How do I survive a power outage in the winter?

+1 vote
asked Nov 14, 2018 in Weather by tinamhughes (380 points)
How do I survive a power outage in the winter?

1 Answer

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answered Nov 17, 2018 by TSRWilliam (370 points)
Before a power outage occurs during the winter make sure you have some form of emergency heating source such as a wood burning stove, Kerosene heater, Natural Gas or Propane Vent Free heater or even a few of those portable propane buddy heaters to keep warm.

If the power goes out your regular forced air furnace will not work even if it's natural gas since the furnace requires electricity to ignite and for the blower motor to run.

Make sure you have plenty of blankets and block any drafts into your home to keep the cold air out.

You can keep your body warm when sleeping by putting the blankets over your entire body including over your head and then use your breath to keep your body warm under the covers.

I've done this before when I had no heat as I heard about it on a radio station saying that if you have no heat in your house or where you're at to cover your entire body with blankets and as you breathe then the breath being warm when it comes out of your body will heat up the small space under your covers.

I survived a very freezing house for 2 weeks doing that so it does work.

If you can though check to see if a motel or hotel is available that you can rent until the power comes back on at your place or look for shelters that may be available as emergency heat sources as some places have them and others don't.

A good thing to do though is to get an emergency backup generator to install on the side of your house that runs on natural gas as this will keep power on to your house allowing your refrigerator to run and keep lights on as well as keep your forced air furnace working.

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