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Fortunately, winter power outages are rare, but when they happen, the outage can create a serious problem. Most heating systems in New Jersey rely on electricity to operate. When the power is out, homes can quickly lose heat, which has a serious physical impact on your family and pets. It’s relatively easy to prepare for an outage by taking a few steps to ensure your safety, especially during a long loss of power.
Since heat is crucial in the winter, take steps to seal the leaks in your home that cause air to come into or leave your home.
Look for gaps between window frames and your home’s exterior.
Use exterior caulk to seal them.
Inspect the weatherstripping on exterior doors. If it’s worn, replace it. Gaps at the bottom of the door cause significant heat losses. It’s easy to add door sweeps to exterior doors to keep out the cold air.
Have enough fresh batteries on hand for flashlights and a portable radio.
Candles help light an area and supply some heat but need to be used with care around children and pets.
Choose a room in your home that stays the warmest. During a power outage, keeping body heat near normal is critical.
Move the furniture away from the walls and hang any extra blankets you have over the windows to keep more heat in the space.
Never bring in a barbecue grill to heat a space.
Turn the power off to your furnace and other electronics.
When the electricity does come back on, power surges can damage appliances and small electronics.
Leave a light on so you know when the power returns.
Learn how to shut the water off to your home and drain your pipes for a prolonged power outage.
Frozen pipes can cause a great deal of costly damage.
If you would like to learn more about safeguarding your heating system or plumbing in a power outage, contact Pipe Works Services. Our goal is to help educate our customers about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about power outages and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide. Pipe Works Services serves Chatham, NJ, and the surrounding areas.
