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MasterCaneman -> RE: Home made emergency/survival equipment (1/5/2014 6:58:37 AM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: PeonForHer
FR
Hey, what about survival tips for those who are freezing their nuts/boobs off? The USA's weather is making international headlines. A friend in Michigan is enduring the same temperature outside as that of my freezer. She also reports power outages across the state - outages that she herself has experienced in the past. How the hell do people manage in homes out there that are suddenly without heating?
I outlined a simple and (relatively) safe heater in an earlier post, but that is only good for heating a person. If your home loses heat and starts to dip toward the dangerously cold (i.e. freezing or below), there are a couple of things you can do.
1. Drain your pipes. No need to end up with a several thousand dollar repair bill when it warms up again. Shut off the main valve, and open up everything. You can leave the water heater for last, it's insulated, and you may need the water inside it for washing, flushing, and 'external heat sources'. Prepare for some difficulty with sanitation (see my post on that above).
2. Huddle/Bundle Up. Each of us is a nifty self-contained furnace system that burns at 98.6 degrees. Keep that heat in with blankets, tarps, whatever. Couples and families should get under the covers for mutual survival. If you have a camping tent, set it up inside the living room to trap that heat more and prevent convection cooling. Don't sit on uninsulated anything, it'll drain the heat out of you by conduction. Wear a hat indoors, especially when sleeping.
3. External heating sources. The only propane heater I know of that is safe to use indoors is the Buddy line of catalytic heaters. Those and only those. If you don't have them, but have something like a BBQ grill, here is how you use it safely. Heat the reserved water from the water heater tank in large pots and pans and bring them inside. It's a chore, but water retains heat pretty well, and you can perform basic hygiene. If you have an insulated cooler, you can use that to retain the heat longer.
4. Know when to say when. Most winter heating emergencies are relatively short, but if they start dragging on, seek out community warming centers, especially for kids and at-risk people. Stay clean, wash your hands, make sure food is properly cooked. The last thing you want when it's that cold is to be sick. There's a time and place for 'rugged individualism', but -40 isn't one of them, especially if you got kids or older relatives to care for. Don't let pride kill you.
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