How would you rate your winter emergency preparedness? Could you ride out a power outage? If you haven’t even thought about it, you probably should, especially with winter just around the corner. Follow these tips in order to make sure that you're prepared in the event of a winter outage.
Flashlight – If you lose power during the night, you will want a flashlight in order to get around your darkened home.
Radio – Have a portable radio available so you can monitor weather and emergency information as it is updated throughout the storm.
Batteries – Always have extra batteries around so that your radio and flashlight don’t die on you.
Storm windows – Install storm windows to protect your windows from storm damage and to help insulate your home. When you lose power, you also lose your heating system, and you’ll want to keep what heat you have trapped in your home for as long as possible.
Water supply – Have plenty of bottled water to drink, as well as clean water that you can use to wash.
Electronics – Use surge protectors to avoid blow outs on electronics such as your TV and computer. If the power goes out, make sure to turn everything off. Once the power goes on, you will want to make sure the surge of energy doesn’t damage anything. Leave a single light switch on so that you know when the power has been restored.
Fireplace – Have your fireplace and chimney inspected before winter. This way you can use it if the power goes out.
Follow some of these simple tips in order to improve your winter emergency preparedness. For more information on winter emergency preparedness, contact Air Assurance. We have built an excellent reputation over the years for our customer service in Broken Arrow.
Our goal is to help educate our customers in the Tulsa and Broken Arrow, Oklahoma area about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). Image courtesy of Shutterstock