The cold will not hurt you. The shortcut might.
When the heat goes out, the dangerous part is usually what people reach for next. Here is what is safe, what is never safe, and how to protect the pipes until help arrives.
Licensed technicians
Quick answer
When the heat goes out, call for service, then close off the house to one warm room and wear layers. Never bring a generator, barbecue, camp stove or charcoal indoors, and never heat with the gas oven. Keep taps dripping if the house is dropping toward freezing, and leave if indoor temperatures keep falling.
Key takeaways
- Health Canada is blunt: "Do not use a fuel burning generator indoors or in your garage or shed."
- Ontario says to use barbecues outdoors only, and "never use barbeques inside garages, even if the garage door is open."
- Electric space heaters, blankets and layers are the safe options. Anything that burns fuel is not.
- Water in the pipes is usually the expensive casualty, not the furnace.
- Two quick checks are worth doing before you call, and they take under a minute.
Before you call, two quick checks
When the heat goes out, do these first. They take a minute and they occasionally solve it outright.
Check the thermostat is set to heat and above room temperature, and that its batteries are not flat. Then check the furnace switch, which looks like an ordinary light switch on or near the unit, and the breaker in the panel.
If the blower is running but the air is cool rather than absent, that is a different problem with its own fixes. See furnace blowing cold air. If it starts and stops in short bursts, see furnace short cycling. This article is for the case where nothing happens at all.
The shortcuts that kill people
This is the part that matters. Every winter, people in cold houses reach for something that burns fuel, and carbon monoxide is what follows.
Ontario explains where it comes from. Carbon monoxide forms when fuels such as propane, natural gas or wood "do not burn completely in fuel-burning appliances and devices." You cannot smell it, and the first symptoms look like something else entirely: headaches, nausea, dizziness, confusion and drowsiness.
Generators. Health Canada does not hedge. "Do not use a fuel burning generator indoors or in your garage or shed." Ontario adds that portable generators belong outdoors in well-ventilated areas, away from openings.
Barbecues and charcoal. "Only use gas and charcoal barbeques outside, away from all doors, windows, vents and other building openings," Ontario states, and "never use barbeques inside garages, even if the garage door is open."
Camp stoves and outdoor heaters. Health Canada's rule covers the whole category: never operate outdoor equipment that uses fuel, charcoal or wood inside a home, garage or shed.
The gas oven. A kitchen range is built to cook, not to heat a house. Running it with the door open for hours is the same gamble as the others.
The car in the garage. "Do not idle vehicles in the garage, even when the garage door is open."
Safe ways to hold the heat
The safe list is shorter than people expect, and it works better than they expect.
Pick one room and live in it. A room with a south-facing window, away from the coldest exterior walls, holds its temperature longest. Close the doors to every room you are not using and put a rolled towel at the bottom of the door.
Open the curtains on sunny windows during the day and close every curtain and blind at dusk. Layer clothing rather than piling on one thick coat, because trapped air between layers is what holds warmth.
Electric heat is fine. A plug-in space heater, an electric blanket or a heated mattress pad all run on electricity and produce no combustion gases. Give a space heater a metre of clear space. Plug it straight into the wall rather than an extension cord, and switch it off before sleeping.
If a carbon monoxide alarm sounds
Health Canada's instruction is short and in order. "Leave your home immediately and move to fresh air." "Do not try to locate the source of carbon monoxide." "Once outside, call 9-1-1, your local fire department or emergency services." "Return to your home only after the problem has been fixed by a professional."
If you smell gas, leave first and call Enbridge Gas at 1-866-763-5427 from outside. For where alarms belong and what Ontario law requires, see our guide to the carbon monoxide alarm rules.
The pipes, not the furnace
A furnace that fails is a repair. A pipe that freezes and splits is a renovation. On a long outage the plumbing is the thing worth protecting.
Open the cabinet doors under the kitchen and bathroom sinks so household warmth reaches the pipes behind them. Let a cold tap run at a thin steady trickle, on the fixtures furthest from where the water enters the house. Moving water is far harder to freeze than still water.
Know where the main shut-off is before you need it. If a pipe does freeze, the split usually shows up when it thaws. Being able to close the main in the dark is worth the ten seconds it takes to find it now.
Watch for the house heading below roughly 10°C indoors with help still hours away. That is the point to think about draining the system or leaving.
What this means in Utopia
Utopia sits along County Road 21 in Essa Township, a short drive west of Barrie. Most homes here are on generous lots, many of them larger two-storey houses with open great rooms and finished basements.
That layout works against you during an outage. A great room with high ceilings sheds warmth quickly, and a finished basement puts living space over cold ground. Closing the house down to one ordinary-sized room on the main floor makes a bigger difference here than it would in a compact bungalow.
Rural properties have one more thing to watch. A house that sits empty for part of the week can lose heat for a long time before anyone notices. A thermostat with a low-temperature alert costs little and tells you before the pipes do.
Safe, and never
| Option | Indoors? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Electric space heater | Yes, with clear space | No combustion, no exhaust |
| Electric blanket or heated pad | Yes | No combustion |
| Layers, blankets, one closed room | Yes | Costs nothing, works |
| Fuel-burning generator | Never | Health Canada: not indoors, not in a garage or shed |
| Gas or charcoal barbecue | Never | Ontario: outdoors only, never in a garage |
| Camp stove, patio heater, charcoal | Never | Outdoor equipment, outdoor use only |
| Gas oven with the door open | Never | Built to cook, not to heat a house |
| Idling a car in the garage | Never | Health Canada: not even with the door open |
When to leave
Staying put when the heat goes out is reasonable for a few hours in a well-sealed house. It stops being reasonable in three situations.
Leave if a carbon monoxide alarm sounds, which is not a decision but an instruction. Leave if indoor temperatures keep dropping and the repair is still many hours out. And leave if anyone in the house is elderly, very young, pregnant or unwell, because those are the people the cold reaches first.
Somewhere warm for the night is cheaper than a burst pipe, and far cheaper than the alternative.
Talk to Aire One Barrie
No heat right now? Call us. We run emergency service around the clock and cover Utopia, Angus, Thornton and the rest of Essa Township from our Barrie shop.
- 24/7 emergency service, including weekends and holidays
- A realistic arrival time when you call, not a vague window
- Bonded, factory trained and licensed technicians
Frequently asked questions
What should I do first when the heat goes out?
Check the thermostat is on heat and above room temperature, then check the furnace switch and the breaker. If that changes nothing, call for service and close the house down to one room while you wait.
Can I heat my house with the gas oven or a barbecue?
No. Ontario says to use gas and charcoal barbecues outside only, and never inside a garage even with the door open. A kitchen range is built to cook, not to heat a home, and both release carbon monoxide indoors.
Is it safe to run a generator in the garage?
No. Health Canada states plainly: do not use a fuel burning generator indoors or in your garage or shed. Portable generators belong outdoors in a well-ventilated spot, away from doors, windows and vents.
How do I stop the pipes freezing during an outage?
Open the cabinet doors under sinks so household warmth reaches the pipes, and let a cold tap run at a thin trickle on the fixtures furthest from the water entry. Find the main shut-off before you need it.
When should we leave the house?
Leave immediately if a carbon monoxide alarm sounds. Also leave if the indoor temperature keeps falling with the repair still hours away, or if anyone in the house is elderly, very young, pregnant or unwell.
Sources
- Health Canada, Carbon monoxide: preventing exposure — generators and outdoor fuel-burning equipment indoors, idling vehicles in a garage, and the steps to take when an alarm sounds.
- Government of Ontario, Carbon monoxide safety — how carbon monoxide forms, barbecue and generator rules, and the symptoms of exposure.
- Aire One Barrie, Furnace repair in Utopia — local coverage and emergency service across Essa Township.
- Aire One Barrie, Furnace repair — 24/7 emergency service across Barrie and Simcoe County.
The charts on this page are illustrations drawn for this article, not photographs.
