News Power Cuts

[Anarchy]

'Tis that time of year again.

I'd spent about 4 years off grid, ending this last easter. This last weekend's winds and power cut still caught me un-prepared though.

With the assumption that where ever we live, sooner or later we are each going to have a power outage at some time or other, What are your preparations?

Here's what mine should have been
LED torch with good batteries in it near the door.
another near my bed.

good stock of batteries

Hurricane lamps ready fuelled up (preferably with odourless kerosene, I have some odourless stuff somewhere, it's more expensive than Chanel No5, so, partly out of a feeling of "I'm not worth it" my usual stock is central heating and AGA grade kerosene. the stink is sort of cosy and reminds me of the paraffin room heaters we used to have up to the 1970s, when hardware shops used to sell brands like "Esso Blue" and "Pongo Pink" paraffin) and in a place where I can find them.

small funnel for the kerosene.

Lighters where I can find them (preferably one on each window sill)

little batches of tea light candles on every window sill (Ikea sell them in bricks of 100), and something to stand them on so they don't mar the paintwork.

One thing I found with tealights, the wax is optimised for ordinary room temperature. In a cold house (the bouncy castle was regularly below 3 celcius / 38 F) the wax doesnt melt, and the wick just burns a little pit down the middle in a fraction of the time the thing should burn for.

Camping stove and mixed gas cylinders for it, a kettle that works on it, and something fire and scratch resistant to stand it on.

A supply of drinking water (if your water supply depends on electric to get it to you).

If you have any solid fuel stoves, open fires etc, a stock of fuel, even if you hadn't intended using it.

something to charge the phone on.

Oh and if I go for a brisk walk up the hill with minimal gear on so that my circulation adjusts to the cold, i can put up with having a cold bath:confused:

 

[Ed Norton]

I was caught unaware by Hurricane Sandy two or 3 weeks without power. I lasted 4days. At that time I was scared of traveling but I went to my grandma's house. It's really good that you're prepared. The only thing is I would be careful about fire

 

[illusionist]

I've always got plenty of candles.....use them all year round for chill out..always got a torch by the door, store water and canned stuff..have plenty of warm clothing and partner keeps the home brew going.

All I need is a pack of cards and a bag of pennies.

 

[Friday]

Basics :

- tin pie plate (or similar) and a handful of charcoal for a fire for cooking, & heating water for cat-baths, and somewhere ventilated to burn it. ((Aka outside)). A BBQ is fine, but those are huge. Usually I didn't need the space.
- Water for cooking, bathing, washing up, flushing.
- Warm clothes & blankets ((we usually wore snow clothes indoors, as those are designed to let you sweat without getting wet, and move about just fine.))
- Stable food (tins, jars, & dried)
- Flashlights & candles are nice ambience, even though they aren't necessary. Living in the cold is depressing enough. Living in the cold dark is... Demoralizing.

I would go through about 10-15 gallons a day for 2 people living normally (flushing used most of it... Yellow let it mellow, brown flush it down). I kept about 20 5gal containers of wafer that I filled a couple daily and rotated through.

- Assuming your whole region isn't without power & water? Gym membership = daily showers & blow dryers & stuff. Libraries to charge mobile devices.

- Whole region without power? Batteries & secondary charging devices (that run off batteries).

***

The thing I would like to have most prepared is a house(home) that doesn't depend on electricity to function. My dream home has a fireplace, wood fired oven, Japanese/russian wood fired baths, & rain cisterns in addition to a well.

 

[Anarchy]

I've a good stream at the bottom of the garden for water for flushing. all of the old houses around here were sited near to water sources - wells or good springs.

come to think about it, I also have an old wash house with a cast iron "set pot", set above a fire place with a chimney, I'll check it out, see if it is still sound and whether the chimney is clear.

The thatched cottage my ex used to own in Ireland still had the wrought iron crane for suspending pots and griddles above the fire. extremely cool:tup:

 

[KwanYingirl]

We lived off grid for seven years. We heated with wood, had an old refrigerator that took 3 blocks of ice that lasted several days. We had a well downhill from the garage/temp home. Carried 5 gallon buckets. In summer we bathed at our pond. In cold weather we used a solar shower and had an outhouse. When it got dark we went to bed. We used white gas lanterns and a two burner Coleman camp stove. Weather the power was out or not we got on quite well.

We always forgot to keep flashlights and batteries. We had a hand crank weather radio. The well had a hand pump, so we didn't miss anything when power went out. In the winter I had an 8 gallon stew pot filled with water on the wood stove.

 

[Anarchy]

When I was in the Bouncy Castle (Radise's re-frame for the off grid place, when it was freaking me out) the place was on a spring supply.

I did get a dead frog stuck in the pipe between the spring and its initial settling tank and the main water holding tank. I loaded the farm compressor into a pickup and used rags wrapped around the hose to get a seal.

I had my dad positioned to catch whatever came out at the top end - he missed it and it sank out of reach.

My Brother is on a spring supply too, and regularly gets bits of frog, worm, mouse and rabbit popping out of his taps. He has friends who fill their drinking water bottles from his spring rather than drink from the public water supply.

On a motorbiking trip around the arse end of one of the poorest asian countries, my brother was the only whitey who didn't get stomach troubles. he was the only one on a spring water supply at home.

 

[The Albatross]

• Hand crank weather radio
• Candles, my sconces are hanging on my walls in each of the main rooms and hallways
• 2 oil lamps with 2-3 bottles of oil and extra wicks
• batteries two flash lights and two battery operated lanterns
• BBQ briquettes, a grill and a smoker (when/if the freezer or food can't stay cold I cook it)
• Bleach
• a 1940's King propane heater
• a gas generator that will run the refrigerator, the deep freeze and an oscillating fan, a hot place or the convection toaster oven or the coffee maker (two things dedicated and one to be used as needed)
• proper extension cords,
• commercial grade
• Coolers full of ice
• about 15 gallons of bottled water (various sizes but prefer the gallon size
• a syphon in case I need more gasoline for the generator and have used up the 15 gallons in gas containers I usually have on hand (that way I can syphon it from one of the cars)
• Lighters (including the long bendable type for relighting pilot lights)
• canned precooked foods and foods that don't require refrigeration.
• During hurricane season if a storm's approaching I've got large collapsible water jugs and we fill up the bath tub to use for flushing.
• manual can opener
• wrench or pliers to turn off utilities (like natural gas or the water main etc)
• moist towelettes or baby wipes
• Cell phone with chargers, inverter or solar charger
• first aid kit
• all the papers in a fireproof small locking safe to be able to grab it quickly and go if we need to evacuate.
• carriers for the pets and adequate pet meds on hand as well as food.

A few other odds and ends, but here in hurricane central this is pretty standard operating procedure for seasonal preparations. Off season I move stuff to the outbuildings so I don't have to do a mad scramble cuz I do it every year.

 

[The Albatross]

I also have a potable 25 foot shallow well but haven't yet needed to try to rig anything to draw it with other than electricity.

 

[Anarchy]

I also have a potable 25 foot shallow well but haven't yet needed to try to rig anything to draw it with other than electricity.

Check out " waterra". It's a ball bearing non return valve for the end of a pipe. We used them for water sampling around landfills and the like. You just work the tube up and down, and it pumps water by inertia. Not enough for flushing toilets or bathing, but ok for drinking. We had them working against some fairly frightening heads.

 

[Stickler]

The drill:
Have some canned food handy.
Jugs. Lots of jugs...have to fill those to cook food and flush with. Candles. Please to note: in my case? stove is natural gas; so it doesn't go offline even in big weather events. Fill the gas tank on the car, fueling stations will be offline. Eat all frozen food.

Does not get that cold here. The last snowfall I remember was prior to 2009. Instead it gets hurricanes. The weather here is nice when not a-trying to bake you to death or b-trying to actively kill you with hurricanes, tornadoes, or random surprise torrential flooding.
( some people always just have to kayak or canoe on the sunken freeway. :eyeroll: )

For storing tap water? One drop bleach per one gallon of water will render said water drinkable for a year when stored.

Unfortunately, wood fires would soon necessitate a trip to the hospital with asthma lurching into bronchitis...though I have yet to try a rocket stove? Combustion is apparently way more efficient with a rocket stove.
Rocket stoves would seem to be a neat DIY project for those so inclined...gets you more fire wood mileage.

Right now I simply have not got the funds for much prepping. Otherwise I would have a decent stockpile of asthma meds, antibiotics, an oxy tank from welding supply and a regulator for same. Breathing, it is important.