Winter power outages are dangerous, especially if they take place during heavy winter storms. Staying warm is the main challenge and knowing how to best navigate the effects of the winter storm is a matter of understanding both your home and your body. From the moment you hear the outdoor warning siren, it’s important to know just what to do to stay safe and warm.
Keeping Your Family Warm in the Home
If you don’t have power, then forced air heat, electric heat, and most other forms won’t work. If you’re lucky enough to be running a boiler and radiator system, you might not have any loss of heat. If you don’t have that specific heating setup, though, you’re going to need to plan on keeping the family warm without counting on utilities. Here are some steps you can take to keep the house warm:
- If you have an electric generator, run it to power some space heaters in vital areas.
- Filling any bathtubs or sinks with hot water will draw heat into the house and help prevent the slow loss of heat as hours pass.
- Run sinks at a trickle to keep pipes from freezing.
- If the weather is very cold, insulate pipes in unheated areas with newspaper or other insulation to help keep the freezing at bay.
- Insulate windows with heavy, dark blankets.
- If a fireplace is available, keep a fire going to warm the room and the house.
Keeping Your Family Warm
The most important part of keeping the house warm from a home maintenance standpoint is to keep the pipes from freezing. Otherwise, it’s all about your family’s comfort, and you can approach that on a personal level by dressing in layers, getting out extra blankets, and keeping people in one room, so space heaters don’t need to be spread throughout the house.
You can be more prepared with extra fuel and other necessities if you use professional weather software to get warnings about incoming storms before they hit. Check out Earth Networks for more information.