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How to prepare your home for a winter power outage

By Nazrul Islam. Updated October 11, 2026.

Winter power outage checklist: what to have before the storm

Ready.gov’s basic kit and the Red Cross winter storm list overlap on the essentials. Ready.gov calls for several days of supplies. The Red Cross suggests a stay-at-home kit with about two weeks of supplies.

• Water: 1 gallon per person per day, for drinking and sanitation.
• Food: non-perishable food that needs no cooking, plus a manual can opener.
• Light: flashlights or battery lanterns and extra batteries. Avoid candles.
• Phone power: your phone, its charger and a charged backup battery (power bank).
• Radio: a battery or hand-crank radio, ideally a NOAA Weather Radio with tone alert.
• Medications: the Red Cross suggests a one-month supply.
• Medical devices: backup batteries for anything that needs power.
• First aid kit, a whistle, wet wipes, garbage bags and a wrench or pliers to turn off utilities.
• Warm gear: hats, gloves, layers and extra blankets or sleeping bags.
• Coolers and ice to extend food refrigeration.
• A working CO alarm on each level of the home and outside sleeping areas.

How much water to store

Water = people × days × 1 gallon

Add extra for pets. If you have a private well, an outage also stops your well pump, so storing water matters more.

How to stay warm without power, safely

Heat leaves a house faster than most people expect. So shrink the space you need to keep warm. University of Georgia Extension specialists suggest these steps:

1. Pick one room on the sheltered side of the house, away from the wind and large windows. Interior rooms lose less heat.
2. Close it off. Shut the doors to other rooms. Hang blankets, bedding or shower curtains over doors and windows, especially at night.
3. Dress in layers. Wear hats, gloves and loose layers. Body heat is your main heat source now.
4. Use the bed. In severe cold, a bed piled with blankets may be the warmest place in the house.

If the house gets too cold, leave. The Red Cross suggests knowing in advance where you would go, such as a friend’s home, a library or a warming center.

What never to use for heat indoors

Carbon monoxide (CO) has no smell or color. CPSC warns a generator used indoors can kill you in minutes. The Red Cross and CPSC are clear:

• Never heat with an oven or stove (gas or electric).
• Never use a grill, camp stove or outdoor heater indoors, including in a garage.
• Never run a car in a garage to charge phones or warm up, even with the garage door open.
• Avoid fuel-burning space heaters indoors unless the heater is rated for indoor use, vented as the manufacturer directs, and you have working CO alarms.
• Never run a generator inside a home, garage, basement, crawlspace or shed, and CPSC warns against running one on a porch or in a carport. Opening doors or windows does not let out enough CO.
• Run a generator outside only, at least 20 feet from the house, with the exhaust pointed away from windows, doors and vents.
• Never plug a generator into a wall outlet; use a transfer switch installed by an electrician.

The CPSC estimates that nearly 100 people die in the U.S. each year from CO poisoning caused by portable generators.

CO alarm rules from the CPSC: put battery-operated or battery-backup alarms on each level and outside sleeping areas. Test them monthly. If one sounds, get outside right away, then call 911. During an outage, a plug-in alarm without a battery backup does nothing.

Know the signs of CO poisoning: headache, dizziness, nausea and confusion. If anyone has them, get to fresh air and call 911.

If you burn wood in a fireplace or stove, keep CO and smoke alarms near it and have the chimney inspected before you depend on it.

How long does a house stay warm without heat?

It depends heavily on how well the house is sealed and insulated. In RMI: Hours of Safety in Cold Weather (Feb 2020), the energy research group modeled five home types in Duluth, Minnesota, in December weather with the heat off. It measured the hours until the indoor temperature fell below 40°F.

These are computer simulations for one very cold place. A milder climate will likely stretch these times. But they show that an older, leaky home can get dangerously cold within a day.

How to keep pipes from freezing when the power is out

When the heat goes off, pipes in exterior walls, crawl spaces and under sinks freeze first. The Red Cross suggests:

• Let cold water trickle from faucets fed by exposed pipes. This does nothing on a private well when the pump has no power.
• Open kitchen and bathroom cabinet doors so warmer room air reaches the pipes.
• If a faucet only trickles, a pipe may be frozen. Thaw it with a hair dryer or heating pad once power returns. Never use an open flame.
• If the house will be unheated for days, shut off the main water and drain the plumbing.

For a full plan, see how to keep pipes from freezing.

How long is food safe in the fridge and freezer?

Keep the doors closed. These times from FoodSafety.gov assume you do.

If the power is off more than 4 hours, throw out refrigerated perishables such as meat, poultry, fish, eggs, milk, soft cheese and leftovers unless a thermometer shows they stayed at 40°F or below. Put an appliance thermometer in the fridge and freezer before the storm so you know.

Frozen food can be refrozen if it still has ice crystals or is at 40°F or below. Never taste food to decide if it is safe. When in doubt, throw it out.

The Red Cross suggests coolers and ice to keep food cold longer.

Medical devices and medications

If someone in your home relies on oxygen, a CPAP, a powered wheelchair, a home dialysis machine or refrigerated medicine:

• Register with your utility. NYC Emergency Management advises registering with your power company so it can contact you in an emergency. Ask whether your equipment qualifies you for a life-sustaining equipment program.
• Make a plan with your doctor or device supplier, including how to store refrigerated medicines without power.
• Keep backup batteries charged, and know how long each device runs on them.
• Know when to leave. The Red Cross advises evacuating if a device you need cannot run without power.

How much backup power do you need?

Add up the energy each device uses over the outage, in watt-hours (Wh).

Wh = watts × hours of use

Check each device’s label. Here is an example for one day:

A power station loses roughly 10 to 15% converting battery power to outlet power. So this list needs 2,156 ÷ 0.85 ≈ 2,536, or about 2,550 Wh of battery for a full day. Run the fridge in shifts to cut that sharply. Our power station size calculator does this math for your own list. For fridge numbers, see how many watts a refrigerator uses. For what one mid-size unit handles, see what a 1,000Wh power station can run.

Electric heat is the hard part. A 1,500 W space heater empties a 1,000Wh power station in about 30 minutes, if the unit can supply that much power at all. See space heater cost to run. For multi-day outages and heavy loads, compare a power station vs. a generator.

Recharging from the grid is cheap: refilling about 2.5 kWh costs roughly 46 cents at EIA’s 2026 forecast average of 18.2¢ per kWh, plus a little for charging losses.

How to report a power outage

Check for a tripped breaker or blown fuse first. If that is not the cause, report the outage to your power company. Save its outage number, website and outage map in your phone before the storm.

How to stay informed when the power is out

A NOAA Weather Radio is the most reliable option. The National Weather Service runs more than 1,000 transmitters covering all 50 states, broadcasting 24 hours a day. It needs a dedicated receiver. Pick a battery or hand-crank model with a tone alert, as Ready.gov suggests.

Save your phone battery for calls and alerts. Lower the screen brightness and close apps you do not need.

What to do when the power comes back

1. Unplug electronics and appliances during the outage, so a surge on restoration does not damage them. If many appliances restart at once, they can also overload circuits. Leave one lamp switched on so you know when power returns.
2. Plug things back in one at a time after power is steady.
3. Leave tripped breakers alone. The Red Cross advises calling an electrician to inspect them before turning them on.
4. Do not relight gas yourself if the gas was shut off. Only a qualified professional should turn a gas line back on.
5. Check your food with a thermometer and the 40°F rule above.
6. Check for frozen or leaking pipes, especially in exterior walls and crawl spaces.
7. Restock your kit, recharge power banks and replace used batteries.

For the rest of your cold-weather prep, see the winterize your house checklist.

Quick answers

Can I use my gas oven to heat my house? No. Never heat with an oven or stove (gas or electric). The Red Cross warns it can cause carbon monoxide poisoning.

What is the warmest room in a house during a power outage? Usually a small interior room on the side away from the wind, with doors closed and blankets over windows and doorways.

Should I unplug appliances during a power outage? Yes. Unplug electronics and appliances so a surge does not damage them when power returns, then plug them back in one at a time.