Until the technician arrives, the goal is a tolerable, safe house, not a comfortable one: in summer that means closing the house against the sun during the day, moving air across skin with fans, using the coolest room and cooling people rather than the building; in winter it means concentrating in one room, using electric space heaters correctly, and protecting pipes — and in both seasons it means avoiding the tactics that hurt people every year: unvented gas heaters, charcoal or generators indoors, ovens as heaters, and space heaters on extension cords.
Summer: no cooling
Close the house by day. Blinds and curtains shut on sun-facing windows; doors closed to unused rooms; open up at night if it’s cooler outside than in (in NC humidity, night air is often not much help, so use judgment).
Move air. Ceiling fans (counterclockwise in summer), box and pedestal fans aimed at people. Fans cool people by evaporation, not rooms; turn them off in empty rooms. A fan blowing across a bowl of ice cools a bedroom for a few hours.
Cool people, not the house. Cool showers, wet cloths on neck and wrists, light clothing, plenty of water. Sleep in the coolest room, usually the lowest floor.
A window or portable unit. The most effective stopgap: cool one bedroom to sleep in. Vent portable units properly out a window.
Reduce heat inside. No oven; run the dryer and dishwasher at night; turn off unnecessary lights and electronics.
Watch the vulnerable. Infants, older adults, pregnant people and anyone with heart or lung conditions should not ride out an 85°F+ house; a relative’s home, a library, a mall or a cooling center is the right call (what counts as an emergency).
The system. Do the ten-minute checks. If there’s ice, Off and fan On to thaw. If a breaker tripped, reset once only.
Winter: no heat
Concentrate. Everyone in one or two rooms; close doors; towels along door bottoms.
Electric space heaters, used correctly. Plugged directly into a wall outlet, never an extension cord or power strip; on a hard floor, three feet from anything flammable; tip-over and overheat protection; off when you sleep or leave the room. One 1,500-watt heater per circuit.
Layer and insulate. Warm clothing, blankets, hats indoors; open sun-facing curtains by day, close them at night.
Protect pipes. Below freezing, open cabinet doors under sinks on exterior walls and let faucets drip. Know where your water shutoff is.
Heat pumps. If the outdoor unit is dead or iced solid, switch the thermostat to Emergency Heat; the strips will keep the house warm (expensively) until it’s fixed (heat pump blowing cold air). If you have a working fireplace, use it with the damper open.
Never
Unvented gas or kerosene heaters indoors; charcoal grills, camp stoves or generators inside or in an attached garage (carbon monoxide kills quickly); the oven as a heater; space heaters on extension cords or near bedding; leaving space heaters running unattended. If a CO detector sounds, leave and call for help before anything else.
While you wait
Note what you observed (ice, sounds, breaker, thermostat readings) for the technician; it shortens the diagnosis. Each city page on the North Carolina registry marks contractors offering 24/7 service and shows the license status we found.