PREP What do you have planned if the power goes out

[ShadowMan]

Due to wind, weather and maintenance we lose power frequently throughout the year. Currently SDG&E is replacing all power poles on our mountain with armored and fire resistant power poles and wiring.

1. Generac whole house generator, natural gas. Tests itself once a month.
2. Back up whole house generator, multi-fuel: gasoline/propane.
3. Small Honda generator, gasoline. Will run refer and 2 freezers and is backup for Travel Trailer.
4. Wood burning fireplace for heating and cooking. 1 cord firewood.
5. Gas range & oven
6. Several Coleman lanterns, white gas. LOTS of wicks.
7. Several Aladdin lanterns, kerosene. LOTS of wicks.
8. Several old fashioned oil lamps and barn lamps, kerosene. LOTS of wicks.
9. 28' travel trailer self contained with both battery and propane. Gathering supplies and equipment to add to solar power for extended dry camping. (Alternate emergency housing)
10. Weber 3 burner propane BBQ grill with 8 20# propane tanks. I BBQ pretty much year round....even in snow.
11. Numerous battery "Pop-Up" emergency lanterns, several Coleman battery lanterns and battery flashlights in every room of the house and trailer.
12. Several solar battery chargers that can charge cellphones, laptops and both disposable and NiCad batteries (AAA - D).
13. A dozen+ 100 hr candles.
14. Solar yard and walk way lights, that can recharged during the day and provide some light for most of the night.
15. Two Coleman camping stoves, one white gas and the other propane.
16. One Kelly Kettle stainless steel camp kettle.

Hmmmm didn't realize just how redundant we are for power and light.

And eight 5 gallon jerry cans of gasoline with Stabil added.
Two 55 gallon drums and four five gallon jerry cans of emergency water. Will be adding another four 55 gallon drums of water once I build a rack for them. Short term future plans are to add a 1,000 to 1,500 gallon water tank under the main deck for long term emergency water and fire fighting needs.
Big Berkey water filter with a dozen back up candles.
Several different camping/hiking water filters and purifiers.

Oh....and two EZBreeze Ebikes for local transportation with an approximate 45 mile range, as well as cross country skis and snow shoes for winter transportation if necessary.

 

[Homestyle]

Whole house natural gas generator. . If that goes out then it will be candles and and firelight. I don't fret about it that much. The longest we have been without electric was exactly two weeks due to an ice storm. That was a blessing in disguise. What we learned from that was invaluable for us and our teenage kids. They haven't forgotten it either. They know they can survive and not get angry and upset about it.

 

[momma_soapmaker]

We have several of the Rockpals power packs, plus solar panels to charge them if all else goes awry. There's a $290 off coupon on this 500 watt unit. (No affiliation with them - we just know they work).

They're great for running CPAP masks (what we originally got them for), fans, lights, charging phones, etc.

https://www.amazon.com/ROCKPALS-Portable-Power-Station-500W/dp/B0BV6GQ3VC

We love these solar lights. They can be hung up too. Very bright.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B08N472W8G

 

[Intestinal Fortitude]

If the grid goes down in a very big way, as I expect it to, I will be taking down my solar arrays and burying them for the duration before the “authorities” or the neighbors show up to demand them for the “hospital, town office, sheriff’s office, national guard etc,etc,etc,. I have lived down here in the woods for 13 years without any electricity, guess I can do it again. According to the pentagon, 90% of Americans will die in the first year without power. I give them 6 months at most...

when they ask me where they went I will say I sold them to ukraine. Or lost them in a boating accident. Why come to me ? They all have had endless credit and time to get their own long ago.

exxtraterrestrials needed them to get back to their planet . . . !

 

[Cohickman]

Big genny, small genny, solar array for rechargable electronics, lots of batteries.

 

[Millwright]

Best practice, backups for your backups.

Should all 8 generators fail and both inverters lose their magic smoke, there are some critical functions that must be maintained.

 

[marieb]

Get yourself a propane camp stove so you can cook and heat water, and you'll have it all over the rest of them.

I will pull out my solar oven and black pot to start cooking a mess of beans and small pan of cornbread.

A good hot meal can be comforting. I'm not allowed to have flammables like propane at my place, but a good solar oven will not let you down.

And a small LED candle, that flickers like a real candle, can be very comforting at night without fear of fire.

I have to watch the neighbors closely when I use the solar oven. It gets a lot of attention and could quickly dissappear.

 

[Skyraider]

Dies the Fire by S.M. Sterling
Now you’re talking about the power going off.

Grid down for a month, no society left. Grid down for a week, best live rural and lay low.
Skyraider

 

[West]

What do I have planned when the power goes out?

Panties will need to be folded and organized.



Where's Helen?

 

[BornFree]

So you planning on starting a bar and brothel?

 

[summerthyme]

Have to go home & test Gen-Set #2.

Need freezers. All other is optional/otherwise do-able.
Not going to be happy with cowboy coffee, but it will do. Back to the week long rafting trip days.

Get a French press for the coffee! I bought one for hubby after two coffeemakers died within a year... sick of spending money to replace a single use item. He loves it... as longbas you have some way to heat water, you've got coffee.

Summerthyme

 

[West]

View attachment 417410

What is that? No I don't really want to know.

Would muse its some kind of bottom of the sea creature.

 

[Sacajawea]

Since coffee is the essence of life, I have a Melitta drip (just boil water), a french press & the daily Bunn. Oh... and the outlet for the Bunn is on the whole house generator. I don't like going without running water. We CAN, but probably won't have to until the worst case scenario, do just fine because we have backups to the backups.

 

[Fairwillows]

I got bored so went baking bread,

ok, inquiring minds want to know, how did you make bread????

 

[Loretta Van Riet]

Midwest Derecho of August 2020...was without power for 4 1/2 days. No generator, but I do have MULTIPLE power packs, multiple light sources, and natural gas stove to still be able to easily heat water, etc..

Those little "brushless" USB fans are a LIFESAVER! Just plug 'em into one of my power packs! Was able to recharge several power packs while at work. After losing freezer contents TWICE in one year, it makes more sense for me (lives alone) to have freeze-dried and canned food as my preps.

I didn't realize until then, how much the background noises of my house actually comfort me. For example... hearing the low hum of my refrigerator cycling on. So used my battery/hand crank radio to give some quiet background sound.

Was really thankful for my Mountain House, freeze-dried Folger's coffee crystals, and made toast in my frying pan.

 

[Old Gray Mare]

If the expectation is the power will be back on momentarily? Time to go to the beach. If not I'll probably be canning or otherwise putting by whatever is in the fridge and freezer.

 

[okie-carbine]

People lived for thousands of years without electricity. Most can live without it. We went 14 days back years ago during an ice storm. You just have to adapt and overcome.

 

[colonel holman]

People lived for thousands of years without electricity. Most can live without it. We went 14 days back years ago during an ice storm. You just have to adapt and overcome.

That storm was a huge wakeup call for most around here. Now, most every home has backup systems and tactics in place. Gennies, solar panel setups, and lots of no-power lifestyle options.

 

[Samuel Adams]

We turned off the power in the late 90s.

Dabbled with making our own from scrap yard stuff for a while.

Quite doable, but decided we didn’t need it.


My offer still stands.

Anyone in forum is welcome to PM me for directions and plan a visit.

I’d be happy to show anyone interested how literally off-grid can work.

 

[FreedomoftheHills]

Will continue with normal life up here on the mountain. Nearest grid power is 5 miles from me.

 

[Publius]

What to do when the power go's out! Panic

 

[flame]

What to do when the power go's out! Panic

I just take a nap, and then wander around town bugging neighbors. I get bored easy.

 

[KFhunter]

Around here, the generator barely has time to cool down between outages


The thing I like best is the jackery, it keeps things going until you figure out if it’s it a long outage or not, I plug my Starlink in it and I got internets

 

[Doc1]

My DW hates spiders and this is important to our electrical generation preps, so read on.

I constructed a large squirrel cage, which she can fit into. Then I shackle her to the transverse bar. This is connected to a flywheel and then to a generator. Ordinarily she's not good for more than fifteen minutes in the squirrel cage, which isn't really long enough to make ice for my cold drinks or run the air conditioner. Hmmm. What to do, what to do? Then it came to me in a flash of brilliance!

I added a set of clock-like escarpment gears to which is attached a long stick. If she slows down, the stick gets closer to her. When she speeds up, the stick moves farther away. As you might have guessed, I attached a large, live spider to the stick! The spider is harmless, but of course she doesn't know that.

Since adding the spider modification, her endurance has gone up from fifteen minutes to almost four hours! That's enough to make the ice and run at least one air conditioner! One of the neighbors didn't like my rig and was muttering ridiculous nonsense about spousal abuse, but during our last power outage I handed him an iced bourbon and he shut up real quick!

Of course four hours of electricity isn't really enough to keep up with my creature comforts, so I think I'll recruit her sister and mother. I probably won't get more than an hour or two out of mom, but every minute counts, right?

Those of you who've read this so far must realize that it's the sheerest nonsense, right? ;-)

What we actually have is a large, listeroid diesel generator, a back up gas generator, solar panels and several deep cycle batteries. Additionally, we have several high output 12 volt inverters, allowing us to use our vehicles as instant generators. Naturally, we have substantial fuel storage for the vehicles and generators.

On the non electric side, we have both kerosene and propane lanterns and propane stoves. In a pinch we can cook on our wood stove.

Best
Doc

 

[Mongo]

My place is powered by multiple emp-hardened solar systems

 

[fi103r]

View attachment 417410

My Eyes, My Eyes
need optic bleach ASAP!

 

[WildDaisy]

It is common for us with hurricanes and winter storms. The longest we have gone without power is two weeks. We have heater buddies, wood stove, propane canister cookstoves, enamelware and cast iron for cooking on the fire. We also have oil lanterns, candles, LED lights, flashlights, LED lanterns, extra batteries, and a power cube with 300W solar panel to recharge.

 

[1911user]

3500 Watt inverter generator, smaller kerosene room heater, small buddy propane heater, electric space heaters (can power 2 with genny), gas grill, propane and gas camp stoves, alcohol and sterno burners, many candles and tea lights, various normal and rechargable lights, cold weather sleeping bags, and a 25W solar panel for recharging usb devices.

 

[Night Owl]

I wouldn’t be worried about being out of power, more worried about security when there is no electricity.

 

[vessie]

Lol. My only thought is to check Amazon. Mine were given to us so I don't know where my folks got them, but Amazon has several different brands if you search for "power outage light bulbs". And even GE makes them now so I'd think they would be available/order-able from like Ace Hardware or something like that, if you prefer to shop more local.

I ordered mine online from Home Depot.

They came in very handy during the ice storm power outage last December here in the Cascades just east of Seattle.

I also have them at my home on Kauai. V

 

[anna43]

Generac whole house natural gas generator so outage would be less than 5 minutes. I consider the Generac to be a huge blessing. A very expensive blessing but still a blessing. It does not run the a/c but everything else. Natural gas for cooking, water heater and furnace. I can run washer and natural gas dryer although perhaps not at the same time. Frig, freezer and sump pumps are the #1 things year around and the furnace in winter so all covered. I have a full basement so if no a/c and it's 100º I can go downstairs and use a fan. Natural gas going out would be a much bigger problem for me.

I still have flashlights, kerosene lamps, battery radios, battery lanterns, camp stove and other camping gear. I'm planning to buy a new LED lantern soon. The old lanterns use four of the large batteries which are expensive. They do last practically forever but the LED's are brighter and use much less battery power. I also have a kerosene heater which has never been used which was purchased after an ice storm and no power for a week. The fumes from kerosene bothers me so neither lamps nor heater will be used except in dire emergency. Also, a lot of extra blankets, comforters and sleeping bags.

During our week of no power due to ice storm, my nephew and a friend were going door to door checking people were okay. The found an older lady in bad shape because she had an all electric house and only a couple electric blankets. She was huddled under those two blankets in her winter coat. They brought her here (no generator at the time) where the inside temps never dropped below 60º due to using the gas oven. I'd bake something and then leave the oven door open for awhile before turning the oven off. Also, put two canners filled with water on the burners and brought them to boiling and then turned off the burners and let them radiate heat into the house. Anyway, the lady was shivering so hard I had to help her drink some hot coffee. I was about to suggest her going to the hospital when her daughter arrived and took her. She'd been in her house without heat for two days and outside temps were zero.

 

[RememberGoliad]

Welll..... you mean right now? I'd go to sleep. Wake up in the morning and see if there's lights. If not, go start the ancient flathead Briggs 5kw generator and get the fridges and freezer back cold again. Then get on with my day. If I have problems getting that loud, cranky old genny started, I'll spend some time getting the backup genny started. A 7.5kw funny lookin' thing that a neighbor down the road offered to me before he rolled it out to the curb. Said it's never been run on gasoline, and only once or twice on propane, but he got a whole house genset. If it's draggin' on past midafternoon, probably another run of the generator while Mama goes down for her afternoon butt rest. (It needs a change of scenery from a wheelchair cushion after so many hours ) Another few hours of her chair being on the charger and the refrigeration running.

Cooking? Fire works wonders for that. We eat before evening chores anyway, so there's light. If there's still no power at dark, why then we'll just go to sleep

Next morning, if things are still crossways AND no word on why (or some word that suggests we should,) start canning or otherwise preserving the stuff in the fridges and freezers.

Which reminds me, we're right before the summer propane top-off, so might want to get that scheduled shortly. We generally refill right before July 4, so I expect we're down around 45% in a 250 gal pig right now, with two full 25gal bottles and three full grill bottles out of six.

If it keeps on going on, then I foresee LOTS of wood processing before October.

Now, should all this happen in the winter time, short-term outage (up to 3 weeks) not much. Refrigeration is taken care of, to some extent, so all we'd have to contend with is keeping that damn chair charged. Other than that, we'd just go to sleep earlier and get up about the same time. There's enough gas lights, flashlights, candles, and solar type lighting to keep me from bumping into stuff on the way to the bathroom in the dark. Basically what we did during the Valentine's mess in '21 that dstraito was referring to. Nineteen days without electricity in the wintertime is less-annoying than 17 days in September after Harvey. Yeah, we had both. Moved to the Hill Country in '20.

Long term, any time of year, I'd have to come up with some way to charge the wheelchair I mentioned earlier. Maybe a 2nd set of batteries and swap 'em out to be able to charge with solar setup, IDK. It's not the end of the world, there's an Armstrong chair that can be put to use inside, while I get the recharging ironed out, so that DW is not bedridden.

Good mental exercise to do on an ongoing basis. Anything longer than 2-3 weeks and/or affecting more than just one local power line, is going to have all sorts of cascade effects that are going to hurt the mushroom people really hard after a few days. Best to be out front of that hurt and be able to not have to go out among them.

 

[RememberGoliad]

The fumes from kerosene bothers me so neither lamps nor heater will be used except in dire emergency.

It's said that the annoyance of the fumes can be almost eliminated by lighting and extinguishing kerosene appliances outside and letting them get up to operating temperature before bringing inside. Burns cleaner when heated up, thus not nearly as much stench from the thing. FWIW.

 

[packyderms_wife]

well I did a couple of solar things a few years back, after the derecho that tore through Iowa a few years ago, that got poo poo'd. Well what can I say.

 

[Marthanoir]

ok, inquiring minds want to know, how did you make bread????

Like a lot of Irish rural homes we have a solidfuel Stanley range,
No electricity needed.

We cook on it, bake in it, it heats our hot water tank and heats the radiators.

 

[Doc1]

It's said that the annoyance of the fumes can be almost eliminated by lighting and extinguishing kerosene appliances outside and letting them get up to operating temperature before bringing inside. Burns cleaner when heated up, thus not nearly as much stench from the thing. FWIW.

You are absolutely correct. We have several Petromax (pressurised) mantle-type kerosene lanterns. These will also run on diesel and are much brighter than Coleman type white gas lanterns. Additionally - and this is important - the Petromaxes produce only tiny amounts of carbon monoxide; they primarily generate carbon dioxide. This allows them to be used indoors. Coleman-type white gas lanterns produce a lot of carbon monoxide and should never be used indoors.

The Petromaxes, whether using kero or diesel really stink when lit and especially when turned off. Your best bet is to light them outdoors and wait 'til they gt up to temperature before bringing them inside.

Best
Doc

 

[Wildwood]

We lost a lot of our back ups in the barn fire a few years ago. We've replaced some. We gifted ourselves an EcoFlow and a couple solar panels last Christmas and we've replaced a few generators. Our inverters were in the box truck, thank goodness.

DH can keep us comfortable with what he has to work with. I'm not good at any of that but I should learn and take notes. DH shows me every time we have an extended power outage so I can keep things going while he's at work but I forget between times. He's a genius and can fix anything and can make anything work but he can't cook a thing...we depend on each other way too much.

 

[oops]

Electric out?...rendezvous or camp it is...shrug...long as we have gasoline for the lil genny or nat gas for the big one...life is normal...just gotta can the freezers...lose the gases..shrug...life's normal... just more time consumin...thx b...

 

[Big Bob]

My DW hates spiders and this is important to our electrical generation preps, so read on.

I constructed a large squirrel cage, which she can fit into. Then I shackle her to the transverse bar. This is connected to a flywheel and then to a generator. Ordinarily she's not good for more than fifteen minutes in the squirrel cage, which isn't really long enough to make ice for my cold drinks or run the air conditioner. Hmmm. What to do, what to do? Then it came to me in a flash of brilliance!

I added a set of clock-like escarpment gears to which is attached a long stick. If she slows down, the stick gets closer to her. When she speeds up, the stick moves farther away. As you might have guessed, I attached a large, live spider to the stick! The spider is harmless, but of course she doesn't know that.

Since adding the spider modification, her endurance has gone up from fifteen minutes to almost four hours! That's enough to make the ice and run at least one air conditioner! One of the neighbors didn't like my rig and was muttering ridiculous nonsense about spousal abuse, but during our last power outage I handed him an iced bourbon and he shut up real quick!

Of course four hours of electricity isn't really enough to keep up with my creature comforts, so I think I'll recruit her sister and mother. I probably won't get more than an hour or two out of mom, but every minute counts, right?

Those of you who've read this so far must realize that it's the sheerest nonsense, right? ;-)

What we actually have is a large, listeroid diesel generator, a back up gas generator, solar panels and several deep cycle batteries. Additionally, we have several high output 12 volt inverters, allowing us to use our vehicles as instant generators. Naturally, we have substantial fuel storage for the vehicles and generators.

On the non electric side, we have both kerosene and propane lanterns and propane stoves. In a pinch we can cook on our wood stove.

Best
Doc

Hi Doc did you have a diesel pickup with a large alternator back in Katrina days to power a camper. Is it still running?

 

[ktrapper]

We wouldn't know if the power went out. Haven't been on the grid in over 25 years.