[APatientMan]

Kerosene heater or wood stove. If you don’t want to put off smoke - kerosene heater.

[PA Engineer]

[vickixxxx]

I lost power for a week in our last ice storm. I had a nice kerosene heater (cost 79.00) I had kerosene stored in the approved blue container (kerosene can be pumped from certain gas stations) I keep enough to warm my house for a month. Very easy to do!

[luckystarmom]

Get a good sleeping bag rated for sleeping in the cold.

Make sure you have a good winter coat, hat, and gloves.

[jughandle]

From a NJ suburbanite here, we installed a vent free natural gas stove a few years ago, great for heat. Not in a flood area, so natural gas supply has never been an issue. Also bought 7500 watt portable generator this week, just didn’t anticipate gas availability. We will keep at least 25 gallons on hand at all times now, figure I can keep it fresh by using and replenishing doing yard work.

[justa-hairyape]

Since this is a conservative site, will just recommend that you get one of these.

[mrsmith]

Couple hardscrabble things you can do:

Paint some 2 or 3 gallon plastic jugs flat black and put them in a window’s sunlight. They’ll get very warm.

Make a plastic tent over your bed.

[firebrand]

Someone I was worried about, in the dark suburbs alone, has turned out to be somewhat of a secret prepper. When last heard from, she was sitting before her gas heater, having just made lamb chops on her gas grill, wearing a headlamp and reading, with her battery-powered radio nearby. Earlier she had gone for a two-hour walk with her neighborhood walking group. People nearby with generators had asked her to stay with them, but thanks but no thanks.

[ctdonath2]

“So here’s the scenario, and assume this is well before the hurricane has hit...so there’s plenty of time to buy supplies and equipment”

First rule of surviving a bad situation: don’t be there.

In this case, the warning time was measured in days, if not years.

[BobL]

Thanks very much for all the great ideas. Here’s what I think is a good approach, followed by many of the other suggestions:
Get a Mr. Heater Big Buddy or equivalent (18,000 BTU propane space heater) and have several 20 pound (or larger) propane tanks (the heater is good for about 4 days per tank). Then buy the necessary hoses to operate the heater from larger tanks - verify proper operation before “it” happens. Identify a well insulated room, but with a window that can still be opened for ventilation (or the heater will deplete the Oxygen) and only operate while awake. Finally, have a battery-powered Carbon Monoxide detector available, with enough spare batteries. At that point, you have a safe way to stay warm.

---

Other excellent ideas are listed below:
1) Have thermal underwear and comforters or good sleeping bags (with good pads) for night (Patagonia is a good brand of underwear)...but don’t sleep with the heater on, do to Carbon Monoxide or Oxygen depletion risk. There are army bags that go down to 0 degrees F, and probably lower. People camp out in much worse conditions than most will experience without power in their house, even in winter.
2) Have a battery-powered Carbon Monoxide detector.
3) Candles are also great to have, for some light and entertainment, and they do provide good heat in well-insulated shelters.
4) Don’t bother with Texan cheerleaders, as they won’t be interested in you (unless you’re in high school)
5) Rocket stoves are very efficient for cooking with wood, but for an event that lasts for weeks (rather than months or years), a decent amount of gasoline and propane will work fine (my post-hurricane approach).
6) Remember to shut off utility water, if pipe freezing becomes a possibility.
7) Coleman lanterns also put out a boatload of heat (along with light). They can be useful, just be sure that they vent properly and have a Carbon Monoxide detector in use.
8) Assuming you have a natural gas (and conventional) water heater, and water available, you can use the hot water from the water heater to get a lot of heat into a bathroom or other room (obviously turn up the water heater temperature as high as possible). This is good for about 3 hours, so expect to wake up a couple of times if you’re sleeping. If you have a fancy water heater, don’t bother, they need power to operate – even if they heat with natural gas.
9) Kerosene heaters can also work...although I don’t think that they burn nearly as clean as propane.
10) Electric blankets are good, when there’s power. But 12 Volt electric blankets can run from a car battery. So if you have fuel, you can run the car for an hour or so each day and recharge the battery (after pulling it down to run your blanket). Not a bad idea – not very efficient too, but if you have a lot of gas and nowhere to go, it can make sense.
11) A good reminder is to use Sta-bil in stored gasoline, as it will extend the life of the gasoline (before it gets gummy) to one to two years (depending on how much you use). Walmart has it.
17) Retreat to a small space to live (several people mentioned that in different contexts). Sounds obvious and it will be when the day comes, but thinking about it first helps with planning. For example, one can spit a large bedroom down the middle with rigid styrofoam panels and then only have to heat half of it.
18) An infrared radiant heater is worth considering, if you can find one that doesn’t need electricity.

[Katya]

We were without power for three days during sandy, and routinely lose power during storms as we live in a very wooded area. In some ways losing power is easier to deal with when the weather is cooler. I find it very difficult to sleep with no AC.

Anyway... We don’t have a generator, but we do have some easy to use power inverters that plug into the cars cig lighters. Our inverters can have 2 electric cords plugged in and even have a USB port.

That means all of our various electric media can be run.
As our cable/Internet usually goes out of commission during storms I have added a tethering plan to my phone so we can at
Least watch Netflix and browse the Internet.

My ranch house has four working fireplaces so as long as we have firewood, we can stay warm. We are on a well which requires electricity to
Work, so we fill buckets before the power goes out, and always keep extra bottled water on hand.

Most importantly I keep loads of sterno cooking fuel on hand. I have servingware for parties which is perfect for heating soup/stew or other types of food. I also have some pots that fit over the servingware holders, and have even made coffee with a stove top espresso pot over the sterno heat.

Oh... And batteries and flashlights..... And cheap candles
From the dollar store.
In general we always get warnings before bad weather is upon us... So theres little excuse for not being prepared.

[Rudder]

I lived in a deep forest for the past 30 years.

At least one good wood stove that will burn all night without tending.

Keep well-house and all plumbing from freezing (thermo-controlled heat lamps; insulation, seal windows, heated pipe wrap)

Get ample firewood (I use 6 long cords per season) and the tools to handle it: two wheel barrows, roofed area for split wood storage, a good 12 hp splitter, two axes, a steel splitting maul, hatchets, Stihl Chain saw 19-22” chain blade.

Install a water tank indoor (mine is 300 gal and stands about 75” tall, a pump to fill it which takes its feed from the main water supply ( use a my well). All of thes systems can be rigged to go on or off regulated by pressure settings.

Install near the dwelling a good hydrant with the feed connection beneath the freeze depth line. Have next to the hydrant spigot a roll of water hose which will enable fire control to whatever you don’t want to burn.

Stores of medicines and madical first-aid kit and tools, learn how to suture.

A .45 cal for every shooter; 12 gauge pump for those who will safely handle it, a .22 LR, auto reload rifle, .222 cal rifle, 30-30 rifle.

Check out my page.

Inquire for details if you’re interested.

Regards R.

[Overtaxed]

A cat, a blanket, and two comforters. It got so hot the cat bailed on me.

[JoeProBono]

Big Buddy Safe Indoor Propane Heater

Big Buddy Indoor Propane HeaterModel MH18B of the Big Buddy indoor safe propane heater keeps hearts focused on needful tasks, and knuckles warm and agile during the cold winter months. Indoor propane heaters can also be your main source of heat during power outages.