Showing posts sorted by relevance for query Power Outage. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query Power Outage. Sort by date Show all posts

Saturday, May 7, 2016

Survive a 2 week Power Outtage


What will you need to survive a two-week power outage? 

What will you be missing?
  1. No ATM or credit card ability; stores only accepting cash, rationing supplies
  2. No TV, radio, cell phone, computer or iPad
  3. No A/C or heating
  4. No running water
  5. No hot showers
  6. No gasoline
  7. No lights
  8. No refrigerator or freezer
  9. No electric stove, oven, toaster or microwave
  10. No clothes washer
  11. No clothes dryer
  12. No electric toothbrush, razor, hair dryer or curlers (starting to sound serious now :-)
So what do we need?  According to the Rule of 3, you can die in:
  • 3 seconds without security;
  • 3 minutes without air;
  • 3 hours without shelter in hostile weather;
  • 3 days without water &
  • 3 weeks without food.
Do we really need security in a 2 week power outage?  New Orleans needed it only days after a hurricane when people ran out of food and water and started door to door looting.  So after 2-3 days of a power (or water) outage over a large area, it is highly likely that 24-7 armed security plan is needed.

Air is less likely to be a concern in a power outage unless a wildfire causes it, or chemical warfare, in which case a gas mask is needed. Shelter may be a concern if you are not able to get home, or if your home is damaged beyond use. In this case, having supplies in your car or with you would be important. A tent or at the least an emergency blanket is recommended. For our power outage lets assume you are home which is the most common scenario.

However, water will be a serious concern in most any extended event.  For this reason, it is important that you prepare an Emergency Water Supply now.  You need one gallon per day, per person.  For two weeks, that is 14 gallons per person so a family of four needs 56 gallons of water.  This equates to about 18 cases of bottled water (500 ml) or eleven 5 gallon jug which offers a lower cost per gallon than half liter (500 ml) bottles.


     Step 1: Start with a water dispenser and a five-gallon jug/bottle of water.
     Step 2: Get a backup 5-gallon bottle of water (or 2).
     Step 3: Get a rack for your backup water bottles and keep it full.
     Step 4: Get another rack and keep it full.
     Step 5: Repeat step 4 until you have your target water supply.

Bottles are an excellent water supply, but you should have other alternatives. Know where your closest community pool, creek or lake is located and have some means to treat the water. Our Emergency Water Supply link has many details on having a good supply of water.

Food should be less of concern, but still one to think aboutSelf-heating MRE's would be awesome, but with a 5 year shelf life on something you do not eat regularly, they are not ideal. Our post on Building your food stores the right way is a solid plan. However, in addition to food, you must have a means of Food Preparation & Preservation during a power outage.  It is also critical to have two hand operated can openers (not electric).

If you have a propane stove, then you are in luck.  Natural gas stoves are good as long as the gas company has back up power to maintain pressure. A BBQ Grill that uses propane and having trees around that provide fire wood is the ideal. Better if you have a full back up propane bottle to swap out.  With these things and good NATO or Kitchen matches, you are in good shape, but you need to plan.  These lighters are also very handy and affordable.

Step 1 is to implement your security plan.  Ideally a two person watch, 24 hours, 7 days a week.  Short, 4-hour shifts are best as they allow a more vigilant watch.  Change 1 of the 2 watch persons every two hours so there is someone fresh coming on duty every 2 hours. You should have some form of communications between the security team(s) and a central command center.

Step 2 is a plan for food and water.  Secure/ assemble as much as you initially can, and then prepare to ration it. Open the refrigerator only once per day for a brief minute to take out food to eat for the day.  After the refrigerated foods are gone, start on the frozen foods.  Save all canned and dried goods with long expiration dates to the last. Ration your food supply so the refrigerated and frozen goods are consumed before they go bad. Then ration the other goods to ensure they will last as long as possible.

Have a half dozen of these $5 lights that also serve as solar powered battery chargersA larger scale solar power system would be nice to have. 

Here is a good test for you.  Go camping for a 3 day weekend with only what you have in your survival back pack.  Here is a link to the first Alone Survival show back pack contents and a link to the Prepper Handbook Survival Backpack.  OR stay home and don't use any electricity to see how that works for you. Use this as a learning process to be better prepared for an actual extended power outage.  After this, please come back and let us know how it went with a comment to this blog.

For more information:
Blog Table of Contents
Power Outage Preps
Power Outage Heater
DIY Solar System 
The SHTF Day One
Survive a 2 week Power Outage 



  
 




Thursday, December 20, 2018

Backup Power Supply


The cost for back up power is very affordable starting around $260 for a highly rated DuroStar DS4000S that can run for 8 hours on 4 gallons of gas.  At $2.00 per gallon, this is $1.00 per hour for electricity.  This could save your food from spoiling in the refrigerator &/or freezer, and easily pay for itself in one power outage. Short of running a heater, air conditioner unit or an electric dryer, this 4,000 watt generator will power all of the important things in most homes.  Here is a list of estimated power requirements.

Add to this, a cover (for the long periods where you hopefully don't need it) at a cost of $20 and an extra 14 gallon gas can that will run your generator for 28 hours.  This is the first backup power system I would purchase.




Another option I actually prefer is the Champion 3800 Dual Fuel Generator which will run for 9 hours on its 3.4 gallon tank or 10.5 hours on a 20 pound Propane Tank, which is much safer to store and has an infinite shelf life vs the commonly used E10 gasoline (we put in our cars) which has a 8 to 12 month shelf life.  This is about $0.76 per hour to run on gasoline and about $1.90 per hour for propane. Short of running a heater, air conditioner unit or an electric dryer, this 3,800 watt system will power all of the important things in most homes.  Here is a list of estimated power requirements.

Granted the propane is more expensive but it is safer and has a much longer shelf life which could make it lower cost long term.  I would keep propane stored for long term use, but use low cost gasoline while it was easily available.

 A generator is affordable short term, but even the lowest operating cost option ($0.76/hour) becomes expensive long term, costing $550 per month for electricity and requiring regular trips to the gas station  Solar power on the other hand requires a larger investment for equivalent power, but is cheaper to operate.

 A wind generator in conjunction with a solar power system is actually the best combination for long term, sustainable power, that will continue to operate long after the gasoline supply is gone.  When the sun isn't shining, the wind is probably blowing, providing a supply of electricity during the cloudy times, during the night and during the day.

Such a system might start with a Goal Zero Yeti 3000 Lithium Portable Power System for $2,400, as an addition to your generator system above.  This is basically a big (280 amp hour) battery that can be charged by your homes power, your generator above while its providing power for your home, or by solar panels or a wind mill once there is no gasoline to run generators with.  Fully charged, this will run your refrigerator for 50 hours. You can buy batteries at a much lower cost to build your own Starter Solar System, but this includes a lot of extras.


You can also run your Generator above for a few hours and charge this large battery to use during the rest of the day, extending your Generator fuel for potentially weeks.

For $575 you can add 200 watts of portable Goal Zero Solar Panels specifically designed for this battery power pack.  It is pre-wired and ready to go by plugging one connector in. This 200 watt system will run your refrigerator, an LED light and a box fan.  Here is a list of estimated power requirements.



The addition of 8 Solar panels for $2,500 will keep this battery charged and provide 800 watts of 12 VDC power for each hour of sun shine. This 800 watt system will run a refrigerator, freezer, LED lights, radio, charge your phones and more. Here is a list of estimated power requirements.


A 2000 Watt Wind Mill for $750 will top off your system and provide a more balanced supply of power, even during cloudy days or at night. Add this to the 8 panels above and you can power all of the important things in most homes, indefinitely. Note that the 800 watt solar system generates up to 800 watts when the sun is fully shining, and the 2,000 watt wind mill generates up to 2,000 watts when the wind is blowing hard.  Figuring a maximum of 50% on both system is reasonable when sunny and windy.  So on a windy sunny day, you might expect about 1,400 watts of power supply.  Here is a list of estimated power requirements


For more information:
Blog Table of Contents

Power Outage Preps
Power Outage Heater

EMP Survival
 
The SHTF Day One
Survive a 2 week Power Outage
Complete Sustainable Living Plan
Backup Power Supply
Backup Power for Under $50
 
 
See similar topics by clicking on the labels below

Sunday, August 27, 2017

Power Outage Preps


Drinking water for an extended Power Outage is important. Our post on Emergency Water is very complete and informative with a water storage and rotation plan that would work for any home.

But we must have a way to prepare food. The charcoal allows you to cook food as would an inexpensive cook stove like the one below.

  
 
Our post on Food Preparation & Preservation covers more detail on this topic.


Another nice item are these solar powered lights. 


With some inexpensive hardware, or a flower vase, you can spread them around your home to provide light.  

 

The quality ones use rechargeable AA or AAA batteries and can be used as a solar powered charger.  They are also brighter and last longer. Having a set of each (AA and AAA) is ideal so you can charge all your small batteries.



When you are not using these for lighting or to charge your batteries, they make attractive lights for your yard and provide an added measure of Home Security.  




For more information:
Blog Table of Contents
Power Outage Preps
Power Outage Heater
DIY Solar System 
The SHTF Day One
Survive a 2 week Power Outage
Complete Sustainable Living Plan 

Friday, December 21, 2018

Backup Electricity for under $50

Most US families own a power generator, even if they don't realize it.   

It is your Car.

For this reason,  it is a PREPPER HANDBOOK RECOMMENDATION to have a good DC to AC inverter in your vehicle to use as a 120 VAC power supply. For under $50 you can use your vehicle as a back up power supply.  



This 300 watt (continuous) inverter is enough to power most refrigerators, or Freezers as long as your vehicle motor is running.  For this reason, it is good to never drive with your fuel tank near Empty.  Here is a list of estimated power requirements. that will allow you to see what you can run (power wise) using this.

A typical Car Battery stores about 50 Ah (Amp Hours) at 12 VDC (Volts Direct Current) which is 600 watts but you can only use a vehicle battery when the motor is running. You can however add an additional 200Ah Deep Cycle Battery for about $400 that will store 2,400 watts (12 VDC X 200 Ah) or 1,200 usable watts (2,400 X 0.5). While the above 300 watt charger could charge your 200Ah battery, it would take at least 4-5 hours.  Buying a dedicated Battery Charger for $200 could keep this 200Ah battery charged using your household electricity and have it at peak readiness when the power went out.  




Include a Battery Clip-on Car Cigarette Lighter Socket Adapter (above) for $10 and you have a standby battery back up system for about $660 that will provide 1,200 watts of power. Here is a list of estimated power requirements. to show what 1200 watts can run.  For example, it would keep a small refrigerator or freezer running for approximately 2 days, and a large one for over 1 day. 

Combine this with other Backup Power options to have more power available for longer periods.


Another low cost item for power outages are solar powered lights.





It provides solar powered lighting for outside security AND lighting for the inside of your home. In addition, these can be used as a solar charger for rechargeable batteries and make great stealth Prepper gifts for family members. With a package of extra rechargeable batteries, these will provide lighting for years.

Here are a few good passive lights that are solar powered and use common AA so they can double as solar battery chargers:


1) LED version
2) Economy version

I would avoid solar powered lights that use non-standard battery sizes as you will not be able to use these as battery chargers nor their batteries to run other devices like your radios.

Both of the Inverter and Solar Powered Lights are handy to have and very affordable (under $50), making them each a PREPPER HANDBOOK RECOMMENDATION.



For more information:
Blog Table of Contents

Power Outage Preps
Power Outage Heater

EMP Survival
 
The SHTF Day One
Survive a 2 week Power Outage
Complete Sustainable Living Plan
Backup Power Supply
Backup Electricity for under $50
 
 
See similar topics by clicking on the labels below