Temperatures in and around Jacksonville are dropping, and heaters are being fired up for the first time this season. What happens if your heater doesn’t work as expected? Our suggestion is don’t panic! If the unexpected happens and you must deal with a heat outage, McGowan’s Heating & Air Conditioning is here to help you discover easy ways to keep your family safe when the heat goes out.
Tips on Staying Warm When Your Heat Goes Out
When the chill is outside, we go inside to stay warm. But what happens when the inside isn’t cozy? We must think about other ways to stay warm until help arrives, especially if there are elderly or children in the home.
Some tips for staying warm when the heat goes out include:
Bundle Up
Blankets are your friend when the temperature drops. Often, the more the merrier! A heating issue is a great time to curl up with books, good movies, or anything else you can think of doing. If you’re exceptionally cold, and you have one available, you can toss in a heating pad as well if you follow its safe-use recommendations.
Blocking Cold Air
If you feel a draft coming into your home, blankets over windows or drafty doors can help you. When weatherizing your entire home isn’t possible, you can confine yourself to one room and block other air entry points outside of it.
Where you choose to bunker down will depend on your home and your needs. Bedrooms are small areas that can be closed off easily. However, with small kids or multiple people in the home, they may not be much fun or convenient. Therefore, you may choose to keep those doors closed and stay in your main living area.
For many homes, the main living area will have more windows. They may be an easier area to heat by allowing the sun to shine in through open curtains. Keep in mind that it is best to keep doors and drafty windows closed.
Have Enough to Eat
Being cold forces your body to use extra energy to stay warm. You can replenish your energy with warm foods, coffee, or tea. By warming up your belly, you warm up from the inside out. Some suggestions include making soup, baking cookies, or other family favorites that require you to cook with an oven. Your stove can add a lot of heat to your home, and you can have delightful things to snack on.
Layering Up
Bundling up in blankets is something we’ve already talked about, but it is not the only option. Warm sweaters, sweatpants, shirts, jackets, etc., are options to consider. They can help you get warm if blankets aren’t a viable option. You can make it even more effective if you toss clothes in the dryer to warm them before you put them on. It also helps your home since dryers add heat.
Stay Active
When you get cold, being up and moving around can make your body temperature rise. Therefore, if you are able, cleaning the house, going outside to walk around, and even working out a little can increase your warmth and comfort. If it is colder in your home than outdoors, you might visit a nearby park or go for a stroll around your neighborhood.
Call McGowan’s Heating & Air Conditioning When Your Heat Goes Out
When your heat goes out and the temperatures outside continue to drop, staying warm is very important. McGowan’s Heating & Air Conditioning offers 24-hour service to help you get beyond the heating issues quickly. Until then, we hope our tips can help you stay warm.
Whatever you need, remember we are only a phone call away for those who live between South St. Augustine and the Georgia border. Contact McGowan’s Heating & Air Conditioning, and we will do our best to help your home get back to warm as usual.
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