPPY NEW YEAR SIR!

Great video as always! We really appreciate you sharing your knowledge with the average Joe, thank you!

Good info. Before attempting this, everyone should know what their vehicle can provide in the case of the furnace, how much it requires to run. I had this same set-up ready for about 10 years. A Samlex 2,000 watt pure sine inverter. Upgraded the battery from a wet cell H5 to AGM H6 on my daily driver as it has a water cooled 15kw alternator. Previously, I had ran 1,000 watt loads for testing and the battery stayed at 13.6 volts.

I did this years ago. My sump pit was filling up. I bought a siphon pump from HD, connecting a hose to it up the stairs to the outside and powered it using my inverter and van. Make sure you calculate the wattage.

Happy new year and thank you for your videos one of my favorite learning channels . God bless you

Great idea, when you do this I'll get to replace your alternator and your furnace's blower sooner. Great videos like this supports my family. Thank you

I plan on upgrading my alternator and also adding a second one when I swap my engine on the hummer. This way I can run batteries in their own bi on top of the hummer and a few solar panels. My vehicle will be a generator, off grid power supply and make a lot of power when it’s running.

I plan to do the outlet mod with furnace power so I can plug it in and put a meter on it to see how much it draws. I have a nice fairly cheap meter that goes in series, you plug it in and plug into it. If I do try to run it from an inverter with a vehicle, I'll use the older vehicle.

This is some good information. Thank you so much everyone needs to be aware of this neat trick!

Good stuff. But I use one of my trolling batteries (deep cycle) I use for fishing. You can run a t.v. and light as well in power outage.

I did the furnace switch conversion earlier this year. Fantastic mod! Just recently got a everstart 1,000watt modified sine wave inverter for this exact purpose. For $90 with the 10% coupon your pure sine wave is a steal in my opinion. One question for it.. the included crocodile clamps what was the AWG size of the wire? The one i got came with 8AWG wire and I believe for the 1,000watt inverter a minimum 4AWG should be included.

Excellent!! I have one of those I never use, I will try it on my furnace.

I have a 2005 Prius, quietest most efficient generator; on/off operation of car only uses 1gal of gas overnight. Connected to 3000w pure sine wave inverter ran furnace, hot water heater, refrigerator, internet, and some lights perfectly.

This really is the forgotten oh crap moment. Whats the first thing we think of when power goes out in the winter. My heat, I picked an inverter up a year ago, now I just habe to to the power recepticle conversion you did, great info!

You can buy a remote start plug and play pretty cheap and very easy to install, took me about a half an hour, and then occasionally start and stop your engine from the house to keep the battery charged. Also have an AC plug in the bed for smaller things such as internet and maybe 1 TV. Also did the pigtail/plug thing you did on your furnace for my well pump (15 amp 110v)

i did the same thing after a power outage for days in OK after a tornado, except, electric ac (was summer) so i was able to power a fan, a tv, dish network, internet and fridge... ya know the basic necessities lol i drive run the truck, off street parking

I did that with a 1500 watt inverter with mini-van running and killed the battery. Glad I did it and was worth it but there may additional costs involved

This will help many people get out of a jam. Thank you.

yes, that is a good idea . I am sure your alternator will love it.

Remember you can also start the vehicle up by remote start and if someone tries to take it and they put in in Park without the key it will shut off. Though it's always good to test and make sure for some reason your car/truck doesn't have that security feature(it should if it came with the remote start already and not a 3rd party one).

We figured out a long time ago that a small, old 4-cylinder Toyota truck made a great choice. We had a generator off an old ice cream truck installed in it, and it powered everything in the house all night long on a quarter tank of gas. It also provided an emergency pod in the truck itself if things got too cold inside.

My Tacoma has an outlook in the bed that puts out 120V at >100W. It is a 2018 4x4 and came standard with the truck.

Great idea! Most cars are good for a minimum of 100amps. With the 12awg wire, your safe for 25 amps! PLENTY for the gas heater, a few lights and small tv!

Way cool advice, thanks a million for the great emergency aid!!

You can do the same thing for a pellet stove, Comfortbilt HP50S uses about 1000w for the ignitor initially, but all the fans use only 60w after. You can fire up the stove manually as well.

Everyone should have this. I bought a 2500 watt inverter and it sat on the shelf for years - then - Texas had an ice storm and I lost power for 4 days. My Toyota truck idled for days with the invert attached. It was enough to keep a fridge and 2 freezers full of game meat frozen. I unfortunately don’t have gas service so there was no way to run my heat pump. But I was able to save hundreds of pounds of meat - what a mess that would have been. These are also handy if you need portable power off site.

Based mostly on yer vids, I completed this set up earlier this week. Used the Bestek 1000 inverter and cut down a Duralast Gold set of jumper cables (wanted 2 ga wire.) Makes it portable to other vehicles.👏🏻 My only add would be: Ta cut down on doors, windows open to run cord maybe add a wall Tube access to outside. I had an old dryer vent tube to use, worked like a champ! Ps I also set up the vtoman 1000 u did a vid on……Both work like a champ!!!! Thank you !!!👏🏻🇺🇸👏🏻

I just got a ford lightning and so happy that I don't need any of this equipment.

I did this once after a hurricane, using my F150 for 5 days. It wasn't heating season but I did run refrigeration and electronics. Since then I have upgraded from a cheap inverter making ragged low-voltage (110V) power to a proper pure since wave type. I ran the truck whenever I was using the inverter, for about 50% of the time, and used half a tank. The truck couldn't care less if it was idling for hours at a time. A freezer uses much less power than a fridge. My 21 cu ft one runs on 135W and I can use "sabbath mode" to disable the defrost function. Fridges use more power and the defrost cycle may be more than the inverter can haldle. Best to measure the wattage of anything you plan to power before choosing the inverter.

I have some AGM batteries for emergency power- 35 and 55 amphours. Normally I keep them charged with a battery minder. In a pinch I would charge them from my car, then use an inverter. AGM batteries will accept power very quickly, so you need heavy duty jumpers.

I have used my EV with an inverter while leaving the car on. Use it to charge my yard tool batteries whenAC is unavailable. Even used it to keep a refrigerator running.

Yep, been doing this for years... we use an inverter to 'drive' 120v power for microwave, lights, electric blanketa, fans in summer. Currently in a camper, we also can plug in our pigtail into the rear connecter on the car and that runs our furnace, lights via the 12 v inverter while charging the RV battery. Almost silent too! We picked up a 2000- watt inverter at Harbor Freight. These things worl great in a power outage or for boondocking with the RV.

My 1964 furnace pulls 4.2A at 120V. The furnace is an 80% effy unit (in theory). We have 1,200 sq. ft. of living space.

Having used inverters for about 25 plus ➕️ years And I used 4 battery block and as a double and single. As a rule if you use the inverter to power unless excessive power 🔋 usage. About every 30 minutes you crank up your car for 5 minutes on a single battery and no less than every hour for a double. If it pulls the battery down to far your car will not crank up. And your dead in the water. It also depends on cranking amps and age as well as if the battery is well maintained. 😊 Ty for sharing this with us. I've use it privately as well as in my public safety service and over the road truck driving. So I think my 1st experience was in 1996 or 1997 to current. Any battery that goes below 50% will cause the battery to go dead rapidly if it is done much. But each time it makes the battery less reliable. It has as many usages as you can imagine. From running a TV, game console, power tools and lighting for a outdoor party or keep a refrigerator or Freezer running or fans etc. God bless yall. ✝️

I had a nice big inverter for my vehicle it was in there for years and as soon as i went to actually use the dam thing i plugged it in and it just burned up and of course nobody had any since everyone was out of power.

*you improved "Did you know you can heat your home with a car battery?" video* *glad to see you followed thru*

Thanks, Dave. Get yourself a can of CorrosionX - clean that battery hold down and spray it!!

I have had my house set up like this for years and I remember 40 years ago seeing people have their house set up to run of the car, But Im in Canada so a lot of us know how to use what we have in winter. I had my tv set up back in the 80s to run of a battery because the power went out and I was missing the Hock game lol

I idled my F150 for 5 weeks straight 2 winter ago. Barely used 1/8 of a tank (136L) per day. I wouldnt think twice about using it to power something like a furnace in a winter outage.

Back in 1990 I had a really decent vehicle and I had room inside of the engine compartment where I could install a 2nd alternator and have it to where I could switch it to where it would run when needed and not run when not needed. I had a bank of 20 heavy duty truck batteries wired in parallel and when I got to my camping location where this was all setup all I had to do was drag out the cables to hook up to the 2nd alternator and charge the battery bank. I had the power inverter hooked up for the output from the batteries that powered the 10 lights and radio. I could have made some improvements and made it all better but for my needs at that time it served the purpose and I had power that lasted for days. Before winter set in I made sure to discharge as much of the battery power and them remain viable for the next summer. I only had to charge them twice and that included a full one month of use from them in one long shot. Another note for this type of project you have is to have a 2nd battery that you can attach to the vehicle so that you do not drain the main battery and can easily disconnect from it to go do your thang as needed.

Awesome job! 14 gauge is what we wire furnaces on a 15 amp breaker. So 14 ga. cord is adequate.

My current and last 2 RAM 1500 trucks came with an inverter built into the dash.

Not super efficient, but it will work. Back when gas was super cheap in the early 70s (pre embargo) my Dad used an inverter on an old International Pickup to power his tools for building our house. It seemed like magic to me at the time that you could plug into an AC outlet in the truck.

Yesss Exactly what I needed to see!!! Happy new year!!!

I need to do this. Thanks for the great informative videos.

I personally think you are most likely a very caring person. I have seen all of your videos pertaining to this and I personally thank you. However I do have a question, the only pigtail I can find where I live is a 15amp,my circuit breaker is a 20amp. Can I use the 15amp pigtail. Thanks for all you teach us .

you may want to run the vehicle engine at a higher idle speed or high idle setting if available when charging as some alternators tend to get hot if you are charging a long time or running the inverter

It is better to know how many watts, since you are going from 12v to 120v. Peaking at 1.4 amps at the furnace x 120 volts = 168 watts, which is well under the 1,000 watt capacity of your inverter. Leaves yiu with spare capacity for other connections is needed. Great idea and good job!

I bought a 1500W pure sine wave inverter and hooked to my truck battery to run my furnace and it starts up but stops in about 15sec. furnace works with my generator and regular plug in.

BRILLIANT! I'd add, the first thing everyone will think is "Gee, I can add a power bar and run my computer etc etc. Computers have VERY sensitive electronics, as do many newer refrigerators etc. Anything with a computer board basically..... BUY A GOOD QUALITY "PURE SINE WAVE" inverter for those. Motors are usually OK with modified/quasi sine wave etc. Electronics, NO. ymmv, jm.02 Edit, also, be sure you dont use more than your setup can produce. This is to draw attention to thin cheap extensions. :D

Been thinking of putting an inverter in my truck for this purpose so I can have emergency power. I already have solar but in winter it's too dark so it doesn't produce much, so what I would do is run a big DC power supply to float the batteries.

7:01 Tacoma's are known for having a loud idle and Toyota's will auto shutdown as well unless the car is manually locked. I have a 2023 and use it for my camper as a generator.

I Would add a battery tender..and yes...positive is connected first always.

If I'm running a stinger to my truck, I typically will route it down through the engine compartment onto the ground. This way you don't have to pinch it under the hood.

If it's a grid down event and your natural gas is city supplied, the pumps that keep the gas pressure up, will be down also, alternative heat source should be on the list.

Size your inverter to the information on your furnace lable. A pire sine wave inverter is better for tvs, laptops. Non sine wave for running your heater, the gigher the watt rating the higher the price. Monitor your battery connection wires as the more watts you run the hotter they will get when the battery volts drop the current will increase causing hot wires. This method works in a pinch.

Thanks Dave for measuring the furnace current draw, that was my number one question. In the video, you used such a high current meter range, I don't know what kind of accuracy you have. I have seen similar measurements performed and witnessed accuracies as bad as -90/+300%. What I'm getting to is, car batteries are designed for short term high current output to start the engine, when used as a steady state power source, they are easily damaged if the discharge is greater than 10% (meaning 90% battery charge remaining). So basically, you can pull about 300 watts from the battery for about 10 minutes before needing to start the engine. While idling, the car's electrical system can supply about 400 watts, assuming nothing is turned on in the car. You can gladly exceed these rates and there won't be any apparent problem right away but, there is a good chance you will need a new battery and possibly a new alternator within a few weeks. I don't mean to discourage anyone that wants to make use of Dave's (the maker of the video) furnace backup idea, I just wanted to point out the car's electrical limitations. Dave's idea can be a life saver in some instances.

PErsonally, I would use a much larger gauge wire for the extension. The bigger, the better IMO. (Is it absolutely necessary? Depends. If you're running 100 feet of extension cord, the voltage drop is gonna be pretty big, and the smaller the wire, the bigger the risk of fire.) Another concern is that when your vehicle is stationary, it can overheat your alternator - Make sure your alternator is up to the task at idle. (source - I've made all the mistakes as a van lifer using DC-DC chargers as well as inverters directly off the battery. Some alternators barely supply power to run your car, some older ones don't even start generating power until you've come off idle...)

engineering note: electrons flow from - to +. we think of "conventional" current as going from + to -, but that is electron hole flow. It is more safe to connect + 1st and - last. We can thank Benjamin Franklin for the +/- current confusion. He assumed the charge was positive when in fact it was negative.

Ya know, that's awesome cos your not draining the battery much, maybe leave engine running or chuck an agm battery under the bonnet? Great for an emergency situation! Well Done. 👍

I can't wait to try this on my EV

They have done this for years.. only downside, you can only push the max out put of your alternator or you will the battery quick😊

I’ve always known That this was possible but I never knew Hell until now thank you

Most furnaces have an single phase AC induction motor for the blower, and induction motors run very poorly on (and get damaged by) "modified-sine wave" inverters (i.e. the cheap ones). Need a pure sine-wave inverter for induction motors. With that caveat, a great idea!

some furnace control boards require a neutral ground bond, not on all inverters accept this bond

depends how often you loose power, whats the amp and voltage requirement, I use a UPS with a deep cycle battery, gives me about 2-4 hours of run time plus it can run several led lights

Awesome video...tks I'll be doing this .

i have since a 10 or so, camping was the reg back then, no power outlets at the camp grounds and porta gens were very expensive, but a convert at auto zone was cheap lol so was gas... was good when fishin off the skyway bridge in the middle of the night, use the flood light to lure the fish to the surface muahahaha

All the comments are a Elec engineering semester. This channel is the best !

Question..can you add a extra v belt valley to the crankshaft pulley and then to a mounted generator/ alternator in the engine bay and run a power cord from there.

The battery looks in great shape 4:40

Powered the 1200 total watts I needed from a 3000 Pure Sine Wave Inverter from my Trucks 145A alternator during hurricane Sandy for 4 days. Letting the vehicle idle at 1000 rpm. Was only down for 10 minutes total. The secret is purchase a Kill-a-watt plug in power meter and see what all your deices pull in WATTS. Total it up then double it for your minimum size INVERTER or GENERATOR to fit your needs. All devices in your house do not all run at the same time.............works best if you have CITY water, sewer and hot water baseboard heat by natural gas.

We had no troubles for the three and a half days and we had sufficient power I don't remember you mentioning what wattage you have for your inverter but it would be good to let them know that it's important if they want to also at least cook some eggs they could use a small electric skillet