Surviving without heat

[wally]

Just curious. Is it possible for a person to survive winter in the northern states of the USA without heat in their homes? While I realize it's not going to be comfortable, is it still possible to survive? I know people that can not get thru a summer without air conditioning, while I never have had AC in the summer. I use a fan and thats about it. There are a few severe days when it gets tough, but I cope with it. But heat seems like a necessity, while having AC seems to be more of a luxury. I could be wrong, and that is why I am asking. I am referring to average winters in a climate where the temps are generally in the 10s to 30s most of the winter, and may drop to minus 10 or even 20 for ten or twenty days during the winter. Living in a standard frame (insulated) house, with no heat whatsoever.

[Bob]

Homeless people do it all the time.

[Joseph Meehan]

Sure, but it certainly not be comfortable. I can't imagine anyone wanting to do it. I would also suggest that it is going to need a few skills that not everyone has. It also likely would contribute to an increased risk of death do to the cold.

[buffalobill]

[robson]

Sure. People live under bridges, in sanicare boxes, cardboard boxes.

[m Ransley]

So you though homeless check into a hotel at night, wake up.

[hallerb]

frozen pipes and toliets, increased risk of fires and carbon monoxide poisioning from space heater or fireplace use. paint and plaster peal from freeze thaw.

better if your broke to reduce heat to just above freezing and tough it out.

living in say basement and not heating and sealing off upper floors is another cost cutting option.

[kimmell]

Without ANY heat? Probably not. Unless you're an eskimo.

My uncle owns a cabin on the Mississippi river and we go there during winter with no central heat. The only heat we have is a wood stove and one of those electric oil-filled radiator heaters in the bathroom. It actually keeps quite cozy in there.

Now if you'd expect me to go up there with no firewood you'd be crazy...

-T.

[e-mail] wrote:

[Handi]

Obviously this fellow doesn't live "in the northern states of the USA". Even the homeless can't live without heat.

Without heat there's no running water. No running water means no water for washing, bathing or toilets. Still think you can live without heat?

Here in Canada our homeless people disappear at the first sign of snow. They likely go where every other Canadian wishes they could go, Florida!

In all seriousness though, the plight of the homeless is not a laughing matter. The cost of housing across America simply doesn't match the "minimum wage" income. Many homeless people don't live in cardboard boxes, they live in their cars. Bu this discussion is better suited to another newsgroup.

Handi

[Joseph Meehan]

I live in the Northern US and believe me the homeless do live outside without heat in the winter.

That does not stop someone from living under those conditions. While they will need some sort of heat to melt the water, it need not be heating a building.

[Tony Hwang]

Hi, Are you trolling? Or I question your common sense. Survive for few days? Yes, even outdoor. Your boy scout woodsman training should've taken care of it. For whole winter? you may not die but miserable frostbite for one thing. Can you wash in ice cold water? Yuck! Tony

[SQLit]

"I know people that can not get thru a summer without air conditioning" Absolutely daft statement,,,, lets see Africa, South America, Australia, and Mexico just to name a few.

Sure you can do it. But your plumbing will be the worse for it. Keeping a home above freezing when there is water in the pipes is just good sense.

[CJT]

The pipes would freeze, and it's hard to live without water.

[Michael Daly]

The homeless don't disappear or take vacations. They still sleep on the street but add insulation - sleeping bags etc. They also find warmer places to sleep - like near ground-level heating duct outlets.

One can make a house that is super-insulated and retains heat generated by usage - lights, TV, people. However, it is a very difficult task and expensive to build. Passive solar with a heat backup source is easier to do.

Mike

[gfretwell]

We used to do it in a hunting cabin in Md all the time. You basically have a wooden tent. If you didn't bring it, you didn't have it. As I got older we upgraded our accomedations.

[Mark & Mary Ann Weiss]

I basically do this, but my home is self-built and super insulated. A 100W lightbulb keeps my daughter's room at 69ºF when it's 15ºF outside. My computers heat my downstairs studio. We do have a furnace, and on especially cold nights, it will run once for 15 minutes until the walls heat up again. If the next day is sunny, solar heat keeps the upstairs warm. Sometimes it even exceeds 70ºF with the sun's heat. We keep thermostat at 63ºF overnight. Rarely does the house temperature fall below that. Right now, it's 7ºF outside with 50mph winds bashing the trees to heck and it's warm and comfy in here, despite the furnace being off since early this morning (14 hours ago). I also have a MagicHeat heat reclaimer (exchanger) on the exit flue of the furnace. It produces 50,000BTUs of heat from the waste heat that normally goes out the chimney. That heats the workshop area of the basement to almost uncomfortably warm temperatures while the furnace burner is running it's 12 minute cycle. I have R50 in the walls and R70 in the ceilings, plus foil behind the sheetrock, tied to electrical ground for RF shielding from a radio tower down the street, but it seems to help reflect the heat back into the room as well. Walls are sheetrock, foil, 6 mil poly sheet, 6" fiberglass, 1" polyisocyanurate foil sandwich, plywood, 30lb felt, masonry/Transite panels exterior. Anderson windows with foam filled frames and low-E glass.

-- Take care,

Mark & Mary Ann Weiss

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