My heater is not working, it's going to be 10 degrees tonight, any ideas or advice to keep warm?

Question

Someone is comming to look at the heater tomorrow, any advice on how to keep the house warm through the night. It is 53 in here now, and only gonna get lower!

Answer 1

Step #1 is to turn your hot and cold water on at every faucet to a steady trickle. Don't leave one off and the other on or the one that's off will very possibly freeze.

Call your local utility company for an emergency outage complaint. My husband put in 18 hours with Detroit Edison last night fixing people's furnaces and restoring their heat. It's billed on next month's bill and you have 3 months to pay for the call. They also respond very quickly...especially if your call says that you smell gas. Funny how the colder the night, the more the furnaces break. He was only given 8 hours to come home and sleep and get back in the field tonight. I don't expect to see him much for the rest of the week. :-(

The last thing is to use a portable fan to keep the air circulating in the house, keep blankets over the windows to minimize drafts, and put a couple of portable oil heaters (clearly a closed system...nothing with fumes) at each end of the house...and especially one in the basement where the pipes are open and at the greatest risk. Depending on how bad it gets tonight, you might even consider buying heating tapes to wrap around your pipes.


I'm so sorry for what you're going through. Please be safe tonight.

Answer 2

here is what you need to do . if you think that it might get cold enough to freeze the pipes in your house and the water heater is separate from this troulbe then let the water run all night just a bit out of all of the taps . this might cost a few bucks but it will safe money as pipes and water damage cost. also the hot water will give off some heat.
other then that it really more a case of common sense and WHAT NOT TO DO.
dont attempt to heat with a bbq propane stove or anything that is not vented to the outside as so often people die as a result of the gas that they dont smell .
if you have a stove of oven that is working and its not gas or if it is and you can vent it then use that.
filling the tub with hot water and letting the tap with hot water run so the tub water goes down the over flow drain is another GOOD idea .
you can leave you oven on all day and night if its electrical the oven is the safest way to heat other then a furnace
nothing is in there or will get in there unless you put in there
stuff doesnt fall in an oven .came back to post that

Answer 3

Don't forget to let all your faucets drip very slightly. Just a small drip every few seconds is all you need. Especially any faucets near an outside wall. If your kitchen sink faces an outside wall
open all the under cabinets doors. That will equalize the little heat
you have. Wrap all your outside faucets with a heavy towel or old
bathmat. If you have a pool keep it running all night. Try to sleep
in the smallest room in the house as your body heat will build up
faster. Keep on warm socks and a hat. Don't go outside and
don't sit in your car with the motor running. It can kill you.
If you put your oven on don't stay in the kitchen with it.
Boy you are in an awful position. Don't you have a nearby neighbor that would take you in for the night?
I wish you luck, honest I do and I will pray for you. As a last
resort call you local Fire Department they may have a place for you to go . There are many shelters and I hope one of them is in your area. If you have to leave your house call the police station and ask them to watch it for you.
They will.
I truly feel so sorry for you. I hope you make it through the night
and please come back tomorrow or the next day and let us know
how you are. Good Night and Bless you.

Answer 4

Just go buy a couple of $20 electric space heaters and put them in the rooms of your home that has plumbing. It will not be really warm but will keep pipes from freezing. Take care to keep them well clear of drapes or anything else flamable like carpeting. Invest in an electric blanket. Close off all rooms of the home that are not needed. Or do what you need to protect the plumbing by keeping the house above freezing and go treat yourself to a room at a nice hotel for the night.

When I was a kid all heat in our home was turned off at night becasue my parents feared the gas would go off and come back on killing all of us in our sleep. Water was left runnig on low in the sinks at night. Cold water is as good as hot because it is well above freezing coming from the pipes. There is some risk of the toilet freezing and cracking and a light bulb close to it can prevent that. We slept under electric blankets and warmed up in the morning next to the kitchen oven. Electric flood type lamps kept the dogs and cats warm on very cold nights. A light single 100 watt light bulb in the pump house kept it from freezing.

Heed the warning about carbon monoxide from propane and other heat sources requireing ventilation.

Answer 5

If you can rent or borrow portable heaters or a power heater. If you can't rent or borrow, then at least turn the oven on to about 250F, open the door and move the air with a fan. Be sure to consider the pipes and leave a small stream running and open any enclosures that have pipes running through them.

Answer 6

see if there's a 24 hour home depot, or Kmart, that sells a portable heater.

See if you can find anybody that has one. Somebody must.

This happened to me last week. A lot of layers and blankets. You'll be OK. Just maybe find somewhere to shower in the morning. And drink warm beverages.

DO NOT LEAVE THE OVEN ON OVER NIGHT!

Answer 7

Can you afford a night in a motel? Can all the kids go to their best friends and you sleep on the couch next door? Is everyone in the appropriate health to rough it?

Ship the babies out, and anyone that is elderly or sick.

Make it a slumber party, everyone in the same bed or in front of the fireplace. You can help keep each other warm with body heat. Do NOT wear cotton clothing, if you get too warm and sweat you will get colder. Instead, wear synthetics, or silk or wool. These will wick moisture away from you. Long johns or silk pjs to bed, everyone wears a warm hat on their head. All these are insulators. For bedding...go with flannel sheets if you have, thermal blankets after that (afghans, any blanket with little holes sewn in), wool or electric blankets, you will stay warm with poofy on top (sleeping bag, down or synthetic comforter). If you don't have any of these, just do the best you can and bundle up.

You can heat water and fill an empty laundry soap or 2 liter soda bottle stick them at the end of the bed. Make sure they don't leak.

Bedwetters? No excuses, go with a diaper or pullup of some sort, this is a safety issue. If they get wet, they will be colder and can get into dangerous territory with hypothermia. No matter how much resistence, no matter how much it interrupts potty training.

Everyone stay hydrated with WATER...you stay a lot warmer if you are hydrated, you can even drink it warm! Eat lots of all the wrong foods: SUGAR FAT and CARBS. Everyone gets to blow their diet! These convert directly to body heat. Campers have a trick at bedtime in cold weather. They melt a stick of butter into a quart of hot chocolate. So this is the perfect time to indulge your kids in all kinds of crap they wouldn't ordinarily be allowed to eat. )(Tell them, no you aren't being nice to them because it's their last meal.) Any kind of food is good because it creates body heat through metabolizing it. The reason these foods make you gain weight is because they aren't being burned off. Tonight they will be. Choose less processed. Fry stuff in butter, drink whole millk or cream, popcorn on the stove, cream soup, pancakes with butter and lots of syrup, bacon, orange juice.

Read up on hypothermia and take action if you notice it. Get to the neighbors house, strip the person of their clothing and bundle up in blankets with a plastic bag covering the blanket, or go directly to ER.

Early stages of hypothermia include confusion, cranky, disorientation, shivering or chattering, goosebumps. DON'T assume someone is acting out or playing with you. Get them warmer.

It will be nice if you have a fireplace to have a fire going...and camp in front of it (safe distance).

Answer 8

Go to the local pharmacy store and get a portable heater ( make sure if u sleep close to it , be atleast like 3 feet away) or start a fire in your fireplace with those "artificial logs" because they burn longer and its cleaner smoke. if u do use real logs, make sure u put in small twigs are first and then have the big log in the bottom to maintain the heat. or you could just bundle up with lots of close. I hope this helps.. well Good Luck! and stay warm!!

Answer 9

Mine isn't working that well at this time. I had the stove on all day and boiled water for humidity. The humidity made it feel warmer. If at all possible though I would go to a friends house. If I had found this earlier I would have suggested you rent one of those larger heaters from a rental store.

Answer 10

Keep all the doors and windows closed, open them only when absolutely necessary. Wear warm clothing and heat your bed with water bottle full of hot water before getting in. Close the door to your room.