Tips for Staying Warm | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Press Release:

    Slick, snow-covered roads remain in some areas and many secondary roads. A state of emergency that Governor Cooper signed Wednesday remains in effect through the weekend, along with an executive order waiving truck weight, size and hours of service restrictions to ease movement of heating fuel, supplies and equipment and to allow restoration of utility services.

    For more information about storm response efforts, download the free ReadyNC app or visit www.readync.org. For updated road conditions, call 511 or go to www.drivenc.gov.

    Tips for Staying Warm

    Below are suggestions to consider to better survive extended periods of sub-freezing cold temperatures:

1. Close the doors of any unused rooms in the house. Also close any heat ducts going to those rooms.
2. Temporarily tape plastic over windows or unused doors that seem drafty. (Fix them properly when the weather is better.)
3. If you have crawlspace plumbing, temporarily cover all crawlspace vents from the outside (e.g. fiberglas insulation, held in place with cut plastic piping).
4. If you have crawlspace plumbing, etc, consider having wiring for lights (extended life 100 W incandescent bulbs), near where there is plumbing.
5. (These can be controlled manually, or by using a special plug (like this) that only goes on when the temperature goes below 35± degrees.)
6. Prior to a cold snap, set your house 2º warmer when everything is working OK, so that it will stay warm longer if there is an extended power outage.
7. HVAC units do not work well as it gets below freezing. To address this problem, most HVAC units have built-in electric heaters. (These auxiliary electric heaters come in different sizes. Have a service person tell you what you have, verify that it's adequate, and test that it works.)
8. Consider getting one or two electric space heaters to augment the HVAC. Make sure to only plug them into a circuit that has the available amperage.
9. (A common size would be a unit that uses 600, or 900, or 1500 Watts. FYI, a 1500 watt heater would use about 15 Amps of electricity - which is a lot.)
10. Place one of the electric space heaters directly in front of a cold air return. That way its heat will be better circulated throughout the house.
11. (Whether you use a portable space heater or not, it is advisable to leave the HVAC fan running all the time during sub-freezing weather.)
12. If you have a serious indoor temperature emergency, consider turning on your electric oven to provide temporary auxiliary heat.
13. (When there are sub-freezing temps outside, that's a good time to run the self-cleaning feature of an electric oven.)
14. When outside temps get below 25 degrees, leave all your lights on, day and night. (They will provide some extra heat and lighten the HVAC load.)
15. (Make sure that there is nothing flammable near any lights left on for an extended period.)
16. Get an inexpensive portable fan to redistribute air from warmer areas to cooler ones.
17. Get a humidifier and set it to 40-50%. More humidity in the air makes it feel warmer.
18. (Likewise dressing warmer - especially wearing a hat - will make the cold more tolerable.)
19. Consider getting a wireless thermometer with multiple remote sensors. That way you can keep an eye on problem (e.g. crawlspace) areas.
20. For a more serious heat emergency (when the power goes off) consider getting a LP gas heater rated for indoors. Run it only in an emergency.
21. (To supply the gas, get a portable propane tank, like the kind used in an outdoor barbecue.)
22. Consider getting an electric generator. They can be very useful in emergency situations (e.g. also hurricanes) when the power goes out.
23. (To run the basics: refrigerator, water pump, fan, minimal heat, probably 3500 Watts is necessary, like this. All gasoline generators must be run outdoors.)
24. Have several functioning fire extinguishers that are easily and immediately accessible if something gets too hot and starts a fire.
25. (Also have multiple smoke alarms in the house, as well as a Carbon-Monoxide alarm if any indoor gas heaters are being used.)

• Contact: Bill Cook
•     bill.cook@ncleg.net