How to Stay Warm Without Power: Safe Steps for Winter Outages

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To stay warm without power, keep the heat you already have inside the house: close off unused rooms, gather everyone in one small interior room, block drafts, cover windows, and dress in loose layers with a hat and dry socks. Add warmth only from sources that are safe indoors, such as body heat, warm drinks, insulated sleeping bags and battery-powered heated blankets, and never bring a grill, camp stove, portable generator or outdoor heater inside, because they produce carbon monoxide (CO) that can kill within minutes. Run any generator outside, well away from the house, and take steps early to keep pipes from freezing.

Part of our Home Electrical guide — start there for the full picture →

This guide gives the quick plan first, then each step in detail: conserving heat, dressing and sleeping warm, the one-room strategy, backup heat that is and is not safe, generator and battery basics, protecting plumbing, and when to leave or call for help. It reflects general guidance as of 2026; follow instructions from local emergency officials and equipment manufacturers during an actual outage.

The Short Answer: A Warm-Without-Power Plan

1. Keep doors and windows shut and stop opening exterior doors more than necessary.
2. Pick one room, ideally small, interior and on the sunny side, and move everyone there.
3. Seal it up. Close interior doors, roll towels against gaps, hang blankets over doorways and cover windows after dark.
4. Layer clothing and add a hat, gloves and wool socks. Change out of anything damp.
5. Eat, drink and move. Warm drinks and regular snacks help the body produce heat; gentle activity helps too.
6. Use only safe backup heat. No grills, camp stoves, generators, ovens or outdoor heaters inside. Make sure a battery-powered CO alarm is working.
7. Run a generator outside only, at least 20 feet from doors, windows and vents.
8. Protect pipes. Open cabinet doors, let faucets drip, and know where the main water shutoff is.
9. Have a leave point. If the room keeps getting colder, someone shows signs of hypothermia, or the outage will last days, go to a warming center, friends or family.

Step 1: Hold In the Heat You Already Have

When the furnace stops, a house starts losing heat through its walls, ceiling, windows and air leaks. How quickly it cools depends on insulation, air sealing, the outdoor temperature and wind. A well-insulated home might stay tolerable for many hours; a drafty older house on a windy night can drop quickly. The goal is to slow that loss.

• Keep exterior doors closed. Every trip outside dumps warm air. Plan trips to bring in supplies or check a generator.
• Close off rooms you are not using. Shut interior doors to bedrooms, bathrooms and the basement stairs you do not need. A smaller heated volume holds warmth better.
• Block drafts. Roll towels or blankets against the bottoms of doors. Close fireplace dampers when there is no fire, since an open damper acts like a chimney for warm air.
• Manage windows. On sunny days, open curtains on south- and west-facing windows to let sunlight in, then close heavy curtains, blinds or blankets over every window at dusk. A layer of plastic sheeting or bubble wrap taped over a window adds some insulation.
• Stay off the floor. Cold settles low. Rugs, mattresses or folded blankets under seating and sleeping areas reduce heat lost into the floor.

A simple indoor thermometer in the warm room helps you make decisions instead of guessing. Check it every few hours and note the trend. A room that holds steady in the 50s with everyone dressed warmly is manageable for a while; a room that keeps sliding toward the 40s overnight is a sign to add safe heat, combine households or plan to leave before conditions get worse, especially with infants, older adults or anyone with a medical condition in the house.

A home that is already air sealed and insulated buys a lot more time during an outage. Our guide to how to winterize a house covers weatherstripping, insulation and other steps that pay off long before the power goes out.

Step 2: Dress, Eat and Sleep for Warmth

Layering

Layers trap warm air close to the body. A practical approach is a moisture-wicking base layer (wool or synthetic rather than cotton, which holds sweat), an insulating middle layer such as fleece or a down jacket, and an outer layer that blocks drafts. Loose layers are warmer than one tight garment. Add a hat, since uncovered heads and necks lose noticeable heat, plus gloves and wool socks. Swap out anything that becomes damp from sweat or snow right away.

Food and drink

The body makes heat by burning fuel. Regular meals and snacks, especially with some fat and protein, help. Warm drinks feel good and help with comfort. Avoid alcohol: it can make you feel warm while increasing heat loss. Keep drinking water, because dehydration is easy to miss in cold, dry air.

Movement

Light activity, such as walking around the room, stretching or simple chores, generates body heat. Avoid working up a sweat, since wet clothing chills quickly once you stop.

Sleeping warm

• Sleep in the warm room, together if possible. Shared body heat is real heat.
• Use sleeping bags rated for cold, or stack several blankets and put insulation under you as well as over you.
• A small tent or blanket fort set up inside the warm room traps a pocket of warmer air.
• Hot water bottles filled from a safely heated kettle can warm a bed. Check the temperature carefully, especially for children and older adults.
• Never sleep with a fuel-burning heater running in the room.

Step 3: Use the One-Room Strategy

Heating, or simply holding heat in, one room is far easier than the whole house. Choose a room that is small, has few exterior walls and windows, and if possible gets afternoon sun. Interior rooms and rooms over a heated space below tend to stay warmer than rooms over a garage or crawlspace.

1. Move people, pets and supplies in: water, food, flashlights, a battery radio, phone chargers, medications and blankets.
2. Close the door and seal the gaps with towels. Hang a blanket across an open doorway or archway.
3. Cover windows with blankets, quilts or plastic sheeting, especially at night.
4. Insulate the floor with rugs, mattresses or foam pads.
5. Put a battery-powered CO alarm and a smoke alarm in the room, especially if any fireplace, stove or heater will be used nearby.

Body heat from several people in a closed, well-sealed room can keep it noticeably warmer than the rest of the house. That warmth is free and produces no CO.

Step 4: Backup Heat That Is Safe, and What Never Belongs Indoors

Most deaths in winter outages are not from the cold itself. Carbon monoxide poisoning and fires spike when people bring outdoor equipment inside to stay warm. The CDC explains that portable generators and charcoal grills produce carbon monoxide, and it advises never running a generator inside a home or garage, even with doors and windows open. CO has no color or smell, and the CDC notes that people who are sleeping can die from CO poisoning before they have symptoms. Common symptoms are headache, dizziness, weakness, upset stomach, vomiting, chest pain and confusion.

Never use these indoors

• Charcoal grills, gas grills, hibachis and camp stoves, including in an attached garage or a closed porch.
• Portable generators, anywhere inside the home, garage, basement or crawlspace.
• Outdoor patio heaters and any fuel-burning heater not labeled for indoor use.
• A gas oven or stovetop as a room heater. The U.S. Fire Administration says plainly: never use an oven to heat your home.
• Candles as a heat source. They give almost no warmth and are a real fire risk; use flashlights and battery lanterns for light.

Safer options

• Fireplaces and wood stoves. These can provide meaningful heat if the chimney is sound. The CDC advises having the chimney or flue inspected each year if you plan to use a fireplace or wood stove for emergency heating, and installing a smoke detector and a battery-operated CO detector near the area being heated. Burn only dry, seasoned wood, use a screen, and keep the damper open while there is any fire or embers.
• Heaters labeled for indoor use. Some portable propane heaters are designed and labeled for indoor use and include features such as an oxygen depletion sensor and tip-over shutoff. They still burn fuel inside the room, so follow every label instruction on ventilation and clearances, keep a working CO alarm in the room, never use one while sleeping, and never use a model labeled outdoor-only. Our guide to the best indoor propane heater compares indoor-rated models and their safety features.
• Battery-powered warmth. Electric heated blankets, mattress pads and vests use little power and can run for hours from a portable power station. A plug-in space heater, by contrast, draws so much power that it drains most batteries quickly.

Whatever you use, keep it away from anything that can burn. The U.S. Fire Administration advises keeping anything flammable at least 3 feet from heat sources, including fireplaces, wood stoves, space heaters and candles, and turning space heaters off when leaving the room or going to bed.

Step 5: Generators and Battery Backup, Used Safely

Portable generator safety

A portable generator can run a refrigerator, a few lights, a furnace blower on a properly installed transfer switch, or a space heater, but it is also one of the most common sources of fatal CO poisoning during outages. The Consumer Product Safety Commission notes that one portable generator can produce as much carbon monoxide as hundreds of cars, and advises using generators outside only, at least 20 feet from the home with the exhaust pointed away.

• Never run a generator in the house, garage, basement, crawlspace or shed, even with the door open.
• Keep it at least 20 feet from doors, windows and vents, with exhaust pointed away from the house and neighbors.
• Install battery-powered or battery-backup CO alarms inside before you start it.
• Never plug a generator into a wall outlet (“backfeeding”). It can energize utility lines and injure line workers or neighbors. Use heavy-duty outdoor-rated extension cords or a transfer switch installed by a licensed electrician.
• Let the generator cool before refueling, and store fuel outside living areas.
• Keep it dry. Running a generator in snow or rain without proper cover is a shock hazard.

If you are shopping for one, our guide on what size generator you need walks through adding up running and starting watts, and our roundup of the best home generators compares portable and standby options.

Battery backup and solar generators

Portable power stations and home battery systems produce no exhaust and can be used indoors, which makes them useful for phones, lights, medical devices, internet equipment and low-draw warmth such as heated blankets. A gas furnace’s blower and controls draw relatively little power, so a properly installed home battery or a generator connected through a transfer switch can often keep a furnace running, which is the most effective way to stay warm in a long outage. A licensed electrician should handle that connection. See our picks for the best home battery backup and the best solar generator for options that recharge from panels during multi-day outages.

Typical costs range widely: small portable power stations sit at the low end, portable generators in the middle, and whole-home standby generators or battery systems with professional installation at the high end. The main cost drivers are capacity, fuel type, installation and whether a transfer switch or electrical panel work is needed.

Step 6: Keep Pipes From Freezing

A long outage in freezing weather can turn into a plumbing emergency. Pipes in exterior walls, under sinks on outside walls, in crawlspaces and in garages freeze first.

• Open kitchen and bathroom cabinet doors on exterior walls so room air reaches the pipes.
• Let faucets on vulnerable lines drip slowly; moving water is harder to freeze and a drip relieves pressure.
• Know where the main water shutoff is and make sure it turns.
• If the house will drop well below freezing for a long time, or you are leaving, consider shutting off the main and draining the lines.
• Never thaw pipes with an open flame. Use warm towels or a hair dryer once power returns.

Our guide to frozen pipes covers prevention, thawing and what to do when a pipe bursts.

Front Range Considerations

• Wind and wildfire shutoffs. Strong downslope winds can knock out power, and utilities may also cut power in high-risk wind conditions to reduce wildfire risk. Those outages can come with little warning and very cold nights.
• Big temperature swings. The Front Range can drop from mild to well below zero in a day during an arctic front. Plan for the coldest night, not the current afternoon.
• Sun helps by day. High-altitude sun is strong even in winter. Opening south-facing curtains during the day and closing them at night makes a real difference.
• Dry air. Low humidity speeds dehydration and makes skin and lips crack. Keep drinking water.
• Mountain and rural homes. Homes in the foothills may have longer restoration times and propane or wood heat. Keep chimneys inspected and propane tanks topped up before winter.

When to Leave, Call for Help or Call a Pro

Leave for a warming center, a friend’s home or another safe place if:

• Indoor temperatures keep dropping and the outage is expected to last a long time.
• Anyone shows signs of hypothermia, such as shivering, confusion, slurred speech, fumbling hands or drowsiness. Babies may have bright red, cold skin and very low energy. Seek medical help.
• Someone in the house relies on powered medical equipment and backup power is running out.

Get out and call 911 from outside if a CO alarm sounds or several people feel sick, dizzy or confused at once. If you smell gas, leave and call the gas utility from a safe distance.

After the outage, call a licensed professional if the furnace will not restart, pipes froze or leaked, or you want a generator or battery connected to the home’s wiring. If you are buying a home, an inspection can identify heating type, visible venting issues, missing CO and smoke alarms, and exposed plumbing that is vulnerable to freezing. You can contact our team to schedule a Front Range inspection.

References

• About Carbon Monoxide Poisoning — Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• Winter Weather Safety — Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• Carbon Monoxide Information Center — U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
• Heating Fire Safety — U.S. Fire Administration
• Heating Safety — National Fire Protection Association

Want to know how well a home will hold up through a Front Range winter outage? Get in touch with our team to arrange an inspection.