How To Survive A Cold Winter

I live in a very cold part of the world and winters often get well below zero degrees. I believe 2 winters ago we were at -43 degrees wind chill.

It's me, my wife and four kids. Any advice on how to stay warm in the event of a season long power outage?

I'm a bit concerned about generators as they are loud as hell and would attract A LOT of attention.

 

A good wood stove can typically heat a sizable home.

 

Sleeping bags rated to -35 F below. They are cheap insurance.

 

Wood stove, I am now on my third one, What you want is a stove with the following
1) slow burn so the fire will last all night .
2) you wan to be able to see the fire what my friend calls the TV event .
3) you must be able to open up the adjustable vent so that you can cook on it
ie coffee, bacon and eggs pancakes, hamburger and hot dogs just to name a few
4) most important be large enough to heat the hole house just, if it is too big that is not good either .
5) have a large flat top so that you can put many large buckets of water , this will be your hot water tank or reservoir,

 

I live where it never gets all that cold so I don't have to deal with such extreme temperature differences. It is more likely that I will have to deal with 115 degree heat than subzero cold. All that said though I do have some advice to offer.

When I was a kid there was no such thing as central heat. That meant that in the winter there were big temperature differences from room to room. The money we not as free-flowing then as now and we couldn't afford to heat every room. There wasn't a fireplace in every room and then later there wasn't a heater in every room. In the winter we tended to shut down the rooms that we didn't need to reduce the amount of heat and fuel we needed. My grandparents basically lived in two rooms in the winter. the kitchen and the big living room that also had a bed in it.

The houses built for central heat are huge compared to the houses most people used to live in. They are also poorly designed for living in without power. I would recommend that you do as we did it the power goes off and move into a much smaller part of the house. Even now I close off the spare bedrooms during the winter. With the open concept that is now so popular that is going to be hard. There was a reason that houses used to be more separated into smaller rooms with doors.

Where you live I might consider making a "safe" room where you can all gather and limit the heat loss and requirements. If you put enough people into a small enough area just their body heat will warm the room more than you would think. Pick an interior bedroom with as little outside wall exposure as possible and massively insulate it. Add a well-ventalated heater/stove and bedding for how many you have there with lots of blankets or good sleeping bags. If done right it will look pretty normal. The foot-thick insulated walls can look like regular walls and the room can be made into a sort of den or reading room.

Where my family comes from we have storm shelters because of tornados. You need a cold shelter.

 

Modern houses are getting better all the time in terms of energy efficiency but overall building codes are much stricter in the UK/EU than the USA, this house I'm in is about 15 years old and its not bad, well insulated, central heating double glazing etc. Big thing now is building carbon neutral houses which you heat for pennies which I'm all in favor of. First house we had was smaller than this, Victorian and it cost a fortune to keep it warm in the winter bloody awful place and was glad to leave.

 

I can help you. Email me at HVAC.gini@gmail.com Ill explain everything you need to know. From power generation to storage of power. even home made fuel. even the noise equation

 

I lived in northern Minnesota for a couple years and it got that kind of cold. I'd recommend a good wood stove and 10 to 12 good cords of firewood. Also have a good fire extinguisher (be safe) and maintain your chimney.

Dale

 

Old Geezer, that’s a whole lotta Rosie!

 

Rocket stove is better. and a burn around the place to brake the wind. Hard wood and a couple of chunks of coal

 

I know a guy in norther Ontario that owns a sand quari. He had a red brick wall 4" thick with 4 inches of sand and then brick again. the house was cool all summer and warm all winter.

 

i a

lso have put heating systems in earth burn home. Boy are they eff. but moisture is a problem

 

Don't like coal for heating. The ash can cause more problems than it solves. Not to mention burning up your grate and firebrick if you let it get to hot. Hardwood is hard to get in northern Minnesota and I suspect the same for much of Canada and AK.

Never owned a rocket stove but the one I used seemed to go through wood way faster than a buck stove or soapstone stove. I can load my soapstone stove and generate heat for 14 hours on one loading.

 

Having lived in northern Alberta for 12 years how far north makes a difference in sunlight.
There is lots of wind most days and enough sun light. I can send you lots of how to videos on power generation including no noise.





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Log3NlFDGU8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zppk7YNF79I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85OmZU3dZpA
The steam engin will out last any generator gas powered. It is much quieter . for days without wind. It can be powered with trash.

 

America's Midwest, it's Breadbasket region, the northern section west of the Mississippi, just got slam-dunked by a blizzard leaving the roads impassable. That is now being followed by an arctic blast of cold winds. Temperatures are going to be dipping down to -10 F (-23 C) even -30 F (-34 C). If you want to go out in that, then you'd better be prepared, else you're dead in lest than an hour. Wind plus subzero temperatures means that exposed skin freezes in less than a minute.

30-30-30 rule: Thirty mile an hour wind with -30 degree ambient temperature means that human skin freezes in 30 seconds. Windchill is a killer. You have to protect your cattle and sheep.

Livestock care:

https://www.dtnpf.com/agriculture/w...24/01/08/livestock-face-risks-extreme-weather

https://beef.unl.edu/beefwatch/2023/windbreaks-protection-and-snow-diversion

https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=windbreaks+for+livestock&form=HDRSC3&first=1&cw=1177&ch=694

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Here's a weather report out of Des Moines, Iowa. Weather conditions are worse up in the Dakotas.

https://www.desmoinesregister.com/s...ational-weather-service-forecast/72189570007/

"While heavy snowfall is moving out of central Iowa, winds will ensure difficult travel conditions stick around.

"As of noon Friday, at least two stretches of highways in western Iowa were listed as "impassable" by the Iowa Department of Transportation and most roads east of Interstate 35 were labeled as 'travel not advised.'

"If you're planning to travel anywhere east of Des Moines, you're likely to encounter difficult conditions and dangerous roads.

"Travel is not on most highways east of I-35 in central and southern Iowa, and all highways in the state are at least partially covered by snow and ice, according to the DOT. Visibility in most of Iowa was less than a mile. In central Iowa visibility ranged between 0.8 mile to 0.5 mile because of blowing snow, according to the Iowa Environmental Mesonet.

" 'As expected, road conditions are going downhill fast this morning with heavy snow and strong winds decreasing visibility and causing drifting on some Iowa roads,' the Iowa DOT wrote on social media.

"The DOT has more than 600 snowplows treating roads throughout the state, but high winds and snows are making travel conditions treacherous, according to Iowa 511. In rural areas snow is drifting across roads quickly after plows clear roads."

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USA Today weather report:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...-forecast-snow-wind-live-updates/72183202007/

"Morning and afternoon highs were not expected to surpass zero degrees across much of Montana and North Dakota on Friday while temperatures in the Central Plains states, including Iowa and Minnesota, were expected to peak around the 10s, according to the National Weather Service. Temperatures could drop as low as minus 40 in parts of the northern Plains. ...

[ -40 F = -40 C ]

"In the Southeast, damaging wind gusts threatening to produce tornadoes concerned meteorologists, especially in the Gulf Coast region. The weather service issued a tornado watch from eastern Texas to western Mississippi. Wind advisories were in effect in eastern Texas, across the Gulf Coast and up through Vermont.

"In the Northeast, the poleward advance of Gulf moisture will lead to yet another round of heavy rain stretching northward into the mid-Atlantic and southern New England by Friday night. Much of the Northeast is still reeling from a winter storm earlier this week that dumped torrential rain over the region, flooding coastal neighborhoods and low-lying areas from New Jersey to Maine.

"Roads across eastern Nebraska, Iowa and northern Illinois were 'completely' covered with snow, slush or ice, according to a regional map of road conditions from the Iowa Department of Transportation. Iowa State Patrol issued a "Life-Threatening Winter Weather Alert" asking people to cease non-essential travel overnight.

"More than 240,000 households were without power as of 10 a.m. Friday, according to a tracker maintained by USA TODAY. Most outages were reported in Illinois, where nearly 100,000 utility customers lost power amid freezing temperatures and intense snowfall."

 

LW is right, its all down to clothing plus, sleeping bags, hot food, hot drinks and staying dry. If your fed and watered with good clothes and sleeping bag you don't need an external heat source.

I've tent camped in Norway at -35c/-31f no problem, don't forget your pee bottle to use instead of going outside and when you fill it it goes in the bottom of your sleeping bag to put out extra heat to your feet.

Ski resorts about 60km away are doing business, we've had a couple of dustings more to come next week maybe. Doubt I'll need it but in the boot/trunk I've got a 24 hour rat pack, Trangia cooker/fuel, extra 3 in 1 nescaffe, Kendal mint cake, water, army arctic sleeping bag, an old RAB down jactet, wool socks and gore-tex (army) jacket and trousers, Boafeng radio, old i5 laptop full of films, Hilleberg Akto/neo-air mattress and it all fits in a large holdall.

Comes end of winter I'll just camp out for a day or two.

 

Crikey! I'd forgotten what it's like living in such cold temperatures. The lowest I've ever been exposed to was when I used to live in Northern England. It was -18 celsius. I used to ride a motorbike in those days. It used to take me 20 minutes just to get dressed. I was fortunate enough to come across a cop's winter bike gear, which was a life saver. People at work used to call me the Michelin Man. Looked ridiculous, but I didn't care.

You know I'm a few stubbies short of slab, but how does -40 F = 40C? That's totally confusing. Hahahaha!

In any case, take care in that weather, which I'm sure you will anyway but nonetheless ...

 

Coming from Australia, I can assure you, I felt every bite of cold! I live in Stanley, which I was told was the windiest town in the UK (I don't know if that was true or not but that's what the locals said).

The damp cold gets into your bones though. I understand exactly what you're saying.