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Tips for When the Electricity Goes Out
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Sep 19, 2022 07:03:41   #
jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY
 
This is from Family Handyman. They have an explanation for each one, if you want me to post that.

Fill the Bathtub with Water
Put Water in Coolers with Spigots
Use LED Light Strips and Pucks
Buy a Manual Can Opener
Make a Bathroom for Your Dog
Freeze Zipper Bags of Water
Make a Lantern From a Water Jug
Place Thermometers in Fridge and Freezer
Store Documents in Waterproof Containers (Not the Dishwasher)
Use Your Washing Machine as a Cooler

It looks like all of Puerto Rico is without power now. Friends of ours are staying in a hotel there. Hopefully, it has a generator.

Reply
Sep 19, 2022 08:11:33   #
Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States
 
Also getting ready:
Stock up on ready to eat soups, NOT the ones you have to add water.
NO noodles, rice, etc., they take too much water to make.
A two burner propane camp stove (and tanks) helps greatly.
Powdered creamer for coffee/tea. (keeps you from going into the fridge.)
Paper plates & plastic ware. (Just throw).
Make sure you have meds for a few weeks.
(Tape windows in case of flying debris.)

We used to start stocking up in the Spring, then started using the food stuffs after hurricane season if not needed.

TONS OF FUN!!!
(We survived Charley (did the most damage), Frances, and Jeanne in 2004, all within 6 weeks.)

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Sep 19, 2022 10:33:12   #
DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA
 
In early 2018 we had a snowstorm that knocked out power to something like 80% of our town. We were out for 3 days. It's not just hurricanes you need to be prepared for. Our house came with a generator, but when I started it up it worked great for 10 minutes, then quit.

Once the trees were removed from the roads I went looking for a generator, but by that time they were sold out. I got an inverter and a car battery and that enabled me to run the refrigerator for about 6 hours before needing to recharge the battery with jumper cables from the car. Our water pump runs on 220 so that wasn't an option. We had bottled water to drink but no showers for 3 days. Eventually I got a new generator. In the 5 years in this house I have used it 3 times. It runs the refrigerator, the freezer, the well, the furnace and hot water heater (oil) and some lights. Not big enough to run the oven but the microwave works.

The refrigerator will hold things for a day or two. A chest freezer will hold things for 3-5 days. It will stay cold for longer, but things will start to thaw. We had a half cow in one chest freezer so it got onto the inverter/battery schedule that first time. The freezer in the fridge wouldn't last that long so we ate a lot of ice cream and cooked things on the grill. Ate well.

When I was running the farm I had a small generator that would do the essential things in the greenhouse. Loss of plants in the greenhouse would be an extremely large economic problem trying to find replacements for the field crops, and would definitely impact the timing of crop harvests.

I find that 2 days without power is survivable. Inconvenient but not an insuperable problem. 3 days is REALLY annoying and uncomfortable.

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Sep 19, 2022 11:30:54   #
jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY
 
DirtFarmer wrote:
In early 2018 we had a snowstorm that knocked out power to something like 80% of our town. We were out for 3 days. It's not just hurricanes you need to be prepared for. Our house came with a generator, but when I started it up it worked great for 10 minutes, then quit.

Once the trees were removed from the roads I went looking for a generator, but by that time they were sold out. I got an inverter and a car battery and that enabled me to run the refrigerator for about 6 hours before needing to recharge the battery with jumper cables from the car. Our water pump runs on 220 so that wasn't an option. We had bottled water to drink but no showers for 3 days. Eventually I got a new generator. In the 5 years in this house I have used it 3 times. It runs the refrigerator, the freezer, the well, the furnace and hot water heater (oil) and some lights. Not big enough to run the oven but the microwave works.

The refrigerator will hold things for a day or two. A chest freezer will hold things for 3-5 days. It will stay cold for longer, but things will start to thaw. We had a half cow in one chest freezer so it got onto the inverter/battery schedule that first time. The freezer in the fridge wouldn't last that long so we ate a lot of ice cream and cooked things on the grill. Ate well.

When I was running the farm I had a small generator that would do the essential things in the greenhouse. Loss of plants in the greenhouse would be an extremely large economic problem trying to find replacements for the field crops, and would definitely impact the timing of crop harvests.

I find that 2 days without power is survivable. Inconvenient but not an insuperable problem. 3 days is REALLY annoying and uncomfortable.
In early 2018 we had a snowstorm that knocked out ... (show quote)


I start the generator. That does everything but the stove and clothes dryer. We've had it for ten years, and it still runs fine. We've gotten spoiled.

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Sep 20, 2022 00:16:16   #
TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC
 
We were without power for two week after Hurricane Fran. I now have a natural gas powered generator. Just 6KW - not enough to start the A/C, but will keep the fridge, some lights, TV (with an antenna) and microwave running and the gas heat in the winter. Since we live under LOTS of trees, I’m alway relieved when hurricane season is over. We always make sure to have plenty of easy to cook nonperishable food, meds, chainsaw chains and gas and beer. (You can survive some really bad ordeals if you just have enough beer )

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Sep 20, 2022 01:14:52   #
Haenzel Loc: South Holland, The Netherlands
 
TriX wrote:
I now have a natural gas powered generator. Just 6KW - not enough to start the A/C


Is the A/C that big? I would start to sweat with the A/C switched on. For some over here that means USD 5,= per hour.....

Reply
Sep 20, 2022 06:20:17   #
Manglesphoto Loc: 70 miles south of St.Louis
 
jerryc41 wrote:
This is from Family Handyman. They have an explanation for each one, if you want me to post that.

Fill the Bathtub with Water
Put Water in Coolers with Spigots
Use LED Light Strips and Pucks
Buy a Manual Can Opener
Make a Bathroom for Your Dog
Freeze Zipper Bags of Water
Make a Lantern From a Water Jug
Place Thermometers in Fridge and Freezer
Store Documents in Waterproof Containers (Not the Dishwasher)
Use Your Washing Machine as a Cooler

It looks like all of Puerto Rico is without power now. Friends of ours are staying in a hotel there. Hopefully, it has a generator.
This is from Family Handyman. They have an explan... (show quote)


I started looking into Back-up generators years ago and quickly learned that most of these "whole house "gensets would not run my furnace (electric) let alone the whole house, and a unit that would cost approx 30K plus installation
and the cost to run it for an extended period would break the bank.
I have a 6kw I bought during an outage in July 2007, it did the job with the fridge, and some lights but I had to run an extension cord to my well pump control and with the line loss I had to turn everything else off to get water. had it been winter, No Heat!!! my furnace used 14.5 kw

Reply
 
 
Sep 20, 2022 07:26:23   #
traderjohn Loc: New York City
 
jerryc41 wrote:
This is from Family Handyman. They have an explanation for each one, if you want me to post that.

Fill the Bathtub with Water
Put Water in Coolers with Spigots
Use LED Light Strips and Pucks
Buy a Manual Can Opener
Make a Bathroom for Your Dog
Freeze Zipper Bags of Water
Make a Lantern From a Water Jug
Place Thermometers in Fridge and Freezer
Store Documents in Waterproof Containers (Not the Dishwasher)
Use Your Washing Machine as a Cooler

It looks like all of Puerto Rico is without power now. Friends of ours are staying in a hotel there. Hopefully, it has a generator.
This is from Family Handyman. They have an explan... (show quote)


Or wait for the Generac to kick in.

Reply
Sep 20, 2022 08:13:07   #
jaymatt Loc: Alexandria, Indiana
 
My dog has his own bathroom--it’s the outdoors model.

Reply
Sep 20, 2022 09:13:25   #
Canisdirus
 
I thought about going with a house solar system...but the tech is moving so fast...I felt that investment was an anchor.
So I bought a Bluetti portable 300 and a few panels...enough to run freezer and a/c and etc.

Sell it as better tech comes along...as opposed to a house system.

Reply
Sep 20, 2022 09:39:24   #
Haenzel Loc: South Holland, The Netherlands
 
Canisdirus wrote:
I thought about going with a house solar system...but the tech is moving so fast...I felt that investment was an anchor.
So I bought a Bluetti portable 300 and a few panels...enough to run freezer and a/c and etc.

Sell it as better tech comes along...as opposed to a house system.


'IF' you would decide to buy a Plugin Hybrid / EV, buy one that is capable of Bi-directional charging....

Reply
 
 
Sep 20, 2022 10:20:06   #
St.Mary's
 
Bought a new generator several years ago and found out immediately that my kitchen microwave would not function when used with the generator. With all the electronics today, many devices need a fairly accurate 60 cycle alternating current to operate correctly. The solid state devices and software in my microwave was one was one of those devices. The solution is to buy an inverter generator. Also, one of the most handy little devices for using a portable generator is what is called a "Kill A Watt". It will display watts being used, generator voltage output, voltage frequency, and other parameters.

There is an acronym for the voltage frequency stability and for the life of me I can't recall what it is. Generator manufacturers will bury that info if their generator is not stable.

Reply
Sep 20, 2022 10:20:40   #
TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC
 
Haenzel wrote:
Is the A/C that big? I would start to sweat with the A/C switched on. For some over here that means USD 5,= per hour.....


It is in the Southeast when the temps AND the humidity are in the 90s.

Reply
Sep 20, 2022 10:26:06   #
Indi Loc: L. I., NY, Palm Beach Cty when it's cold.
 
jerryc41 wrote:
This is from Family Handyman. They have an explanation for each one, if you want me to post that.

Fill the Bathtub with Water
Put Water in Coolers with Spigots
Use LED Light Strips and Pucks
Buy a Manual Can Opener
Make a Bathroom for Your Dog
Freeze Zipper Bags of Water
Make a Lantern From a Water Jug
Place Thermometers in Fridge and Freezer
Store Documents in Waterproof Containers (Not the Dishwasher)
Use Your Washing Machine as a Cooler

It looks like all of Puerto Rico is without power now. Friends of ours are staying in a hotel there. Hopefully, it has a generator.
This is from Family Handyman. They have an explan... (show quote)


I read somewhere that you should put a cup of water in your freezer and place a quarter on the top when the water has frozen.
If you go away for an extended period of time and see the quarter at the bottom of the cup you’ll know that the power went out and food may have spoiled.

Reply
Sep 20, 2022 10:30:13   #
TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC
 
St.Mary's wrote:
Bought a new generator several years ago and found out immediately that my kitchen microwave would not function when used with the generator. With all the electronics today, many devices need a fairly accurate 60 cycle alternating current to operate correctly. The solid state devices and software in my microwave was one was one of those devices. The solution is to buy an inverter generator. Also, one of the most handy little devices for using a portable generator is what is called a "Kill A Watt". It will display watts being used, generator voltage output, voltage frequency, and other parameters.

There is an acronym for the voltage frequency stability and for the life of me I can't recall what it is. Generator manufacturers will bury that info if their generator is not stable.
Bought a new generator several years ago and found... (show quote)


That is also true of many of the control boards in modern gas furnaces - 60Hz AC + or - 1Hz

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