How to keep warm in a power cut
Warm the people, not the house. Without power most central heating stops, and no battery you can carry will heat a room for long. What works is keeping body heat in: one room, layers, hot water bottles and a bed full of blankets.
Before it gets cold
- Pick one room, ideally the smallest one with the fewest outside walls, and bring everyone into it. Close the door and draw the curtains.
- Boil water while you can and keep it in flasks. It refills hot water bottles through the night and makes hot drinks. A gas hob usually still lights with a match if the ignition is electric.
- Layers, hats and socks. Several thin layers beat one thick one, and a hat matters more indoors than people expect.
- Go to bed early under every blanket and sleeping bag in the house. A bed is the easiest place in the home to keep warm.
Warmth that needs no socket
Hot water bottle and a vacuum flask. Boil water while you still can, keep it hot in a flask, and refill the bottle through the night.
Look for: A bottle made to BS 1970 in the UK, and a flask of a litre or more.
Fleece blankets or sleeping bags. Layers and a warm bed do more than any heater a battery can run.
Look for: Whatever you would take camping; a sleeping bag rated for the season is warmer than a duvet.
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What a battery can heat
An electric heater is the worst job you can give a battery. A 2,000 W fan heater is more than a 1,056 Wh Anker SOLIX C1000 can even start, and even a small 750 W heater lasts about 1 h 1 min. The heater guide has the full sums.
Heat next to the body is different. The same station runs a mains electric blanket for about 23 h 59 min. Without a station, a 20,000 mAh power bank runs a USB heated throw for about 7 h 24 min or a USB heated gilet for about 7 h 24 min on a medium setting.
If your heating is a gas combi boiler or a furnace, its electrics need far less than a heater: see the boiler guide or the furnace guide.
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Look after the people most at risk
Babies, older people and anyone who is unwell lose heat faster and notice it later. Check on neighbours who live alone. In Great Britain, anyone who relies on medical equipment, is of pensionable age or has a young child can join their network operator's Priority Services Register for extra help in a power cut; call 105 to report a cut or ask about it.
The power cut essentials list covers light, phones and food as well, and the US edition adds frozen pipes.
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