When a winter storm knocks out the power, the first thing you lose is heat. Furnaces, heat pumps, and most space heaters all depend on electricity — so the moment the grid goes down, your home starts getting cold fast. If you've ever sat through a multi-day outage in January, you know how quickly "inconvenient" becomes "dangerous."
This guide covers how to heat your home safely when the power is out, what to avoid, and why a propane heater that needs no electricity is the most reliable backup heat for most households.
Why most heaters fail in a power outage
The problem isn't fuel — it's the fan. Even gas furnaces use an electric blower to push warm air through your ducts and an electronic igniter to light the burner. No power means no blower, no ignition, and no heat. Electric space heaters are obviously out. Battery heaters run down in a few hours. And generators are loud, thirsty, and have to live outside.
That leaves a small category of heaters that can actually run with zero electricity: self-powered propane heaters.
What "self-powered" actually means
The BlazOn EMBER is the world's first self-powered propane heater. A built-in thermoelectric generator converts a small amount of the flame's heat into electricity — enough to run the EMBER's forced-air blower on its own. There's no cord to plug in and no batteries to die. You connect a propane bottle, ignite it, and the heater powers itself for as long as the fuel lasts. That's the whole point: when everything else in your house is dark, the EMBER keeps running.
How to heat your home safely during an outage
- Use a heater rated for indoor use. Many "portable" propane heaters are outdoor-only. The EMBER is CSA certified for indoor and outdoor use, which means it has been independently tested to recognized safety standards.
- Heat one room, not the whole house. Pick a small, well-chosen room — ideally where everyone can gather — and close the doors to keep the warmth in. A single 18,000 BTU heater goes a long way in one room.
- Keep a working CO alarm. Any combustion appliance should be paired with a battery-powered carbon monoxide alarm. Test it before storm season.
- Crack a window for fresh air. A small amount of ventilation keeps oxygen levels healthy and is recommended for any indoor propane appliance.
- Never use a camp stove or BBQ indoors. Outdoor cooking appliances are not designed for indoor air safety and produce far more carbon monoxide.
How much propane do you need?
The EMBER runs on standard 1 lb propane bottles or, with an adapter hose, a 20 lb tank. A 20 lb tank can provide many hours of heat on a lower setting — enough to ride out most outages. Keeping two or three filled tanks in the garage is cheap insurance.
Build a simple cold-weather outage kit
Alongside your heater, keep: filled propane bottles or a 20 lb tank, a battery or hand-crank CO alarm, flashlights, warm blankets, and a way to charge your phone. The EMBER Pro even includes a USB port, so you can top up a phone off the heater itself while it runs.
The bottom line
A power outage doesn't have to mean a cold house. The safest, most dependable backup heat is a heater that doesn't depend on the grid at all. Browse our portable propane heaters or see the full EMBER emergency heating setup to be ready before the next storm.
