How would you heat an apartment if the power went out SHTF?

There is a video of a guy heating a small area with some flower pots and tea lights on youtube somewhere. Looked pretty cool at the time.

Hopefully they have a gas stove to turn on or a kerosene heater. If not...lots of blankets!!!

I had a similiar thread about this myself...
there were many great replies/suggestions, but one of the best, in my opinion, was the Big Buddy heater.....

wood stove.

fire up the generator - and plug in ... or wear proper clothing - duh

5000000 hand warmers.

Homemade rubbing alcohol stove

[link to www.youtube.com (secure)]
The tea light/candle heater

Back in college, when it was freezing and the power was out for days, we'd get tons of blankets, bundle all together. Humans are natural chemical furnaces. Also, finding a place with power like a 24/7 Dennys is good too. If you start a fire with a pit, fireplace or millions of candles, make sure you have proper ventilation so you don't fall asleep forever and die.

i find blankets dont cut the cold tho

untill i got 2 Wool Blankets holy fuck thats how to stay warm is with wool blanket and there very thin but heavy shocking how warm they can be like its fucked.

If you loose heat & don't have a way to alternatively heat your apartment then wear 3 to 4 layers of warm clothing both top & bottom - at least one of those a turtleneck to keep neck warm. We loose heat through tops of heads, hands, feet also so wear knitted cap(or hoodie), mittens/gloves and double or triple socks.

I remember that video of using bricks & tea candles for makeshift heat that another poster mentioned. Maybe you can find it in a glp search.

Complete and utter bullshit. Do the math, a tea light candle only contains about 375 BTU's total. You might be able to heat the room with 30 of them burning at once, but you'll also be breathing paraffin fumes and other crap you don't want in your lungs.

Burning them in a flowerpot does not make them more "efficient", nor can you produce more energy than is contained in the wax (fuel).

Sorry, just tired of all the "magic" heater crap on youtube. Same goes for rocket-mass heaters, can't get more heat out of wood than is contained in it. Burning 10 little twigs isn't going to give you squat for heat.

Also complete crap. Plus the added danger of a liquid fuel, and a nice load of moisture to start mold when it condenses in walls and crevices.

saw on a show recently, one large one small metal paint cans, toilet paper soaked in 500 ml of alcohol stuffed into the small one. Heat for about five hours or something. Seemed mostly safe.

Best bet, if it's at least above 0* F, is to buy a good down sleeping bag rated for 0*. Keep to one small room, even an Aladdin lamp provides enough heat to take some of the bone-chilling cold out.

If you're actually in an apartment, don't let your landlord see a kerosene or propane heater- they can get in a ton of trouble, and usually the solution to such a problem is an eviction.

Of course, while this is all happening your pipes and plumbing fixtures will freeze, so know how to drain your plumbing before the building chills down.

I've spent a lot of time outdoors in the cold, sometimes for a month or more at a time. Nothing makes it pleasant, but it can be survived.

Yes and if you make quilts, find ones that don't shrink, they are better than the batting.

Here is one other thing that can be made, if you can get big sample of upholstery. I had some, did not know what to do with them. One day I sewed them together in 5 square or more and then did this until they were gone. I sewed them together and put a backing on them, I thought a throw. It turn into the size of a quilt, I washed it, no shrinking happened. It turned out to be lighter and warmer than a wool blanket.

Light a match and fart!!

You want to make a small place where you and other members of your family/group stay. Conserves body heat. Block all windows and doorways to the small area. The candles and rocket stove or flower pot heater will keep you from freezing. Make two if needed. Also you can use the oil in your tuna cans as a heat source.

I can tell you from experience Kerosene heaters will KILL YOU, if they are not properly ventilated and that means you will be loosing as much heat as you are making ...

close off the apt and stay in one room - hang blankets on nails if you have too - over the windows - stuff towels under the doors ... candles or oil lamps will keep the chill off - you need to store lots of water to flush your toilet ... DRESS warmly - and cuddle

Thermals and 5 layers of blankets

Thermals and 5 layers of blankets

Oldest trick in the book.......start a moderately sized fire in your kitchen sink.

Start by laying down some newspaper or soiled toilet paper. Next, lay some twigs on top, or pieces of your furniture if you have no access to twigs.

Douse with roughly 1 quart of gasoline, or lighter fluid.

Ignite. Crack your window slightly and enjoy the warmth!


Best part is, when and if this causes any problems whatsoever...

Just turn the faucet on to extinguish your heat source

Pay no attention to this insane poster

Here's just something I do for the house whenever the power fails. Whats the first problem in winter? heat.
Pipes freeze, explode and you freeze to death. You could use the trickle theory and let the water drip hot and cold in any spigots. No need.
Hopefully any homeowner could afford a a $500 20amp inverter generator for insurance. These units are typically very small and portable. When the power goes out, I supply power to the gas furnace through an extension cord. If you're not capable of doing this easy wiring, hire an electrician. he can set it up for you, to plug right in if the power goes out. A switch and some wire is all that is needed.
Typically the gas stays on but there is no power for the blower and the ignitor. If you plug your gas forced air furnace into a 20 amp circuit it will still run and heat the house. After the blower starts up and is running you can plug an LED tv in, as well as the cable box and watch cable, all while enjoying the heated house. Most blowers need 15-18 amps to start and 9-11 amps to run. You have almost 10 amps - 1000 watts to run other things too.

One of these little guys works perfectly.
[link to www.amazon.com]

That's bullshit. If you were in Florida and wanted to take the chill off one of those "cold" 65 degree nights that might work. I'd be frozen stiff dead by morning with 3 dozen of those going in my place tonight.

Yeah I saw that. kinda hard to believe that it could heat more than a small room. I guess if you had one in every room that it might work.

I guess that works if you're a drug addict strung out on heroin.

Most normal people don't want to burnt gasoline soot all over the walls and have to throw out everything because its coated with hydrocarbons from a gasoline fire. Id rather take my chance on burst fuckin pipes before doing that

This is what I am planning on doing. I bought fourty pounds of ice melter from ace hardware. Put four cups of ice melter into a five gallon ziplock. Put one cup of water into a ziplock sandwich bag. Put the water bag into the ice melter bag. Push the air out as your sealing the gallon bag, it doesn't have to be air tight you just need to be able to squeeze to other bag to pop it open. Pop open the water and let the chemical reaction take place. Heat will be generated from the ice melt getting wet and you will have huge hand warmers that you can carefully place onto your bodies. You wouldn't want to pop it open, wet = death but it could also save your freezing lives...

Spirit Level II