By James D. Nowka
Power outages are common, and as recent disasters have proven, they can last weeks. Having the right gear can mean the difference from between minor inconvenience and major catastrophe for your family and your home.
Preparing for and getting through a stay-in-place, cold weather emergency should start with recognition that gas and electrical hook-ups haven’t been around forever. People throughout history made it through the worst weather that nature could bring. Those of us living today can do the same, but we could better do so by envisioning the misery of having to get through unprepared. Listen to the gut and get the right backups in place.
The furnace is a wonderful and often reliable appliance, but it’s nonetheless one that’s far too often taken for granted. Those who live in climates that experience below-freezing temperatures for nearly half of the calendar year might re-assess the wisdom of relying on a single tool to provide for adequate warmth and safety. It might not be a matter of disaster. Machines fall into disrepair. The one major snowstorm that knocks out the substation could just as quickly remind families of the need for a back-up plan.
Better yet, those folks should take initiative and consider their options before any winter event cuts off their gas or electricity. A boxer wouldn’t require a punch to the face to know the wisdom of putting up some guard. Many of the provisions families could take to keep the family safe in such circumstances make good sense and for reasons well beyond the scope of preparedness. Winter can be a drain on the wallet. It’s less so for homes that are properly put together to account for the cold.
Assuring the home has a good degree of insulation would keep the heat inside and the cold beyond its walls. Every degree of heat within would be important should a family lose its furnace at a time of need. It’s a project that stands to save a family some significant money through even the calmest of winters. The furnace doesn’t have to work as hard if the house isn’t so quickly giving up all the warmth the furnace produces.
If you are totally without power in you home during winter, these devices can help provide heat.
It’s a shame that fireplaces are less often included in newly built homes. They provide a great source of heat and a cozy gathering point for the family. A fireplace certainly could become an option for some of those living in homes without. Many, though, might find themselves limited by finances or the lack of any good wall place that could accommodate one.
Wood stoves would also take some effort and investment, but they are often far more feasible than the traditional fireplace. They’re functional. It’s a matter of warmth before décor. A stove would certainly provide a great deal of warmth to a home, whether during an outage or otherwise.
Many people have invested in the more modern pellet stoves. They burn compressed wood. They do so efficiently and without a lot of mess or effort. Models are available that would open the option to those with even the smallest of homes. You could purchase a window-mount model that’s no different size-wise than the room air conditioners so many have. They’re options that would take some spending on the front end, but they would also come to save the family some money in the long run. When used regularly, traditional wood stoves and pellet stoves of any type would take some of the heating burden off of the furnace.
Those who aren’t in the right place to make a big initial investment in a good secondary heat source could still assemble smaller and less pricey options to provide a little warmth should Mother Nature put the family in a tough spot. Buddy heaters, which operate on propane, are safe for indoor use in an emergency and would give the family the ability to warm up a room. They typically sell for about $100. Smaller models run less. The bigger models with all the bells and whistles would cost more.
An Aladdin lamps is a tool that goes back more than a century. It played a big role in American life in the era just before electrical power became commonplace in the average home.
The technology might be antiquated when viewed against all our modern wonders, but there’s little better to have in the home when electricity fails and a family is stuck with the capabilities that their ancestors had 100 years back. It’s a great light source. An Aladdin lamp would provide 60 watts of light. It’s enough for you to see your way around. They provide some good reading light.
For preppers, it offers much more. One Aladdin lamp provides 2,200 BTUs of heat. It’s enough warmth to take the chill off of a 10-by-10 room.
Aladdin lamps are still manufactured and out there in the marketplace. You might also keep watch at flea markets, garage sales or second-hand stores. The antique versions are bound to look nicer and would likely come at a lesser expense. The lamp that’s a century old will still work and offer the same level of function as the new model just unpacked from its box. Any family would be wise to have several around the home to account for light and a means to pick up the temperature.
The sun is a tremendous source of heat. If you’re without a main source of heat, opening up the shades in a room when the sun is full on would allow the sun to provide some warmth. It’s often enough to raise the home’s temperature by a few degrees for as long as the light persists. Closed the blinds after the sun has past to provide more insulation against the window glass.
Those left in the cold, whether prepared or not, shouldn’t panic regardless of how bitter the outdoor temperatures have become. The home might lose some comfort, but it would remain a viable refuge from however cold it is outdoors. Those without the right tools would have a tougher time, but it would take some time before survival becomes an issue.
Get out your long underwear and dress in lots of layers. Keep your coat on and wrap in blankets. You may not always be comfortable, but you will certainly survive.
Even if you are struggling through the cold, keep some basic safety considerations in mind. Charcoal is certainly a tremendous and inexpensive heat source common to most households, though it’s never to be burned inside the home. The risk of carbon monoxide poisoning would put the family at far greater risk than would any temperature regardless of how uncomfortable anyone is becoming. Those completely helpless to temperature would die in three hours. Carbon monoxide poisoning could kill within minutes. Generators are never to be used inside the home and for the very same reason.
If you don’t have a back-up heat source, you would want to take the steps necessary to assure the pipes don’t burst. Should cold persist, you would want to shut down the water and then drain off what’s left inside. It would often take a couple of weeks of pretty miserable temperatures to reach that point.
Good shelter, as it pertains to heat concerns, can get a bit trickier when viewed from a disaster situation. You could hope a disaster wouldn’t happen in conjunction with temperatures of 100 degrees or more. Preppers, however, don’t rely on hope. You might not be able to avoid the heat. You could all the same maintain health and safety.
You could then rely on a variety of methods beyond those that require electricity to keep the family safe. Again, people didn’t always have those tools to rely upon. Our forefathers made it through the hottest, most miserable of days. So can those of us living today.
Simple science provides some possibilities. Just as it’s wise to open the shades for the sun’s warmth in winter’s cold, it’s just as smart to pull them closed on the hottest days.
We all know that heat rises. Those with nothing else might find some bit of relief by sticking to the lowest floors of the home. Those who have basements could set up living spaces and ride out a heat wave down there.
Many people crank open their windows on the hot days in the hopes of catching some breeze from time to time. It might sound strange, but you would do more harm than good in doing so during the daytime. Those who have an indoor temperature that’s lesser than that of the outside air would only serve to let more heat into the home. You could rely on that breeze and some ventilation when the sun falls and temperatures drop if only even slightly during the overnight hours.
Methods of maintaining proper cool in the hottest of temperatures would go well beyond the home itself. You should be mindful of your body’s needs and place proper priority on temperature when it’s due. It’s wise to limit physical exertion at the hottest times of the day. Even if you have a lot of storm damage to clean up, limit when you work. At a time of dangerous temperatures, all of those tasks that come to bear during a disaster aftermath might be better accomplished in the earliest hours of morning or the late hours of evening. It might be smarter to get your rest in during the hottest hours that come in mid to late afternoon.
Drink a lot of fluids. Water needs would be far greater than what a person would consume on the average day. You shouldn’t wait until you’re thirsty. Water is a tremendous resource for cooling in ways beyond hydration. Those who can’t power up the air conditioner could cool their bodies with cold baths and showers at several points during the day. In between, you might keep the skin dampened with a towel. The water’s evaporation from the skin, in the same fashion as sweat, would serve to cool the body.