Emergency heating solutions during power outages
With all things pumpkin-spiced and warm comes the anticipated cold weather. By now your chimney is swept and inspected (and if not there is still time), and you have got your grandmother’s recipe for chicken noodle soup ready for the making. As lovely as the image looks, it’s important to prepare your home and your family for extreme circumstances. Having a power outage during the middle of winter isn’t only inconvenient: it’s downright dangerous.
Your home:
Here at Beach Stove and Fireplace, we highly recommend preparing a power outage kit, especially if you have children. Having warm clothes and blankets, a battery-powered radio or TV, matches, as well as flashlights and extra batteries readily available will minimize the stress and make it easier to focus on finding an alternative heat source. Isolate your family into a single room with at least one alternative heating solution. Most commonly, a living room with a wood-burning fireplace is the chosen room. It doesn’t have to be a fireplace though. As long as the chosen room has an adequate source of ventilation, you can use a stove or space heater that utilizes oil, gas, coal, or wood to fuel it. If none of these options are available, a gas oven or even a camp stove could be used to provide warmth. Multiple options are always better
Finding fuel:
If possible, having a stack of easily accessible firewood would be best, but emergencies call for other alternatives just in case. Newspapers, magazines, straw, or even corncobs can be used as kindling. Lighter fluid, gasoline, furnace oil, camp stove fuel, and alcohol accelerate the spread of a flame with the strike of a match. Longer burning fuel like coal and wood chips can replace firewood if your supply runs out. Rolling paper, like newspapers, tightly will produce a slower burn as well. Extreme situations have even called for the burning of furniture.
Other tidbits:
Sectioning yourself off to one room in your home will keep you and your family warm until help arrives and the power turns back on. Hang towels or bedding over any windows or doors that may carry a draft. Avoid opening the refrigerator or freezer unless necessary. Your food will stay cold and the house won’t become any cooler. Keep some sort of fire extinguishing substance like baking soda, water, or salt near by your heating source. Someone should always be watching the heat source at all times to ensure proper ventilation. Carbon monoxide poisoning is a real threat without some airflow out of the room.
Being prepared means being able to keep your cool and have a plan. Let us know if you have any questions about what to do in a power outage.