My parents had a Siegler stove in the living room of their old farmhouse. It burned kerosene. No fan. I think one just threw a bit of wadded up newspaper in the bottom to light it. I had a natural gas floor furnace in one house. No fan. The thermostat ran off a thermocoupler type device, I think. It looked like this:
Date: Sunday, May 04, 2003 7:40 AM
Ice Storm 2003 NYS, USA Lessons Learned
April 03, Thursday, 2003 News radio people were talking about freezing rain coming. I decided I wasn't going to go any where, the weather was actually pretty good until dark. I could hear the rain all night.
** Lesson: When the radio people talk about weather, go immediately to buy groceries and gas up the vehicle. And the gas cans. Better than that is to keep groceries at home, and couple gallons gas in the shed.April 04, Friday, 2003 Freezing rain and mixed rain at night. Went out in the morning, it was slippery on the porch and steps. I threw down some salt, that helped a lot. Took a long time to scrape the ice off my truck. I have power.
Called my parents. Their power had gone out about 2 AM last night. Which really surprises me. I'm out in the country, they are in a suburb. They seldom have power cuts. Dad had put his big lantern flash light on the kitchen table, and pointed it towards the ceiling for light. He also went to the cellar to wire the generator into the furnace. Dad got the generator out, and had it running for a moment or two. And then the motor jammed, and the pull cord won't pull. He decided about 6 PM that it was cold enough to need a fire in the fireplace, and about that moment the power came back on.
** Lesson: Run the generator every year, even if you're sure it works fine.Got a call from Jason, a bachelor friend of mine. Jason is blind, so he wasn't sure if the lights were out. I suggested he try the microwave, and the fan over the stove. Both of them dead. His power is out. But the natural gas was OK. He was low on groceries, so we planned to go for lunch and shopping.
** Lesson: Keep groceries in the house. Shop before you run out.I called a bunch of people from church, and other friends. Several people were without power, but they were all "doing OK". Radio news guys say about 50,000 people without power.
** Lesson: Call a few people and get the word out. But don't spend all day on the telephone trying to be nice to people. You're wasting your time.I thought to call the restaurant. The diner Jason and I usually go to was without power. Saved a trip. since the phone is working, much easier to call and ask if they have power. I did manage to find a grocery store which had power. And an eat in cafe.
** Lesson: During power cuts, telephone to see if the restaurant or stores are open.I loaded bags of salt and gravel into the back of my truck, figured that would be the major need. I took out my heating and AC tools. I drove to Jason's. The trip took about twice as long as usual, I drive very slow in bad weather. Many traffic lights were out. But regardless of anything else, the State Thruway had power, and was still collecting tolls. Hmm.
** Lesson: Travel takes twice as long in storms. And the State still wants their highway tolls.The parking lot was very slippery. And we got freezing rained on. But it was nice to get him home with groceries. We got food that would cook on a gas range, the microwave won't work without power. He also bought four submarine sandwiches, which was a great idea. "no cook" food.
We got back to Jason's house, and his dad suggested that he go to the firehall, they have power there, and Jason could be safe and warm. I headed for home. By this time, I was cold and tired from braving the weather.
I headed home, very slowly. As I was coming into the trailer park, it sure did look darker than usual. I mean, totally dark. Arrived home 7 PM to find that the power had gone out at 5:53. I have an old Westclox mechanical dial face plug in clock. I keep this old retro clock so that I know when the power goes out. The hands stop. This may be old technology, but it's very useful.
** Lesson: Just because you have power NOW doesn't mean you will have power LATER. And others may have power now, but not later. Keep a written list when you make phonecalls to check on people. Leave lots of space next to or between their names on the list for updates Things change, and you will want to revise your notes.My neighbor Al was standing out by the street, watching everything. He had a 2D Eveready flash light which was growing very dim. I offered him a couple batteries, but he didn't want them. Al told me the neighborhood news. There was a branch down behind our trailers, and we went out to look. The branch was balanced on the power wires. I realize that Al is the "Neighborhood Watchman". He is the man who knows who has power, and so on.
** Lesson: Most neighborhoods have a Watchman who wants to know everyone's business. This surprised me, I thought Ernie was our watchman, but he stayed indoors and out of sight most of the time.Across the street, I visited Ursula, who is elderly. Kenny (who lives across the street from me) was also visiting. He and his wife are doing OK with a couple burners on the stove. Kenny wishes he still had his kerosene heater. I considered the problem. The Spirit said it didn't matter if I offered to loan him one of mine. I didn't.
Ursula, elderly and frail, was very cold. I visited briefly. Ursula was wrapped in a blanket, white and shivering. She was worried about carbon monoxide from the burners on the stove, but more worried about it being cold. I offered to run her furnace off my generator, but she didn't want that. Seemed to her to be too dangerous. She aparently doesn't know much about electric.
Ernie, on the other side of me, had a coleman lantern, and was doing fairly well. Coleman fuel is supposed to pour out monoxide, nearly as bad as charcoal. He lived to tell about it, though. He said he had a generator coming from the fire hall. He wasn't going to wire it into the furnace, he was going to run an electric space heater with the generator. Wow, that's guaranteed to drink gasoline for the generator. 1500 watt space heater instead of a 700 watt furnace blower.
Skip, the truck driver, wasn't home at the moment.
I went home to work the phone. Everyone seems to be OK. One gal I talked to started a sentence "if it gets too cold" and I expected her to say "you can come over here". But to my disappointement, she just reminded me that we had a couple church meetings tomorrow, and I could go to the church to warm up. Dan's house is covered in ice, and so he's out in the garage assembling the generator they bought in March
1999. Needs something to do. ** Lesson: Not everyone out there welcomes you, and wants to invite you over. Remember who invites you over, they are your friends. Remember who calls YOU, because they are really your friends.More telephone calls. I reminded a lot of people "have generator will travel" but no one was interested.
** Lesson: Don't waste a lot of time on the phone offering to give your services away.I lit my kerosene heater, and went to bed. I listned at the back door for a few minutes. The darkness combined with the sound of branches cracking and popping around the neighborhood. It was spooky.
** Lesson: No matter how comfortable you are, Mother Nature is still very powerful.Saturday April 05, 2003 Woke up to the sound of branches popping. I looked out the door, and realzie that a lot of the noise was pieces of ice falling off the trees. It was 60F in my bedroom. Not bad, at all. I use my setback thermostat to run it down to 64 at night, so I'm used to that. Got up, and pour the bath tub full of warm water, and warm up that way. Gas water heater is a good thing to have. Natural gas is very dependable around here. Breakfast. Still have milk and some ice cubes.
** Lesson: Ice cubes and refrigeration are wondeful. In the winter you can put your milk out on the back step.Radio says 67K people without power. Someone found a creative way to warm the house. He hooked a garden hose to his laundry sink, and snaked the hose indoors, through the rooms of his house. Ran hot water slowly through the hose, and into a drain. The hot water hose helped warm the house. Very clever. Must remember that.
I had breakfast, and decided to try to find something useful to do. At about 7:30 AM, the tree guys came down the street. Saw up branches, and feed them into the chipper behind the truck. One of my neighbors had a branch fall through the back window of the son's car. I had no damage to my trailer or vehicles.
I talked to Skip today. He had a battery radio, but no batteries. He also has a gas range, but no pots or pans. I went home, and got him a pan out of my camping kit, and some batteries for his radio.
I mentioned gasoline to Skip, and he told me which gas stations had power today. The van was low on gas, so I threw two gascans in the back and took them along. I found a gas station which had power, and long lines of cars waiting to gas up. I got in line. At 1.73, I was able to fill the two gascans, and then put some in the tank before the pump shut me down at $50. But it sure is nice to have some gasoline. But fifty bucks! Wow!
I made a few more calls, and found one friend of mine who had borrowed a Honda generator from his brother, and the generator refused to start. Went there, and it started with a shot of ether on the air cleaner. Can't kill a Honda. It was very quiet, too. He had sent his son to go fill up the gascan, and the Suburban. His son came back much later, there was a very long line of cars waiting to buy gasoline.
** Lesson: Stock several cans of ether starting spray at home. You may need it.I learn that the reason he needed a generator is because the cellar had about two inches water. Rain coming in, and the sump pump won't work without electric. They were able to move some of the water by buckets, but that the water was coming in faster than they could carry it out. Another friend let them use a 12 volt sump pump which wasn't doing much good. The fire department came down the street at that moment. They let us plug into their generator to run the sump. Finally, we did get cellar pumped. They also have a Bissel carpet cleaner which we used to extract water out of the cellar carpet. The carpet is a total loss, no surprise.
While in the dark cellar, I blew the bulb on my 2AA minimag. Had to find my way out of the cellar, and up to the truck to get another bulb. I've been considering the Opalec conversion, to make my mini mag work on LED light bulbs. [It was daytime, so I had enough light to get out. I did try the Opalec, which at $28 is much the same as Nite Ize that is now at Walmart for $4.97. It is better than filament bulbs. Less light, but more dependable. Since then, I got the Terra-Lux conversion which is far superior to either the filament bulbs or the LED conversion. But more pricey $30]
I also wired a plug into the furnace wiring, and they can now run the furnace on the generator.
** Lesson: Even if the home owner has tools, go get your own tool box. Sure is faster if you know what tools you have, and all the wirenuts and parts.About this time, some friends came over. Their house has power on one leg of the incoming. The furnace is on the dead side. I went to go exchange a couple breakers, and put the furnace onto the power.
We did get a dinner invite with one of his sons, whose family has power. That was much appreciated.
I came home and tried using a fluorescent lantern that takes 6 D cells. I learn that recharged carbon batteries are near to useless, they only last a couple hours. Resolved to buy only alkaline batteries.
Sunday April 06, 2003 Decided to go to the city to attend church. One of the chapels had power. Many traffic lights are without power. People are mostly courteous, and treating them all as four way stops (as the law requires). Stopped at my parents to use the computer and wash laundry. I made a couple phone calls, and it turns out my lunch invite had been delayed. The Spirit said to visit a couple friends. I did, and found them cold in the house, it was 40F in his living room. He was wearing his winter coat indoors.
Radio says that up to 145,000 people are without power. Three or four counties have been declared "state of emergency, no unnecessary travel".
Went to my dinner invite, which was wonderful. And then went home to get my generator. And no big surprise, my generator wouldn't start. I'd bought it in early 1999, and had run it, and then put it in the box and had not run it since then. I gave it a shot of ether, on the air filter, and it ran for one second. So, several shots of ether later, the carb diaphram started to deliver gas.
Went to Scott's and wired the generator into his furnace. About an hour's run time, and the living room and rest of the house came up from 40F to 69F, which was major improvement.
I got home about 11 PM to find my own house about 47. I lit the kerosene, and it was about 52 in my bedroom by the time I went to bed. I didn't want to run my generator at 11 PM and wake the neighbors. I tried to heat the house by running the shower on full hot with the bathroom door open. it was nice, but I set off the smoke detector, and had to take the battery out for about an hour. It is a 2001 dated battery, I've got to change that some day.
Monday April 07, 2003 Woke to find it very cold in the trailer. I decided that if I could run the generator for others, I could run it for myself, too. I got my box of electrical tools, and wired the furnace. I put the generator out on the porch, and chained it to the railing. An hour of generator allowed me to check my email, and also to warm the house a bit.
I went to ask the neighbors if they would like me to wire into their funaces, and warm them up. Al had a kerosene heater, and said his trailer was warm from end to end. I notice though that he didn't at any point ask if I was OK, and would I like to come in and get warm. Ursula said she didn't want a wire across the street. Ernie said he had a generator from the firehall, and he was OK. Skip had gone to go find a warm mall to visit.
The generator runs for about an hour and a half on a tank of gas. It was long enough to warm the house, but not that it was running all night.
The friend with the 40F house where I was last night didn't have a telphone. I considered whether to drive up, the Spirit said that it was personal choice, but not needed. So, I drove up there to see if he was OK. I found a note on the door, they had gone to a shelter, and weren't home. Well, that explains the promptings.
I pulled out the cell phone, and made a few more calls. Didn't find anyone else who wanted use of a generator.
Went home, and powered up the furnace for my night sleep.
Tues April 08, 2003 This AM, decided to go to the bank, and a couple stores. I found the Dollar Tree had sold out of D, and AA batteries. But they had plenty of 9 volt and C cells.
** Lesson: Keep batteries at home. Also, buy some flash lights that run on C-cells, since they don't sell out as fast. Mag and Kel have lights that run on C-cells, and American Science and Surplus used to have C-cell flash lights (I had a sense that I oughta plug the furnace back into the house power before I left to go to the store. I got home, and was about to pour gas into the generator when Skip came home and cheered. The power is back on. I plugged the furnace back into the power, and got back on the computer.
This writing is public domian, and may be copied, distributed, etc.
Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus
During the 2003 power cut, I found one of my major shortcomings was air movement. The gas range did a nice job heating the kitchen, but not any of the rest of the trailer. Since then I've got a trolling battery, and an inverter. So that I can run some low wattage lights, and also fans to move the heat around.
That will last you a day or maybe 2. I know a lot of people who lived on generators after Hurricane Charlie. They call it "feeding the monster". If you don't plan on carrying gas in your car every day, assuming it is available, you need a lot more fuel than that. Storing that much fuel is troubling in itself. That is why propane powered generators and big buried talks have become the standard for people who expect a real outage.
I'd not thought of washing laundry before the storm. But you're right, that needs electric.
Normally I carry a flash light in my pocket, and have one or two in the house where I know I can find them in the dark.
I'm with you, that the first two days of my power cut were an adventure in camping in. By the third day, the coldness had soaked into the very center of my trailer, and it was really getting miserable. If I'd not had the generator to run the furnace, I would have had to move my matress into the kitchen and live there.
Interesting about the summer and winter LPG. Much the same with diesel road fuel, I've heard. A trucker going north with a tank full of summer fuel might have jelly in the fuel lines when he gets to some place cold.
Sounds like the old pot style oil heater. I've heard those are dangerous.
Wall heaters (propane fuel) might not need electric. Harbor Freight has some vented or not-vented wall heaters that use LP, but not electric.
We have the opposite situation here, the power goes out in the summer (hurricanes). One thing I figured out is to keep the fridge and freezer stuffed with half liter bottes of water. That ice will hold the freezer and fridge for a real long time and when it melts it is still good drinking water, which may also be in short supply. If it really looks like it will be out for a while I will transition over to my RV propane fridge. I have up to 150 gallons of propane in the ground
I find this and the various responses fascinating. We went through weeks without mains power after hurricane Wilma without any problem, keeping the refrigerator powered, fans at night, hot water, clotheswasher, electric chainsaw, lights, tv, etc. Didn't need AC, but coulda had that too. I didn't even bother to go to a gas station for a couple of weeks. Had planned for the event years ago.
When I lived up north, a barrel stove that I had made and installed in the house served during power outages and was largely what kept us toasty for all winter. The stuff in my car alone could have made reasonable survival possible for at least a couple of days.
I must just be wired differently, I can't even consider the possibility of not prepping for basic stuff like this.
Gather together a few basics: a gallon of distilled water per person (it'll keep longer and can be used to cleanse wounds) a couple days worth of canned food - canned beef stew can be eaten cold or hot and heated in the can. Peanut butter lasts a long time and is high calorie a good strong hunting knife a blanket and/or space blanket a good book (can also be used to start fires or as tp) waterproof matches or lighter a change of warm clothing - sometimes clothing gets wet a half dozen candles for heating water and food, light, and starting fires any medicines whatever else floats your boat.
Good point! Most of my phones say "Western Electric" on the handset and they work fine in the dark.
I'll admit to being surprised. After reading your common sense posts for so long on this group, I would have figured you for the most prepared guy on the list.
OTOH, knowing your priorities demonstrates wisdom, which is a far greater trait.
I've been noticing that power cuts are ever so much more common. That may very well be why. I'd not thought of that. Thank you.
I'm with you, that the first two days of my power cut were an adventure in camping in. By the third day, the coldness had soaked into the very center of my trailer, and it was really getting miserable. If I'd not had the generator to run the furnace, I would have had to move my matress into the kitchen and live there.
Interesting about the summer and winter LPG. Much the same with diesel road fuel, I've heard. A trucker going north with a tank full of summer fuel might have jelly in the fuel lines when he gets to some place cold.
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Christopher A. Young You can't shout down a troll. You have to starve them. .
Then how do you fill the tub after the power goes out?
gas floor furnace, oil stove kerosene heater wood stove bon fire
Let me guess... Black? Rotary dial? With a non-coiled wire to the handset? The kind of phone that will still function even after a noo-cu-ler war?
Television? "Need"? I've never owned one.
Well, OK, I am tempted to buy the smallest, cheapest black-and-white TeeVee that can run on torch batteries. Like six "C" size or whatever. Just to get updates if there is an earthquake, etc.
The only other use for a TeeVee I can imagine is to check out the local broadcast news, to compare their spin to the wider Google News feed.
DVDs would just need a computer without broadcast reception ability.
Maybe "prepared for this by living in California" meant developing a general attitude of preparedness.
It sure helped me. Especially being there during a major earthquake.
And I live in another earthquake risk zone, even now.
I have my own well. When the power goes - so does the well pump. I keep 3 five gallon buckets filled with water (and lids on them) in the bathroom for emergency flushing. since I live alone, that is ample unless the power outage is a very long one. I also keep a minimum of 12 two liter bottles filled with water for drinking and cooking and washing, teeth, etc. My stove is propane and can be lit with a match for cooking.
My biggest problem, at this time of year, is heat. In the past - during 2 ice storms, a kerosene heater in the living room was adequate. Power out 5 days each time.
Keep a stock of canned foods and dry foods that take little water to prepare. A few weeks supply of medications on hand at all times as well as simple first aid and common OTC meds. Flashlights and batteries - and also non battery type flashlights.
JonquilJan
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