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!
My neighbor does some yard work and snow shoveling for me and I pay him in baked goods!
It works for us.
They can be powered with small generators though. Most are around about 1800 watts or less. I’ve actually use one to thaw out outside pipes. We have a property in the country and a deep well that would sometimes freeze where the pressure switch mounted. Another thing that works well for frozen pipes, but you must be careful, is a small propane bottle with a torch attached to the top. They’re also great for starting a fire - works much better than matches!
😎
Post of the day!
Spot on.
Yeah. It keeps you cooler when it’s hot outside. I tell my wife to enjoy the snow so that when it gets to 100 in August you can know that there’s relief on the way.
What is wrong with people? Can’t they plan ahead like Boy Scouts? or do they expect the guberment to take care of them forever?
Some of old school people plan ahead to be self sufficient if necessary.
The only thing I am missing is a live in massage therapist cause my wife won’t let me have one.
Someone please explain how drinking my Kentucky bourbon neat can lower anything but my inhibitions??
Re no. 6: if your gas range has electric ignition, you can likely still ignite it with a match when the electricity is off.
I’m here in Texas. I normally don’t turn on my heat, but I have left it on 60° this week. I usually put on a sweater instead of a tee when it’s chilly, and even put on a pair of socks. Bad part is going out as the streets aren’t cleared, and I don’t have covered parking so clearing off windows is a pain. Went to grocery store today and the shelves were completely empty, but I just went to get a couple things. And water is down to a dribble. They have warm places for people to go sleep. I don’t get it, however in the summer I have the A/C on and can barely go out in the heat.
👍👍
I ran hot water drip through the night but my water problem is because if the city having problems.
Marry a big woman and have a big girlfriend. Just make sure they don’t see each other on the other side of the bed. Cozy!
Mr. mm’s favorite way to start the charcoal for a cookout.
Three-dog night: A bitterly cold night (i.e., so cold that one would need their dogs in bed with them to stay warm). Temperatures fell well below freezing, a true three-dog night.
Update (1730ET): In a lengthy press conference, Tex as Governor Greg Abbott said that he has issued an order forbidding Texas gas producers from selling to power producers outside of its borders through Feb. 21.
“Three dog night”
👍 good advice. I have plenty of food for me and kitty as I knew it was coming, and I usually have plenty on hand anyway. I had no clue it would last this long. Supposed to start warming this weekend. It might take awhile for grocery stores to get stocked again. When I walked through the store today, I was thinking I need to have more food stocked than I do, never know when something else will happen.
Up here in New England, we sometimes have a three dog night. That's when you borrow the neighbors dogs to bring to bed with you. And the neighbors too.
Camping indoors works great, as long as you leave off the open flame part. If you have room, put up a tent, and break out the sleeping bags. Make sure the surface under you is insulated by something.
We now have a wood burning stove in the new shop building. Problem solved.
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