No-vember, No heat? No problem. One man’s quest to take the cold to the limit

New Englanders can be stubborn when dealing with the cold, but maybe none more than one Rhode Island resident

COVENTRY, R.I. (WLNE) — You may have heard about No-shave November, but what about No HEAT November?

That’s what Coventry resident Brian Chevalier has been participating in each of the last 5 years.

What started as a way to save money in one of his old, inefficient residences has morphed into a personal challenge as well.

When asked if his heat-less journey was more frugalness or lunacy, his response was simple: “I would characterize it as both.”

Last year, Chevalier made it all the way to December 23 before switching his thermostat on – a personal record that he hopes to eclipse this year.

The earliest he’s given in was November 14 back in 2019, his first year doing this.

The coldest it’s ever dropped to inside his home was 34°. When asked if he was worried about his pipes freezing on the coldest of nights, he said he puts his faucets on a very slow drip to prevent it.

Chevalier is an avid weather enthusiast and self-proclaimed ‘social media-rologist’ who runs a very popular Rhode Island weather account on all platforms.

Naturally, he is very in tune with the local forecast and knows how to prepare for the coldest nights. He even keeps a scorecard to document the days’ temperatures, and how cold he felt.

At the prospect of going an entire winter without heat, he replied “Probably not the entire winter, but anything’s possible.”