Tracking the next pandemic: Avian Flu Talk |
ELECTRICITY |
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Posted: August 16 2018 at 7:00pm |
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Read that somewhere so I can't take credit for that idea to paint fire residual before you board up. I need to purchase more plywood boards to fit my windows. I have some already in the garage but need more as well as a case of long screws and manual ratchet screw driver. I invest slowly but my son will have it when I am gone. He is a believer in prepping, takes after his mom.
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Technophobe
Assistant Admin Joined: January 16 2014 Location: Scotland Status: Offline Points: 88450 |
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Thank you, FluMom! That spray paint is a great idea.
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How do you tell if a politician is lying?
His lips or pen are moving. |
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I prep for the worst case. I will cook and/or dry everything I have in my fridge and freezer WTSHTF. After that drying, salting and canning will have to do. I have several ways to cook the most important is wood with a volcano, second is a solar oven. I have a couple of canners, and need to purchase more jars and lids.
To keep warm a fireplace insert all the manual saws and shims to fell trees, I still have to build a holder to cut the logs. Have to get logs from around my area but I keep 4-5 cords on my property at all times. This gives time to let the new wood dry for a year. Go to bed when the sun goes down and get up when it comes up. Doing all the work to cook, get food(anything you can get), firewood, digging latrines, washing clothes, getting water will make you want to sleep alot anyway. Save your gas for getting water forget a generator. It will make noise and tell people you have what they don't have and they will come to get it. WTSHTF people will be surprised at how hard things will truly be and that keeping a low profile is best. I plan on putting all my firewood into one bay of my garage and all my water making in my basement. Very little will be outside except an outhouse across the street in the park. The less people see the better. I will board up my house and make it look like we had a fire with spray paint. So forget all the comforts if TSHTF life will be hard. |
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edprof
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We have similar equipment and go through similar steps monthly. |
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Oftentimes the Lord helps those who help themselves.
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edprof
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Standard A/C is almmost prohobitive to operate off grid. We have a 6,000 watt solar grid and can operate a 1.5 ton A/C unit during the middle of a sunlit day. The main unit, a 3 ton, is simply too much. |
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Oftentimes the Lord helps those who help themselves.
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toms02
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Electricity is been a big role in life of people and without it many will get annoyed.In Finland electricity is problem of some people because of electricity price at http://www.lannenomavoima.fi/ is getting higher and many force to save electricity to save money.
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Penham
Chief Moderator Moderator Joined: February 09 2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 14913 |
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Most natural gas appliances have automatic cutoff systems in place when ever the gas goes out or the appliance stops working for some reason, the gas automatically stops flowing to the appliance. We have central heat and air, but the heat part runs off natural gas, if something goes wrong with the heating system the pilot light automatically shuts itself off, the gas stops flowing when it cuts itself off. Our hot water heater is the same way, when our hot water heater went bad and had to be replaced, the pilot automatically cut itself off. The gas wall heater we bought for backup heat is also the same way, anything wrong with the heater the gas automatically cuts itself off, they have some type of sensors in them nowadays. The gas doesn't just free flow to pilot lights, you have to actually turn knobs to turn the gas flow on to light the pilots. Now maybe if you had a REALLY old appliance it would keep flowing, like our bathroom wall heater does not cutoff automatically (house built in 1930) but we only use that in an emergency and I actually remove the handle and keep it in a drawer so it can't be turned on unless it is an emergency.
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StarBright
Valued Member Joined: June 21 2010 Status: Offline Points: 4 |
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Just remember that the life of the generator in a coleman stove will be shortened if you use unleaded fuel. It says so in the instructions near the end. If you have to use unleaded fuel anyway in an emergency, just remember it has toxic additives. Cover the pot and avoid breathing any fumes.
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jacksdad
Executive Admin Joined: September 08 2007 Location: San Diego Status: Offline Points: 47251 |
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Oldish thread but FluMom raised a good point concerning natural gas. It's anybody's guess which utility would go off first, but I read somewhere that natural gas would present a major problem when it came to turning it back on again. Any pilot lights left on when the gas ran out would represent an explosion hazard when it was restored, so the companies would be forced to go door to door and ensure every pilot light was shut off before they could begin pumping to any neighborhoods fed by a common main pipe. That in itself could represent a huge delay, and it would conceivably happen every time the flow of gas was interrupted. Just a thought.
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"Buy it cheap. Stack it deep"
"Any community that fails to prepare, with the expectation that the federal government will come to the rescue, will be tragically wrong." Michael Leavitt, HHS Secretary. |
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Lone Wolf
Valued Member Joined: October 28 2007 Status: Offline Points: 253 |
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fab4 - Tri-Fuel Carburetor, Gasoline, Natural gas, Propane.
Hope it helped, Lone Wolf.
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RICHARD-FL
Valued Member Joined: May 13 2008 Location: N.E. Florida Status: Offline Points: 98 |
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Just like all other utilities if Humans are involved in any way it will likely be closed down due to lack of raw material, shipping, supervisors, and workers. Once this pandemic hits your area, you will notice the stoppage of sewage, water, gas, and electrical power.
Remember we expect a minimum of 30% sick out rate. That means they have to operate at a 30% + loss rate or every 3rd person at work missing.
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"...No man is an island on to himself..." Words to remember
RICHARD-FL |
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Question: if I put in a natural gas generator and the BF hits will natural gas keep coming through the pipes?
I figure that natural gas is a good way to run a generator because all the government emergency compounds are run on natural gas. Anyone out there know if natural gas will keep coming or will it get shut off like water? |
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quietprepr
V.I.P. Member Joined: May 21 2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 2495 |
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You can do either as long as you have the right equipment. I would consult a professional if you are unsure of the process...that helps avoid the explosions!
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"Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival." - W. Edwards Deming
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fab4
Valued Member Joined: April 12 2008 Location: GA Status: Offline Points: 39 |
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My propane tank is 300 gallons sitting in my yard. Can you hook that kind of tank to a generator? Or can you fill smaller propane tanks with a big propane tank? I can just see us creating some big explosion
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quietprepr
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There are many different generators that run on propane. Also, there are companies that make kits to convert gasoline generators to propane. You could use a small generator to charge a few 12 volt batteries and use an inverter to operate the purifier/CPAP machine. That way the generator would not have to run continuously, making your fuel last longer.
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"Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival." - W. Edwards Deming
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fab4
Valued Member Joined: April 12 2008 Location: GA Status: Offline Points: 39 |
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Old topic but new question - I am looking for a system to power an air purifier and/or CPAP machine - not long term, only for sick room. Those are the only two things I haven't been able to cover by other means. Looking into solar for that but it's too costly right now.
Another idea I had is this - we have a propane tank outside - don't they make propane generators? How do you get the propane to the generator. I know there are relatively inexpensive standby systems out there but require installation which is costly. Any thoughts?
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Irene
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Bill 100
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.
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A storm is coming !
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How to build an Iceless Refrigerator (page 1) or a Burlap or Evaporation Cooler (page 2): |
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Just for kicks, I hooked up two 115 ah (6 volt) golf cart batteries in series, with an inverter. Plugged in a vacuume cleaner running 6 amps (about 660 watts), it lasted 15 minutes before the inverter sounded letting me know the batteries were at half charge.
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2ifbyC
Adviser Group Joined: March 30 2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 533 |
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Hopefully the freezer won't spike your 600 watt inverter on start up. If the spike period is short enough you might be OK. Have you tested the freezer/inverter combo out yet?
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Survival does have an 'I'!
Dodging 'canes on Florida's central Gulf Coast |
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The freezer runs at 80 watts - the start-up surge is 1000W. Its a very efficient and well insulated Bosch. I have a power meter that measures this stuff - I know its accurate as I have tested it with 60W and 100W light bulbs.
I have no idea what BF outages may be - I'm just guessing and preparing as best I can like every one else on here.
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If your outages are less than a day at a time why worry? If its
cold the freezer will last for days. Just buy a couple extra
blankets.
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2ifbyC
Adviser Group Joined: March 30 2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 533 |
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Web Ferret,
Have you checked the wattage of your freezer? Most power charts put them at 600-1000 watts. The start-up surge will be closer to the top end.
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Survival does have an 'I'!
Dodging 'canes on Florida's central Gulf Coast |
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I can't run the central heating without electric (draws 125Watts at most) and we have a lot of food in freezers. Also our gas fire has a fan that requires 35 Watts. So the inverter is for an hours heating and 2 hours freezer running per day. I am assuming that the gas is less likely to go off and if it does we just wrap up.
I am hoping that here in the UK the power outages will be less than a day at a time and that I can charge my batteries in between. I forsee many short power outages rather than any prolonger one (beacuse the country would be totally stuffed otherwise) |
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MercutioATC
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I spent 9 days at an ecoresort in Costa Rica a few years ago. It's very easy to adjust to the "up at dawn, down at sunset" schedule whenthere are no computers and TVs to keep you awake. |
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Differant cars have differant alternators. Check you manual as it
should tell you. Idle cas use. Anybodys guess. Ask a dealer
maybe. Cars can overheat if idled too long so watch the temp gauge
closely.
I think you better try the inverter first with a full battery. It won't last long. The inverter draws a lot of juice. A better way to power light bulbs is the 12v battery itself. Get some RV bulbs-they come 50W. Buy some old lamps at a garage sale, cut the plugs off and strip them down to attach to a battery. |
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I have a 600W pure sine wave inverter and a 110Ah deep cycle battery and a decent ctek battery charger for charging when the power is back on.
Now my questions. I am thinking of running my cars engine to power the inverter if the electric is off for a while (my tank never gets more than half empty).
Anyone know how many amps a car alternator gives? How much fuel do cars (1.6 and 2 Litre engines) use when iding? |
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AVanarts
Valued Member Joined: March 30 2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 97 |
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A Cord of wood is defined as 128 cubic feet, or 4ft x 4ft x 8ft. I don't know if a "rick" is formally defined, but a Cord sure is.
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I'm a first-class moron, it's under survival tips
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Help needed!! Would you electrical whizz-kids PLEASE take a look at question for Ice under priority preps?? Pretty PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!
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Here's a interesting tip for those who have water on their property:
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Eagles Dancing
Valued Member Joined: April 03 2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 190 |
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A rick is four feet high 16" to 24" wide and eight feet long stack of wood. We sell wood around here in "rick". A rick runs about $35 to $40.
Some folks use the term instead of a cord of wood.
That's a clear as mud.
You have to remember I am from the sticks in Southern Indiana.
Sorry for the confusion.
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How much wood is a rick? I have never heard that term is it equivlant to a cord?
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Eagles Dancing
Valued Member Joined: April 03 2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 190 |
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We purchased a wood furnace that heats the house, barn, greenhouse and supplies us with hot water.
Even with the mild winter we went through 45 + ricks of wood!!
We sure didn't see that coming. We had 30 rick cut up and thought that would be plenty.
So we need to start building that old wood pile up again and this time add 20 ricks to our pile on top of the huge one we had last year.
That new chainsaw we bought will really get a work out this year.
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Eagles Dancing
Valued Member Joined: April 03 2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 190 |
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We plan to revamp the old spring house to keep items cool this summer. This is a small building with a cement floor which has a trough that the cold spring water stream pours into.
If if was good enough for our fore fathers its good enough for me.
I can't wait to chill some homemade elderberry wine and kick back and enjoy the pleasures that come from living in the sticks.
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Additional generator safety note:
Do not connect generator to your house wiring unless you have a transfer switch installed and approved by a registered electrician, so you do not send out power on the incoming line. A transfer switch isolates your house circuit from that of the power company. |
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downunder
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a billy is an Aussie word meaning a pot to boil water for a cuppa, usually made from alaminium and the handle is a peice of wire strung over the top from one side to the other. Can be as small as the tin can you have eaten the beans out of. Just punch two holes in opposite sides near the top of the can, and strin some wire through the holes. Use a stick to lift off the flame or the steam will burn your hand.
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The better way is to have a propane fired generator. We have a 15
KW standby hooked to a 500 gallon propane tank. That will give
us about 300 hrs of use. The well ,in another building
circuit is wired to a smaller gen and we have 100 gallons of stabilized
gas for it.
If your serious about all this get prepared. It will take at least 6 hrs a day to keep the frig cold and the house cool. If this area is out of juice for that long--50 days-- we figure we can "borrow" other neighborhood propane tanks as everyone else will be moved out. Remember to only run the gen in the daytime as sound carries further at nite. If you do run at nite be sure to have window covers as you do not want to advertize you have power. |
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Generator safety issues:
(1) Do not add gasoline to hot generator. Let it cool down completely, until you can touch the exhaust pipe. (2) Generator should be properly grounded. Use good 3-wire cables of adequatge capacity; no daisy chains. (3) Exhaust fumes must not enter your living space - carbon monoxide is produced and is VERY toxic. (4) Arrange generator so no contact with hot exhaust manifold is possible. (5) Store gasoline away from generator. |
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Solar power:
Cost of panels is about $3/Watt. Panels need to be steered to track the sun for maximum output. Above 40 degrees North, panels are less useful. Larger panel area needed. A regulator is needed for charging batteries. Some batteries, particularly gel cells, are sensitive to the charging regime. |
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Generator gas consumption:
approx. 1 gallon for 8 hours at 1 KW load (Honda EU-2000i) So, 8 KWH/gal. Operating for 2 hours/day for 4 days would use about 1 gallon of gas. That's about 15 gallons/month. It's a LOT of gas to be storing! |
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gilmor
V.I.P. Member Joined: April 10 2006 Status: Offline Points: 81 |
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Recently read / heard that U.S. oil refineries CANNOT operate with 30% of employees off. . . These plants produce our gasoline, but also the fuels that run alot of our power plants. Almost 20% of U.S. electricity is produced by nuclear power. Deregulation has forced all power companies to run “lean and mean”. I would think that like an oil refinery, a nuclear power plant could not operate with 30% of it’s work force off. Both nuke fueled power plants and refineries are NOT “light switch operations”. . . Both MUST be slowly shut down and slowly restarted. . . Coal, natural gas and oil powered electrical generating plants are known as “peaker’s” within the industry and are especially used to quickly reach maximum output on hot (A/C usage) days. . . just some thoughts, Gilmore |
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