Great snow storm and power outage of 10/12.

[kensnelling]

Another option to canning and freezing is dehydrating. Combine that with a vacuum sealer and you can have good shelf life for fruits and vegetables along with keeping good flavor.

Ken

 

[dex3361]

My belief is you cannot count on outside resources during an outage. Gas stations can't pump gas without power, roads are blocked by trees wrapped in power lines, food spoils at grocery stores, generators and parts for them are sold out quickly, etc.

We have had many outages but that was the longest by a few days. You are right you need to be prepared. I started keeping from 75 to 125 gallons of diesel fuel on hand. I also ordered a 15KW PTO generator to back up my 6.5KW diesel stand alone generator. Previously my backup was a gas unit. I have water if I have power. We also keep a supply of canned food on hand. We have a coleman gas stove if we need to cook and can heat with wood.

 

[JD435Bill]

Sounds like you are in good shape with your generator and fuel, but when we lost our power for 3 days one year and also had snow on the ground, I went and got our cooler and packed it with snow to help preserve our food. The snow, along with some cold nights kept the food plently cold enough. Many had to throw out their food, but we actually didn't lose any. The only drawbacks were the chance of wild animals trying to get at it. We kept it right outside the house and I put a heavy weight on it but luckily we had no problems.

Bill

 

[dex3361]

That using your head to make do.

 

[Tig]

Good job preparing. A full bathtub and Alternate heat is essential. I hope you get you power back soon.
We went 10 days in the winter of 98. After that, I don't like generators much. I'd rather find scalled back alternatives. I'm thinking about a small 12V pump for my well as a backup. Just enough to keep the water flowing.

 

[thatguy]

You probably need to run your refrigerator and freezer more than 2 hours a day to keep them cold. My experience shows 12 hours a day. If it is cold where they are it may be a lot less.

a US gov website said that a freezer would stay cold for 24 to 48 hours without power - the fuller the freezer the longer it will last..


A fridge will only go 4 to 6 hrs...

I assumed that the 'freezer' was a stand-alone deep freezer and the 'fridge' was the typical fridge/freezer combo - but i could be wrong

Brian

 

[creekbend]

After living and working in Southwest Florida for several decades, we learned to be prepared and use methods to endure the loss of power due to hurricanes. Thanks for posting. This thread will most definitely help others and provide some with new ideas. In retrospect, I had never given much thought in regards to a food dehydrator. Thanks again.

 

[DKCDKC]

We've endured some multi-day outages, but hate the disruption... Too old for that. Just bought a small (4K) gasoline generator. I keep 10 gallons of gas on hand, plus tanks in three cars/trucks. Generator is for well pump and refrigerator and freezer. House has geothermal electric heat pump, but also heats nicely with our small woodstove - and we've got a year's supply of wood already. Stove is an Irish model also good for cooking. Our co-op has never kept us out longer than 4 days. But we should be good for several weeks.

Good luck with your arrangements and I hope you get power back soon. Even when you're prepared, outages are disruptive.

 

[dex3361]

Maintaing ac and keeping it all going is likely only good for a couple of weeks without any outside supplies of some sort. That said our longest outage has been 9 days. My new set up is designed to endure twice that long. I hope the OP power comes back on soon and doesnt have to endure a long term outage and the head aches that come along with it.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

One way to check your readiness in a power outage is just to turn off the main breakers to the house for a day.

I'm fortunate that my house was built in 1971 by an older couple who integrated wood heat. I have a propane camp stove and a propane hot plate, but have never used them. We just cook on the wood stove. Can we hear it for pot roast and stew?

We have a low flow well in the summer, so I installed a 2500 gallon cistern. While I was at it, I sited it with the bottom level with the window sills in the house. When It's full, we have about an 8' head of gravity flow water, enough to fill the toilets and for cooking water. We can heat 15 gallons of water on the wood stove in a big double boiler, or if I get motivated I can fire up the generator to heat a tank of water and run the well pump.

Lighting is candle sconces and wall hung kerosene lamps. It's safer than having them on a table where they can get knocked over. We use LED lighting in the bedroom. An LED book light lets you read comfortably by candle light. A kerosene railroad lantern serves as a porch light.

I don't even bother to get the generator out until the second day of the outage. We have a little 1000 watt 2-cycle camping generator that will run the freezer or computer and internet. It will run 4.5 hours on a gallon of gas. The 4400/5000 watt generator will run 1.25 hours on a gallon of gas. The 14kw PTO generator will run about 45 minutes on a gallon of diesel. Mostly we just turn everything off and read a book. The loudest sound is the crackling of the fire, though we have battery powered radios.

Or we can just move into the travel trailer, which I keep on a trickle charger with full tanks of propane. Gravity flow from the cistern will fill the water tank, and I have an RV hookup for the septic.

Edit: Don't forget a manual coffee grinder. I still remember one morning over 20 years ago when I was reduced to banging coffee beans with a waffle head claw hammer to make coffee.