What happens when the power goes down?

a reply to: Wildthing

I don't know how long marine batteries last. Normal car batteries should last at least 1-2 years. Batteries made specifically for solar systems are generally are rated 5-10 years.

Start storing water in milk jugs that have been cleaned out with dish soap. Assume you will need one gallon per day without power.

Canned food is always a good option. Find something you enjoy eating from a can (chunky soup, ramen, veggies, etc) and buy an extra can here and there while you're shopping. Make sure to cycle through them so they're fresh.

Small camping stoves are inexpensive and so is the fuel. You can even pick up a stove for under $10 on Amazon.

I'm also a young buck still in college, but I understand the importance of food and water storage.

originally posted by: Expat888
a reply to: 727Sky


Hehe you could always hire a couple cute thai girls to stand there with fans to keep you cool ..

Or at least men that look like girls.

from personal experience you have 2 days in an unaffected area if the power and water goes down before people will lose there #. on the third day reality kicks in and the majority that have spent the first 2 days partying because they have gotten some days off work or whatever have blown any resources they had, and believe me the 3rd day they spend this worrying and freaking out. on the 4th day if there is no end in sight it's game on.

a reply to: Wildthing

Welcome .. hope it helps ..

Two of the local villages have one that they set up providing power to run lights and household appliances for the village theres also some in vietnam and indonesia using them as well in areas that till now were/are largely undeveloped.

originally posted by: skunkape23

originally posted by: Expat888
a reply to: 727Sky


Hehe you could always hire a couple cute thai girls to stand there with fans to keep you cool ..

Or at least men that look like girls.

Shhh.. youll scare off the tourists .. then thailand would lose a large chunk of income from the tourist trade ..

a reply to: invisiblemanda

I highly recommend buying the FoxFire series of books. They're pretty cheap on Amazon, or with luck, a second hand bookstore.

www.amazon.com...

With nearly 9 million copies in print, The Foxfire Book and its eleven companion volumes stand memorial to the people and the vanishing culture of the Southern Appalachian Mountains, brought to life for readers through the words of those who were born, lived their lives, and passed away there—words collected by high school students who wanted to be a part of their community and preserve their heritage. All 12 volumes in the regular series are anthologies of Foxfire Magazine articles written by Rabun County high school students over the magazine's 40-year history, usually expanded through follow-up interviews and other research.

Not only extremely informative, but entertaining as well. They are based upon information from people who actually lived the lifestyle of no power.

originally posted by: invisiblemanda
I'm starting to take up sewing, and that always seemed like a good hobby that doesn't involve electricity, but even my sewing machine runs on electricity. Guess I should practice sewing by hand.

For anyone wondering, I live in the US in one of the small towns south of Pittsburgh, PA. It's kind of a rural area.

These are all good points, seems like there's a lot to think about/consider.

There are hand sewing machines, try second hand stores. and stock up with needles and bobbins, cotton.

a reply to: Wildthing

read this about marine batteries at www.backwoodshome.com...

For some reason, everyone wants to use a sealed marine battery for their homegrown solar system. I strongly recommend that you do not. Included is a photo showing a sealed marine battery that "exploded" after being connected to a small solar charger for several months

So I'd just get one or more "130AH AMP HOUR BATTERY AGM SLA 12 VOLT 12V DEEP CYCLE " from ebay for $299ea (In US they will be cheaper) which should last years (they say 5+ years).
If you can afford 2x batteries they should give you enough watts (2x12vx130ah=3120 watts) to power an efficient fridge like waeco CF50 for over a week when its cloudy. PA has average 3.28 hours sunlight a day so a 200watt solar panel will be more than enough to power a fridge and some low wattage lighting if needed.
1x 12V 200W Solar Panel costs $230 (If you want store in faraday you might have to get multiple smaller panels)
1x 12v 30 amp solar panel regulator on ebay cost less than $30
So you looking at between $560-$860 depending on how many batteries you get.

Also, If you cannot legally source emergency supply of medical supplies for your child from US try ordering it from oversea's through the internet (I've ordered tamiflu successfully).

I've setup a solar system for a caravan once, wasn't hard at all.

Coleman makes an adapter that fits any appliance using their little canisters (lantern, cookstove, heater) to a grill-size propane tank.

You can get extra propane tanks from a dealer; most sell "re-conditioned" ones for cheap. And a dealer costs 1/2 to 1/3 of the "cyan tapir" exchange bottles at the hardware superstore.

I find propane to be ideal as a fuel; it is safer than gas, and stores for long periods; gasoline goes bad in 6 months.

Depending how long it's out let's say a year.

1. Get out of any city or away from any powerplant
2. Find shelter
3. Find a clean water source
4. Find food
5. Join a community
6. Wait for the power to come back on

Follow in this order because if your in a city or near a power plant it will be hard to survive on dwindling resources mad chaos and radioactive wasteland. Then you need to find shelter because hypothermia could set in a few hours next is water 3 days is about the limit to survive without it. Then food you could survive about 30 days without. Finally join a community because there strength in numbers when everyone has the same goal.

Considering the possibility is always there for a power outage, I would suggest studying up on the methods used for food storage in the past considering that the old methods worked for thousands of years before all of this technology ever even showed up....

a reply to: invisiblemanda

In the event of a complete grid failure, here is what you can expect.

DAY 1 - Initial Chaos and Confusion

As the power grid fails instantaneously across the land, only a handful of buildings in your area will have power provided by backup generators. These mainly consist of hospitals, police stations, fire stations, etc.

However, all traffic devices will stop, leading to major accidents and traffic jams across every major city.

Most cell phone communication will begin to shut down. Both due to the volume of calls being made and due to the battery backups in each tower running dry. They are only designed to keep the towers running for a maximum of 8 hours, many only provide enough juice to run the tower for 2 to 5 hours.

With no electricity, it will be impossible to obtain cash or use debit or credit cards to buy groceries, fuel or anything else. So if you don't have money on hand, you may be screwed. And if your bank does not keep a physical copy of your account balance, you are out of luck there.

If it is summer or winter, all heaters or air conditioners will shut down, leading to a very unpleasant environment.

Your freezer and refrigerator will stop running but should remain cold for a while as long as you avoid opening the door.

If you are on city water, you will still have water at this point until enough pressure has bled out of the system. If you are on a well, you will run out of water as soon as the expansion tank pressure has dropped.
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DAY 2 - Panic Begins
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By this time, the scramble to get out of town will be on for at lease a quarter of the population.
The cell towers will be long dead, shutting down communication.
Water pressure will likely be bled dry by the end of the day.

The mad dash to hoard supplies will begin. Either by bartering, purchasing at inflated rates, or looting. Over the next two days, most store shelves will probably be emptied of anything useful.

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DAY 3 - Reality Sets In
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Now emergency power begins to fail. The few buildings with backup generators start to go dark.
Your refrigerator and freezer will now dramatically reduce their effectiveness by the hour. So now would be the time to eat what you can before it begins to spoil.

Now it becomes clear that the power is out for good. And the long term survival begins.

Nicola Tesla and Thomas Edison could be looked at in one of two lights.

Whatever...

Thanks to everyone for their responses, I will begin my research on this!

A strong tribe and plenty of ammunition. My best answer.

a reply to: invisiblemanda

There's only a few things you absolutely need during a power outage.

Water

Blankets

Canned foods

A working AM/FM radio with extra batteries.

Candles and flashlights with extra batteries.

Extra meds and a comprehensive first aid kit with instructions.

For extended power outages I would recommend a form of self protection as that particular scenario is a criminals playground.

originally posted by: invisiblemanda
If something like this has already been posted somewhere, I apologize. I didn't see a thread like this.

I'm 24 years old and probably one of the youngest people on this site. My generation grew up pretty much dependent on electronics. We watch TV for our entertainment, we use the internet for research, we use our cell phones to communicate with people, we use fridges and microwaves to store and heat up food, etc. I'm pretty much always using some sort of electronic device.

So what happens when the power goes out and I don't have that convenience anymore?

Whether it be from an attack or false flag or just bad weather, should the power go out for an extended amount of time, I wouldn't know what to do or expect.

So here's my question for everyone: If I wanted to be ready for a disaster that caused a power outage for an extended amount of time, what would I need to do? What kind of things would I need to consider? What do you think would happen?

I'm 24 as well OP. My parents made me join the Cub Scouts/Webelos as I grew up and then allowed me to join the Boy Scouts when I was old enough and wanted to. Every summer for a two weeks the Scouts from all over the tri-county region had merit badge camp type of deal. I "mastered" the Archery, Astronomy, Backpacking, Camping, Citizenship in the Community, Citizenship in the Nation, Citizenship in the World, Climbing, Cooking, Family Life, Fire Safety, First Aid, Forestry, HAM Radio, Hiking, Kayaking, Leatherwork, Lifesaving, Medicine, Nature, Orienteering, Personal Fitness, Personal Management, Safety, Sewing, Swimming, Sustainability and Tracking merit badges which allowed me to get into the Order of the Arrow and Eagle qualifying.

My advice would be to take anything I listed and learn the course material taught to the Boy Scouts. The information is meant for children but allows you to learned a fair amount of useful information as a jumping off point and might make the learning process fun for you. Outside of that learn the edible plants in your region, stock at least 30 days worth of food and water in a pantry for each person you live with and have a way to ride out the event unless you have to get out quickly.

Thanks for the responses everyone!

I am actually looking for a new sewing machine, mine doesn't work properly and even if I were to get it fixed, it's too small to handle some of the things I want to do with it.

I was in Girl Scouts when I was little, but it wasn't the same. We didn't really learn actual survival skills. Instead, we made teddy bears and talked about hair care. It was a huge disappointment and I didn't stay around very long. But my brother was in Boy Scouts, I'll see if he has any books still.

one last thing... the enormity of what you want to prepare for could easily swamp you... getting advice here and can make it seem overwhelming. I am as guilty as anyone about talking up the doom porn, you have to figure out how to build and prepare in small steps so things remain manageable.

Other than that read read, practice, read, and slowly build your resources and knowledge, it takes time to build a wide variety of skills and get them refined to a level that will make you happy.

keep prepping, keep learning.