Posted on 02/17/2021 2:13:42 PM PST by amorphous
These are my tips for people in TX and other places where they don’t normally have power outages in extremely cold weather and no experience with that and may not know what to do.
These tips are based on my growing up in New England and also having lived in Maine and Utah, and having experienced multiple days of power outages in extreme cold. A number of houses I lived in either were poorly insulated and, in some cases, not all parts of the house had heat.
1. Check to see if any of your doors have a space at the bottom where cold air is coming in. If so, take a towel and roll it up lengthwise and put it on the floor pushing it against the door.
2. Check to see if you get drafts from any of your windows. If so, take some old papers (newspaper, junk mail, etc.) fold them up and stuff the cracks with paper. If you have no paper but have rags that will work also.
3. If you have a generator be sure to read and follow all requirements for ventilation – you can get killed otherwise. Do NOT use anything like a grill indoors. Go outside if you must and use it out there in a sheltered area for cooking.
4. Let all your faucets drip a bit to try to avoid having your pipes burst. If you have any hay bails you can also put these around the bottom of your house.
5. Consider closing up part of your house and only use a few rooms (preferably interior rooms or those with the fewest windows, since you lose a lot of heat from the windows).
6. Sometimes if you have natural gas you can still get hot water and your stove and oven may work even when the power is out. If that is the case do the following:
a. Take a hot bath daily, before bundling up for bed. This will keep your core warmer. (Notice that she says IF you have natural gas. I don’t.) b. Make hot meals like soup and drink hot drinks. (Hard to do without natural gas.) c. Avoid alcohol if at all possible as that may make you feel like you are warmer but actually makes your core colder. d. Washing your dishes by hand is good to warm up your hands. e. Consider making something like Boston baked beans from scratch at night. They need to cook in the oven at low heat (250-300 degrees) for 8 hours and not only taste good… they warm up the house a bit and smell heavenly! ((Again, hard to do without natural gas.)
7. Get out all your winter clothing items and layer up. Wear a hat and shoes or boots even if you normally go barefoot as you lose a lot of heat from your head and extremities. Wear multiple pairs of socks to bed and multiple pairs of sleepwear. You can wear a winter coat indoors during the day or spread it out on your bed for extra warmth at night.
8. If you have any sleeping bags crawl into one at night in your bed, covered by your other bedding.
9. Cover your head at night (best if you leave a bit of a breathing hole but you’ll still keep warmer than keeping your whole head out).
10. If anyone in your household sews, check their fabric stash for large pieces of polartec/fleece (the absolute best at keeping your warm), wool, or unused quilt inserts to use as extra blankets.
11. If you have multiple people in your family…. skip the social distance idea (unless someone actually is sick), and consider bundling up together at night. Warning: don’t do that with a baby though as some people have accidentally rolled over on their baby and suffocated them. Babies do well however in a sleeping bag by themselves or something similar (I had my son sleeping in an old fur coat I got at a thrift store when we were living in a tent.)
12. Got a dog? Let him/her come sleep with you in your bed… even if you don’t normally.
13. If you have young kids, try to make a game out of it… pretend you are camping indoors, or are pioneers, cowboys, or Indians. If you know your local history it may give you other ideas how to keep warm. Remember people lived without central heat for generations and most did not freeze to death in their house. For example, I once visited Plymouth Plantations (in MA) on a very cold raw day – noticed that the Pilgrims houses were all cold and uncomfortable despite having large fireplaces. Outside the walled town there was a reproduction Massasoit Indian village complete with long house… and they were having story telling there. It was toasty, comfortable and warm. They only had a small hole in the roof for opening for smoke from the fire and one door with a deerskin flap they closed. Multiple families lived together that way and slept on wood platforms with furs, so they were off the floor. It was a LOT more comfortable that the housing the Pilgrims lived in!
Thanks for that reminder! I've got several empty ones above the garage that I need to fill-up.
I recommend that even if the power is on.
Ya never know...
Remember that Sony cat and dog ad...?
If you can’t get a space heater (as stores sell out in winter storms), a hair dryer will do in a pinch.
They’re cheap and generate almost as much heat as a space heater, but they are usually a bit noisier.
A candle with a large diameter.
It has a variety of uses.
I once anesthetized a squirrel using a squirt of ether in a plastic bag I put the injured squirrel in so I could sew up a gunshot wound. He woke up, fit as a fiddle.
I've also used welding oxygen and made an oxygen tent from plastic sheeting to save a cat once.
Break out the camping stove and sleeping blankets
Use no uncontained fire within the house ( carbon monoxide poisoning ).
Candles are insufficient for heat, but used for emergency lighting, only; no candles around children.
Fireplaces are contained, but you need to add fresh air to prevent carbon monoxide poisoning, crack a window.
See Original posting and comments
Dude I can’t believe that this guy forgot to mention the automobile or the truck just turn on the vehicle and let the heat heater Craig I think will become a sauna in minutes
Just make sure you’re not putting your vehicle in any kind of enclosed space and that the tail pipe is completely free of the snow
We used to drive finishing nails in each top corner of the doorway, hall, etc., and hang a quilt or blanket over the entryway to block off a room. :)
Battery operated lanterns, oil lamps, candles.
Use the pillar type if you have them.
Do not use your fancy top heavy candle holders.
If all you have are long tapers cut them in half.
Never leave a candle or oil lamp burning alone in a room. Especially if there are children or pets around.
Set your candle in a cookie sheet so if it gets tipped over it will be less likely to set the house on fire.
Most people forget that a modern water heater in their homes has 50 gallons of potable water, with a drain at the bottom. Also, once you know the freeze is coming, fill up sinks and bathtubs that won't freeze over.
bump for later reading = bflr
Might as well make a good soup or stew while you’re at it.
Boiled potatoes alone can be kind of boring.
I presume that means the wood stove insert is going in ASAP.
We did that in one house we owned and the weekend after we did it, the furnace quit and the part that was guaranteed to arrive by Thurs didn’t come in until Monday.
Fortunately, it was Oct/Nov and not really cold yet. That thing was a life saver though. We were so glad we had it.
Who knew ladies appliances would be so useful to mankind! :)
How long have you carried your squaw, Jeremiah?
Hair dryers only work to produce heat if there’s power.
If there’s power, you will have heat and don’t need the hair dryer and the pipes will not likely freeze.
You can also buy pipe insulation and insulate your exposed plumbing. It works amazingly well at keeping the water in the pipes warm. They can lose a lot of heat traveling through a cold basement or crawl space .
Live 'n learn. :) Yep, ASAP!
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