How To Conserve Heat And Water During A Deep Freeze
Poor Texans. I feel for you, friends.
Texas got hit with a HARD freeze, mountains of snow, and tons of ice this last weekend.
The power to much of North Texas has been out. But, it hasn’t been JUST the power.
Millions of People are without desperately needed heat, gas in some places, water in a LOT of places, and they have been hit with rolling blackouts to try to cope with this disastrous situation.
Frigid temperatures and widespread power outages are plaguing swaths of Texas for the third straight day Tuesday, sending numerous residents to vehicles, fireplaces and shelters in desperate search of warmth.
CNN Weather
Maybe Texas didn’t get as much snow and ice as some other parts of the country are used to, but they are completely unprepared when it comes to dealing with such low temps, ice, and large amounts of snow.
If there are TWO things that need to be conserved at this time, heat and water are tops on the list.
How To Conserve Heat
Close off rooms to conserve heat
For example, if you have a fireplace, use it. You can then close off any doors that lead to other rooms, keeping the fireplace area nice and toasty warm.
Of course, set up camp with all the blankets you have in the house, and keep your family by the fireplace to stay warm.
Cover windows to keep the heat in
Preferably you would draw the curtains or blinds.
But, if you are like me, you don’t have any blinds or curtains on your windows.
Not a problem. You can use blankets or towels, and put them up in your windows.
This will act to insulate the house just a bit, and you won’t lose all that precious heat through the windows.
If you have candles, light them
Each candle you light will give off a bit of heat, thereby helping to heat up your room.
It’s time to break out all those candles you have been hoarding — or maybe that’s just me.
Close up all those little cracks
You never think about it, but all those doors in your house have little cracks under them.
If you have ever tried to use the restroom in peace, and you have a pet or a toddler, you KNOW all about the cracks under the doors!!
Get towels and blankets, and shove them up under your doors to keep all that heat where you want it.
Use your car heat
This one you have to be careful with. If you get too cold, remember that you can use your car heater to take the edge off a bit of that chill.
BUT, you need to be careful!!!! Carbon Monoxide poisoning is a real thing, and it can happen before you know it.
DO NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE EVER OR AT ALL DO THE FOLLOWING THINGS
- “Bring a generator inside. They should remain 30 feet away from your home.”
- “Use a stove or oven for heat, this can lead to carbon monoxide poisoning.”
How to conserve water
Let your faucets drip
This may seem counterintuitive, but letting your pipes drip water can prevent them from freezing up.
A frozen pipe can mean a burst pipe — which will waste oh-so-much more water than if you just let it drip.
Just a suggestion — from someone who used to live in the mountains with LOTS of winter weather — open up the cabinets under your sinks. This will help heat up the pipes, and HOPEFULLY prevent them from freezing up.
Collect water to use to flush your toilet and wash your hands
Try to do this BEFORE you find yourself without actively running water.
You can stick a bucket under that sink that you let drip, and catch that clean faucet water to then use as you need it.
If you have plenty of snow outside, you can also collect and melt this snow to use in your toilet tank to allow you to flush.
Cover your outdoor pipes and faucets with something insulated
You can find pipe covers at your local hardware store. This will help them not to freeze up.
If the worst happens, and a pipe bursts, turn off the water supply as quickly as possible!
Know where the main water valve is located BEFORE disaster strikes.
This could mean the difference between losing hundreds of gallons of water.
