HOw long does a house stay warm without power?

[TravelingChris]

WIth all the power outages being reported and with living in a forested area, I am very concerned about a power outage happening since we have had probably close to 20 inches so far of very heavy snow. I have never been in this situation before and don't know how long a house stays warm if the power goes out. Yes, we do have a natural gas furnace but it is controlled by an electronic thermostat. Others have told me that that means if the electricity goes out, our heating stops. OUr outside temperatures are either very low 30's or high 20"s. Anyone have any knowledge of this? I am also worried for frozen pipes. THis is a rented home but it is very large and there is no way even lighting a fireplace can keep up the warmth throughout the house. Our oven is electric too though our stove is gas.

[Just Robyn]

Sometimes some pipe outside our house gets ice in it and our furnace stops working until we clean it out. *Our* house gets cold fast. However, it would depend on your house. It depends on how well insulated it is and how well sealed the windows and doors are.

[Caroline]

I don't know how long a house would stay warm. However, I do know that if you leave a couple of faucets dripping, it can help prevent frozen pipes. Good luck.

[TravelingChris]

I have no idea how well it is insulated since it isn't our house. It was built in the late 1960's as an upscale home and has continued in that fashion with different owners doing upgrades. I have no clue what the insulation standards were back then or whether anyone increased the insulation in the last 40 years. I think I would have to be leaving before 45 degrees. I have temperature regulation problems from my chronic illnesses and I can get hypothermia (or hyperthermia) much easier than healthy people. I will just pray that we continue to have power. We do love only a mile from the hospital so I guess we can all walk there and hang out in the lobby.

[OhM]

It depends on various factors such as how well insulated it is, etc. Two years ago we had a bad ice storm and the power went out for close to a week. By day three it got down to 45 degrees so we went to a shelter. The house was older and probably could have been insulated better. HTH.

 

:iagree:

 

I remember when I was a kid (in Ohio, blizzard of '78!) we were without power for an extended period - possibly into a week? The family gathered into one room and dad sealed off doorframes and windows with plastic tarps and blankets. I remember reading lots of books (and my great aunt Mary filling up the room with cigarette smoke - cough, cough:ack2: Did I mention it was the 70's?)

[BridgeTea]

2 things you can do:

 

Call your landlord and ask him what he would like you to do (if anything) in the event the power goes out in regards to frozen pipes. The pipes aren't going to freeze for a long time, but it's good to have a plan.

 

The more space between you and the outside elements, the better. If a power outage is a possibility, think about everyone hanging out more in the center of the house. Close off those rooms having exterior walls. If my power goes out, I want to be in close proximity to the rest of the warm bodies. Time to huddle, not go off to separate bedrooms.

 

We lost power for 2 weeks during an ice storm when I was a kid. We had no running water because there was no electric for the well, but my parents always kept an emergency supply of water on hand for drinking and toilet flushing. (Do this if you haven't already.) Our only heat source was a wood stove in the middle of the house. The electric blower on it wasn't working, of course, but it was extremely toasty in the room it was in! We read a lot of books and played board games during daylight. After that, it was an early bedtime. We had a lot of fun!

[abbeyej]

So you do have a fireplace? I would just plan on shutting off other rooms and keeping everyone in the room with the fireplace, if the heat goes out. Bring in all the blankets and pillows from the rest of the house. If you have extra blankets, towels, rags, etc, use them around any areas (doors and windows) where you begin to feel a draft. Otherwise, just plan to keep the whole family close around the fire, play board games, drink hot tea and cocoa... (If the stove is gas, you should be able to use it even in a power outage -- depending on how the burners light, you might have to use a match.)

 

Obviously, if you begin to feel that the house is too cold and your health will suffer, you should get to some place warm before the situation is dire.

 

But by keeping all the warm bodies in one place, and closing up other doors in the house, using a fireplace, blocking off cold drafts, etc, you should be able to keep the house pretty warm for several days.

[4kiddies]

I don't know the answer to your question but wanted to say that when I am worried about a power outage the first thing I do is crank the heat high. Get your house super warm so that if you lose power your house is warmer than normal and will stay warm longer. Once your power goes out start putting layers of clothing on right away, don't wait until you get cold.

 

Good luck!

[Laura Corin]

After a couple of days it's going to be really cold. We have a stone/brick built house with decent loft insulation. We lost our heating last winter when the outside temperature was around freezing and by the third night we were going to bed in a lot of clothes - we had a wood stove in the sitting room for the daytime.

 

Laura

[Sputterduck]

We lived in the mountains last year and ran out of propane...

 

You'll live I promise. :p It just won't be too comfy. Y'all need to hang out in the same room. Body heat can almost make a room comfortable with those outside temperatures. (Well comfortable if you are dressed for the cold)

[SonshineLearner]

You do have a fireplace?? At least for that room, it should work. Like everyone said... Do the Everyone in one room thing... This is the point that I love having a wood stove... No dependence on electricity.

 

Keep the water dripping, like someone said before.

 

:-)

[Tree House Academy]

We lost power during a big snow at about 3am when the temp outside was in the low 20's. Our house was 60 degrees (from 70 at 3am) by the time the lights came back on at 9am or so. This was with no alternative heat source being used and a 3500 sq ft house with all hardwood floors and lots of windows (read big and cold).

[Tree House Academy]

As for what you can do:

 

Fill up buckets of water and pitchers of water for the fridge for drinking. Decide which room in the house would be used for huddling (for us, it is the living room. We will close off doors and put blankets under them to stop any drafts. We will also cover the open entry way area with a blanket. Windows can even be covered with plastic and painters tape if it came to it.

 

We have a kerosene heater and we would put that in the room (crack a window just bit on the far side of the room!) and we would sleep on sleeping bags or on the couches.

 

Make sure you have foods that can be eaten without being heated. Fill up a cooler with snow and put things in there like deli meat, etc. The cooler can be refilled with snow to keep things cold as often as you need to. And don't forget pets! Make sure they stay in the warmer parts of the house too...especially reptiles (my lizard has to stay with us or he will die).

[MyThreeSons]

Bring mattresses into the communal room at night, and let everyone snuggle together at bedtime. If you have sleeping bags, zip a couple together to make a queen-size bag and let three kids (or mom and dad and a little one) sleep together in it.

[ElizabethB]

When we lived in Fairfax, we were in the same situation for a storm.

 

We heated our house with all 4 gas burners, lighting them with one of those long lighters. We moved our CO detector upstream of the gas, it usually sat somewhere else.

 

We had them on all evening and closed up all but one bedroom, when we went to bed we turned off the burners and all slept in that room.

[Laurie4b]

So you do have a fireplace? I would just plan on shutting off other rooms and keeping everyone in the room with the fireplace, if the heat goes out. Bring in all the blankets and pillows from the rest of the house. If you have extra blankets, towels, rags, etc, use them around any areas (doors and windows) where you begin to feel a draft. Otherwise, just plan to keep the whole family close around the fire, play board games, drink hot tea and cocoa... (If the stove is gas, you should be able to use it even in a power outage -- depending on how the burners light, you might have to use a match.)

 

Obviously, if you begin to feel that the house is too cold and your health will suffer, you should get to some place warm before the situation is dire.

 

But by keeping all the warm bodies in one place, and closing up other doors in the house, using a fireplace, blocking off cold drafts, etc, you should be able to keep the house pretty warm for several days.

 

Yes, this works. Our area used to get ice frequently and that almost always meant power outages for days. We and our neighbors have woodburning fireplaces. We did exactly this--everyone in one room, fire going (though I think we would have been okay without the fire. ) Be sure to have a CO2 alarm. We also cooked over the fire or outside on the grill.

 

Before you lose electricty, do your laundry and cook some things and put them in your fridge. It's easier to reheat than actually to cook without electricity.

[Laurie4b]

2 things you can do:

 

Call your landlord and ask him what he would like you to do (if anything) in the event the power goes out in regards to frozen pipes. The pipes aren't going to freeze for a long time, but it's good to have a plan.

 

The more space between you and the outside elements, the better. If a power outage is a possibility, think about everyone hanging out more in the center of the house. Close off those rooms having exterior walls. If my power goes out, I want to be in close proximity to the rest of the warm bodies. Time to huddle, not go off to separate bedrooms.

 

We lost power for 2 weeks during an ice storm when I was a kid. We had no running water because there was no electric for the well, but my parents always kept an emergency supply of water on hand for drinking and toilet flushing. (Do this if you haven't already.) Our only heat source was a wood stove in the middle of the house. The electric blower on it wasn't working, of course, but it was extremely toasty in the room it was in! We read a lot of books and played board games during daylight. After that, it was an early bedtime. We had a lot of fun!

 

I agree about calling the landlord.

 

Perhaps in MI, the pipes are better insulated. On the east coast, they can freeze overnight when the power is gone.

 

One thing you should do to delay freezing as long as possible, is to keep water running day and night. It doesn't have to be a lot but a small stream running in a bathroom or something can prevent or delay freezing.

[TravelingChris]

I live in a house like you described Rebecca. It is somewhat over 3500 sq. feet. THere are two fireplaces but they are both in huge rooms next to windows. The bottom floor is already a lot colder. THe middle floor is warmer and also has a fireplace but the wall nearest the fireplace is actually a wall of floor to ceiling windows. WE only have one interior room and that is downstairs where it is colder anyway and far from the fireplace.We do have sleeping bags and down comforters and regular blankets and thermal underwear and all that. I think our temperature would fall a lot sooner than we would run out of food or water. WE did buy gallon jugs of water which was a good idea since I hear that they are requesting people going to shelters to bring water and food. I live about a mile and half from hotels. Are hotels like Residence Inn likely to have their own generators? Even if they aren't I think that the power outage is most likely to happen right here in my neighborhood with it being in a forest and having overhead lines. Branches have fallen but so far non on the power lines.

 

One other question, how do I tell if the fireplace opening is open? I have never used the fireplace because I am asthmatic and don't like wood fires.

[ConnieB]

WIth all the power outages being reported and with living in a forested area, I am very concerned about a power outage happening since we have had probably close to 20 inches so far of very heavy snow. I have never been in this situation before and don't know how long a house stays warm if the power goes out. Yes, we do have a natural gas furnace but it is controlled by an electronic thermostat. Others have told me that that means if the electricity goes out, our heating stops. OUr outside temperatures are either very low 30's or high 20"s. Anyone have any knowledge of this? I am also worried for frozen pipes. THis is a rented home but it is very large and there is no way even lighting a fireplace can keep up the warmth throughout the house. Our oven is electric too though our stove is gas.

 

 

It's time to get a lot of firewood ready.....and then you move into the room with the fireplace and "live" there until the power comes back. Pull the mattress off the beds and put them on the floor in that room. Stack them elsewhere during the day and spend the daytime doing school or whatever in that room. Might be helpful to bring school/hobby/games/clothing/blankets etc into or near that room now, because leaving a warm room to go through a cold house and then back again means that you have to warm yourself up all over again. Take blankets or thick towels and tape them against the windows so that even small air leaks don't chill the room. We used to do that and then move the big bookcases in front of the window as well to block it even more. Made it darker, but we had gas laterns for light (obviously use with caution). Use flashlights as needed, but be sure that if you get down to your last set of batteries for them that you conserve that for real need.

 

Obviously be sure that you have plenty of bottled/stored water available (general rule is minimum of 1 gallon per person per day), and food that you can use without power. You said that your stovetop is gas, so that means that you can cook things like canned soups, etc. Obviously your refrigerator will stop working, but even when the power goes out, keeping things cool won't be a problem, so make sure it's well stocked with foods that require no heating (boiled eggs is a great protein) or easily (quickly) heated on the stove top. Now is the time to bring all that frozen spaghetti sauce out, lol. Cook meats now to reheat later. I know we don't normally reheat chicken on the stove, but you can do it...cut it into smaller pieces so it heats quicker and doesn't cook much more. Cooking them ahead means that you won't have to be in the cold kitchen as long. We had a cast iron pot we used over the fire (think camping) so that we could keep water warm so we were drinking warm water instead of cold which brings your body temp down.

 

Make something of a game of it for your children, especially if they are feeling your anxiety. Think Little House on the Prairie where the only warmth they had ALL winter long was the fireplace. Makes a great read aloud too. And no computer games in Laura's time, but plenty of board games that they can make.

 

We have several friends in the area where they've already lost power, so we'll keep you in good thoughts as well.

Edited February 6, 2010 by ConnieB

[Susan in KY]

It depends on various factors such as how well insulated it is, etc. Two years ago we had a bad ice storm and the power went out for close to a week. By day three it got down to 45 degrees so we went to a shelter. The house was older and probably could have been insulated better. HTH.

:iagree:

 

Same experience here, only last year.:tongue_smilie: OTOH, you can boil tea water over a heater quite rapidly, even though it does nothing to keep a house over 45F when the temps outside are 15F....