What are your hacks when the electricity goes out
 

It’s blowin like a sumbitch in western Kansas and our electricity just went out. What are your hacks?
We run as much water as we can in the tub and use a 5 gallon bucket to pour in the top of the toilet for usage.
We have LED lights that are always plugged in and automatically go on when the electricity goes off. They are handy flashlights too.
It’s cold so the garage makes a huge walk in freezer.
Everyone adds layers of clothes.
I am soon buying a big generator and a MM plug-in to plug into my 220 volt plug in. Must turn the main breaker off so no electricity gets backed down the line and kills some poor lineman !

You guys?

I live inside the city limits so I have city water that doesn't stop operating, I have natural gas for hot water and heating the house. I have a 6500 watt generator for the fan on my furnace, fridge, freezer, etc.

life on the farm. Did a lot of that as a kid. Dad bought one and loved it. I have it now. I do not have it hooked up to the panel.

Did the same thing with water. Started saving water in Oct so we could flush the toilet in December.


We had a floor heater that always worked. Gravity heater?

Now, if we lose elect our fireplace has a battery backup to get it to fire.

The wind sucks ass today.

I put an electric space heater in our well pit, and have a gas option if we lose power for a long time.

If things get really hairy I've got a large tractor PTO driven generator that can power the entire farm. Haven't had to bust it out for years and years.

knock on wood

Last time it almost came out was when the Chiefs beat Jax in I think 06' to get in the playoffs.

That ice storm sucked.

We moved into our home Thanksgiving four years ago. The first 2 years, our electricity went out 3 times, including the Thursday night barn burner chiefs vs chargers in December 2021, which I had to go find someplace to watch the game. It happened again that winter in a February blizzard. So, I bought a portable generator. So, now I'm prepared. Wouldn't you know it, the electricity has not gone out since that last time, nearly 2 years ago.

I have a question, if I may, about filling your bathtub with water when the electricity goes out. Why do you do that?

Electricity well pump won't work with out juice.

You can boil that bathwater with a gas stove if you need water.

I remember that mother****er. It was horrible. My boss let me use a generatorc and I lived in a 2-story duplex in the outer edge of an apartment complex. The system's heating unit was in a little storage closet in the fenced back porch section of my duplex. The streets were dark except the lights in my house aand all you could hear was my generator.

One of the very first things I did when I bought my current house (All Electric)
was purchase a 500 Gallon Propane tank and a whole house generator. I had heard my area was notorious for power outages.

I moved into my home in June of 2020. When we moved in our utility was busy cutting trees back from the lines. Boy did people bitch about that! But in the nearly 3 1/2 years I lived here not once has my generator ran to support my house. I almost hope power would go out just so I can justify to my wife the installation of the Generator and Propane tank!

Not applicable. My house has underground power lines. I've never lost power.

OK that makes sense. I couldn't envision a scenario at my house why I would need to do that, but I get the city supply so I don't have to deal with well water pumps.

Yea, I have a small propane generator that I can run off of the same tanks that I use for my grill.

The key thing I want, I have a split mini AC in my bedroom/office and if the power goes out during a heat wave, I can run just the bedroom AC off the generator.

Armageddon/Zombie apocalypse insurance.

False security, Its gotta come from somewhere. A lot can go wrong between there and you!

Mine does too.. But everyone else around it is above.

A neighbor in the older area has a big tree leaning East over the road, if it ever goes, we lose electricity, cable and internet.

Yep, plus guns and ammo, a freezer full of meat, and a lake full of water!

As does mine. Unfortunately I loose it once or twice a year. Pesky hurricanes.

I know my local subs pretty well.

:)

I’ve got a heat lamp in my well house that’s enough to keep it from freezing.

Electricity magically emanates below the surface of the earth:shake:. Dumb ass ****ing limey!

Many outages happen right from a substation or a PP with a transformer with a drop going underground that serves a subdivision with underground lines.

Gas powered generator

I quite familiar with G&T and distribution methods, thanks.

This is why I moved to town.

And yes the wind is a cokcsucker. Did you get any moisture to hang on the power lines or did it blow a pole over or something?

If you have NG service, dad installed a gas wall heater in the basement to provide heat if out for a long time.

Grandpa talked about in the depression, they'd cook bricks over a fire (wood fire stove in their case), and put them in the beds to keep warm.

Keep the fridges closed and they'll keep food for a long time. When you open the door all the cold rushes out.

Don't get wet. I know it's appealing to go scoop the sidewalk or whatever, but it takes a LOT of heat to get you warmed back up if you manage to get wet.

FIFY

Whole house generator

Be3n lucky thus far in regards to hurricane related issues.

Been thru 4 hurricanes since we moved here in 2016...only lost power one time for 2 hours and that was because they had to shut down the substation right next to our neighborhood to make repairs on the lines from another neighborhood that fed into the same substation.

But we still do fill all 3 bathtubs for extra water for the little things.

I just bought a small solar generator for exactly this reason. I can't run the whole house off of it, but I can charge phones and get light and run a microwave (I think). Heat would be my only problem.

I haven't tested out the solar charger yet, but I've tested the storage battery after charging it up in an outlet.

Generac whole house generator. Comes on automatically.

Me when I sit down to poop and realize I left my phone in the other room

I should probably be more prepared for something serious

https://i.imgur.com/KqPWKjo.jpg

We still use our gas floor furnace to heat our home in the winter. It’s awesome, and the only way it goes out is if the natural gas is cut off.

Pay the electric bill is a quality hack

Quote:
Originally Posted by 2bikemike View Post
False security, Its gotta come from somewhere. A lot can go wrong between there and you!

My lines are underground.

My neighbor decided to cut our shared line taking a tree/tree roots out.

:rolleyes:

Luckily, we just pull the electric meter and plug our welder/ generator into line going to house. Will run for 8 hrs before I need to refuel.

Not a whole house generator, just something to get us by for a while.

You can use the water for whatever you need water for and you can pour it in the top of your stool and it will flush!

Fire pit

burn a squirrel alive

We have frequent power outages in the winter but they typically don’t last very long - 20 minutes to an hour at most is what is typical. We get bad winds that blow trees onto power lines.

A few years ago we had a really bad storm with gusts up to 100mph in some places. Power was out for 3+ days at our house. My wood stoves could not keep up. Main part of the house would not get above about 35. So, we got a 6500W generator and put in the switch so our house could run off that. Since then we’ve had to run it for at least 2 major storms. It won’t power everything but it will power the heater and the water pump (we have a well) And what we need.

We have about a couple weeks’ worth of food in general because I don’t want a bad earthquake to prevent us from getting food. I admit, if an earthquake keeps us without power or food for >1 week, we are super hosed.

But we just got another 6” of snow last night and a bunch of wind. No power issues so thus far we are good.

What part of Alaska do you live? Juneau is interesting.

Really? you don't seem so doofus.

Get a solar powered battery pack charge it up and get a converter to run a heater off of it

To get much in the way of battery storage is still pretty pricey. Especially if you are talking about an electric heater as opposed to running the fan of say a gas heater.

I wish the solar/battery combo was cheaper. But my small propane generator, can't remember exactly but a few hundred dollars and it's not hard to have enough propane on hand to make it last two or three days cycling the generator on and off. If the power outage was local enough, could potentially buy more propane during the outage.

That much pure battery storage looked expensive. Unfortunately my roof line is shaded by my neighbors trees so I don't think solar is that good of deal for me.

I also keep thinking used car batteries that still have significant storage left in them should show up in second hand markets?

Dodging moose and bears does sound interesting. I'm wondering if they are as common as deer here.

In the last 25 years I'm pretty sure I've lost power 3-4 times in total.

Never an issue. I don't live in a 3rd world country. I have had issues in some places I've traveled. Haiti, Cuba and Rio de Janiero had problems.

What the ****? You do know power grid go out in the US too right?


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Living rural we deal with outages from time to time, some go long. I have deep repect for our Rural Electric Coop and the work they do. But about 10 years ago, I made the decision to instal a whole house backup generator and its been a blessing since day one

If I had a basement, I wouldn't be too worried about it.

In a summer power outage, a basement won't get hot.

In 110+ heat, my house heats up quickly.

When Sacramento hit the all time high record of 116 a few years ago, my power got turned off. Not because of a rolling black out due to insufficient power supply, but because local equipment over heated.

The equipment hadn't been designed for that high of Temps (and the previous days highs) and the continuous max load. Because the area had never seen Temps/heat wave like that, duh.

The ~$400 I spent was worth it for that one event for me.

I don't do well in heat and it was a very small investment for me.

The chance of losing power obviously varies by location as does the inconvenience to different households as does the experience of being prepared for various contingencies.

I keep two weeks of drinking water on hand. I'm connected to a city water supply, so I really doubt I'll ever use it. But I have space and it's really cheap and easy to do, so why not.

My solar system has a controller that allows it to run independent of the grid. If I lose power, it trips and diverts power to preferred breakers on the main panel.

Doesn't do much good after dark, though.

I think I read the top three causes of power outages were:

1. Traffic accidents
2. Construction workers cutting a power line or needing to turn it off temporarily to move a line.
3. Weather related.

Transformers blowing were 4th I think.

OP: You sure you paid your electric bill?

I’m in Palmer. I’ve been to Juneau many, many times. In fact, I’ll be there January 3.

How did you make your way to Alaska or are you a native?

I'm always curious of how people move there.

Military?
Oil industry?
Other job?
Nature?

I greatly miss the gravity heater the house I grew up in had. Fond memories of sitting on the steel grate after running around in the snow for hours.

That thing had to be super efficient

I have a stash of Hustlers in case I can’t watch pornog online

Pot belly stove and a cord of firewood.

I own one of these. Won't run the house but minor shit can run. Solar generators can be run in the house without issue

https://inergytek.com/products/inerg...-power-station


Also have two coleman cooking stoves and about 50 of those little green propane bottles

This site tells you where current power outages are ocurring, I keep it in my "favorites" for some reason. Not sure why.

https://poweroutage.us/

How long does it take to charge up the inergytek by solar power when it is low generally speaking Hog?

For SHTF purposes.

I could see that

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Visited Juneau on my Alaska cruise. Beautiful area. It's like the anti-Illinois.

I once cooked a can of ravioli over a scented candle during an extended power outage because of an ice storm.

Whatever you do, don't do that.

I've only done it once but it took about 6 hours to get from 10% to full charge. I drained the charger down to zero when I first got it and then it sat for a few days before I tried to recharge it from the wall outlet and it never would take a charge. Had to send it back and have it reset which took about 3 months turn around.

The instructions say Not to let it go to zero so now I know. That was disappointing.

Would NOT buy this model again

Doh, I wouldn't have thought of that either.

My brother was telling me about this unit a few months back, I think he bought it but not sure.

20+ years ago, I got a wild hair on my ass. I was about 30 and wanted to go to the wide open places. I got a job as the public defender in a remote Alaska town and just fell in love with the place. Through work, I’ve been all over this state, from Kotzebue to Kodiak to Ketchikan and most points in between.

One Alaska Supreme Court justice wrote in 1975 that, essentially, many of our citizens come here seeking a degree of freedom and autonomy over their own lives that is just not available in sister states. And that’s true. This place is as much a state of mind as it is a physical place.

Where is the most beautiful AK place where you live in 2024? Thinking about moving to AK. Is it possible to have both mountains and water views?

Go on a wilding spree?

The first plug to be concerned about in any blackout is the butt plug.

Water in the three tubs when anticipating trouble. Year round fill empty milk jugs with water for toilet. Dewalt battery powered rechargeable flashlight in every room in the house.

It's an annual routine for me here to be prepared for power outages.

1. Buy enough drinking water to last 2 weeks
2. Buy enough non perishables to last 2 weeks
3. Go through the generator to make sure it's working.
4. Check/charge power banks, and flashlights.
5. Make sure to have propane for the grill, camp stove and lantern.
6. Stock up on batteries
7. Fill gas cans.

When there's a storm headed our way
1. Fill tub, buckets and pots with water
2. Put anything that isn't bolted down outside in the garage/ shed.
3. Freeze as much water as possible
4. Fill gas tanks

I usually just pay the bill on time to avoid this situation??

That's a fact !

I used to go out to shed and load up my welder/generator and bring it back, plug it into welder outlet hanging by breaker box(always pull the meter, then everyone is safe), start the gas powered welder/generator, about 8 hrs later, fill back up with gas. We moved 2 miles north last summer, and are on a different electric company, and they have less issues.

Have a whole house generator that kicks on in under 5 minutes


At farm I have a portable gen ready to go. I run it ever 3 months

I have a tractor pto driven generator that can allegedly run my entire farm.

Hope I never need to find out.

Thought about just biting my lip and going the route HCF has. Whole house generator that kicks on automatically ran off of natural gas.

I don't live in the third world so my electricity has never gone out.

Solar power with a backup battery that lasts about 15 hours.

Most gas log sets also don't require electricity to run, just gas service (the pilot light actually generates the electricity to run the gas valve). Had one in my last place & we were without power for about 24 hours once & we were really glad we had it. I honestly should get one in my current house, but haven't done it yet.