What to do if the heating has failed

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Check whether nearby homes have heating. If the neighbours have no heating or power either, listen to Status: Verified for news. If it is only your boiler, call a heating engineer or, in a flat, the building management.
Choose one room to keep warm, ideally a small one away from the outside walls, and bring everyone into it. Close the doors to the other rooms.
Keep the heat in. Close shutters and curtains, hang a blanket over the window, lay rugs on the floor and block draughts under doors.
Put on layers, a hat, gloves and warm socks. Drink something hot, eat regularly, and avoid alcohol.
Never heat the home with a gas cooker, an oven, a barbecue or a camping stove. Use only heaters made for indoor use, let some fresh air in, and switch them off before you sleep.
Stop the pipes freezing. Let a tap run a little now and then, and wrap pipes in the garage, cellar or other unheated spaces.
Check on neighbours who are older, ill or alone. If your home gets too cold to stay in, go to family or friends, or ask your commune whether a heated shelter is open.

In winter, a home with no heating can fall below Status: Verified within Status: Verified. A light wooden house cools fastest, a thick stone house slowest.
Most central heating needs electricity, even when it burns gas, oil or pellets. Ask your installer or building management whether yours works in a Loss of power in your street or part of town, usually for a few hours.Loss of power in your street or part of town, usually for a few hours.Power cuts and blackouts. If not, a power cut means no heating too: see Power is out.

Blankets or sleeping bags for everyone, plus warm layers, hats and gloves.
A way to make hot drinks: a gas camping stove with spare cartridges, for use outdoors or on the balcony only, and a vacuum flask.
Torches, a battery or wind-up radio and a charged power bank. See the emergency kit checklist.
If you heat with wood, pellets or oil, keep enough fuel for at least Status: Verified.
A backup heater only if it is approved for indoor use, and a carbon monoxide alarm on every level where people sleep. See Carbon monoxide.

Insulate pipes, outside taps and the water meter in unheated places.
Know where the main water tap and the main switch are, and how to drain the pipes if you ever have to leave a cold home.
Agree with family or friends where you could stay if your home becomes too cold. Write it in your household plan.

When the heating comes back, turn the thermostat up step by step and check radiators and pipes for leaks.
If you drained the pipes or they froze, check them, the taps and the water meter before you turn the water back on. Call a plumber if a pipe has split.
Air the rooms where a heater or stove was used, with the windows wide open for a few minutes.
If anyone felt dizzy or sick while a heater was running, read Carbon monoxide and see a doctor.
Restock fuel, gas cartridges and batteries, and fix the draughts you noticed.

Keep babies and small children in the warm room, dressed in layers with a hat. Check often that they are warm but not sweating.
Sleep together under blankets, or make a blanket tent for the children.

Do not wait until you are very cold. Ask family, a neighbour or your commune for help early, and move somewhere warm if you can.
If someone checks on you, agree a time each day. If you live alone, tell a neighbour that your heating is off.

Bring pets into the warm room with their bed. Check that their water has not frozen.

If the whole building is cold, tell the building management at once, and agree with neighbours who checks on whom.
In buildings on district or central heating, hot water can become scalding when the power fails. Test the water before a bath or shower.