# Other ways of keeping your home warm



## truthfulwon (Jan 27, 2010)

I live in an apartment. And I want to know ways of keeping my place warm if the power goes out. In this apartment there is no fireplace or woodburning stove.

I am a person who loves *ALOT OF HEAT!!! *We had a few days when the boiler didn't work and it was about 20 degrees. I used the oven for heat. I know not good, but I shut it off at night before I went to bed.

I put plastic on the windows shut doors to rooms I wasn't using. And put towels under doorways to stop drafts. I did put on layers of clothes. And also used extra blankets. Besides all this, is there anything else I can do to keep the house warm? :hmmm:


----------



## longtime (Nov 22, 2009)

For this situation buy an electric heater, $20. It will keep one of your rooms very comfortable. Of course if the power goes out it won't do you much good so I would have a propane heater such as big buddy for a second backup. You also have the option of a kerosene heater. A little more headache and cost ($100 + $40 for 5 gal fuel) and danger but very possible.


----------



## NaeKid (Oct 17, 2008)

Combining safe heat and cooking might be an idea for you. Depending on the size of your apartment and regulations, you might be able to purchase and store the "small green" propane bottles for BBQ's, portable stoves, lanterns and catalytic heaters (all Coleman products). As long as there is a chance for sufficient air-flow (meaning that CO2 will not build-up and knock you out or kill you) you should be fairly safe for the short term.

The way to tell if you can have propane systems in an apartment complex is to look at the individual balconies - if there is a BBQ on any of them, you should be golden.


----------



## TechAdmin (Oct 1, 2008)

I know in Texas it's illegal to keep any gas under pressure in your apartment. They are strict about it too. The fire department was evidently the ones who started it.


----------



## Lake Windsong (Nov 27, 2009)

*apartment heat sources in a power outage*

Ventless Gel Fireplace | Ventless Gel Fireplaces, Inserts & Accessories

gel fuel is a good option to consider

Also, hand and body warmers are good for short term power outages. They make some metal ones that are reusable, as well as the disposable ones.


----------



## Ponce (May 3, 2009)

For emergency........heat up only one room.......for SUPER emergency.... a small tent in the middle of your living room........body heat of those inside should be all that is needed.


----------



## TechAdmin (Oct 1, 2008)

Ponce said:


> For emergency........heat up only one room.......for SUPER emergency.... a small tent in the middle of your living room........body heat of those inside should be all that is needed.


I actually have a smaller tent for that purpose.


----------



## Jediguy (Mar 6, 2010)

truthfulwon said:


> Besides all this, is there anything else I can do to keep the house warm? :hmmm:


Tapestries.

In Medieval times they put tapestries on the walls not for decoration but as insulation against the cold seeping through the rock walls of the castle.

In that same vein, put blankets over windows in addition to your plastic. Get some cheap plastic spring clamps for a buck each at hardware stores or Amazon.com and clamp the blanket to the valence or curtain rod.

I have two sliding glass doors in my condo that I use this method to keep out the cold. Works great.


----------



## sailaway (Mar 12, 2009)

Candles may heat a small room a little.


----------



## marlas1too (Feb 28, 2010)

electric heaters are nice but what if there is no electric--i have a large fire place that will heat all the house except the basement-ive just made a find that will both heat and cook out meals in case the elect.goes out -i just got a 100 yr old cook stove and cant wait to install it over the spring and summer -was raised up on wood stove and if you learn to cook with it the food is great--always try to find a way to heat saftly without elect -as for candles you can put a small candle in a large bucket(5 gal) with about 3in. sand then put a metal coffee can ovet the candle after you punch lots of holes in it so it can breath you will find it makes a great emer. heater for a small room


----------



## kogneto (Feb 23, 2010)

Well if there's snow on the ground and you got a tarp you can always try sleeping outside  sounds funny but I got my 100 Below Patch while in boy scouts without even using a tent.

my mom has been formulating a way of keeping her house warm for the past few years

I know you don't have a fireplace, but for those who do, if you aren't using it, keep it sealed

invest in those plastic window sealers that use both double stick tape, and that you seal with a blow-dryer

then cover the windows with a thick blanket or clean rug, and close the drapes over that

keep rooms that no one uses closed and even close the vents to those rooms so you don't waste heat when you have it (bathrooms, keep the water trickling or the pipes'll freeze)

I don't think she ever put towels under the doorway, but I just saw an infomercial for those draft stoppers that fit under doors...towels are cheaper 

the emergency candles you can buy at wally world are supposed to raise the room temperature by 1 degree each (is it every hour or just as a whole I wonder?)

it also wouldn't hurt to have your landlord inspect the insulation in your apartment too, after about 20 years the stuff in our house wasn't doing jack so we replaced all that (wow that was a tough job though)

I hadn't heard about the tent idea but that makes a lot of sense

...trying to think of anything else I've learned from braving the Alaskan winters


----------

