No Heat Emergency? Stay Warm with These 5 Tips

Waking up to an ice-cold house in the middle of the night is a reality that no one wants to face. You jump out of bed to check the thermostat but to no avail — your furnace does not kick on. Heat emergencies like this usually happen at the most inconvenient times, such as during extreme cold snaps or winter storms when your system is running on all cylinders to keep out the Wisconsin cold.

What Should You Do When Your Heating System Won’t Start?

The one thing you shouldn’t do is panic — after all, H.J. Faust, Inc. has emergency no-heat service available 24/7/365.

Once you call H.J. Faust, Inc., you can start working on your plan to keep warm until a technician can get out to you and your family. Here are some helpful tips on how to cozy up and stay comfortable in the meantime.

1. Seal Out the Cold

Figure out which room you want to get comfortable in. It helps if the room is small and contains most of what you will need. Gather all your comfort items in one place, then shut all the other doors. If your room of choice does not have doors, hang blankets, sheets, and towels to help seal off the space and retain heat. Make sure the room does not have high or vaulted ceilings, since heat will drift upward in those spaces. Additionally, if the room has hardwood or tile flooring, drag in a few rugs from other parts of the house — this will keep the floor warmer and prevent the cold from coming up through it. Keeping the whole family in one room also allows body heat to help warm the space.

2. Put Your Chef’s Hat On

Bake some tasty sweets in the oven or put a pot of soup on the stove. Your oven and range generate a lot of heat, and the lovely smell of a hot meal will warm hearts throughout the home. You can cook and heat at the same time, but using the oven solely as a heater is dangerous and should be avoided.

3. Use Lights to Help Heat

Do you have some older incandescent bulbs on hand? Use those to help heat the room — they generate far more heat than other options such as LED bulbs. Another option is candles. The flames can actually produce noticeable heat in a room. Of course, never leave them unattended. Candles are also a low-cost alternative to purchasing bulbs or space heaters.

4. Cozy Up

Bundle up for comfort! Wear a fitted underlayer beneath an insulating outer layer. Use tights, leggings, or long underwear as your base layer, and coats or sweatshirts as your insulating outer layer. Take care of your extremities, since those tend to get cold the fastest — put on warm socks, a hat, a scarf, gloves, and slippers. Once you’re all bundled up, grab a snuggle buddy, pick your favorite movie, and curl up with your family or pet under a nice thick blanket.

5. Grab Electric Heat Devices

Space heaters, heating pads, and heated blankets provide a good source of heat in a small space. However, don’t leave your space heater unattended, and don’t fall asleep on electric pads or blankets, as this can be dangerous. If you don’t have a heating pad, you can make one by using a warm water bottle or a brick wrapped tightly in a blanket. Make sure these improvised options are not too hot in order to stay safe.

While no one wants to face a heat emergency, H.J. Faust, Inc. is here to support you no matter the time — day or night. One of the best ways to prevent furnace outages is to have your system serviced regularly. If you don’t want to worry about remembering to schedule maintenance, join our Annual Maintenance Program and take the worry off your shoulders! An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure — and the furnace repair bill.