How to stay warm with no heating
The biggest danger is usually warming up the wrong way.
Every tip comes from an official source, listed on the sources page.
All of this, put into a plan for your home, is in the guide Ready in 7 Days.
1
Before
- Pick a warm room: small, with a door, ideally without outside walls.
- Blankets, sleeping bags, hats and thick socks for everyone.
- Fit a carbon monoxide alarm, and have boilers, fires and chimneys checked by a Gas Safe registered engineer.
- Watch the UKHSA cold-health alerts and the Met Office warnings.
2
During
- Everyone in the warm room, doors shut, gaps blocked with towels.
- Curtains closed at dusk, open in the day if the sun is out.
- Layers of thin clothes, a hat and socks. Hot drinks and food that gives energy.
- Air the room for a few minutes a day, even when it's cold.
3
Hypothermia
- Heavy shivering, drowsiness or confusion, especially in older people and babies: call 999, take off wet clothes and wrap them in blankets.
4
If you smell gas
- Don't use switches or flames. Open doors and windows, turn off the gas at the meter if you can, get out and call 0800 111 999.
Don't
- Heat the house with the oven, the hob, a barbecue or a camping stove.
- Run a generator indoors or in the garage.
- Sleep with a fuel-burning heater on.
- Drink alcohol to warm up.
- Put someone with hypothermia in a hot bath or rub them.
This does not replace instructions from the authorities or 999: if they say something different, do what they say.
What to have ready beforehand
All of the above is easier if this is already at home before the next cold spell:
Safety at home
For the two risks a blackout brings into the home: carbon monoxide and fire.
See in the kitLight
One light per person, and no candles.
See in the kitBattery and charging
Keep the phone and the radio going for three days.
See in the kitThe grab bag
One per person, by the door, in case you have to leave.
See in the kit
The basics in one go? This pack goes straight to your Amazon basket. To pick another model or leave out what you already have, the full kit.
Links go to amazon.co.uk and are affiliate links: if you buy through them we get a small commission and it costs you nothing extra.
The plan, before the next cold spell
In Ready in 7 Days this page comes with space to write down your warm room and where you go if the house gets too cold, alongside your home's plan for three days with no help.
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