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Week Long Black Out Lessons Learned
It was a dark and stormy night..., NO wait that's the novel! Last Friday evening around 1700ish the lights went out following a vicious rain/windstorm that hit much of our nation. I knew from experience that reporting the outage would require a long wait on the phone so elected to wait an hour or so; maybe it would come back on anyway. Moving toward dark I pulled out the battery operated lanterns, fans, emergency radio, television, and CD player. I was set for the evening and hey, no biggie; been without power before. The scenario tracks pretty much like you would expect. Storm, loss of power, panic buying, loss of water, no gasoline for sale, no generators, more panic, heat wave adds to the misery, water shortages, no ice or water in what stores that have re-opened. This of course transitioned over the first 72 hours of what would be an 8 day affair for me.
What I did that worked:
I set out early on to ration my batteries. I would use the fans only briefly, lanterns the same. Never let them sit while not being productively used with them turned on. Although I did have back up batteries I did not need to change them out over the 8 days. When I noticed the water pressure dropping, I filled containers achieving an extra four gallons of potable water. I suspended toilet flushing and began to reserve used dish water for this purpose. In total I used only seven gallons of potable water during the three days without water and the following two day boil order. As soon as I noticed that the upright freezer was breaking down I moved the contents to the chest freezer and went on a quest for ice. I secured a couple dozen large gel freezer packs and dropped them off at church where they had power and froze them. I purchased 54 pounds of ice. The frozen gel packs with 14 pounds of ice were packed in the top of the chest freezer and this was layered with brown paper bags and news papers all the way to the top of the freezer. There is a hollow in the lid so I placed my insulin, a package of bacon, some cheese and a couple dozen eggs on top of the last layer of paper packing. It was snug but fit well. I placed 20 pounds of ice in the bottom of the upright freezer and twenty pounds in the top shelf of the fridge. Within an hour the fridge side was near normal temperatures although the ice was degrading quickly and twenty pounds would last there no more than 30 hours. In the upright freezer I used the ice to cool drinks and that surprisingly lasted 72 hours. As it melted I used the cold water for my pets drinking water. Checking the chest freezer I am amazed that the items on top of the paper were as chilled as if refrigerated. The gel packs were still rock hard 8 days later and the two small bags of ice were 80 percent intact. I accessed these areas a little as possible to avoid loss of low temperatures. I had to refill the fridge and upright with ice one more time during the outage. I discvered that at 0600 there is nobody at Krogers so when I got a confirmation that ice was available I made early trips out. Next post I'll tell you about the "Survival Kit in the Cell Phone" (More to follow) {8<{)
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Phillip P. Foreman on -
Pleased to report that my "fall In" time is reduced from 72 hours to about 30 minutes. {8<{)
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Permalink Reply by Phillip P. Foreman on
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OH CRAP THE LIGHTS WENT OUT TO DO LIST
1. Call AEP and report initial outage.
2. Observe neighborhood for smoke, fire, sirens, flashing lights and down wires. Determine who else in the county and on my call list is out.
3. Turn off all lappliances which use compressors, fridge, freezer, air conditioner...
4. Top off sinks, tubs, and spare containers with water.
5. Retrieve emergency gear, lights, lantern, fans, heaters, radio, TV, DVD player and check batteries amnd fuel supplies.
6. Trip to town to assess situation on the way through and purchase needed supplies for back up.
Charge thephone cell during the trip.
7. Place 20 pounds ice or two frozen gallon jugs on the top shelf of the refrigerator.
8. Place twenty pounds of ice in the bottom of upright or side by side freezer.
9. Fill chest freezers solidly with bags of ice, frozen containers all the way to the top. Cover with a layer of newspaper about a half inch thick, then corrugated cardboard, then brown paper bags. Close it and leave it alone.
10. Turn on the radio and assess the seveity of the situation and act as needed.
11. Scout the neighborhood to determine where assistance may be required.
12. Contact family members.
13. Contact power provider , if warranted, and advise of updates to original report.
14. Contact the Sheriff and offer your hands, mkind, and transportation to help as may be needed.
15. Get on your knees and thank God that He has provided for you and enabled you to be a blessing to others.
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Permalink Reply by Ted I Lewis on -
Having been 100% off grid, for 21 years, have learned a lot. For most homes, 1500 watt inverter will keep things going. Now, not ALL things, but the ones you need. Frig. freezer, some lights and comolink. For very little money you can get set up. Northern Tool has several packages and there are other sites that have the same. If you take care, you can build a unit that will keep you going. Batts. are your gas tank. The more you have, the longer you can go. Like I said, 1500 watts will get er done. And 200 watts of solar will keep you going in the charging of batts. Just done use much in daylight. SAVE THE POWER! Charge controler? If you take a 12 volt car headlight, tie it in on the neg. side of your leads going to your batts. from your solar, it will work as a controler. Poor boy it! And you don't need a bigass genset. 2500 watt cont. not surge, will do all you might need. Like I said, this is our 21 years of solar. And I started out with what I have said here. !500 watts inverter, 200 watts solar, 8 golf cart batts. and 2500 watt genset. Have chest freezer, frig., lights and tv radio. Look around, can find a lot of things to build system. Hope this helps. as always, " I live my life, that when my feet hit the floor in the morning, the devil and muslims say " OH CRAP!!! HE IS AWAKE "
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Permalink Reply by Phillip P. Foreman on
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Great information Ted. No more outages to put up with. I strongly suspect that this is the direction folk will turn. For few dollars setting up your own power source makes sense. At the rates the power companies charge today a couple of years ought to return your outlay. It took cell phones a while to virtually replace land lines and I suspect it will take "off gridders" a while as well.
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Permalink Reply by Ted I Lewis on
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Phillip, don't forget the rebates from the gov. and elect. co. With the money help out there. You can get a hell of a system for about 40-60% of cost. Just spend the time and find what your state has to offer. And if you put elect back into the grid? The elect co HAS TO PAY YOU FOR EVER KW. YOU PUT INTO THEIR LINES! Don't let them bullshit you about what they do! They have to pay you for it! That is one fed. law that is really good. Later all. " I live my life, that when my feet hit the floor in the morning, the devil and muslims say " OH CRAP!!! HE IS AWAKE!!! "
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Permalink Reply by Phillip P. Foreman on
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Thank you. I can use the extra money. Got radios and antennas to buy too! {8<{)
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Permalink Reply by John Klempel {Admin} on -
Some very good info Ted!!
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Permalink Reply by Phillip P. Foreman on
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Just got my electric bill for the blackout period. You know those boogers had the balls to bill me the full monthly fee for my security light. For some reason their 1-800 number wass busy all day so I had to send them an e-mail. {8<{)
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Permalink Reply by fidsquid on
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Phillip, I have to thank you for the advice. My place has been a coal mine since work has been so sporadic. One of those only one light on at a time, A/C up rather high for Florida. I had totally forgotten about that horizontal freezer back in the utility room. Next time something like Debby comes calling I'll have block ice waiting in the horizontal.
The power stayed on around here so I didn't check on the neighbors. If I end up looking around next storm, I'll wear the bright orange shirt from the local high school where my son goes and a pair of jeans. I figure when I introduce myself as their local militia checking on their well being I can leave the impression we are regular folks, and their helpful neighbors. I'll try to have some small bottles of water with me to pass to the local deputies and power company guys, spread a little good will. The expressions will be interesting, a militia guy, not in battle rattle, checking on folks and helping out? Let me get this sand bag project done and maybe I can really get some good will spread around.
I've used up my supply of commas so I'll stop here.
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Permalink Reply by Phillip P. Foreman on
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Outstanding! {8<{)
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Permalink Reply by Phillip P. Foreman on
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Cabelas has two types of 4kw jennies on sale at under three and change and 4 and change bills on wheels one with push button and remote start and with free shipping for club Visa card holders. This is not an advertisement just information.
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Permalink Reply by Chancy Yardbird on -
Hiya Phillip, That sounds like a pretty good deal for good gens. Obviously I can't see the specific ones that Cabelas offers and make no assumptions, but I do know that there are a lot of "used refurbished" on the market. Please don't read me wrong. This in no way means there's anything at all wrong or that there was when new.
What happens is this. People with good upfront intentions often buy a great generator, take it home gas it up run it long enough to watch a ball game or two and run their electric chainsaw to trim this years growth from their backyard forrest. Then they r- inter the set into their preparedness gear storage and plans for when they'll really need it. The next year rolls around or the one after that and they add gas and maybe even some fuel refresh. But try and try the thing just wont run like it did last summer if at all. So,,,, they take it back or to a shop. The warranty has probably expired and the shops probably offer to buy it dirt cheap or take it as trade on a new or new reburbished one. See the cycle?
Today's fuels and today's small engines aren't meant to run once a year while the fuel caramelizes (sort of) and plugs/clogs/corrupts the fuel mixing design. What some people do is put just a little fuel in to get the job done and run er dry. Some add the fuel fresh chemical and let it also combine over the follwing year.
What should be done, you ask? Simple. As with ALL preparedness, supplies, gear, and plans. USE EM OR LOSE EM! running the gen monthly or weekly or even daily is far better than yearly. Keep good fresh clean fuel on hand and strain it when filling reservoirs. The tiniest of debris can and will clog plug or corrupt small or large engine fuel systems. This silly cycle of mechanical life is also true with a lot of lawn mowers and rototillers of today.
Hope this helps.
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