There are many occasions when you may find yourself without hot water and you needed to boil water to make a meal or to make water safe for drinking for your kids.
Power outages are usually one of the reasons, but when the water heater goes out, it usually takes a few days for a plumber to come and install a new one.
This can be quite uncomfortable, but a little more in that case. But what if you had to go without hot water for weeks or possibly months? How do you cope?
Boiling and cooking without the use of power or electricity is a skill everyone especially parents should learn so that they are prepared for when unforeseen situation strikes.
In this article, we will be sharing easy steps on how to heat bath water without electricity or power. Read on…
How To Heat Bath Water Without Electricity
Here are alternative ways to heat your water in an emergency when there’s no electricity or power outage.
- Gas Stove
- Camp Stove
- Woodstove/Fire House
- Barbecue Grill
- Solar Cooker
- Fire Pit
- Candles
- Rocket Stove
Often the power issue isn’t out for long but there are situations where the power goes off unexpectedly for an extended amount of time.
It could be that a truck hit a power line down the road or a tree fell and knocked power out. Engineers usually act quickly on getting the power back on because so many people rely on electricity for so many things.
Interestingly, I’ve compiled these lists and explained how you can boil bathwater with each of these options while waiting for power to be restored.
1. Use a Gas Stove
Things you’ll need
- Gas Stove
- Natural Gas or Propane
- Matches or lighter
- Pot and water
You don’t need any electricity to start the stovetop when you have a gas stove in your kitchen. The ignitor is what runs off of electricity therefore if you have a matchbox or a lighter around your kitchen you can easily get it started.
A gas stove can be so useful especially when there is no power. And gas flow is not dependent on electricity. In this case, not only can you boil or heat your water you can also prepare a stovetop meal for your family.
An electric oven won’t work when there’s no electricity, but having the burners working can come in handy.
2. Use a Camp Stove
Things you’ll need
- Camp Stove
- Propane canister/tank
- Pot or metal canister/cup and water
- Matches or Lighter
- Propane hose and connector (But this will depend on the camper stove and propane tank that you are using)
Making use of a small propane camp stove and a few bottles of propane is another way to heat your water with electricity.
You can buy a single burner propane stove for around $20 and a small bottle of propane is very cheap too. If you and your family enjoy going camping you probably may have this item already at hand. If not they take up little space and don’t require too much propane to run.
I could remember my husband filling the pot he fried the chicken in for Thanksgiving and using the burner base and his propane tank to heat water that we use to fill the swimming pool in the garage so that in the winter our kids can go swimming in warm water!
This works very effectively especially if you need a large amount of warm or boiling water maybe for a warm bath.
3. Wood Stove/Fire House
Things you’ll need
- Woodstove or fireplace
- Wood
- Lighter or matchbox
- Paper, lint, or something highly flammable to help start the fire
- Pot, kettle, or metal canister
Having a wood-burning stove or firehouse in your home is not only a lifesaver in cold periods to heat your house you can also set a pot on top of the stove or firehouse to boil or heat water.
If you have a firehouse in your home you can set it right on top of the flames or coals. I wouldn’t recommend using your grandma’s favorite pot for this because it will char the bottom and sides which will make it difficult to clean off.
However, this method is a great option to explore if you are in the process of building or renovating your house and trying to decide what type of extra heat source you want to put.
4. Use Barbecue Grill
Things you’ll need
- Propane or Charcoal Grill
- Propane (That is if you’re using a propane grill)
- Charcoal (That is if you’re using a charcoal grill)
- Matches or lighter
- An oven mitt or thick leather gloves
- Pot or kettle and water
If your area is going through a power outage you can use a barbecue grill with either charcoal or propane to heat your bath water while waiting for power to be restored.
Just use a small kettle or pot and set it on top of the grates, then close the lid to keep the heat in and you can boil your bath water faster. Once the water reaches boiling point, use a glove or an oven mitt to pick it up to avoid hurting your hands.
I’m sure you’re surprised that you never thought you would use your grill to boil water when you bought that perfect 3-burner grill with a warming rack!
5. Use Solar Cooker
Things you’ll need
- A solar cooker/oven
- Pot with a lid
- Water
A Solar Cooker is another effective way to heat water when the power goes off or fire while camping with your family away from home.
If you’re living in a hot region solar cooker is another great option for boiling and heating water. This method takes longer to heat up than other methods because it relies solely on sunlight.
They require so much attention, as the sun moves you’ll need to adjust the cooker to ensure the sun is hitting in the right spot. If you’d like to try this method, there are several kinds of solar cooker options to buy online or you can easily build your own if you want.
This solar cooker (Haines Solar Cooker) is one of my favorites it is of good price and works surprisingly well.
6. Fire Pit
Things you’ll need
- You’ll need a fire pit or an open space you can safely contain an open fire
- Wood
- Lighter, matchbox, flint and steel, or blast match fire starter
- Use wood shavings, wadded paper, strips of cardboard, dryer lint, or cotton balls use help start the fire
- Get something to set the pot or kettle on over the flame
- Pot, kettle, or metal canister and water
This method is a little bit more traditional. This method is effective but can be quite stressful. If you’re thinking of how to heat bath water without electricity, this method might not be the first thing that comes to your mind and that’s ok.
If you have a fire pit in your backyard then you can go ahead and explore this method to heat your water. Building a fire in the right conditions is easy and quick. You can boil water for a bath, roast a hot dog or turkey, and keep yourself warm.
There are times when you may find yourself in a survival situation, you are probably going to need a fire to keep warm at some point so as long as you have your pot or a kettle you are good to go.
Always ensure you’re well equipped with fire safety knowledge before setting this up and make sure that where you place your fire pit is safe. Always make sure that your fire is completely extinguished after you’re done using it.
Read Also: How To Keep Bath Water Hot Longer
7. Use Candles
Things you’ll need
- Cooking tray or cake pan
- Tea light candles (15 or more)
- Matches or lighter
- Pan or pot with a lid
- Water
This method requires a lot of patience, time, and candles. The high the amount of water the higher the number of candles you’ll need to hear the water.
Boiling your water using candles may not be the most efficient way to boil water when there’s no electricity but if you have several candles, a lighter or matchbox, a pot, and any item that can hold the pot over the candles then it is possible.
There are several ways you can explore to heat your water using candles which one of them would be the use of many t-light candles placed firmly in a deep baking dish like a 9×13 cooking tray and place your pot or kettle with water resting on the sides so it sits an inch or so above the candles.
Make sure your kettle or pot of water is covered with a lid to keep the heat in and fasten the process.
Always make sure you check underneath to ensure that you are not blocking all the oxygen from getting to the candles so they can continue to burn.
While doing this, also keep an eye on the candles and make sure they stay lit or change the ones that go out because all the wax is gone.
Here is a video showing how to boil water with candles
8. Use Rocket Stove
Things you’ll need
- Rocket stove (you can buy or learn how to build one)
- Use twigs, dryer lint, or cotton balls to help start the fire
- Lighter, matchbox, flint, and steel
- Wood to keep the fire burning if using a metal or cinder block rocket stove (A rocket stove made out of a block of wood is likely to get burnt)
Using a rocket stove is another great way to heat bath water without electricity. There are also many different choices of rocket stoves you can buy online. You also have an option to build on yourself if you want.
If you don’t know what a rocket stove is, well, this is a block of wood or metal with an “L” shaped hole in the middle.
You light it through the top of the hole and the air comes in the bottom through the side hole.
A rocket stove made with a six-inch tall 4×4 block of wood with a 1 ¼ inch hole drilled into it through the top and the side can burn for approximately 40-60mins.
And this is enough time to boil water or even cook a small meal for your kids. A rocket stove made of wood is quite efficient because of the near-complete combustion.
They use little fuel as they burn themselves once they are lit. They also yield fewer smokes and emissions than a lot of other fires or stoves.
Here is a cheap yet effective rocket stove you can go for on Amazon! If building one isn’t something you want to do.
Here is a video showing you how a rocket stove works and many different examples of how to make them using different materials.
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We hope this article has given in-depth discussion to answer the question of how to heat bath water without electricity.
Being prepared when there is a loss of power makes the situation less frustrating especially when all the things you need are already at home.
And equipping yourself with just one of these methods could be such a huge advantage especially when an unexpected disaster strikes.
As mentioned above, some of the methods like using your BBQ Grill, Candles, or making a solar cooker are readily available options you can try in your home.
But if you have the equipment and technical know-how to make or use one of the other options listed then you should go ahead and give it a try.
Interestingly, most of these methods we mentioned are not only for heating or boiling water; you can also use them for cooking.
Always keep in mind that using the necessary equipment you have already is one great way to be prepared when you find yourself in a situation when you need something like hot or sanitized water to survive.
