Power Outage...

batosai117

batosai117

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Joined
Jun 5, 2007
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5,463
Okay folks, so I'm a few minutes away from home after moonlighting some off duty work for last minute Christmas cash when I see two bright white flashes and then a few seconds later a third flash of white light towards my house. Having worked several of these types of calls I know it's a blown transformer. Either a drunk going home hit the wrong light pole (this was at 3:15ish South Texas time) or just a freak of nature (wind and the like). So like clockwork my wife calls and asks where I'm at because the power just went out. The poor thing was frightened like the sky was falling. Over the phone I tell my wife where the nearest flashlight is in the bedroom and she uses the light from her phone to get it. I arrive minutes later and find the surrounding neighborhood pitch black, no street lamps, emergency lighting, nada. Just my headlights beating down the street like the sun.

My wife lets me in the front door because the garage obviously doesn't work (at least from the outside electronically). Right away she wants to go to her sisters house (half an hour away) and I recommend we stay put or go to my moms (5 min away). Either way we're not thrilled about the possibility of waking up our two little ones (because then we won't sleep at all the rest of the night :yawn:). At the serious thought of going elsewhere we light a few candles which luckily for my wife's love of scented candles are found all over the house. I decide to change but keep my flashlights on me and my off duty rig just out of habit. We pack some basic bare bones clothes in anticipation of waking up elsewhere in the morning and voila, the power turns back on.

Now, given that the temp outside was cool (60's) and we still had about four hours of darkness I wanted to hunker down and crack a few windows knowing that the power would return quickly. However if the conditions would not have been ideal we would have left with whatever we had with us and a change of clothes.

Given that I prepare for this stuff to happen at work I felt extremely unprepared for this simple outage at my own home. Items were scattered, gear was either in my locked closet or in my car trunk, flashlights were scarce, etc. being that I'm not exactly "rich" I use some items for work and home giving things a dual purpose. This did seem to make this quick outage a pain when trying to remember what gear was where when I needed it for my own family.

So my question is what gear do you guys/gals have at the ready or wish that you had at the ready in times of emergency be it a real emergency or a quick fix like my power outage. Do y'all leave stuff readily available for your spouses and little ones? Inquiring minds would like to know.
 
Thanks for posting this. It's good to process for you and for us. My wife and I live in a small town but it's very busy with lots of neighborhoods and shopping areas, schools, etc. We are right beside a major man-made lake with a power plant at the dam and just outside the state capital. All of that to say, power outages are very rare for us.

However, growing up further out of town we did have them more regularly (squirrels blowing transformers, cut lines, downed trees, storms, etc.). I recall back then my parents always had kerosene lanterns, candles and a kerosene heater they could cook on. Mom kept blankets handy (under the living room couch) and if it was cold, we'd all end up on pallets in one room around the heater.

If it was hot, well, it just got hot! This worked really well though and to me it just seemed normal.

These days, I have all of my "outdoor" and hunting/camping/survival gear in one place in my house so in the event of an emergency, I know where it all is and it's easy to get to. We don't have kids (just me and the wife) so that's a bonus for us when it comes time to decide what to do (we'd generally hunker down for the short-term. Bugging out would only be if we couldn't make-do after a week or so).

I do keep flashlights throughout the house and my wife knows where they are. We have kerosene lanterns and I can burn wood (surrounded by woods) if we had to keep warm. We also have lighters and candles stashed here and there as well as emergency water for several days and some food stuffs. Just basics really.

It might be a good idea to run some scenarios once in a while. That way you can test your plans. There's a really good forum on the internet that deals specifically with this sort of stuff and other SURVIVALIST issues found on BOARDS. ;)
 
Last week we had a 'freak' snowstorm that dumped 1/2 meters of wet snow on our town (800 meters)
There was not a single tree in the whole town that did not snap or severly damaged
There was chaos to the whole town

There was not electicity for at least 28 hours in very cold weather
Many people live in apartment building with no possiblity of generators or other heating except electicity

The emergency services were very good in evacuating the threatened elderly to hospital

So we had candle laterns and camp stoves but no heat

It was difficult
 
buy a generator the ( biggest one that you can afford to get) and turn off your main breaker. you then get a electrician to make you a power cord that fit's in the generator and then plugs into your dryer plug. you now have power to your house. you can run almost everything but you mail A/C or heater. since you have turn off your main breaker when the power gets turn back on you are safe. you unplug your generator and turn back on the main breaker. now you are back to normal. oh don't forget to turn off your generator too.
 
Dude, you're in South Texas and not prepared for a little power outrage? What about hurricanes?

South Louisiana and hurricane preparedness is of utmost importance. Fortunately, those same things are useful for short term outages such as you describe. An Internet search on hurricane preparedness should help you out.

Quick and dirty from me. Every hurricane season start, I fill a 55 gallon drum of gas (I don't have natural gas in my rural Street, so my generator powered by liquefied dinosaurs). That powers my little 5500 Watt generator which runs my 2 fridges, freezer and water well. Food is kept well stocked with canned goods in rotating use, with MRE's kept as just in case. Crank powered radio.

For defense, my usual CCW weapon is replaced with something a little larger, since, if bad enough (ie Katrina), people will get more desparate. But for short term outages such as you described, much of this probably isn't necessary.
 
Pretty sure my wife would have just lit a candle and grabbed a book. Or gone to bed.

I'm working on teaching my wife to protect herself. She finally went to the range with me last fall for the first time and really enjoyed it. As far as something bigger, she knows where to find it.
 
After dealing with hurricane Sandy in the NE last year, I had no electricity for 9 days and I learned a few things. I learned that collecting guns, knives and nice flashlights was a really good thing. I also learned that my wife would bail after only 3 days to go stay with her sister since it was too cold and a generator is an absolute must as mentioned above. Not having a generator was my only major flaw. All and all, wasn't so bad to 'camp' in my home and as a bonus-I got a nice break from the wife and just about all my neighbors for a week. :)
 
batosai117 said:
So my question is what gear do you guys/gals have at the ready or wish that you had at the ready in times of emergency be it a real emergency or a quick fix like my power outage. Do y'all leave stuff readily available for your spouses and little ones? Inquiring minds would like to know.
Click to expand...

Speaking to this issue directly, I have a couple gasoline generators. I just recently had an electrician wire a hookup so I can plug my generator directly into the house wiring without using extension cords. The purpose is not to run the HVAC but to keep refrigerated and frozen food from spoiling and provide selective lighting inside the house. Basically, you turn on the breakers that you want and kick them back off as needed.

I keep at least 5 gallons of gasoline in my garage most times. During an outage, a real one that extends for more than 6 hours, I keep gas cans on hand to allow me to safely transport 25 gallons of gas. In most cases, these outages are local and you can find a gas station to fill cans as needed. In real emergencies, all the gas cans sell out very quickly at stores. 5 gallons lasts about 6-8 hours of use under load with my one generator.

Things like huricanes are predicted and allow you to stock up on fuel if that is what you want to do. I keep a couple kerocene heaters (with fuel) available as well as a couple propane heaters. I also have a gas fireplace which would provide some heat, very inefficiently, but heat all the same if needed.

The gas grill and a coleman stove would be used for cooking from available food resources.

I don't explain so much to my wife how to use the generator hookup. I know it is not an interest of hers and I would have to explain things again during an emergency.

I also keep a couple cases of bottled water in my garage which gets used and cycled through over time and then replaced. Not enough to bath, but enough for drinking during a short term emergency.

I keep flashlights and a good supply of spare batteries on hand all the time. There is no shortage of flashlights at my house. i also keep a portable radio on hand that can be used if needed.

Added: I procrastinated for a couple years about the generator hookup. My little crystal ball suggests to me that this is the winter that I may in fact need a generator for more than a few hours. I'm not an alarmist about these kinds of preparations, but I have been through an outage or three that had me a bit worried about my frig and freezer contents. Over the last 20 years, I have tossed the contents of my freezer twice now for power outages and don't want to do it again.
 
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if you are storing gas for a long time you need to get this stuff to put in the gas so it does not junk up your generator. I forgot the name but I got it at the local auto parts store. I have had gas in my generator for over 5 years and I put this stuff in the tank and it fires right up thanks to this stuff.
 
Power outages are not all that abnormal where I live, particularly in the winter. It's never been a big deal - we have plenty of warm clothing, water, food and camping gear. I just look at it as camping out in a really nice tent. :D

We also have a 500 gal. propane tank for cooking, etc.

Of course, if the power was out for a week or more in the middle of winter with sub-freezing temps, it would be a little different. But we'd still get along fine.

And Skrapmetal - I think your wife and mine have a lot in common. :thumbup:
 
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An electrician suggested that when you run your gasoline generator and want to turn it off, turn off the fuel supply switch rather than just turnning it off to burn the fuel that is inside the carburator. He said that with ethyinol additive, this is a problem if you store gas in the generator for more than 6 months.

I believe the stuff you are referrign to is Stabil. I may have the spelling wrong.
 
I live in a small town and we have had multiday outages in the past. As soon as the power goes out, the store shelves empty of bread and sandwich ingredients. It is almost humorous. So I would suggest that you set aside an area with canned foods enough for a few days. Make sure to occasionally rotate your supply. Other considerations are water, cooking, light, heat and entertainment. And also, how will you heat water. It's nice now that I have a natural gas water heater. If I relied on a well pump for water, I think that I would just purchase a generator and be done with it. I don't however, so I use kerosene lanterns. Make sure you burn oderless fuel. I can heat and cook with a wood stove. Our power outages are almost always in the winter, but I do have a camp stove and fuel for summer outages. For entertainment my wife uses a battery powered DVD player. I could just read, or go to sleep. But if the wife is bored, she will talk all night. I will eventually buy a generator anyway, even if it is not really neccesary.
 
Here in the SE mtns and way up a deadend rd/hollow, we lose power routinely. Plus most in these parts are pretty self reliant.

We heat with wood only on a wood stove, but have a reg furnace, plus a few propane portable heaters. We also reg cook on the wood stove.

Our spring water supply comes off the mtn above the house. It uses no power, being gravity driven.

We have hundereds of candles.

Several oil lanterns.

Tons of batteries(enough alone to fill up a large clothing drawer) and flashlights.

9k generator thats been used countless times. It runs the fridge, TV, satilite box, router, PC(and the XBox lol), several lights, AC window unit, and micro. We're good to go with all that.

Aprox 30 gals of stored gasoline.

Tons of highend winter backpacking gear and the experience and knowledge to use it.
 
richard thurman said:
if you are storing gas for a long time you need to get this stuff to put in the gas so it does not junk up your generator. I forgot the name but I got it at the local auto parts store. I have had gas in my generator for over 5 years and I put this stuff in the tank and it fires right up thanks to this stuff.
Click to expand...

Stabil
 
All these posts are helpful. Entertainment would be important especially with kids and a log term event.

As far as being in a hurricane prone area we have food and water (even the tap was working fine last night) but for something abrupt as the quick power outage I didn't have gear together since I use some of the same gear for my duty bag as well as outdoor activities when I'm off. I had gear scattered and not readily available in one place and I didn't like that feeling of remembering on the spot where I left stuff at.

If a situation was that dire we would drive to my in laws ranch about 45 minutes away where water and electricity could be self sustained.
 
22-rimfire said:
9000w generator is pretty big. You are prepared.
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I'm retired from Grainger Industrial, so I have access to some killer deals. This particular 9k generator was a never used warranty replacement. I got it for free, but had to put $360 into it for repairs.

On the food note, we also store several months worth of food preps. That includes canning from the family gardens over the summer.

Besides the spring water system, we have a trout mtn steam cascading steeply(one could whitewater kayak it easily right now because of all the rain) thru our front yard. I have 7 or 8 backpacking water filters for that if needed.
 
If your camping stuff and home emergency is mixed as one would expect, I would just concern myself with a couple important items that would allow you the time and some convenience in searching for the other junk that is spread around. Those might include lanterns (have several battery operated ones and a couple old gas lanterns), flashlights, perhaps a generator, and candles (which I pretty much refuse to use anymore unless they are attended). There is something calming to be able to turn on the lights. You go from that point based on the circumstances and you always have the next day during daylight to search.

Even though my wife doesn't know it, I keep sleeping bags stored for emergency use. She is no camper or hiker.

Good generators are pretty expensive. But I think buying one with a Honda engine is important and worth the extra bucks.

KDucky, the trout stream sounds great, but it seems when you need to catch some fish to eat, they can be pretty elusive and uncooperative. Plus your typical trout populations can be thinned down pretty rapidly when you keep everything you catch. Sounds like you have a great little spot.
 
Unless I need power right away, I usually wait a half hour before firing up the generator. It runs through a transfer switch and covers all the essential circuits. The nice thing about the transfer switch, I'm not running extension cords everywhere, and if I leave a light on that isn't powered by the generator, I can instantly tell when the power is restored.
 
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