If your heating system fails in winter, your first priorities are staying warm, staying safe, and protecting your home from damage. Most heat loss emergencies are caused by power outages, furnace breakdowns, or fuel shortages, and how you respond in the first few hours makes a significant difference. Here’s what to do, step by step.
Contain the Heat You Already Have
The warmth already inside your home is your most immediate resource. Close off rooms you don’t need and gather everyone into one interior space, ideally the smallest room with the fewest exterior walls and windows. Interior rooms lose heat more slowly because they’re buffered by the rest of the house. Close all curtains and blinds, since windows are major sources of heat loss. If you have towels or blankets to spare, roll them up and press them against the gap under exterior doors.
If your home has a working fireplace with a clear chimney, use it. Close the doors to that room to concentrate the heat. Keep a window cracked about an inch in the same room for ventilation. If you don’t have a fireplace, your sealed-up interior room will hold body heat surprisingly well when the door is shut and drafts are blocked.
Layer Clothing the Right Way
Piling on random clothes helps, but layering strategically helps more. The system that outdoor professionals use works just as well when you’re sitting on your couch in a cold house.
- Base layer (against skin): Wear something that wicks moisture away from your body. Merino wool, silk, or synthetic fabrics like polyester work well. Cotton holds sweat against your skin and will actually make you colder.
- Middle layer (insulation): This is where the real warmth comes from. Fleece, a puffy jacket, or a wool sweater traps your body heat. Thicker is warmer. Down insulation provides more warmth per weight than any other material.
- Outer layer: If you’re staying indoors, you may not need a shell, but if your house is getting truly cold or drafty, a windproof jacket on top prevents warm air from escaping your inner layers.
Don’t forget your head, hands, and feet. You lose a disproportionate amount of heat from your extremities. Wear a hat, thick socks (wool if you have them), and gloves or mittens even inside. Mittens are warmer than gloves because your fingers share heat. Pile blankets and sleeping bags on top of your layers when sitting or sleeping.
Avoid Deadly Heating Mistakes
This is the section that could save your life. Every winter, people die from carbon monoxide poisoning because they bring outdoor heating devices inside. Carbon monoxide is colorless and odorless, and its symptoms (headache, dizziness, nausea, confusion) mimic the flu, so many victims don’t realize what’s happening until it’s too late. Breathing in enough of it causes loss of consciousness and death.
The CDC is explicit about what you should never do indoors:
- Never run a generator inside your home, garage, or basement, even with doors and windows open.
- Never heat your house with a gas oven.
- Never burn charcoal indoors.
- Never use a portable gas camp stove indoors.
- Never use portable flameless chemical heaters indoors.
- Never run a car in an attached garage, even with the garage door open.
If you use a portable propane heater, it must be specifically rated for indoor use. According to the North Carolina Department of Agriculture’s propane safety standards, any indoor heater should be equipped with an oxygen depletion sensor, which automatically shuts the unit off if oxygen levels in the room drop too low. Heaters labeled for outdoor use produce carbon monoxide far more rapidly and are not safe inside under any circumstances. Read the label. If it doesn’t say “indoor use,” treat it as outdoor-only.
Protect Your Pipes
A burst pipe can cause thousands of dollars in water damage and make your home uninhabitable, so pipe protection should be high on your list even while you’re focused on staying warm. Water inside your pipes expands as it freezes, and that pressure is what causes them to crack or burst.
If your home temperature is dropping and outdoor temperatures are below freezing, open your faucets to a thin, steady drip. Moving water resists freezing. Focus especially on faucets connected to pipes that run through exterior walls, garages, attics, or other unheated spaces, since these are the most vulnerable. Homes on well water with exposed pipes are at risk when temperatures drop below 32°F. Homes on city water with decent insulation generally face the greatest risk when it drops below 20°F for an extended period.
Open cabinet doors under sinks on exterior walls so whatever room heat remains can reach those pipes. If you have to leave the house entirely, shut off your main water supply and drain the system by opening all faucets. This eliminates the water that could freeze and burst the pipes while you’re gone.
Food and Water Priorities
If the power is out, your refrigerator becomes less reliable, but a cold house can actually work in your favor. As long as your indoor temperature stays at or below 40°F, perishable food is essentially in refrigerator conditions. Cooked leftovers, meat, and dairy remain safe for 3 to 4 days at that temperature. Raw eggs in the shell last 3 to 5 weeks. Raw ground meat and fresh poultry are the most time-sensitive, staying safe for only 1 to 2 days even when properly refrigerated.
A full freezer holds its temperature for about 48 hours without power if you keep the door shut. A half-full freezer lasts roughly 24 hours. Resist the urge to check on things repeatedly.
For water, keep at least one gallon per person per day, enough for three days. If you suspect the outage may affect your water supply or pressure, fill bathtubs, pots, and any large containers while water is still flowing. You can also melt clean snow on a camp stove outside (never inside) if it comes to that.
Watch for Hypothermia
Hypothermia can develop indoors if your house gets cold enough, especially in older adults, young children, and infants. It sets in when your body loses heat faster than it can produce it, and according to the Mayo Clinic, people with hypothermia usually aren’t aware of their condition because the confused thinking it causes prevents self-awareness.
Early signs include shivering, clumsiness, and slurred speech. As it progresses, you may notice drowsiness, confusion, memory loss, slow or shallow breathing, and a weak pulse. In infants, look for bright red, cold skin and unusual lethargy. If someone is showing these symptoms, warm them gradually with blankets and body heat. Don’t use hot water or heating pads directly on the skin, since cold skin burns easily. Get emergency medical help as quickly as possible.
Build a Kit Before You Need It
If you live somewhere that gets cold winters, preparing a basic kit ahead of time turns a potential crisis into an inconvenience. You don’t need anything exotic. Stock your home with extra blankets and sleeping bags, flashlights with spare batteries, a battery-powered or hand-crank radio, a manual can opener, a first-aid kit, and any medications your household depends on. Keep non-perishable food on hand: canned goods, dried fruit, nuts, and peanut butter are all calorie-dense and shelf-stable.
A fire extinguisher is essential if you’re using any alternative heat source. Have basic tools like a wrench, pliers, and a multi-tool available. A wrench is particularly important because you may need to shut off your water main quickly. Keep a written list of emergency contacts and your utility company’s outage number where you can find it without a phone.
If you own a portable heater rated for indoor use with an oxygen depletion sensor, keep it stored with fuel. If you have a fireplace, make sure the chimney is inspected and cleaned before winter starts. Having these things ready means you can act immediately instead of scrambling in the cold and dark.