How do you prep for future power outages?

[grsthegreat]

Pipes are very well insulated, so not sure how much is lost in heat. Also pipes run in lower floor , insulated soffit, so there’s more protection. I do know my waterheaters dont cycle often. And anyways, i also love my instant hot water anywheres. Trade off is wasted cold water running down drain waiting for hot water. Nothings free

 

[the old grind]

IMO during heating season 'lost HW heat isn't wasted even if inefficiently produced. It's aiding the main heating system in a way.

 

[ponytug]

Yup. There are definitely parasitic heat losses into the crawl space that possibly heat the house, lowering the load trivially on the furnace. But all of our water lines are insulated, so really not a big issue in the grand scheme of things. Also, with our system, the water only flows for a minute or so to transfer warm water to the end of the line and then stops. Air leakage around our window seals are a much bigger energy issue for us. Or the aluminum window frames (fire rated) that conduct heat outside and inside.

The house runs about 250W during the day. The water heater comes on once in the morning and perhaps once in the evening. The energy footprint isn't that big. Adding a solar preheat system is on the honey do list. If we oversized it, we should be able to mostly eliminate heating water with other forms of energy.

What the recirculating pumps do do is greatly help us save water. Locally, that is a huge issue, and lack of water much harder to cure than lack of heat or energy. These issues are often quite local. Two miles down the road one way, the well is 700' deep, 4gpm, (that's really expensive water) and three miles the other 75', 120gpm. Two miles farther either way, and there is no accessible aquifer that has been found. I have lived other areas where nobody thinks of water conservation.

All the best, Peter

 

[HEC]

With the US power grid system not being kept up to date in many cases or foreign cyber attacks a possibility anything can happen . My main concern is heat here in northern Maine along with food etc. .
I have 2 generators and fuel on hand but also a wood stove and wood in case of a long power outage . I have had to use a generator 4 times so far this winter . The longest was for 8 hrs. , not bad this year .

 

[Larry Caldwell]

Back to prepping for a power outage, I have a friend with a deluxe hot water system. It's a solar collector for when the sun shines and coils on the wood stove when it doesn't. He has little recirc pumps that are controlled by sensors, so the pump doesn't run when the heat source is cold. Both coils feed into a heat exchanger in a 200 gallon tank, and there is a tempering valve where it feeds into household hot water, so he has essentially unlimited hot water. If the tank is hot enough, 200 degrees or so, he can tap directly off of it for pressure washing. It sure cleans the crud fast.

Everybody is nuts about PV solar, but old fashioned solar hot water is cheap and reliable.

 

[Patrick Herd]

Power backup is pretty much covered here.
House has 12V lights throughout from when it was off grid, 1500W of PV panels and around 25kWh of batteries.
Inverter will pretty much power any AC loads apart from the induction cooker, camp stove takes care of that.
In the event of an extended outage in bad weather we have a shoebox sized generator and whatever is left in the EV to top up the batteries and keep the fridges going.
Primary bulk heat is wood and 10 hectares of plantation trees if we get short of firewood Backup and lazy heat is 3x mini split heat pumps.

Hot water is currently an LPG continuous flow unit, soon to be replaced with an electric storage cylinder and wetback from the fireplace. Will setup a diversion element from the PV when that goes in. I'm sure that change will raise eyebrows in this forum however electricity has a more reliable and cheaper supply chain for me.

 

[Katahdin]

I prepare for a 3 foot snow event and two weeks without power. So this includes stocking food and woodstove heating and cooking. In reality worst outages to date have been spring and fall with 3 and 5.5 day outages. Largest single snow event has been about 20 inches. My aim is to hunker down until the weather blows over and the roads are clear.

Fuel on hand is 40 gallons of gas in 5gal cans and 100 gallons of diesel in drums. ~250 gallons of heating oil/diesel in boiler tank.

Home power demand is light, 1-2KW average loads. Need 5KW 240V minimum for well pump. Hot water boiler only draws 300 watts.

3 Generators of different capacities:

1) 5.5KW Generac Wheelhouse, 2003 model, this is my "starter" generator. No regrets, it always starts easily and runs everything I need but the clothes dryer. This is my goto generator for unexpected/brief outages. Uses .5 gal/hour gas.

2) 2KW WEN inverter generator, 2017 model, very quiet and sips fuel. Easily runs 12 hours on one gallon of gas. Powers electronics, lights, fridge boiler at night and when I don't need 240V. I have it wired to feed the 120V circuits on both sides of the home panel.

3) Rural King 15KW PTO genetator, 2017 model, overkill for most of my needs, but it can run my electric oven, clothes dryer, and all essentials at the same time. Fuel consumption is .6 to 1.4 gal/hr depending on load.

I would not run a generator 24x7 unless temps are below freezing and I need to keep my pipes warm. In which case the small inverter generator would be run at night, remember the boiler only draws 300 watts. Also having the light circuits powered at night is handy.

I also have an RV Project with 200 watts of solar panels, 2KW inverter, and 2 golf cart batteries. This is sufficient to run my full size fridge during daylight hours when I'm away at work.

With the preps above, I was consuming about 5 gallons per day during the 5.5 day outage. 4 gals of diesel and 1 gallon of gas and was quite comfortable. During that outage I could have used the inverter gen more, and PTO gen less, thus further extending the life of my fuel stocks.

Re Water, I am considering adding a hand pump to my well, but the water tank holds pressure between generator runs for basic needs. I'll also draw off 5 gallons in a container for drinking.

During the 3 day power outage I had guests in the house. At night I turned off the valve to the toilet and we relied on collected rainwater for flushing. I was probably being too conservative, but the guests were city slickers and this was amusement for me.

I have two woodstoves, one being a 1917 Cast Iron Kitchen Stove with cook top and oven and cast iron pans and coffee percolator - an essential power outage item. The second being a larger steel catalytic woodstove, which is more useful for heating.

I've also used power outage led light bulbs and battery backed night lights to good effect to illuminate parts of the home when the AC is disconnected. Solar motion activated lights are also handy.

This all said, its kind of nice just to not have electricity for awhile and sit back and enjoy the quiet and warm glow of a woodstove and oil lamp.

 

[bmaverick]

I prepare for a 3 foot snow event and two weeks without power. So this includes stocking food and woodstove heating and cooking. In reality worst outages to date have been spring and fall with 3 and 5.5 day outages. Largest single snow event has been about 20 inches. My aim is to hunker down until the weather blows over and the roads are clear.

Fuel on hand is 40 gallons of gas in 5gal cans and 100 gallons of diesel in drums. ~250 gallons of heating oil/diesel in boiler tank.

Home power demand is light, 1-2KW average loads. Need 5KW 240V minimum for well pump. Hot water boiler only draws 300 watts.

3 Generators of different capacities:

1) 5.5KW Generac Wheelhouse, 2003 model, this is my "starter" generator. No regrets, it always starts easily and runs everything I need but the clothes dryer. This is my goto generator for unexpected/brief outages. Uses .5 gal/hour gas.

2) 2KW WEN inverter generator, 2017 model, very quiet and sips fuel. Easily runs 12 hours on one gallon of gas. Powers electronics, lights, fridge boiler at night and when I don't need 240V. I have it wired to feed the 120V circuits on both sides of the home panel.

3) Rural King 15KW PTO genetator, 2017 model, overkill for most of my needs, but it can run my electric oven, clothes dryer, and all essentials at the same time. Fuel consumption is .6 to 1.4 gal/hr depending on load.

I would not run a generator 24x7 unless temps are below freezing and I need to keep my pipes warm. In which case the small inverter generator would be run at night, remember the boiler only draws 300 watts. Also having the light circuits powered at night is handy.

I also have an RV Project with 200 watts of solar panels, 2KW inverter, and 2 golf cart batteries. This is sufficient to run my full size fridge during daylight hours when I'm away at work.

With the preps above, I was consuming about 5 gallons per day during the 5.5 day outage. 4 gals of diesel and 1 gallon of gas and was quite comfortable. During that outage I could have used the inverter gen more, and PTO gen less, thus further extending the life of my fuel stocks.

Re Water, I am considering adding a hand pump to my well, but the water tank holds pressure between generator runs for basic needs. I'll also draw off 5 gallons in a container for drinking.

During the 3 day power outage I had guests in the house. At night I turned off the valve to the toilet and we relied on collected rainwater for flushing. I was probably being too conservative, but the guests were city slickers and this was amusement for me.

I have two woodstoves, one being a 1917 Cast Iron Kitchen Stove with cook top and oven and cast iron pans and coffee percolator - an essential power outage item. The second being a larger steel catalytic woodstove, which is more useful for heating.

I've also used power outage led light bulbs and battery backed night lights to good effect to illuminate parts of the home when the AC is disconnected. Solar motion activated lights are also handy.

This all said, its kind of nice just to not have electricity for awhile and sit back and enjoy the quiet and warm glow of a woodstove and oil lamp.

Nice details.

Back in pre-2000 in the late 1990s, a massive ice storm hit the Toronto, Canada and norther NYS regions. Power outages last well over 5-weeks in the cold part of winter. School gyms, YMCA's, Salvation Army shelters and the like were filled beyond capacity.

5-weeks is a very, very, very long time. Power companies from 12 states went up to Canada to restore power to about 18-million people. NYS could send anyone because of their own issues with the ice storm in the northern upstate area.

With that said, I recall the people who traveled out west and got stuck in the winter storm out there with little food. A movie was made of it.

Preparing for a lack of services for 2 weeks is just the bare minimum. Having enough on had for 2 months should be natural for all. Being self supporting is really the goal in life. This way, no matter what comes your way, you're not reaching out to the system crying for help in the packed herd or voices.

 

[Industrial Toys]

It was in the fall. I don't remember if I still had my Onan 15KW PTO on a JD 770 or had my Onan/Kubota 7.5 Rig. I was well served by a Wood stove I had recently installed in the Rec Room downstairs.
Kicker is. No one was showing up to repair anything, anywhere locally. At the end of the Week, there was a n explosion of activity. Turns out, all the guys at Ontario Hydro had booked the week off for huntin!

 

[bmaverick]

It was in the fall. I don't remember if I still had my Onan 15KW PTO on a JD 770 or had my Onan/Kubota 7.5 Rig. I was well served by a Wood stove I had recently installed in the Rec Room downstairs.
Kicker is. No one was showing up to repair anything, anywhere locally. At the end of the Week, there was a n explosion of activity. Turns out, all the guys at Ontario Hydro had booked the week off for huntin!

Glad you had a better memory. I just know it was COLD then. The tail end of the ordeal was a few thousand nearly 12 weeks out still without power.

AWESOME having the PTO genset ready and with a diesel. Diesel stores well in the winter.

The best bang for the buck and the storage is LPG. Plenty of rural farms have them in my area.

With the ice storm up north or the sub-zero freezing in TX and the other states, it's best not to be trapped depending for help from the outside. As you mentioned, the response time was nearly nothing.