24/7 EMERGENCY SERVICE CALL US ANYTIME

4 Ways to Survive a Broken Furnace in the Winter

There is nothing quite like sitting in your warm house when the temperatures outside begin to drop. You can snuggle up with a good book, drink a hot cup of tea, and enjoy the comforts of home. That is until your furnace breaks and you are forced back into the days before central heating. A broken furnace during the winter can be an extremely uncomfortable and sometimes dangerous situation. In this post, we will introduce some ways to stay warm when your furnace fails you as you await an HVAC technician that can make your cold house a warm home again. 

Reasons Your Furnace Might Break 

Your furnace can break for a number of reasons, but let’s look at some of the most common ways that your heating system can fail. One of the most common reasons that your furnace is not blasting hot air is because of clogged or dirty filters. If air intake is hindered, your furnace can not function properly. Another common reason for furnace failure is pilot light malfunctions. A pilot light serves as the ignition source for the gas in many furnaces, so if your pilot light flame appears yellow as opposed to the standard blue color, you may have an issue. 

Staying Warm With a Broken Furnace 

So, your furnace is broken and it is twenty degrees outside. You called the HVAC technician, but they can’t fit you in their schedule until tomorrow. How are you going to stay warm? Luckily, because of your house’s insulation, it will take a while for the heat to escape your house completely, but here are some ways to stay warm until the technician arrives:

  1. One of the easiest things that you can do to keep heat in your house is to close all of your curtains. If you don’t have curtains, you can hang blankets up over your windows. This will keep the heat trapped inside your house and prevent it from radiating out of your windows. 
  1. If you can, lighting a fire in your fireplace is also a tried and true way to bring some warmth into your house. If you don’t have a fireplace, space heaters are a fantastic alternative. 
  1. A great way to stay warm is to layer up. Coats and jackets work wonders to keep up warm outside, so wearing them inside should be no different. 
  1. You can also make a hot meal to keep you warm. Hot food raises our internal temperatures so throwing some soup on the stove or making a fresh pot of coffee can be an effective way to stay warm when your furnace goes out. 

If your furnace goes out during a particularly cold day/night, it is always best to set an appointment with a HVAC technician as early as possible.

Repair Your Broken Furnace With Ellis AC

Don’t get stuck in the cold without your furnace. The experts at Ellis AC can keep your HVAC systems in check so you don’t have to worry about freezing in the winter or sweating in the summer. Give us a call or fill out our contact form if you have a broken furnace that needs to be fixed and Ellis AC will be there to help!

Scroll to Top