With heating bills rising all the time, it’s no surprise that people cannot longer afford to keep their furnace on like they used to. Whether is a case of budgeting or a true emergency in which your furnace broke and you cannot buy a new one right now, learning to heat your house without a furnace can be a handy thing to know.
Step 1
Seal all doors and windows using masking tape, weather stripping or window-caulk. For doors that don’t touch the floor, get a sand snake or use a rolled up towel to prevent drafts from entering the house. Avoid opening and closing doors and windows all the time to avoid drafts and to prevent heat from leaving the building.
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Step 2
Change your curtains. Instead of a flimsy, silk-like curtain, get heavy drapes for rooms that get little to no sun (and get colder faster) or for those on the windy side of the house. Do keep your curtains open when it’s sunny.
Step 3
Insulate the walls too. Hang heavy curtains or rugs on the walls to keep the place warmer.
Step 4
Try cooking. Rather than using the microwave, turn on the oven and cook some potatoes or bake a cake. Even 15 minutes with the oven on will produce a noticeable increase in the overall temperature of the room. If you live in a small apartment, using the oven may be enough to warm up the whole place.
Step 5
Boil water. Cook something if you must, or simply place a pot full of water on top of the stove and let it produce steam.
Step 6
Put your fireplace to good use. If you’re one of the few lucky people to have a real fireplace in your home, turn it on. Close all windows and doors so the heat won’t escape from the room and pick up enough wood to keep it going for at least a few hours.
Tip
Old houses with wood windows will lose a lot more heat because wood tends to shrink and expand depending on the weather and allowing for drafts to come in or out. If that’s the case, consider replacing them with plastic, double glazed models.
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