Dixie_Girl Posted July 22, 2011 Report Share Posted July 22, 2011 Hey y'all, with all the eastern US baking and roasting, and the news warning against pets left in cars almost nightly, it got me wondering. For those of you who leave your dogs crated during the day when you are gone, what precautions do you take in case of a power outage? I have a doggy door, so my guys can find some place to get cool if the power was to go out, another plus for doggy doors! And in this heat, it wouldn't take long for most houses to heat up quite a bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juliepoudrier Posted July 22, 2011 Report Share Posted July 22, 2011 Linda, I suppose you can't plan for every contingency, but honestly being able to get outside isn't necessarily a blessing in this weather. Whether the house heats up quickly depends a lot on the house. For example, my old house sat out in the sun with a lot of west-facing windows. It was an oven in the afternoon. My current house has some big oaks around it, and it stays reasonably cool (relatively speaking), even without the air on (it helps that all the windows allow for decent cross ventilation as well). That said, I did turn on the air for this latest heat wave, mainly for the sake of the 18-y.o. cat and geriatric dogs (the oldest of which has to be dragged in from outside). If I were very concerned, I suppose I'd take my chances and just leave dogs uncrated, but baby gated instead. For one of my dogs in particular that would mean coming home to something being chewed up, guaranteed. Because my dogs don't normally live in a/c, they are well acclimated to the heat, so I imagine in a scenario where some were in crates and the power went out, they'd be okay for quite a while. Most houses aren't quite the same as cars when it comes to heating up. So I think a lot would depend on one's individual circumstances. JMO. J. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D'Elle Posted July 22, 2011 Report Share Posted July 22, 2011 Not much I could do about it if the power went out. My house would heat up a fair bit without air conditioning, but short of a backup generator system, which is well out of my price range, it cannot be prevented. It hasn't happened yet when I was away from the house. In general I only get a power outage during a strong storm. If it were storming that much the temperature would be lower in any case and my dogs would be ok, although I try to head home if there's a storm because it scares them. And I should note that my dogs and I are desert-adapted and are perfectly comfortable when it is at or above 90 degrees which is where I set the air conditioner in the summer. Right now my thermometer says it is 92 and I have the windows open and a ceiling fan but no air conditioning on. D'Elle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carson Crazies Posted July 22, 2011 Report Share Posted July 22, 2011 Short of having a generator (no money for that) I don't really have a plan in that scenario. That being said, my house is very well insulated, and I don't think it would be a huge deal in the time it would take before I'd be home again. Ceiling fans run in all rooms, and all of the crated dogs have water and are in larger than necessary crates. I suspect it would still be hotter outside than in the house. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carlasl Posted July 22, 2011 Report Share Posted July 22, 2011 It is a balmy 105 F right now and A/C is rocking and rolling to keep the house at 76, we actually did have a power outage a couple weeks ago and it took about 4hrs before I thought the house felt uncomfortable and probably would take many more for it to actually be dangerous for a dog in a kennel. There is generally only about 4-5hrs of the day that no one is home (less than that in the summer usually) so I don't worry about the dogs getting too hot. Now my saltwater aquariums are different story, any power outage over a couple hours has me ready to pull out our generator. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WildFlower Posted July 22, 2011 Report Share Posted July 22, 2011 The heat wave has now moved east of me... Thank goodness! But this week has been awful! 3 days over 90 degrees and on Wednesday it was 99 degrees with a heat index of 107 in Milwaukee. I do not have central air. Just a window unit. So in the summer on days when the temp is expected to be in the 80s, I close up the house the night before and I run the air from when I get home from work and overnight until I leave in the morning. My house will heat up throughout the day anywhere from 5 to 10 degrees. But removing the humidity from the air in the house makes a huge difference. My dogs are not crated during the day but have restricted access to the living room and the kitchen. I have ceiling fans in all rooms and they are left on 24/7. I always leave extra water out in the summer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juliepoudrier Posted July 22, 2011 Report Share Posted July 22, 2011 Are there generators that actually automatically turn on if the power goes out? If not, then even having a generator wouldn't help.... I know my former neighbor had one, but I don't remember if they actually had to go out and start it or if it just kicked in on its own. J. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carson Crazies Posted July 22, 2011 Report Share Posted July 22, 2011 My old boss had a generator that was actually wired into his house/breaker box. If his power went out the generator automatically kicked on. But then most of the rest of us live in the real world. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
airbear Posted July 22, 2011 Report Share Posted July 22, 2011 I guess you don't want to hear that it's so cold here (Vancouver, BC) that my dogs are seeking out the heated floor in the bathroom. While I certainly don't want the stifling heat that you guys are experiencing, I am getting tired of wearing sweaters and driving with the heated seat thing on. It's almost the end of July, for goodness sake! 60 degrees is NOT summer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WildFlower Posted July 22, 2011 Report Share Posted July 22, 2011 I would so love a 60 degree day right now..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carlasl Posted July 22, 2011 Report Share Posted July 22, 2011 Are there generators that actually automatically turn on if the power goes out? If not, then even having a generator wouldn't help.... I know my former neighbor had one, but I don't remember if they actually had to go out and start it or if it just kicked in on its own. J. Yeah, some of my wealthy saltwater aquarium maintenance clients have generators that automatically turn on when there is a power outage, they are run off natural gas, one of my clients has a 15k square ft house and you don't even realize there is a power outage when the generator kicks on it is crazy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dixie_Girl Posted July 22, 2011 Author Report Share Posted July 22, 2011 I guess y'all have way better insulated houses than me! I have no trees close enough to the house for shade. I tried to get some planted, but DH was against it for fear of one of them falling. Right now the A/C is running and my house is still at 89! Between 4-8pm it is just plain hot! The back of our house faces west. DH is going to be building a covered porch on the back so hopefully next year it will help. Seems like I was worrying for nothing. I was just going by my house. Actually, the time when the A/C went out, it was cooler outside! My butter literally melted to liquid! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue R Posted July 22, 2011 Report Share Posted July 22, 2011 We were fortunate to have to replace our roof (well, fortunate?) and did with a white metal roof with a couple inches of insulation. We've noticed that morning sun heats the house more because we have three large windows on the eastern side, the temps don't change much when the sun is overhead (thanks, roof!), and the afternoon sun hits a brick wall with only a few windows (plus, there is shade). We've never had a/c before this summer, and actually have had it on the last 48 hours - before these couple of really hot, really muggy, doesn't cool down at night days, it has been cool enough at night to open all the windows, and then manage windows and shades during the day to retain the coolness. However, last night, it never went below 83 F, which I never, ever remember happening here. Normally, it goes at least about down to 70 at night, and that's enough to cool down the house sufficiently. Ed fought getting a/c (we put in a heat pump/oil furnace combo in February) and he's the first one to turn it on! But we are both loving it, and trying to use it minimally and responsibly. Back to the topic, our dogs are crated during the workday. Normally, the a/c is not on and, if it's going to be very hot or muggy, the most I do is put an oscillating fan just to keep the crate areas as "fresh" as possible when we are gone. No power? Well, we just make do and we haven't had an issue before this. Good luck to those who are having problems with this hot weather. Remember, it's hotter and more miserable somewhere else... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PSmitty Posted July 23, 2011 Report Share Posted July 23, 2011 Short of having a generator (no money for that) I don't really have a plan in that scenario. That being said, my house is very well insulated, and I don't think it would be a huge deal in the time it would take before I'd be home again. Ceiling fans run in all rooms, and all of the crated dogs have water and are in larger than necessary crates. I suspect it would still be hotter outside than in the house. This sums it up for me, too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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