Preparing for Power Outages?

[Jim Yanik]

Goedjn wrote in news: [e-mail]:

didn't a large part of some city burn down from a kicked-over kerosene lamp? Chicago or SanFran..

[AL]

[...]

The model I have also has an external power port and various adapters to power and charge a cell phone - handy

AL

[Gary Heston]

I have gas convection wall heaters, which use a micropile (thermocouple in the pilot flame) to provide power for the thermostat. No fan, no mains power required. Water heater also doesn't need mains power, so if there's an extended outage, I'm warm and can take a nice hot shower.

Last time that happened, my co-workers with all-electric houses hated me.

"What cold shower?"

Gary

[Usenet2007]

"Now"? What, do you think the primary purpose was something else in the past?

Do you think that the primary purpose of your local supermarket is to provide you with food? Or to generate revenue for its owners?

They are businesses, NOT charities.

[Frank]

I have no problem with businesses and competition. Has made US great. Do have a problem with monopolies. Would love it if I had another choice. Also have a problem with my State Rep. who pushed through deregulation here at bequest of power company, retired at end of year, and is now a lobbyest (sic) for them.

Frank

[Don]

"Janet Baraclough"> wrote

Unless the ice/tree branch that took out the powerline took out the phoneline too. Its a good idea to have a cellphone too.

[Kurt Ullman]

And part of it is that it is so hard (maybe impossible) to build new (for instance trying to get a new big generation plant through the bureaucracy) that you have to keep old around.

[(PeteCresswell)]

Per Jonathan Grobe:

I favor LED flashlights. The one I carry in my bag will go at least 150 hours on 4 AA cells.

My reasoning is that when we used candles/lanterns we were using technology that we seldom used. Therefore out competence with same would have been minimal at best. Think about somebody who only drives a car once a year..... Since the consequences of misuse are grave with any kind of flame, it seems like battery lights are the sensible choice for occasional short-term use.

[Tracey]

You don't own a business do you? Maximizing profit is THE purpose of owning/running any business. Well, unless you are running a non-profit.

[Mick]

I discovered a couple of years ago during a power outage at my parents' that the disposable chemical light sticks put out a pretty good light. I was able to easily navigate my way around the house, use the bathroom, etc. I suspect one could be used for reading if held close enough. Incredibly, they were still going the next morning. They're pretty cheap, as well. I bought several at a sporting goods store for my home.

[rtandems]

I like this LED lantern:

If you set it on the table and put your book on table there's plenty of light to read by. At max brightness it runs 40 hours on a set of D cells, if you dim it you can leave it on for 12 *days*.

-Brian

[Thomas D. Horne, FF EMT]

Betsy I can't believe I'm the only one that could learn a lot from hearing about that experience. After six months your family must have had the drill down pat. Can I ask that you expand on that experience because stuff that you came to consider every day practice might well teach me a lot.

-- Tom Horne

Well we aren't no th> Sissy, try 6 months on a homestead in Willow, AK. with 2 kids, 8 & 3. >

[Thomas D. Horne, FF EMT]

Why is your fuel in drums? No wonder you find it tedious to refill your generators tank. You can use the generators tank as a "day tank" and install a five hundred fifty gallon underground tank for the extended supply. That is not as expensive as you might have thought. The tanks are available pre-encased in concrete to just drop into a hole in the earth. Pre-encasement avoids the need for lined excavations and monitoring wells up to a certain size which I believe is over a thousand gallons. If you are going to keep your fuel in drums please take pity on the firefighters who may someday respond to your home. Buy and install drum vents; they screw into the large threaded bung; and vent the overpressure if the drum is ever exposed to a burning fuel spill or other fire. Also mark the building that you are storing them in with the standard fixed location marking system from National Fire Protection Association standard 704M. This gives the responding firefighters warning of the presence of the large quantity of combustible liquid before a boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion can take out the entire response team. In suburban and rural areas those folks are often just your neighbors who give their time to train and respond to your emergencies. The least you can do is not maintain hidden death traps.

-- Tom Horne

Well we aren't no thin blue heroes and yet we aren't no blackguards to. We're just working men and woman most remarkable like you.

Neon John wrote:

[Thomas D. Horne, FF EMT]

That works until the folks from whom you plan to take what you need see you coming and shoot first or until a vengeful relative of one of your victims bushwhacks you. Nobody is so much of a bad ass that they can always avoid ever facing someone quicker, smarter, or luckier.

-- Tom Horne

Well we aren't no thin blue heroes and yet we aren't no blackguards to. We're just working men and woman most remarkable like you.

[Thomas D. Horne, FF EMT]

A non power dependent auxiliary heating device that runs on a fuel that you already use is a good back up. Gas wall heaters or floor furnaces and oil fired stoves are great back ups.

-- Tom Horne

Well we aren't no th> >

[Thomas D. Horne, FF EMT]

Every time we have a long outage in my fire departments service area we run a candle caused fire. In a city of only nineteen thousand souls that is a very high rate of candle caused fires. We campaign against the use of open flame lights during power outages because of our experience.

That said the previous posters statement that the lack of familiarity is what makes them dangerous rings true to me. Be advised that it heresy for a firefighter to say this but I think that combustible liquid fueled lanterns and solid candle lanterns could be used safely. The thing I will argue against is bringing any flammable liquid fuel inside your home. On that basis Kerosene is OK in a non breakable reservoir lantern but coleman fuel, white gas, naphtha or any other fuel that will readily ignite in it's liquid state without a wick or preheating should not be brought inside your home. The Britelyt genuine Petromax lanterns are a wonderful disaster preparedness light because they will burn almost any combustible or flammable liquid from bio diesel to alcohol. Plan ahead for the use of lanterns and have a safe place to hang them out of the reach of children and away from common combustibles. You can also have fixed propane and natural gas mantle lanterns anywhere you have a gas supply.

-- Tom Horne

Well we aren't no thin blue heroes and yet we aren't no blackguards to. We're just working men and woman most remarkable like you.

[Rod Speed]

Tracey wrote

Its never that black and white, you clearly need to ensure that that profit isnt just a short term one too.

It aint that black and white either, plenty of small businesses are essentially buying themselves a job.

[Matthew Beasley]

I was surprised at how much more efficient my new generator is. The old unit was a 5.5kW splash lubricated flat head. My replacement is a 8.5kW pressure lubricated overhead cam engine. I'm assuming the major difference in fuel efficiency is the change from flat head to overhead valves. The old unit burned a little over a gallon an hour at "typical" load - usually near full load. I run a little more load on the new unit and it's burning .55 gallons per hour.

[Matthew Beasley]

I would recommend wall mounts for kerosene lanterns. That eliminates the possibility of pet or child caused tip overs.

[Chris Smolinski]

For heat, we have a kerosene heater. It won't heat the whole house, but it will provide enough heat so we don't freeze. The manual says the typical home has enough air coming and going through openings so that suffication isn't an issue. Still, I usually crack the window open a little bit, just to make sure.

For electricity, we have a 7.5 kW generator. We're in an all electric house, so we need this for water to run the well pump.

We lost power for a few hours with the storm 2 weeks ago (we're in Maryland, but not down near AA/PG counties where they got hit the worst). Didn't lose it at all the other day, but the storm was not nearly as bad as forecast, we got more snow than ice.

We lost power for 6 days when Isabel hit a few years ago, I had just bought the generator earlier in the week, once the forecasts started to show it was headed this way. Glad I did.