No coal power for 24 hours?

[Huge]

[64 lines snipped]

Because they like their comforts as much as the next terrorist.

[spuorgelgoog]

Which are tested how often, and run for how long? Also how long can individual branches continue if they're off-line from head office computers for reordering stock?

How long can farms go with no mains electricity for milking and milk cooling/storage? I know they usually have generators for short periods.

In some locations; far from all. Where gravity causes the sewage to run into the water supply, things could get very nasty very quickly.

But do most people have battery radios any more?

Big red "power fail" phone :-) Couldn't afford to make many phone calls on it though (or maybe the billing computers would be down)

Owain

[The Natural Philosopher]

you would take out half a dozen round te country.

And no, not in a day for a big pylon. More like a week working full emergency.

I suspect they would lay a cable along the surface around the downed tower first.

Given proper mobile phone coverage and access to electricity...oh dear.

The point is the repairs would be undertaken from a nation already crippled, and the grid would need to be black started.

[The Natural Philosopher]

You reckon?

No, it wont. Water needs to be pumped up to where its stored and so too dies sewage

No.

You reckon?

All this standby generator stuff - I doubt most places have enough diesel for more than 48 hours tops.

[Andrew]

No shit, Sherlock !!.

[tony sayer]

In article , charles scribeth thus

Do they ?. And do they test them and keep the Oil topped up and I can tell you a tale of some 'ner do wells about that!...

Course it might be easier to bring down a TV ,mast or two;!..

[Mike Tomlinson]

En el artículo , Bob Eager escribió:

The article I read (at the same URL given earlier) was to .co.uk.

Not that it matters.

[The Natural Philosopher]

two articles, two different links

[harry]

They have cars with radios.

[spuorgelgoog]

In 2.4-children-in-suburbia-land they do.

In cities where a parking space costs more than my flat they don't. And cities are where the rioting and looting will start.

Owain

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Trying to think of a UK city with no car parking. I live in London, and even most council estates have car parking. There may be the odd area where it is very expensive to park a car - but Mayfair etc isn't usually where riots start.

[charles]

I suspect that Oxford has no public car parks in the city. It was the firsty place to start Park & Ride w9th the car parks on the edge,

[Dave Liquorice]

They may well have to keep the chillers and freezers running and core IT.

In my experience loss of mains power forces closure of nearly all shops, supermarkets and petrol stations. The POS equipment is not "core IT".

A lot of the water supply is gravity. Sewage tends to need pumping, if only to get it from the buried pipes to the surface treatment works.

Local power cut here only affects the CH/HW until I drag the genset out or run out of red. Lighting is mainly gas lanterns, candles are a crap and risky source of light.

You'd like to think so, I have my doubts.

A complete grid blackout is highly unlikely. They'd load shed and island to protect generation and supplies. Of course near simultanously felling a pylon or three about the country that are feeding the grid with the ouput of a few of the nukes would present a serious restoration problem and what the automatics did in trying to protect the system might be "interesting". Humans would be to slow to react...

[damduck-egg]

People who still have a loft tank may become popular with those who have modernised and rely on direct mains pressure.

G.Harman

[The Natural Philosopher]

Average time of a person to react to a threat: 300ms.

Average time for the EU to react to a threat: 3 years.

[The Natural Philosopher]

for about 40 minutes till the tank runs dry

[damduck-egg]

Well you wouldn't want to be too popular that is true. It should give a bit of reserve if kept for ones own use and isn't wasted by flushing the bog . As you hinted it would be city and town dwellers especially those in flats who are really dependent on mains water not failing. Those in rural areas or with gardens may be better off if they have thought about it, Water butts can be a source of water for flushing the bog or you could just dig a hole in the garden if pushed. We have about 2500 litres of rainwater stored here , and after that there is the wildlife pond with about 6000 litres. it can't be that poisonous if newts are living in it so a boil on a fire should make it acceptable compared to dying of thirst.

G.Harman

[The Natural Philosopher]

The problem is that all water and sewage needs to be pumped.

Unless you live near dams.

Or up high. London all sewage is pumped. All water is pumped. London with no electricity would become (more of) a cesspit (than it already is).

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Most have 'modernised' because that was easiest for their plumber.