short term power outages..

i still have the 8-1 gallon jugs of water,that i had bought for the camping trip i went on..then there's the 3-16 gallon barrels i now have.each one of them are filled with water.and stored in a nice shady and cool corner of the garage,for storage..pluss i have 2-1 gallon jug from chicken express.tea came in them.and they have the screw on caps.so their filled with water as well..then there's the 8-32oz bottles of water that i keep in the car.for a lovely total of 62 gallons of water..

robinjopo said:

I asked you guys lots of questions before I purchased and the best info I received was to get a propane generator. It doesn't get old and gum up the works like gas. I also bought an extra tank so that I will
Let have a spare. Fyi

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I have both propane and diesel generators though prefer to run propane, propane would do good where you're at, during the winter months here when temps reach a certain degrees propane is useless around +15~+10 for a generator -20 for a propane stove. Been a couple of times I had to put a fire under the tank to get the pressure up to get the generator to start, put a box around the generator and the tank in front of the exhaust to keep the tank warm.

Keep one propane tank someplace warm and insulate it. Swap out as you go.

jimLE said:

i still have the 8-1 gallon jugs of water,that i had bought for the camping trip i went on..then there's the 3-16 gallon barrels i now have.each one of them are filled with water.and stored in a nice shady and cool corner of the garage,for storage..pluss i have 2-1 gallon jug from chicken express.tea came in them.and they have the screw on caps.so their filled with water as well..then there's the 8-32oz bottles of water that i keep in the car.for a lovely total of 62 gallons of water..

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You can make homemade water filters with sand, charcoal, and gravel too. I'm big on sustainability along with storage.

A few years ago we had our spring storms. When I woke up to a tornado siren, I knew it was gonna be a long day. When the sun came up, the clouds were green and yellow. Bad day. Anyway, after multiple tornado warnings, an F5 blows up. Missed us, but not the power lines south of us.

Our house has a basement with a sump pit. No power, no pump. So, we're bailing the sump pit, for 3 hours.... the knuckles on my right hand drug the ground behind me for a week. Anyway, after a couple hours, my wife says that we're getting a generator. I'm thinking a Honda, but I was told that it was a generator that'd run the house.

There is a 14kw generac outside...... hooks up to propane. It'll run the entire house, hvac included. Love it.

This Cindy storm was the BIGGEST joke. . .I kept wondering how many people woke up yesterday asking why the heck did I even. . . I don't even think we lost our dish tv stations. That was a test people and a majority failed at least in my book. If a family can not function with what they have at their homes for at least a couple weeks then you need to start getting prepared. And the longer the better. The longest we were without electricity has been a couple weeks after a major hurricane. It could have easily gone on longer which was seen in our area. . . a month

Danil54grl said:

This Cindy storm was the BIGGEST joke. . .I kept wondering how many people woke up yesterday asking why the heck did I even. . . I don't even think we lost our dish tv stations. That was a test people and a majority failed at least in my book. If a family can not function with what they have at their homes for at least a couple weeks then you need to start getting prepared. And the longer the better. The longest we were without electricity has been a couple weeks after a major hurricane. It could have easily gone on longer which was seen in our area. . . a month

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I think everyone here waited until today to freak. We didn't do anything out of the ordinary.

My genny is just 10kw, but is enough to run the whole house, with cycling the big stuff as needed. Lots of people don't realize you can cycle the generator on and off a few times a day to save fuel. I did the math and could make 500gals of propane last six months with rationing. Hopefully that would last longer than any disaster in my lifetime. If not, at least it will help wean me off electricity. One thing to consider is if there's a bad storm, no matter how much equipment you have or plans are in place, everything you have can be wiped out in a moment. Knowledge is the best thing you can stock up on.

I have an incremental backup power plan.

Level 1 (short enough that the freezer doesn't thaw)
This one has been employed several times
Just run some fans, maybe a TV and lights
75 Ah AGM Battery
2000 Watt Pure Sine Wave Inverter

Level 2 (A day or two, but if weather is hot skip to Level 3)
fans, TV, lights, refrigerator, freezer.
Two 75 AH AGM Batteries in parallel
2000 Watt Pure Sine Wave Inverter

Level 3 (a couple of days)
This has been employed once.
small room A/C, fans, lights, refrigerator, freezer
Two 125 AH AGM Batteries (75 pounds each, so I ain't breaking these bad boys out unless I have to)
6000 Watt Inverter (Big Inverter and batteries are mounted in a wooden framework on wheels)
If the weather is really hot, then I might hook up a second window A/C unit to the 2000 Watt inverter and the pair of 75 AH AGM Batteries.

Level 4 (days not weeks)
Cook most of the food in the fridge, put the rest in a small refrigerator (milk, eggs, butter, etc.), and shut down big refrigerator, keep running freezer (very efficient non-frost free), room A/C, fans, lights.
Two 125 AH AGM Batteries, two 75 AH AGM Batteries (run two at a time and recharge two at a time with propane genny and 2 30 amp chargers)

Level 5 (weeks)
Bug out

Brent S said:

My genny is just 10kw, but is enough to run the whole house, with cycling the big stuff as needed. Lots of people don't realize you can cycle the generator on and off a few times a day to save fuel. I did the math and could make 500gals of propane last six months with rationing. Hopefully that would last longer than any disaster in my lifetime. If not, at least it will help wean me off electricity. One thing to consider is if there's a bad storm, no matter how much equipment you have or plans are in place, everything you have can be wiped out in a moment. Knowledge is the best thing you can stock up on.

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True. I've been thinking about buying a BIG underground tank.

And, you're right... air conditioning is nice when it's hot and humid.

We're also thinking about going ahead with building a new house at the BOL for retirement if the poop don't hit the fan. We are looking at the walls being made out of ICFs. 1 5/8 inches of styrofoam on the inside and outside, and about 8 inches of concrete poured into the middle. A buddy builds them, and you can heat them with very little and cool them for less....

we had a "slight breeze" here today and right now there are alot of people in my neighbouring town without electricity,something that wasn't going to happen here near the "big city",well nature plays with a different set of rules I recon.

I actually made a guide on how to power your home, (well, part of it) with an inverter. This is what I use when the electric goes out at home, and it has worked pretty well for the past few years!

https://bornprepper.com/generating-electric-in-a-grid-down-situation-shtf/

Obviously it won't power A/C units, or electric heaters, but depending on the size of inverter you opt for, it can power a small fridge, and freezer, a few LED lights, and chargers. I can run my Macbook from it without a problem too.

The A/C was really the only thing we needed power for. The fridge/freezer was fine for up to 5 days using the ice bottle method. Phones, now we have a solar charger for that, so that's fine too. Lights aren't an issue with candles, battery lanterns etc.

But, it's an interesting guide, will give ya that.

Born Prepper said:

I actually made a guide on how to power your home, (well, part of it) with an inverter. This is what I use when the electric goes out at home, and it has worked pretty well for the past few years!

https://bornprepper.com/generating-electric-in-a-grid-down-situation-shtf/

Obviously it won't power A/C units, or electric heaters, but depending on the size of inverter you opt for, it can power a small fridge, and freezer, a few LED lights, and chargers. I can run my Macbook from it without a problem too.

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Generator is much cheaper to operate and maintain than a gasoline vehicle including a diesel car, gasoline vehicles are not design to set at idle especially modern ones with catalytic converters, thus it would be cheaper to purchase a generator than a dieseled powered vehicle. Also keep in mind modern diesel vehicles are not designed to set idle either Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF) filter can be damaged while the vehicle is at idle for long periods of time. Like I said generator cheaper!

"Why not use a generator?

This is down to personal choice. I always have at least 500L of diesel in my garage that I use for the car, so if I was to buy a generator, I would only want to buy a diesel one as I would have plenty of fuel for it in a SHTF situation, but those bitches are very expensive, so I chose to use my car as a generator instead, after all, thats what it really is, a big generator you can drive. Again, you could use a generator to generate electric in a grid down situation if you want."

power outages don't bother me, I was brought up in an era of power cuts and both the wife and I have lived(separately) without electricity, its no biggie for us but I imagine it would be for the snowflakes we have in society these days.

bigpaul said:

power outages don't bother me, I was brought up in an era of power cuts and both the wife and I have lived(separately) without electricity, its no biggie for us but I imagine it would be for the snowflakes we have in society these days.

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It's not hard for me, but my husband has to have his cpap and my son who is special needs is "mom do something, fix it mom" notice he never asks dad to fix anything. Lol. I have the propane generator with two tanks waiting to go.

I posted a thread about converting my gasoline generator to propane. It really wasn’t too difficult and the fuel never goes bad like gasoline and diesel. Solar is my favorite option, but the generator conversion was more realistic in my budget. I’m hoping to start some solar this year. I will post it as I go when I do.