Love Electricity

[runco]

First, I have to say I love electricity, and after 47 years I love it more now than I ever knew!

 

I have read in these survival and preparedness sites that one should voluntarily turn off power for like two days to get accustomed to life without power.  For the past two days, I was drafted by the environment due to the major ice event here in my area.  Then if that was not enough the approaching sub-zero temperature was my real fear.  Last night around 6pm, power was back!

 

Many lessons learned is all that I can say.  I know now that I need to cool my gun hobby, and focus on survival items.  My primary focus will be short term (1-10 days without electricity)!  How to prepare. 

 

Here are some points that I learned, but not all points:

• One can never have too many 50-100' extension cables.  Two are not enough.  25' cables sound long, but are very short when needed.
• One can never have too many fuel jugs.  If you have 5, its a great idea to have fuel in them.
• If you do have fuel on hand, make sure its fresh.  Generators are not cougar fans, they do not like older gas.
• Small Honda EU1000 generator is great for tailgating, but not much more.  It will run the blower for the fireplace though, and a CPAP machine.  Heaters are out of the question.
• If you buy a new home with a great fireplace, try it on a good day first, before relying on it for the primary heat in a ice storm event.
• If your new home has no fireplace poker set, its okay, a tire iron or a crow bar will work. 
• If you buy a new home, make sure you have some level of firewood inventory.  There was a panic and run on wood like a run on the banks in 1929. 
• Propane tanks, keep them full too.  A similar run on propane like wood occurred. 
• If you have well water and toliets, and no elec, get use to the nursing home smell.
• LED flashlights will last forever.  Just need more.  I am talking about large ones. 
• Food?  Never entered my mind as I was too busy.
• Train the wife in many basics of life.  That was probably the hardest part.  She never bought firewood before, thought it only came from Food City in little bundles.  The firewood sellers prey on women of little knowledge of firewood.  Guard against junk firewood and the age ole what is the acceptable size of a rick of wood.
• Many more, I will add as they come to me.

[john455]

Little advice, on a well if there is a chance the power will go out fill your bathtub with water for flushing the toilet, lived on well water my whole life.

[10-Ring]

All good points I used to have a remote cabin and was without power for about 4 days after the tornado that hit Blount County in 2010.  I too was on well.  I had rain barrels that came in pretty handy for non potable water purposes like washing dishes and flushing toilets.  Drinking water is easy to keep and not worth obsessing over.  I just kept about 6 cases of bottled water and a few gallon jugs as well in the basement.  I had oil lamps in my cabin for light.  I didn't use the generator but I will add that you can't have too many batteries and a good inverter for your vehicle can make things easier as well.

 

A power outage lasting several days is probably the most likely most of us will ever come to a disaster.  Being prepared will make your time spent a whole lot more comfortable. 

[RED333]

Wood stove yes, fireplace takes a LOT of wood to start to heat the house.

With a fireplace you have to get the whole thing hot before it will start to put heat off.

Yes some heat will be there at first, but most is going of the flue.

Can you start a fire with out help, ie, matches, lighter?

Go to a welding supply house, buy a torch striker, it has flint and steel.

Save dryer lint, great starter.

 

You need to learn to get by with out power, if you have a well, get the water out with out power.

Get you a well bucket that will fit you casing and enough swing chain to reach the water plus 50 feet.

 

Dig a hole to put your waste in, take a leak in the yard, if you live with neighbors close, do you thing at night.

Women folk have a big problem with this, you will be in trouble trying to get them to do their thing out side.

 

Learn to cook on a wood stove, open fire, #10 can with charcoal, waded up paper.

If you are going to try and keep enough store bought fuel you will run out.

 

Gensets are nice to have, but you will run out of fuel.

 

When super storm Sandy hit NY them poor SOBs where up the creek in one day.

You have to prep for the worst and pray it does not happen.

 

If you stock up on freeze dried food think about the water it takes to eat.

Store bought caned food, ie, corn, green beans and others have water in them.

 

Now there is a start, anyone else?

[monkeylizard]

It really is a matter of time when preparing. I don't mean "when it will happen." I mean "how long it will last." RED333 is right about long-term prepping. That takes a lot of effort and time spent learning skills. The payoff is invaluable if you're faced with a long-term scenario. If your only concern is a week or two, you can store enough food, fuel, and water to make do just fine.

 

If your home has natural gas, chances are good that it will stay on following a power outage (major earthquake aside). If you have a genset that can power your HVAC blower motor, you can keep the central heat going just fine with gas heat. It's the compressor for the A/C that draws a boatload of power. Add in a natural gas grill and you're pretty set to make it through from a heat and cooking perspective.

 

You could pickup a propane heater and a couple of grill-sized propane tanks if not. This one is indoor safe and should give about 4-5 hours of heat on a 1# canister. Two 25# grill tanks would keep it going for 8 to 10 days. It's only rated for 400 sq. feet, but if you consolidate your family into a small area of your home, that should be enough.  http://www.amazon.com/Mr-Heater-MH18B-Portable-Propane/dp/B0002WRHE8/ref=lp_516188_1_7?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1424439152&sr=1-7

 

Filling the bathtubs with water is a good idea on city water too. Water mains break in winter. For a somewhat cleaner solution and one that won't drain out slowly over time, you could get a few water Bobs. It won't help much in a sudden emergency, but for storms and such it works just fine. http://www.amazon.com/waterBOB-Emergency-Drinking-Storage-Gallons/dp/B001AXLUX2

 

Stock up on water and a few weeks worth of food and you'll be good for this sort of thing.

Edited February 20, 2015 by monkeylizard

[Dirtshooter]

All good points guys. We survived 12 days without power during Katrina and it was so danged hot I never got hungry. Ice may be a luxury to some, but ice water and iced tea are great. We bought a counter model  ice maker at Sam's that you pour water in and in 6-7 minutes you have ice, I have tried this in my truck using an inverter so no power I gonna have Iced tea! We lost our power this morning for about 2 hours and I had already made a plan to bring generator from barn for the fan on ashley wood heater, it will put out some heat without the fan but not like it does with it. We have had some portable battery powered lights like for camping for years and they work great, these have loops on top to hang on a shower curtain for bathroom duty,  candles are too danged dangerous. You need to get all you gear out and put it to the test a few times prior to needing them in the middle of the night. We have propane coleman stove for cooking plus plenty of propane, generator for freezer if in summer and for wood heater in winter. A good supply of firewood, of course food, water. A good thing for everyone to have is a life straw water filter 1 for each member of family. I take one when I kayak, you can get mighty sick drinking contaminated water and this doesn't require boiling. For toilet you can use a 5 gallon bucket with trash bag in emergency. We decided that if the power stayed off we would curtain off the staircase and just stay downstairs, my wife had bought several of the clear shower curtain liners for this purpose. Use these power outages as a test of your preparedness, make notes on what you need to change. Be safe in all this slick stuff.

[swim615]

We live along way from town and being prepared has always just been normal. Been here a good 43 years. We often loose power with weather events of all kinds and often the roads can be impassable as well ( ice storm a good 2 weeks stuck and tornado a good 10 days without powers and roads blocked for about a day are the worse I can remember) As I have gotten older I have added easier less intense ways to be prepared.

 

Water we have a spring, pool for about 20000 gallons and if needed 2 ponds worth.

 

Heat is a wood stove, fireplace, kerosene heater, at least 6 25 gallon propane tanks and a heater attachment for them, and always a couple rick of firewood in the dry plus a couple acres of trees if needed. Three gas grills as well for cooking or the wood stove. Hot dogs and smores in the fireplace.

 

We have 2 campers if something happens to the house or a barn if needed or a tent.

 

We always have at least enough food to last about 2 months and a garden in the summer. Hunting in the winter and chickens for meat and eggs.

 

We have 2 generators enough to run everything except the 220s. Still need to get some hookups for that. Always enough gas to run them for a good 2 weeks. (I'm a lawn service and man do I need the gas)

 

I'm sure there's much more but when its normal you just don't think of it as being prepared.

Edited February 22, 2015 by swim615

[tennessee01tacoma]

We heat with wood all the time we have 2 wood stoves one upstairs and one downstairs. Last night was the first time I've ever cooked on ours. We kept it simple and just made spaghetti.

Some points I would like to add is to store food that you can easily cook. Whether that means rice or noodles and sauce. Or some sort of dehydrated food. There is little temperature control when cooking on a wood stove.

Have cookware that won't get hurt if you do have to cook over open flame. I have stainless and cast iron none of which have composite or wooden handles.

Buy extra feminine supplies for your ladies. During this past week when I went to the store for some extra groceries I had to pick some up and I thought about how bad it would be if I couldn't get out as was the case yesterday.

[nightrunner]

I don't know if any of you have actually used the little heater heads that go on a propan tank but I have been around when other guys used them in the winter in construction. This was in a pretty much finished house just doing paint and trim work, all sealed. Those little heaters weren't worth 2 cents when it got really cold. That's just my experience. Get a space heater with a thermostat when it gets really cold. They are loud but put ou the heat.

[oldogy]

Good advice and comments.  . We were W O power for 50 hours, one night where it was  0 deg. We have auxiliary heat from a wood stove and was glad to have it.  We closed off the rest of the house and concentrated in the large room where the stove is located.  The wife slept in the loft and I slept on the couch to keep the fire going.  It helps to have lots of good seasoned hardwood.

If you live where downed trees could be a problem, be sure to have a good chainsaw ready to go.  I spent first morning after the ice storm cutting my way out my road.

Runco, I am just down the road a short way from you.

[dawgdoc]

Rain barrel water could be used for flushing toilets, and then you could save your cleaner bath tub water for drinking and cooking.  Long term, there are various ways to filter rain barrel water for consumption, but hopefully that would not be necessary for a typical scenario.

[monkeylizard]

A good thing for everyone to have is a life straw water filter 1 for each member of family.

 

They now have a family version. It looks like something they'd sell in the back room of Hustler.

 

http://www.amazon.com/LifeStraw-Family-1-0-Water-Purifier/dp/B00FM9OBQS/ref=sr_1_3?s=sporting-goods&ie=UTF8&qid=1424703136&sr=1-3

[RED333]

They now have a family version. It looks like something they'd sell in the back room of Hustler.

 

http://www.amazon.com/LifeStraw-Family-1-0-Water-Purifier/dp/B00FM9OBQS/ref=sr_1_3?s=sporting-goods&ie=UTF8&qid=1424703136&sr=1-3

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rock:

[monkeylizard]

Great price on the Lifestraw Family if anyone wants one. Woot deals don't last long, so hurry if you want it. They're abiout $70 on Amazon. I suspect there may be a version 2.0 out now or coming soon if they're clearing out old stock on woot.

 

http://www.woot.com/offers/eartheasy-lifestraw-family-1-0-purifier-10?ref=cnt_wp_1_2

[JAB]

Our power was off for about three days and then on and off for part of another day.  Where I now live is next to my mom's house which our family moved into a little over 30 years ago.  Back then our power went off every time a squirrel peed on the power line (seriously, if it rained our power would be out for at least a couple of hours.)  It wasn't unusual then for our power to be off for a week or so at a time during snow, ice, etc.  We had a wood heater back then but my parents later got central heat and got rid of the wood heater.  Mom is a fan of kerosene heaters but I have trouble trusting them.  She also has a plethora of kerosene (oil) lanterns - some of which she inherited from her grandmother - for plenty of light.

 

Well, when our power was out this time I had plenty of drinking water on hand, plenty of shelf stable (canned, etc.) food and the like.  I also have a boatload of battery operated lights (not just flashlights but also work/small area lights and even a couple of battery operated LED light bars that I have mounted to the ceiling in my living room that are bright enough to read by) as well as a couple of rechargeable nightlight/emergency light type flashlights that I keep plugged in.  Unlike those times when I was a kid where entertainment during a long term power outage meant straining our eyes to read a book by the light of a kerosene lamp, I could read e books on my tablet or phone and even get on the Internet as long as the batteries held up (and could recharge them with a car charger in a vehicle.)  Truthfully, with my truck in 4WD - as long as I went in the middle of the day when things weren't frozen quite as solid - I could get in and out most of the time to get things I wanted.  The power outage exposed a major hole in my preparations, however - heat.  I do keep plenty of blankets and throws on hand so neither I nor my dog would have likely frozen to death but it wouldn't have been all that comfortable, either.  Luckily, my mom (who, as I said, is a fan of kerosene heaters) had a spare kerosene heater I was able to borrow and I was able to get to town to buy kerosene.

 

I have been meaning to buy one of those Heater Buddy type propane heaters but hadn't done so, yet.  I still plan to buy one but will probably keep a small kerosene heater and some kerosene on hand, too, for one big reason - you can cook on a kerosene heater but I don't think you could on those propane heaters because of the way they are made.  I will probably get one of those two-burner propane camp stoves but the kerosene heater lets you use heat that is being generated, anyhow, for a double purpose.  With the power out, between my mom and myself, we had (at different times) bacon, fried hamburger to make Manwich and cooked pretty much anything we wanted in an iron skillet on top of the kerosene heater.  I bought some pre-packaged blueberry pancakes and heated those for breakfast one morning and even grilled some Reuben sandwiches for dinner.  I am still not necessarily a huge 'fan' of kerosene heaters but will probably always have one on hand after that experience.

 

Funny thing is, I have an old generator I got when my grandfather passed away but it needs a fuel hose replaced.  I also don't know that I'd want to run it night and day nor am I sure I'd want to keep that much gas onhand for it so a non-electric heat source (and possible cooking option) would still come in handy.

Edited March 2, 2015 by JAB

[LI0NSFAN]

Our power was out for 2 days, we made it just fine other than the kids getting a little worked up because we made them stay in 1 room. I learned a couple of things that would make it better for us.

 

#1 if you think you have enough wood, double it.(same rule for ammo)

#2 Get emergency blankets. We put blankets over the doorways for the room with the fireplace, emergency blankets on each side of the thick blanket would be better

#3 A couple of those battery packs that can recharge phones/ ipads/ laptops etc would be helpful for the kids

#4 I need a LED lantern that can light a whole room. 3 kids with flashlights not a good idea.

 

We had fun and the kids (all 4 under 5) liked our "camp out". Day 2 was a little rough because the kids could not leave the room as much because it was 40  degrees in the rest of the house. I tried to keep them in the 75degree room but they really wanted to go and play.  I think we did just fine considering I have not really prepped for cold day power outages. 

Edited March 4, 2015 by LI0NSFAN

[Mark A]

 

and the kids (all 4 under 5)...

 

If you haven't figured out what causes that yet I can send you a PM.

 

Just kidding of course and good job keeping everyone entertained. When  I was that age if you'd locked me and my sister in the same room for 2 days I'm pretty sure only one of us would have walked out. It probably would have been her. She is younger than I am but was bigger than I was until Jr High School ( I can just see the young pups now. What is Jr High School???)

 

Anyway, she was mean as a snake but at least I learned to fight well

 

When I got to the 6th grade I finally started to grow bigger than she was. In one of our epic fights my mom walked around the corner when I had my sisters head by the hair and was repeatedly banging it into the floor. She looked down at my sister and told her "I told you to quit picking on him as he was going to be bigger than you one day" She let it go for another minute and then told me to let her go. I had years of pent up energy. I was ready to keep going for a while.

 

Mark

Edited March 4, 2015 by Mark A

[Mark A]

I finally finished this last weekend. I took the largest deep cycle battery I could find, used a combo smart charger/ inverter (it auto switches on a power outage), a dual element 12v LED light, terminal strip and a multi socket cigarette adaptor for car chargers.

 

I have a different battery backup system that uses (2) 6 volt batteries but It has to be unhooked from the chargers and hooked up to the inverter and I wanted something a little easier for my wife to use. I travel regionally and it might be a few hours before I get home if there is a power issue. This will give my wife light, allow her to power up our big buddy heaters and get the wireless back up and running. It will also run the small TV for a while if needed.

 

This won't be a big help during the summer but at least she can have a fan and light until I get home to fire up the generator.

 

Only thing I would change is getting a slightly nicer hand truck. It is a little hard to move around

 

Mark

 

 

[ttocswob]

Power outage is a major preparedness issue for us, since I won't be home to "enjoy" it. I worked about three weeks last week...

 

Adding insult to injury, a county gas line ruptured, and was out for 12 hours or so. Not knowing this at the time, I spent about an hour of valuable sleep time trying in vain to relight a pilot light. My parents heat with wellhead gas, but their regulator froze up for a time because of the extreme cold.

 

We lost transmission lines to two substations, so power was off to the entire county for several hours. When power was restored, the town was choked with people trying to buy fuel for their generators. Mile-long lines at the gas stations.

 

Some areas were out for a week or longer before power was restored. Fortunately no loss of life. Mountain people are tough, for the most part.

[JAB]

I finally finished this last weekend. I took the largest deep cycle battery I could find, used a combo smart charger/ inverter (it auto switches on a power outage), a dual element 12v LED light, terminal strip and a multi socket cigarette adaptor for car chargers...

 

 

... allow her to power up our big buddy heaters and get the wireless back up and running...

 

I like that setup and have been trying to think of a good way to put together something similar.  I might have to rip off your idea.  I do have a question, though, regarding the 'big buddy' heater you mentioned.  Are you talking about a type of portable propane heater?  I ask because 'Big Buddy' is the name of one of the portable propane heaters I am looking at.  Does it need electricity to light or are you talking about running the built in fan?  if it is just for the fan, is that absolutely necessary or do you think it would work okay to heat a fairly small space working just as a 'radiant' type heater?

[Mark A]

Only needed to run the fan. It can also be run with some D batteries. I'm sure if the room were small you could run it without the fan just fine.

 

Mark

[enfield]

I've been through countless power outages, including 2 that lasted a week each.

 

For an emergency toilet, you can buy a toilet seat that fits on a 5 gallon bucket.  I keep a bucket and seat with a pack of dry RV holding tank chemicals stored in it.

 

Battery powered lights are handy, but expensive to run for a long time.  I keep 4 filled oil lamps in my house, have used them more than once.  You won't read a book by one, but you can find the toilet with one.

 

If you've ever been thru a power outage without a means to cook, you'll pick up a dual-burner Coleman stove at the next opportunity.  If you like real coffee, an old-fashioned stove top percolator pot is wonderful.

 

Liquid-fuel Coleman lanterns put out a lot more light than an oil lamp, and they put out significant heat also.

 

If you're forced into combustion heating and cooking indoors, be sure to crack a window for combustion air.  Don't go to sleep in a room with a combustion heater that doesn't have an oxygen-depletion sensor on it.

 

An old rule of thumb says that, for lighting, propane is 4 times more expensive than liquid fuels, and batteries 4 times more expensive than propane.  For a long-term outage, and you won't know if it's going to long-term until it's over, you should gravitate towards more liquid-fueled appliances and fewer battery and propane. 

[JAB]

Only needed to run the fan. It can also be run with some D batteries. I'm sure if the room were small you could run it without the fan just fine.

 

Mark

Thanks!

[JAB]

I've been through countless power outages, including 2 that lasted a week each.

 

For an emergency toilet, you can buy a toilet seat that fits on a 5 gallon bucket.  I keep a bucket and seat with a pack of dry RV holding tank chemicals stored in it.

 

Battery powered lights are handy, but expensive to run for a long time.  I keep 4 filled oil lamps in my house, have used them more than once.  You won't read a book by one, but you can find the toilet with one.

 

If you've ever been thru a power outage without a means to cook, you'll pick up a dual-burner Coleman stove at the next opportunity.  If you like real coffee, an old-fashioned stove top percolator pot is wonderful.

 

Liquid-fuel Coleman lanterns put out a lot more light than an oil lamp, and they put out significant heat also.

 

If you're forced into combustion heating and cooking indoors, be sure to crack a window for combustion air.  Don't go to sleep in a room with a combustion heater that doesn't have an oxygen-depletion sensor on it.

 

An old rule of thumb says that, for lighting, propane is 4 times more expensive than liquid fuels, and batteries 4 times more expensive than propane.  For a long-term outage, and you won't know if it's going to long-term until it's over, you should gravitate towards more liquid-fueled appliances and fewer battery and propane. 

 

Good thoughts.  I kind of go another direction and try to make sure that all of the battery lights I use are either rechargeable, themselves, or that they run on AA or AAA batteries because I have a good supply of rechargeable AA and AAA batteries that I keep charged.  I am sure you are correct about the expense but, to me, battery operated lights (for example) are simply safer (or maybe I should say more 'clumsy proof') than liquid fuel lights.  That said, my mom pretty much uses kerosene/oil lamps (many of which she inherited from her grandmothers) when the lights are out.  Hers actually put out quite a bit of light.  Maybe not as much as my multi-LED lights but enough to see by and some of them even enough to read by.  I think it would be kind of neat to have one of those old, bullseye type lanterns that was actually in working order.

 

Have you ever used one of the camping ovens - just basically a folding, metal box with a rack or two that sits on top of the stoves?  I have a camping stove that runs off of 'white gas' somewhere and one that runs off of the small propane bottles (I know exactly where that one is.)  I am just wondering how well the ovens work and if they use more fuel to do the job than they are worth.

Edited March 13, 2015 by JAB

[enfield]

No, never used one of the ovens.