How do you keep warm if the power goes out for several days?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

penguinsix wrote:You might also consider filling the tub with hot water. Let the steam heat up the room a bit and leave it out all night to warm the place a bit.

As to how long your house can stay warm it all depends on how insulated, how cold, etc. But if you are living in 74 degrees and it goes out you can expect something in the 60s by morning more than likely.

We have about six outages a year here in the country, and a few last as long as 24 hours. We have a kerosene heater ($100--Lowes) that is our backup source of heat in times like this.

Okay, I think that all the PPs have given great advice. Thank you!

But filling a tub with hot water will NOT create enough "steam" to warm any room all night - not even a little bit. It's ridiculous.

lol

[Anonymous]

If it's truly that cold and you're worried about pipes freezing (assuming you don't run off of an electric well), turn on your faucets letting them drip (not stream). Granted, it wastes water, perhaps you could collect some of it to water plants, but it will save you from burst/broken pipes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If it's truly that cold and you're worried about pipes freezing (assuming you don't run off of an electric well), turn on your faucets letting them drip (not stream). Granted, it wastes water, perhaps you could collect some of it to water plants, but it will save you from burst/broken pipes.

Yes- definitely. My pipes in my condo used to freeze all the time. You do not want to deal with this during this storm. Just a small drip will work.

[Anonymous]

I survived a 3 day outage in Bethesda. The fireplace did the trick, but I had to stay in that room.

[Anonymous]

penguinsix wrote:I have a really large tub. It's not going to heat your house but at the very least you're bathroom will be warm for awhile. You will notice a difference when your house is quite quite cold, but some of that might be due to the change in humidity. http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0001434.html & http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0001433.html

There is also the stove option, but I don't think that is really that safe. Do you have a gas or electric stove? Some folks have used it as a 'fireplace' of sorts but I think that's a bit dangerous.

As for pipes freezing the drip option is one way to keep water circulating, but I think it would have to be incredibly cold in your house (i.e. you wouldn't be staying there) for it to get that bad.

Here are some outages maps. 12,000 in PEPCO and about 2,000 in BGE. Not sure how folks are doing in Virginia

http://www.pepco.com/home/emergency/maps/stormcenter/
http://www.bge.com/portal/site/bge/menuitem.42d31413f80c584606370f10d66166a0/

But if you don't have electricity than you're not going to have hot water (or much of it) - why waste it filling up a bath tub hoping it will be enough to steam the room? Incredibly inefficient and not to mention a huge waste of water.

[Anonymous]

Ours was out for the past 10 hours and the house was at 60. Power just came back on, so after high fiving everyone, I'm on DCUM. But I will get to work on what 21:04 and 21:06 recommend!

[Anonymous]

I'm not the OP, but some of these suggestions are really good. I'm printing these out right now just in case.

So annoyed, we have a fireplace and no firewood.

[Anonymous]

Anyone ever camped in the snow? If so, you know it's possible to stay warm! There was even an article in the NYT about people who choose to live in cold conditions!

So you put on a pair of hose (yes, give one to your hubs, too), then running pants, then fleece pants and sweatpants. Layer the top, too. Hat, yes. Mittens if you need it.

My grandmother -- age 92 -- managed to stay warm by taking out some candles and making herself warm tea. Hah, gotta love these resourceful "I survived the Great Depression, I can survive anything!" old ladies.

[Anonymous]

Should I heat up the house now a few extra degrees just in case??

[Anonymous]

We are in Rockville...our electricity went out around 3am and just came back about 20 minutes ago. The temp in the house went down to 56 degrees. We bundled up and cuddled to keep warm

[Anonymous]

Our house (which has brand new windows and is relatively well insulated) dropped 4 degrees in 2 hours last night after the power went out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are in Rockville...our electricity went out around 3am and just came back about 20 minutes ago. The temp in the house went down to 56 degrees. We bundled up and cuddled to keep warm

We are also in Rockville. Ours went out at 1:30 am, and inside temp dropped to 51 degrees. We got it back at 3 pm, and still slowly warming.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are in Rockville...our electricity went out around 3am and just came back about 20 minutes ago. The temp in the house went down to 56 degrees. We bundled up and cuddled to keep warm

We are also in Rockville. Ours went out at 1:30 am, and inside temp dropped to 51 degrees. We got it back at 3 pm, and still slowly warming.

Glad you got it back!

[Anonymous]

We are in Takoma Park. Our electricity went out about 6a.m. and come back on at 2p.m. The thermostat got down to about 62 degrees. We are warming it up to about 74 (we usually leave it at 68) just in case it goes out again. Also annoyed that we have a fireplace but no wood (we just moved in a few months ago and plan to convert it to gas). Used the gas camping stove this a.m. to make coffee and hot chocolate. Quickly doing some laundry in case of another outage.

[Anonymous]

I was reading this thread at around 3pm thinking, why am I even reading this, when our power went out (in Fairfax!) Thankfully, it came back within 2 hours. We have our fingers crossed it won't go back out.