So You're In For A Blizzard

So a lot of you are bracing for a blizzard.
Here's what you can do to keep warm in the event that you lose power and heat.

Take a small coffee can (metal) and stuff a roll of toilet paper in it.
Fill with rubbing alcohol.
Light.

It gives a steady flame for hours.
The toilet paper acts like a wick, hardly any of it burns.
The can stays cool, you can pick it up with your bare hands.

I did this during the ice storms of 2007 back when I lived in Missouri.
I'd lost power and heat for over a week, below freezing the whole time.
It kept my bedroom in the 60s.
In the morning I would light a second one to warm the room up faster and then moved the second one into the bathroom.

If all you have is a large coffee can (metal) stuff two rolls of toilet paper in it.

You can also use it as a make-shift stove.
Take some wire hangers and bend around the can to form a grill.
You can cook cans of soup on top of it.

You can also make coffee that way if you have an old fashioned coffee percolator. In a pinch you can warm water in a can and manually pour the water over the basket of your automatic-drip coffee maker.

Do NOT use gasoline, Coleman Fuel or any other fuel.
Only try this with rubbing alcohol, i.e.: ethanol (ethyl alcohol) or isopropyl alcohol.

I used both 70% and 90%. The 90% of course burns hotter and goes quicker so I used that to warm a room quickly and then switched to 70% to maintain temperature.

Stay warm !