Emergency Room Heater

Do you ever wonder what would you do during an ice storm, snow storm or simply an emergency situation when you lose power during the Winter months?

First of all, have a plan.

Pick the smallest room in your house, with the least windows.

For our family, the smallest room is our sons room. 

A 10x10 room with only 1 window, facing south.

This room is also the only room in the house that has only one outside wall. 

Next, 

be prepared to make a room heater with very basic things you probably already have in your house.

I already had everything on hand. In fact I had enough to make 3 sets if needed. I ended up having 2 ready to go.

This is what you need for each heater: 

1 kitchen hot pad

1 metal bread pan 

1 (cookies) cooling rack

3-4 tea lights

2 terracotta pots

1 small piece of aluminum foil

Start out by putting the hot pad on the surface where the heater is going to sit.

Put 3-4 tea light inside a metal baking pan.

Top with a cooling rack (you can also use a toaster over rack).

turn the smaller terracotta pot upside down and close the bottom hole with a piece of aluminum foil.

Top the bigger terracotta pot.

When I know we are facing a possible ice storm (hence lose electric power), I have all my things together. 

This heater literally takes 1 minute to assemble.

The tea lights last about 4 hours.

As I say, I have 2 ready to go. 

Many in our city have been without power already. 

We hope it's not the case for us, but better to be always prepared.

This is how this terracotta heater works

source

Other things that might be helpful in preparing for such emergencies:

Fill up as many bottles of drinking water for your family.

If you have young children, keep a few cartons of shelf stable milk (uht milk).

Have ready to eat food in your freezer, such as muffins and breads.

Make sure you have all your electronics charged up, especially cell phones.

***Keep in mind, if you have kids and/or pets, to keep this emergency heater on higher ground, such as counter top or table.***
You can also use this as an outdoor patio heater.

Out of reach.

Stay safe.

Stay Frugal,

Daniela

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