How do you survive a night without heating.

[AK84]

So, my homes rickety old heating system gave out mid afternoon. It is going to snow tonight and is going to be well below freezing. What would be the best ideas. I have placed a blanket on top of a duevt, wearing and multiple layers am trying to find a hot water bottle........any more ideas?

The fixit guy is coming in the morning.

[Maastricht]

Can you go out and buy (or borrow) an electric blanket? He might not be able to repair your heating right away and it might be cold several nights (and days).

But in principle. you should be okay as you described.

[Crafter_Man]

For starters, I would turn on every light and AC-powered appliance (TVs, etc.).

[ballardfam]

Get a friend in there with you.

[Maastricht]

For starters, I would turn on every light and AC-powered appliance (TVs, etc.).
Then you might as well put on your cooktop.
Any bottle can serve as hot water bottle, as long as it closes well and is wrapped in a towel.
Or stay with a friend or neighbour. Nice way to get to know people.

[Johnny L.A.]

Light the wood-burning stove.

[Maastricht]

Keep ventilating. No use in suffering CO poisoning. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_monoxide_poisoning)

[constanze]

Wear a hat in bed, warm socks at ready, maybe even a scarf against cold air. (You loose a lot of head over the head if it's the only uncovered body part).

If you're sitting around before/ after sleeping, drink lots of warm ... tea, coffee, juice.... Better yet, don't sit still unless sleeping, move around. Feet and hands can get cold quickly.

Can you improve isolation quickly (stuffing openings in window and door frames)? Put up things that can store heat (bricks, stones)? Build an open fire on the floor of your living room? ;)

[WhyNot]

I'm sure you already know this, but a knit had on your head provides an amazing sensation of warmth when sleeping in the cold. The thicker the better, but honestly, I've been caught by surprise while camping once or twice, and even just a bandana helps a ton.

Iron oxide hand warmers are pretty cool. When I'm camping, I put on a pair of socks, slap an activated hand warmer on it, and then put another sock on over it. This protects my skin from any accidental burns but gives me direct heat on my toes. Repeat for hands, if needed. (And buttcheeks, if I'm being totally honest.)

Since you are indoors and presumably still have electricity, little electric heaters are available at most chain drugstores (CVS, Walgreens), Family Dollar and retail stores like Walmart and Target for around $20. They're so much safer than they used to be, with features that turn them off if they're even tilted, much less fallen over. Won't heat your whole house, but they handle one room very well. We used them in our bedrooms at night during a Chicago winter week when we had no gas. We brought two into the living room (luckily, we have two circuits in here - one just for the AC in summer) and the two kept our large living room very comfortable.

If you don't want to spend the money, use some of your extra blankets and towels and sheets to seal your doors and windows. You can roll them for the bottom crack, and hang them to reduce drafts from around the other edges. Creating just a little pocket of air between your window and your room really adds to the insulation factor. Pick a room to mostly inhabit, and hang a blanket or sheet over the doorway to it, so whatever heat you create in that room doesn't wander off to heat rooms you're not using.


ETA: Please don't use your cooking appliances for warmth, unless you're literally freezing to death and can't get out to better safety. Lots of people die from that every year, either from excess CO buildup, or just simply burning their house down around their ears.

[ExTank]

Don't try to keep the entire house heated. Close the doors to rooms you don't need to occupy until central heat is restored (unused bedrooms, spare bathroom, basement, etc). Close the heating grates to those rooms as well.

Ask a relative or neighbor about borrowing a space heater (electric preferably, but I realize beggars can't be choosers), or go buy one. Use it to keep one room at least above freezing. Or, as other have said, use the stove/oven as a space heater. Be careful if it's gas; make sure you have some fresh-air ventilation.

You are alreadfy wearing extra clothes and such, so you should be okay. Pile on some blankets if necessary (you're creating "warm-air" pockets from your own body heat), and you'll make it through the night just fine.

[hajario]

Is a hotel room out of the question?

[DianaG]

If you're lucky enough to realize the heat is out before it gets really cold in your place, the best thing you can do is cover the doors and windows. I typically only have blinds over the windows because of the cats, but I have blankets at the ready to hang over them when the heat goes out (which it does at least two or three times each year).

Other than that, bundle up and let your aggravation warm you.

[Rick]

Change your socks just before bed. The sweat from your feet will make your feet cold otherwise.
I learned this one the hard way in the Boy Scouts.

[Critical1]

2 liter pop bottles make great hot water bottles, fill em most of the way up with hot water (leave about 10-15% empty of water), squeeze out all the air and zap in the micro wave. then put them under your blankets.

if its going to be cold for days the space heater idea is great, use blankets to close off rooms without doors and just heat one room (smaller is better) then you can be comfortable in one area of the house making the rest bearable for whatever trips you need to make out of your warm spot.

[ZipperJJ]

Another vote for an electric blanket. I sleep with an electric mattress pad and it could be -40 out there and I wouldn't notice.

[beowulff]

Oh, come on!
I've slept in nothing more than a sleeping bag, outside, in temperatures in the 0° range. Yes, it's cold. No, I didn't freeze to death. Wear long underwear and a T-shirt, and put some extra blankets on the bed. You'll be fine.

[Musicat]

Don't try to keep the entire house heated. Close the doors to rooms you don't need to occupy until central heat is restored (unused bedrooms, spare bathroom, basement, etc). Close the heating grates to those rooms as well.But beware of the risk of freezing pipes. I would advise opening cabinet doors in the bathroom and kitchen if the pipes are behind that wall so they will get a little heat from the room.

Get as many electric space heaters as you can.

[PandaBear77]

Wool blankets if you can find some. If you can find 2, one should go on the bottom and one on top of you, then pile more blankets on top of those. ANYTHING wool you can put on your body will help - wool hats, gloves, socks, etc.

Years ago we bought some oil-filled radiators at Wal-Mart, they were the kind that you pretty much have to slam with a baseball bat to get them to tip over - and if they DID somehow tip over, they automatically turned themselves off. They had the kind of oil that never evaporates and they worked great - not something I'd use for a whole house but if you just need something to heat a room for a while they're awesome. They were about 34 bucks IIRC.

Where do you live?

[Maastricht]

If you're lucky enough to realize the heat is out before it gets really cold in your place, the best thing you can do is cover the doors and windows. I typically only have blinds over the windows because of the cats, but I have blankets at the ready to hang over them when the heat goes out (which it does at least two or three times each year).What Diana said about covering windows and Whynot said about covering your head and feet. Warmth conservation is about stopping heat loss by radiation, while at the same time keeping enoug ventilation.

[Maastricht]

But beware of the risk of freezing pipes. I would advise opening cabinet doors in the bathroom and kitchen if the pipes are behind that wall so they will get a little heat from the room..Pipes can freeze, but the problem is not the freezing, but the bursting if they are full of water and the water expands if it freezes. You dont' have to keep the pipes warm, you have to let our enough water so they won't burst if they freeze.

[billfish678]

But beware of the risk of freezing pipes. I would advise opening cabinet doors in the bathroom and kitchen if the pipes are behind that wall so they will get a little heat from the room.

This this this!

But if the house (or parts of) is going to below freezing or near borderline freezing, all the faucets need to be run full blast until the water gets as warm as its going to get (thats how you tell you have thoroughly flushed out the colder water) every few hours and or set to a steady strong drip between blastings. Yeah, you might waste a few dollars of water but that ain't nothing compared to busted waterpipe bill. Remember any pipes that under the floor in a crawl space, or in the attic or in an outside wall can get considerably colder than the inside temp of the house.

Also remember you need to blast the hot water lines too.

And if any stray Norwegian dogs want in, don't do it.

[AK84]

Thanks for the ideas. My problem was that I came back at 10:00 pm after being out from about 12:30 onwards. The system gave up the ghost while I was out and well it being Sunday night I really could not find anything by the time I realised what had happened. I did buy a small blower heater which seems to be ok, If I lie next to it.

Its now 11:21. See ya in the morning.

[Turble]

A few years we had a power outage during a blizzard -- 24 hours without power. The house (a big old farmhouse, not a modern super-insulated thing) went down to 58 degrees. I suspect you are overreacting.

[John Mace]

Oh, come on!
I've slept in nothing more than a sleeping bag, outside, in temperatures in the 0° range. Yes, it's cold. No, I didn't freeze to death. Wear long underwear and a T-shirt, and put some extra blankets on the bed. You'll be fine.

Yep. Pull the sheets over your head so you're breathing warm air. That helps a lot.

[Musicat]

Pipes can freeze, but the problem is not the freezing, but the bursting if they are full of water and the water expands if it freezes. You dont' have to keep the pipes warm, you have to let our enough water so they won't burst if they freeze.Right, but it's hard to completely drain all pipes, and doing so will prevent you from using the plumbing.

It might not be necessary if the temp isn't expected to get low enough, and you try to keep some heat in the room.

If you do drain the pipes, you can put antifreeze in drains where the traps are, also the washing machine or dishwasher.

Alternatively, you could let the water run just a little, continuously, if the outage isn't expected to be long and you aren't paying a lot for water.

[BrotherCadfael]

You can always stay warm one way or another. Drain the pipes first thing.

(1) Turn off the water at the main shutoff, which is usually where the water enters the house.

(2) Open all the faucets in the house, kitchen, bathroom, bathtub, etc.

(3) Open the drain valve, which is usually just this side of the main shutoff. It may look like a standard hose fitting, or it may be a small valve on the side of the main valve. Have a bucket handy to catch the water as it flows downhill from the open faucets. Leave the faucets and the drain valve open (but remember to shut them all before you turn the water back on!)

If you have hot water heat, either baseboard or radiant floor, drain that system. Again, there will be a main drain valve in the basement, and very small bleeder valves at the high points of the system.

Once all that is done, then find a way to keep warm. The best way is to go somewhere else.

[astro]

You are your own heater. You are a huge bag of meat and your body is burning food and reserves (fat) to keep you in equilibrium. Minimize heat loss with proper attire and you will have no issues. If you want to run around the house in your underwear you're going to need to make different plans.

[Lynn Bodoni]

My husband likes the house quite a bit cooler than I do, so I frequently wear leggings under my nightgowns, and on particularly cold nights I also wear one or two pairs of socks to bed. Many times I wear two nightgowns at once. I have a hot water bottle and a heating pad. You're not SUPPOSED to use the heating pad while asleep, but I must confess that I sometimes do. I've found that if my feet are warm, that my whole body feels warmer. This might be because I have poor circulation in my feet.

[BlackKnight]

I had furnace problems on a day last winter when it was about -20 F outside. I just put an extra blanket on the bed and was fine. The problem was fixed the next morning and I went into work late a couple hours late. It was (very!) annoying, but at no point were me or my pipes in danger. It only got down to to the low-to-mid 40's indoors.

[Musicat]

You can always stay warm one way or another. Drain the pipes first thing.

(1) Turn off the water at the main shutoff, which is usually where the water enters the house.

(2) Open all the faucets in the house, kitchen, bathroom, bathtub, etc.

(3) Open the drain valve, which is usually just this side of the main shutoff. It may look like a standard hose fitting, or it may be a small valve on the side of the main valve. Have a bucket handy to catch the water as it flows downhill from the open faucets. Leave the faucets and the drain valve open (but remember to shut them all before you turn the water back on!)And unless you blow out the pipes with compressed air, or take a wrench to the traps, they will all freeze and burst. Put some antifreeze in them; dishwasher and clothes washer, too.

[Lemur866]

He doesn't need to drain his pipes, for crying out loud. Yes, if he was going to let the house stay cold the whole winter then he should drain the pipes and so on. But he isn't. The house is going to be cold for one night. All he has to do is turn on all faucets to drip a little bit. Moving water won't freeze.

[John Mace]

I live in CA, so maybe it's no big deal, but my heat is shut off every night. I like it cool when sleeping, and I don't like the noise of the heater. At worst, the house will be in the upper 50s before the heat comes on-- I set it to come back on about 15 minutes before I usually get it.

Come to think of it, though, it did that, too, when I lived back East. I remember being woken up each morning in winter when the baseboards started making the cracking sound they do when the heat first comes on. Just pile on the covers, and snuggle up with that special someone. Body Heat, baby!

[elfkin477]

A few years we had a power outage during a blizzard -- 24 hours without power. The house (a big old farmhouse, not a modern super-insulated thing) went down to 58 degrees. I suspect you are overreacting. Me too. Our furnace went down in the wee hours of December 26th, and wasn't repaired until the following afternoon. No one got hypothermia. Even several days into a winter power failure it never got below the low 50s, and just one day without heat won't plunge the temperature that much.

Space heater, extra blankets, wear layers, and you'll be fine.

[Musicat]

So, my homes rickety old heating system gave out mid afternoon. It is going to snow tonight and is going to be well below freezing.

He doesn't need to drain his pipes, for crying out loud. Yes, if he was going to let the house stay cold the whole winter then he should drain the pipes and so on. But he isn't. The house is going to be cold for one night. All he has to do is turn on all faucets to drip a little bit. Moving water won't freeze.Depends on HOW cold, how well insulated his house is, and how much of a gamble he wants to take. Well below freezing could be iffy.

I had a power outage for 2 days in Wisconsin in November once. Slept in front of the fireplace, didn't freeze my ass or the pipes, but that was Wisconsin. In November. Not well below freezing. Not January in ?.

[River Hippie]

But beware of the risk of freezing pipes. I would advise opening cabinet doors in the bathroom and kitchen if the pipes are behind that wall so they will get a little heat from the room.

Get as many electric space heaters as you can.

Came here to say that. I keep a kerosene heater for back-up.

[RealityChuck]

We had a December night without power about three years ago, so no cheating by using an electric heater. We put styrofoam over the windows and put on a bunch of blankets. Not fun.

[Dendarii Dame]

Is one of your multiple layers your winter coat? This helped me when the heat went out in my apartment building years ago.

[highrollinwooded]

A Mr. Buddy Heater became my best friend here in the great north when we lost power a while back.For daily use I also have a rest warmer and old school (the ones that actually get hot) electric blanket,plus an oil filled radiator that I have on low all nite, as the built on bedrooms get ice cold at nite!

[ryobserver]

What I learned during a winter in a third-floor walkup in an old row home with poorly insulated walls and balky radiators:

If you've got a sleeping bag, put it on your bed and sleep inside it. No blanket or comforter ever made is as warm as a sleeping bag.

The multiple layers you wear should include as little cotton and as much fleece and wool as possible.

A fleece hoodie with the hood pulled up over your hat is golden. (The hood alone isn't worth much; fleece hoods never seem to have drawstrings, so it can't be snugged to your head.)

Socks are a must, but make sure they aren't tight or full of elastic; pressure points and restriction of circulation will not help your feet. Fleece socks are great, but be careful walking in them--they give no traction on smooth floors.

[phall0106]

A few years we had a power outage during a blizzard -- 24 hours without power. The house (a big old farmhouse, not a modern super-insulated thing) went down to 58 degrees. I suspect you are overreacting.

I turn my thermostat down to 58 every night...

[Cunctator]

Its now 11:21. See ya in the morning.How was it?

[HMS Irruncible]

Oh, come on!
I've slept in nothing more than a sleeping bag, outside, in temperatures in the 0° range. Yes, it's cold. No, I didn't freeze to death. Wear long underwear and a T-shirt, and put some extra blankets on the bed. You'll be fine.
This. And a nice thick woolen cap.

[Cheez_Whia]

My husband likes the house quite a bit cooler than I do, so I frequently wear leggings under my nightgowns, and on particularly cold nights I also wear one or two pairs of socks to bed. Many times I wear two nightgowns at once. I have a hot water bottle and a heating pad. You're not SUPPOSED to use the heating pad while asleep, but I must confess that I sometimes do. I've found that if my feet are warm, that my whole body feels warmer. This might be because I have poor circulation in my feet.

Me, too. I sleep with rice bags that I've heated up in the microwave. One at my feet, and one in the middle of my stomach. They stay warm a long time and are much safer than a heating pad.

[RetroVertigo]

When an ice storm knocked out the power for a few days, we pitched a 3-man tent in the livingroom. Add a couple sleeping bags and we were toasty.

[CrazyCatLady]

Meh, we lost all power for the better part of a week after an ice storm and were fine. We put a couple extra blankets on the bed and bundled up if we had to be home during the day. Hell, the furnace in my old apartment used to go out every couple weeks. I could always tell when the heat was out because I'd wake up with my head and the cat under the comforter.

[AK84]

How was it?

It was quite cosy actually. Wore lots of layers, and the blower heater while being useless to heat the room, helped. Fortunately the water heater remained functional so I do have warm water. The rest of the house is like Antarctica.

[Lucretia]

Is a hotel room out of the question?

That was my first reaction. Hellloooo, Hampton Inn! Or Motel 6, or whatever.

[RedWood]

... I sleep with rice bags that I've heated up in the microwave. One at my feet, and one in the middle of my stomach. They stay warm a long time and are much safer than a heating pad.

This. The belly one usually ends up on one side. Often it is still faintly warm in the morning... and I find a kittencat curled up on it >^.^< they make bed much nicer!

[Northern Piper]

I would be cautious about relying on space heaters while sleeping. Every time we have a particularly cold winter in Saskatchewan, seems there are news stories about fires starting in the night by the use of sPace heaters. I would second the suggestions for wool sox and something on the head, as well as the sleeping bag.

[kjbrasda]

I agree with using rice bags over water bottles. No chance of them leaking water.
You can make your own with a cup or two of rice in a knotted sock, heat in the microwave for a minute or two. Holds heat for a decent amount of time.

[aruvqan]

the cat under the comforter.

I don't know how to keep the little beggers out from under the comforter when the heat is on ... only way to displace them is by physically removing the blighters.

And how exactly does a 9 pound cat take up one THIRD of a queen sized bed:confused:

[Lynn Bodoni]

Cats are able to overcome the usual laws of physics that other animals have to obey.

[aruvqan]

sleeping bag suits (http://www.sleepingbagsuits.co.uk/)... I sort of like the look of these, but I wouldn't buy one online without being able to try one on for size.

[Rachellelogram]

An electric blankie is all you really need. Or one of those electric snuggies! *snicker*

I'd be too nervous about the fire risk to fall asleep with a space heater on, but I'm glad it worked for you.

[Mama Zappa]

We lived in a dumpy apartment building, many years ago, and the landlord removed the furnace in October - preparing to replace it, but the city got wind of his non-permit status and shut it down1. We got by with space heaters (the oil-radiator type), but we were on the third floor. The place was cold, but basically there was no place to hang out EXCEPT the bed so we were always bundled up.

The tenant on the ground floor - who had an unheated, open-to-the-cold-air basement below her - was not so comfortable. She had the same space heaters, provided by the landlord, but was still cold. She tried using the stove to heat the place up, which was a bit frightening for us.

The building did have a working water heater (except when it wasn't... but they usually got that fixed within 24 hours when it went out). So I suggested she fill the clawfoot bathtub with the hottest water possible, and let that radiate heat into the bathroom at least. When the water cooled, drain and re-fill. I know that helped a little.

While the OP is probably fine by now, other things to do (in addition to blocking cold air escape routes etc.): Use the oven and/or stove WHILE YOU'RE IN THE ROOM. Not while you're sleeping elsewhere. If they're gas, and you've blocked ventilation to keep the place warm, obviously do NOT do this. I've had low-level CO poisoning (I'm 99% sure) and it's not fun. But anyway - if you can safely use the oven / stove, that won't keep the place warm all night but it'll put a little more heat into the house, so it'll have to drop further before becoming miserably cold.

1. And, in this unheated status, the landlord sent us a message 3 months into the sublet mentioning that the rent happened to have increased just before we moved in. We were tempted to tell the landlord to "get bent" and threaten him with all sorts of legal headaches over the uninhabitable condition of the place, but didn't want to mess things up for the fellow we were subletting from.

[kushiel]

I would be cautious about relying on space heaters while sleeping. Every time we have a particularly cold winter in Saskatchewan, seems there are news stories about fires starting in the night by the use of sPace heaters. I would second the suggestions for wool sox and something on the head, as well as the sleeping bag.

I spent half an hour trying to find this image. (http://www.canadiandesignresource.ca/officialgallery/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/993.16_large_view3_.jpg) 'Old' didn't get me results, I needed to use the search term 'antique'. We had a couple of these on the rugs throughout the house. Some days I do wonder how I survived...no auto-shutoff for falling over, nothing protecting the outer casing from the heat either.

[Cat Whisperer]

I spent half an hour trying to find this image. (http://www.canadiandesignresource.ca/officialgallery/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/993.16_large_view3_.jpg) 'Old' didn't get me results, I needed to use the search term 'antique'. We had a couple of these on the rugs throughout the house. Some days I do wonder how I survived...no auto-shutoff for falling over, nothing protecting the outer casing from the heat either.
Heh - I had a feeling what I was going to see on the other end of that link. We had at least one of those, too. How DID we all survive to adulthood?

[Northern Piper]

sheer luck, when I consider some of the things that teenage boys in small Prairie towns do when they're bored....

[Cat Whisperer]

sheer luck, when I consider some of the things that teenage boys in small Prairie towns do when they're bored....
You mean, blowing stuff up? Or riding their ski-doos over possibly frozen lakes? Or jumping off of barns?

[Trom]

Wake up your teenaged son at 4am when it's -35 to go out to the wood pile, gather wood, and then start a fire.

I only specifically remember two high school mornings, and that was one. Man, that was unpleasant.

Other than that - layers.

[Northern Piper]

You mean, blowing stuff up? Or riding their ski-doos over possibly frozen lakes? Or jumping off of barns?

how about driving around in the back seat of an old van, and putting your hands on the drivers' eyes just for fun? while a buddy in the passenger seat tries to steer?

[Cat Whisperer]

how about driving around in the back seat of an old van, and putting your hands on the drivers' eyes just for fun? while a buddy in the passenger seat tries to steer?
Yeah, that would work. :)

[AHunter3]

I slept through the winter in Rangely, Colorado in an uninsulated nonelectrified wooden shack used to take tickets for a rodeo during summer months. I had a serious camper's down sleeping bag rated for - 40°. Rangely sometimes got down to (http://www.weather.com/weather/pastweather/81648) temps not far above that. I had a heavy down jacket and I slept in my clothes. On some nights I slept in damn near ALL of my clothes, or as many as I could put on at the same time, and I daresay "rated for -40°" means "you will probably survive the experience", not "you will be cozy and comfortable".

You cope with what you must cope with.

[devilsknew]

Well, back in the day, we did it with kerosene Heaters. We had wick lighted Kerosene Heaters, that could easily put out enough raw BTU's to heat a room. That was in the 80's. But now the kersosene pumps are far and few between at the gas Stations. I suppose the niche has been overtaken by the ironic, "Electric Amish Heaters". Faux fireplace electric Heaters with an Amish providence and name... if I were an Anabaptist Bishop I might be at least peeved.

[devilsknew]

I am seriously disturbed about how far we have come from the Kerosene heaters, because we can't depend on the Electric Grid... they should be reintroduced as last line and practical heating meeasures. For someone like the Op this is a practical and safe alternative.