If your electricity is out for a while in the colder months, you need a safe, reliable way to heat your home. Here are some of the best and safest alternative ways to heat your house.
How to Keep Your House Warm During a Power Outage
Updated on Jan. 23, 2025
Thick Clothing and Hand Warmers
When power goes out and you need heat, it’s always more efficient to heat the body than trying to heat a room. That’s why it’s important to start with the basics. Dress in layers, using thick, insulating clothing and blankets. Anything with natural down fill will be particularly adept at keeping you warm. Also, you should combine this with chemical hand warmers (you can keep them in pockets or tucked into the waist) to increase the heat closer to the body. This is a safe, effective way to keep your family warm.
Create a Designated Heated Room
Choose one room where everyone can easily gather, and make it your designated warm room. And cover vents, windows, and doors to other areas with blankets, and make sure the room is properly insulated. When you use heating sources, keep them in this room. Set up mattresses for sleeping here as well if necessary.
Keep Doors Closed
Opening a door to the cold lets out a lot of heat. Limit trips in and out of the house, keep doors closed, and only open them when necessary.
Preheat Your Home
If you have advance warning, set the thermostat higher than usual and heat typically unused spaces to boost thermal mass. Make sure to avoid closing heating vents in unused rooms, as it could actually increase your heating costs.
Block Drafts
Little drafts around doors and windows go unnoticed when the furnace it operating. But when the power’s out, these drafts really bring on the chill. Block drafts with towels.
Note: Don’t block drafts if you’re running a fuel-powered heater. These small air intrusions help the heaters burn efficiently and provide ventilation.
Use Your Blinds
Keep the blinds closed except to let in direct sunlight.
Set Up a Wood Stove by the Window
If you are out of heat for the long term but have plenty of wood to use as fuel, you can set up a portable wood stove in your home. And the key is to set it up by a window and construct a pipe chimney to channel all the smoke out. However, this takes time, but you’ll have a reliable source for heating and cooking.
Indoor-Safe Kerosene Heater
Kerosene is a traditional fuel used for heating for many years. And it can make a suitable alternative for emergency heating —but only with the right precautions. You will need to choose a smaller radiant heater designed for indoor spaces, preferably a “ventless” model that releases as few fumes as possible. Also it’s a good idea to position the heater next to a window and open the window slightly. This helps get rid of fumes and the powerful smell.
Caution: Propane and kerosene heaters produce carbon monoxide just as gas stoves, ovens and fireplaces do. When running and fuel-powered heat appliance during a power outage, it’s imperative to have operating battery-powered carbon monoxide and smoke detectors. Read and adhere to all of the heater manufacturer’s warnings.
Build a Candle Heater
Candles alone are not the best source of heat when looking for ways to heat your house in an emergency. They don’t produce a lot of warmth, and they introduce a fire hazard into the house. However, if you don’t have any other source of heat and you need some type of heater, you can build a simple candle heater with a couple of clay pots. Keep in mind that this heater still presents a fire danger, so keep it well out of the reach of kids, pets and clumsy adults.
Use a Catalytic Gas Heater
Catalytic gas heaters heat up an element, which in turn radiates heat out into an area. Modern models are very efficient and can heat enclosed spaces, including RVs. However, it is still probably safer to position them next to a slightly open window. Note that these models typically require propane tanks for proper use, and like furnaces, they require proper maintenance.
Cans of Biofuel
Fuel gel cans are nothing new, but these biofuel cans are far more eco-friendly, heat just as well. And are suitable for emergencies when it comes to minor heating tasks. The fumes produced are negligible, and you can use them to create an emergency heater.
Soapstone Heaters
Soapstone is a very reliable absorber of heat and it doesn’t easily overheat. So set up a portable soapstone block next to a heat source like a stove or heater, and they will quickly absorb the heat and then radiate it back outward for hours to come. And they make great bed warmers when looking for ways to heat your house, and are suitable for other satellite heating needs during emergencies, without the danger of fire.
Small Wind Systems for Heating
If you have electricity that isn’t always reliable, consider investing in an alternative power source. And there’s not much solar energy available in winter, but there’s often wind. But a small wind electrical system can help you generate enough power for basic tasks like heating, and it can help you avoid the worry that comes with power outages. Plus, these wind systems are more eco-friendly than emergency generators, and they’re not reliant on external fuel sources.
Permanent Automatic Generator
A standby generator is the most efficient-and the most costly-option. You can easily spend $10,000 to $15,000, plus installation, but it gives you a seamless power transition. In the event of an outage, selected circuits such as the one for your furnace are on a subpanel and automatic transfer switch, which is powered by the generator.
Portable Generator
Portable generators aren’t designed to take over any portion of your home’s circuitry via a subpanel and transfer switch. Their outlets are for plugging in appliances.
But there’s a safe method for powering just your furnace with a portable generator. Connect a heavy-duty double-pole, double-throw switch to the furnace, along with a power inlet receptacle. If the utility power goes out, flip the double-pole switch to disconnect the permanent furnace circuit, and the run a cord from the portable generator to the inlet. The double-pole, double-throw switch prevents the portable generator from back-feeding the entire house or, worse, the utility’s system. To be extra safe, turn off the main circuit breaker at the main service to disconnect the house and eliminate any chance of back-feeding the utility.
Ways to Save Energy and Still Stay Warm During Winter
Whether you’re battling rising heating costs or simply looking for cozy winter solutions, these tips will help you stay warm and save energy.
- Most Energy-Efficient Space Heaters
- Why Are Heating Bills Increasing This Winter?
- Ways to Cut Your Heating Bills
- Simple Tricks to Keep Your House Warm All Winter
- Unexpected Ways to Keep Your House Warm This Winter
- DIY Projects to Keep Your House Warm This Winter
- Ways to Warm Up a Cold Room That Actually Work
- Best Ways to Heat a Garage In the Winter
- How to Save on Heating Costs In an Apartment
- Heating Myths You Need to Stop Believing
- Simple Heating and Air Conditioning Fixes
- Does Closing Heat Registers Save Energy?
- Why You Shouldn’t Close Off Vents to Save Money in the Winter
- This Fan Trick Can Keep Your House Warm All Winter
