Winter outages fail differently
In summer, losing power is unpleasant. Food is at risk, the house gets warm, and you wait.
In winter, the house itself is at risk. An unheated house in a hard freeze loses temperature steadily, and when the plumbing reaches freezing the damage is measured in thousands of dollars and weeks of repairs. That makes the winter kit a different list with different priorities.
The second difference is that winter outages last longer. Ice loads break lines and limbs across a wide area, and crews restore more slowly because they are working in the same conditions that caused the damage.
The load is the blower, not the heat
This surprises people, and it is the single most useful thing on this page: a gas or oil furnace makes heat by burning fuel. Electricity only runs the blower, the igniter and the controls.
| Heating equipment | Running watts | Starting watts |
|---|
| Furnace fan (½ HP) | 300–800 | 800–1,600 |
|---|
| Furnace fan (¼ HP) | 600 | 1,000 |
|---|
| Furnace fan (⅛ HP) | 300 | 500 |
|---|
| Electric space heater | 750–1,500 | — |
|---|
Half-horsepower and space heater figures from Champion Power Equipment's published wattage chart; the by-horsepower breakdown from Honda Power Equipment's wattage estimation guide. Ranges are the manufacturers' own. An electric furnace or heat pump with resistance strips is a completely different and far larger load.
So a modest battery can keep a whole gas-heated house above freezing, which is a much better use of stored energy than a space heater. A 1,500W heater warms one room and empties a 2kWh battery in under 90 minutes; the same battery running a 500W blower heats the entire house for four hours or more. The full wattage chart has the rest.
The catch is that a furnace is hardwired. That is why the transfer switch above is on this list and not on the summer one — connecting a generator to the house is the winter-specific problem to solve in advance.
The pipes are the real clock
The Building Research Council at the University of Illinois established a "temperature alert threshold" of 20°F for uninsulated pipes — the outside temperature at which freezing began in field tests of pipes in an unconditioned attic. Pipes exposed to moving cold air through gaps or missing insulation can freeze above that.
A burst pipe is not caused by ice crushing the pipe. Ice forms a blockage, and water pressure builds between that blockage and a closed faucet downstream until something gives. Which is why the standard advice works:
- Let a cold tap drip on faucets served by exposed pipes. The Red Cross notes that even a trickle helps.
- Open cabinet doors under kitchen and bathroom sinks so warmer air reaches the plumbing.
- Hold one temperature day and night. The Red Cross advises suspending nighttime setbacks during extreme cold — a higher heating bill against a far costlier repair.
- Never leave the house below 55°F if you go away in cold weather.
If the outage will outlast your ability to hold the house above freezing, draining the system and leaving is a legitimate decision, not a defeat. Make it early, while the roads are still passable.
The kit
Power
- A battery, kept indoors and fully charged. Charge it when the forecast appears, not when the lights go out.
- A generator with electric start if outages where you live run past a day.
- A transfer switch or inlet box, installed in the fall, so the furnace is reachable at all.
- Cords rated for outdoor cold, run through a door or window with the exhaust well away from it.
Heat and light
- Warm layers, hats and wool blankets. Ready.gov's cold-exposure guidance is to warm the core first — chest, neck, head and groin — and to stay dry and wrapped up including the head and neck.
- Sleeping bags rated below the temperature you expect indoors, not outdoors.
- Flashlights and headlamps with spare batteries. No candles: house fires spike during winter outages.
- One room chosen in advance to close off and heat — smallest, most interior, fewest windows.
Safety
- CO alarms with battery backup on every level, tested, and within their printed expiration date.
- Smoke alarms tested at the same time. It is the same five minutes.
- A battery or hand-crank radio for utility and weather updates.
House and food
- Water: pipes may freeze, and a well pump has no power at all. Fill the tub before the storm arrives.
- Food that needs no cooking, and a manual can opener.
- Ready.gov puts a closed refrigerator at about four hours and a full freezer at about 48 — the freezer is your real cold storage. In hard freezes a cooler on a sheltered porch works, but not in direct sun.
- Ice melt and a shovel to keep a path to the generator clear.
- Phones and power banks charged, and the car's tank full — Ready.gov lists a full tank of gas among winter supplies for good reason.
Carbon monoxide, which winter makes worse
Every dangerous shortcut becomes tempting when it is 15°F, and the same three appear every year: the generator moved into the garage to keep it out of the snow, the unvented heater brought indoors, and the gas oven left open to warm a kitchen.
Ready.gov's rules do not change because it is cold:
- Generators and fuel outdoors only, at least 20 feet from windows, doors and attached garages.
- Never heat a home with a gas stovetop or oven.
- Keep the generator dry and protected from rain — which in winter means a purpose-made running cover, not a tarp and not a shed.
- Connect appliances with heavy-duty extension cords, and let the generator cool before refueling.
- Working CO alarms on every level of the home.
Snow adds one hazard the summer guidance does not mention: drifting can block a generator's exhaust or bury its air intake. Clear around it, and clear it again after every few hours of snowfall. The full safety guidance.
Do this in October
Everything on this page is cheaper, easier and available in the fall. During a storm warning, generators, cords and fuel cans sell out within hours, and no electrician will come to fit a transfer switch.
- Run the generator under load for fifteen minutes and change the oil.
- Rotate the stored fuel and treat the fresh batch.
- Test every CO and smoke alarm and check the expiration dates.
- Charge the battery and confirm it holds.
- Get the transfer switch or inlet box fitted if you do not have one.
The seasonal maintenance routine is under an hour, twice a year. It is the difference between equipment you own and equipment that works.
