A power outage in winter raises the stakes fast — losing light is an inconvenience, but losing heat is a genuine safety question. The good news is that staying warm without electricity is very manageable with a little planning, as long as you know which methods are actually safe and which ones only feel that way.
Our general guide on what to do when the power goes out covers this briefly. This piece goes further on the question that matters most in cold weather: how do you actually keep your home — and your household — warm, safely, until the power comes back?
Start with what you already have: heat retention
Before thinking about heat sources, the fastest and safest win is keeping the warmth you already have inside the building.
- Pick one room and commit to it. Choose the smallest, best-insulated room your household
actually uses — often a bedroom or living room — and close the doors to every other room. Heating one space is far more realistic than trying to warm an entire home.
- Seal the gaps. Roll up towels or spare clothing and press them against the bottom of doors
and windows. Draft-blocking makes a bigger difference than people expect.
- Use your curtains as insulation. Close heavy curtains at night to add a layer over cold
windows; if there’s direct sun during the day, open them briefly to let natural warmth in, then close them again as it fades.
- Hang a blanket over doorways that don’t have a door, to stop warm air drifting out of your
chosen room.
This step alone — done well — often matters more than whatever heat source you use next.
Safe heat sources worth knowing
Not every heat source that feels effective is actually safe indoors. This is the part worth reading carefully, especially if you live in an apartment without a fireplace or wood stove.
- A wood stove or fireplace, if your home has one, is a genuinely reliable heat source —
provided the chimney is clear and you’re burning dry, seasoned wood.
- An indoor-rated propane or kerosene heater is a solid option for apartments without a
fireplace. Look specifically for models labeled safe for indoor use, ideally with an oxygen-depletion sensor and an automatic tip-over shutoff.
- Battery- or solar-powered space heaters are the simplest and lowest-risk option if you
already own one, though they typically cover only a small area.
- Warm water bottles wrapped in a towel work well as personal heaters if you have a gas stove
to heat water — tucked under a blanket, this can noticeably take the edge off for one or two people.
What to avoid entirely: ovens, stovetops, and outdoor grills or camping stoves used indoors. These are common instincts in a cold outage, but they build up carbon monoxide quickly in an enclosed space and are one of the most serious risks during a winter power cut. If you use any fuel-burning heater indoors — propane, kerosene, or a wood stove — make sure a working carbon monoxide detector is nearby and never leave the heat source unattended or running while everyone sleeps.
Layer your body, not just your room
Heating the space is only half the plan — dressing for it matters just as much.
- Thermal or long-sleeve base layers, plus a second warm layer on top
- Wool or thick socks — two pairs if it’s genuinely cold
- A hat and gloves indoors, even though it can feel unnecessary at first — most body heat is lost
through the head and hands
- Sleeping bags rated for cold weather hold warmth far better than a stack of blankets, and
they’re worth having in the kit for exactly this reason
If you have young children or older family members at home, they lose warmth faster than most adults — prioritize extra layers and a warm sleeping setup for them first.
Keep your body generating heat
A body that’s fed, hydrated, and moving stays warmer than one that isn’t.
- Eat regularly — your body burns energy to generate warmth, and skipping meals works against you
- Warm food or drink helps more than the same thing cold, but anything is better than nothing
- Light movement — stretching, a short walk around the room, simple exercises — genuinely helps
circulation and warmth, especially for anyone sitting still for long stretches
Special care for infants, older adults, and pets
Some members of the household lose heat faster than others and are worth planning for specifically, not just folding into the general advice above.
- Infants shouldn’t sleep with loose blankets in a cold room — instead, dress them in an
extra warm layer (a sleep sack rated for cold temperatures works well) and keep them in the warmest room with a caregiver nearby.
- Older adults are more vulnerable to cold-related health risks even before a room feels
uncomfortably cold to everyone else — prioritize their layering and heat source access first, and check in on them more often than usual during a longer outage.
- Pets feel the cold too. Smaller animals and short-haired breeds especially benefit from
being kept in the main heated room rather than left in a colder part of the home, and a spare blanket for their bed goes a long way.
A simple starting setup
If you’re building this out from nothing, here’s what covers the real scenarios without overbuying:
- One indoor-rated propane or kerosene heater (if you don’t have a fireplace or wood stove), plus
a working carbon monoxide detector
- Enough draft-blocking material (spare towels or blankets) for your main doors and windows
- One cold-rated sleeping bag per household member, or heavy blankets as a fallback
- A base layer and warm socks set stored with your kit, so you’re not searching for them in a cold,
dark house
- A plan for which single room your household will gather in
Putting it together
Staying warm without power comes down to three things working together: retain the heat you already have, choose a genuinely safe way to add more, and support your body so it can do its share of the work too. None of this requires expensive gear — mostly it requires deciding your plan before the cold and the dark arrive at the same time, not during it.
If you haven’t built out the rest of your kit yet, our guide on emergency lighting for your home covers the other piece that usually goes out with the power, and the free 72-Hour Family Guide walks through the complete kit and family plan step by step.
FAQ
Is it safe to run a generator indoors for heat? No. Generators produce carbon monoxide and should always run outdoors, well away from windows, doors, and vents, with the exhaust pointed away from the building.
Can I use my gas oven or stovetop to heat a room? No — this is one of the most common but genuinely dangerous instincts during a cold outage. Ovens and stovetops aren’t designed for open-ended indoor heating and can build up carbon monoxide quickly in a closed room.
What if I live in an apartment with no fireplace or wood stove? An indoor-rated propane or kerosene heater with proper ventilation and a working carbon monoxide detector is the most practical option, paired with heat-retention steps like sealing one room and layering clothing and blankets.
How cold does it need to be before this becomes a real safety concern? Cold-related risk builds up gradually, especially for children, older adults, and anyone with health conditions — it’s worth acting on the guidance above well before a room feels uncomfortably cold, not after.
Do candles help heat a room? Not meaningfully — a candle produces very little usable heat relative to the fire risk of an open flame left burning for hours. Treat candles as a lighting backup only, never a heat source.