Posted on 10/21/2016 11:04:13 AM PDT by Lorianne
Longtime correspondent Bart D. (Australia) recently experienced a multi-day regional loss of electricity. His first-person observations help us understand what breakdowns in energy are like on the ground.
Observations of life in an extended power failure by Bart D. (Australia)
South Oz is continuing with its streak of extreme weather. The latest being our encounter with what's being described as a category 2 'hurricane' with the added bonus of a severe front preceding it that produced many low-grade tornados. A score of major power transmission towers were twisted off their footings, 80 000 lightning strikes fried out a lot of 'secondary' electricity infrastructure ... 40% of power that is usually being generated from wind had to be shut down due to extreme winds and base load backup generators failed in many locations (including my region).
Power 'gradually' returning after blackout plunged state into darkness
End result ... entire state without electricity for a day and a half. Some regions, including my home region, (about the size of the state of Tasmania) were without electricity for 3 nights and 2.5 days.
(Excerpt) Read more at charleshughsmith.blogspot.jp ...
That childhood’s good for you. I’m envious. As an adult I’ve lived in some extreme weather conditions - hurricanes here, big snow storms in NC, and more than once we’ve had to ‘make do’, but that’s what you do:) We helped a lot of the neighbors in both places with this and that, and in some cases they helped us too.
About the AC I’m with you. That 6 weeks was HOT. Took lots of cold showers, like 8 a day.
Wow, I didn’t realize all three crossed paths. Must have happened when our electricity was off:)
We have those sort of power outages all the time. It’s no big deal. I use the sterno stove to make coffee, and heat up soup or whatever. Several cases of home canned poultry, beef, or pork. Canned meats, Dak Hams, Bacon Bits, tuna, salmon, clams, chili sauce, cheese sauce, alfredo sauce, pork and beans, fruits and veggies etc.
Plenty to eat without cooking. We have two fireplaces, a fire pit, charcoal grill, and two generators, which have come in handy for cooling, heating, and running the freezers and refrigerators when needed. Have used to cook with an electric skillet a few times.
I did nine days once, in the Maine ice storm.
Hauled water out of the well with a bucket, used the wood cook stove for heat and cooking. Scooped chipped ice up off the deck with a shovel and put it in coolers. Had plenty of food on hand, both in the pantry and freezer.
Used an inverter from my car. Now I have a generator.
Don’t stand there with the freezer door open. Drag out all your camping gear. Keep some full propane bottles for your Coleman stove.
Our electricity was off for 10 days after hurricane Ike, and we are right in the middle of Houston. We are on a small loop of 16 houses and they made repairs that affected more people first. You realize how spoiled you are when something like that happens.
Terrific graphic. I was just kidding about the electricity - although I truly didn’t know they passed that same spot.
Poor baby, try going 2 weeks after a major hurricane.
I lived without electricity for 8 years. No that’s not a typo, 8 years. Intentionally.
Lived out in the boonies in central Texas, we found out it would cost us several th9ousand dollars to have poles pu tin to run power to the house, at $450 each. So we found a propane fridge, told the power co to take a hike, and lived without them.
My mother had a battery operated TV she’d use a little during the day, we had a couple of battery powered radios, both worked in town. Built an outdoor grille for cooking using fire bricks inside regular brick housing, plenty wood everywhere, including a couple of Hickory trees. I’d pick up any branches that fell from the Hickory and reserved those for the cook fire.
Got a 55 gallon plastic barrel and mounted it outside the kitchen window, installed a pipe and faucet, brought water from town in 5 gallon jugs every day. (with boss’ permission)
Put a shower head in the bottom of a 5 gallon bucket, heated water on the wood stove or outside, two people can take a shower with a 5 gallon bucket of water. Big garden, 200 chickens, at least a half dozen goats at any time, blackberries, dewberries, huckleberries, muscadines, a friend had about 30 peach trees, we grew strawberries, and asparagus, other garden type stuff.
In winter I could hunt some, but fire ants were taking a toll on most of the game so it was scarce. The local cattle ranchers (lots of those) had to watch close at birthing time, get the calves up off the ground, fire and would get into their mouth and nose and kill them an about 30 minutes. Fire ants would get anything born or hatched on the ground, quail were common when we moved there, almost none to be found 5 years later, I couldn’t hunt quail any more (not by law, it was still legal, I didn’t want to wipe out the few remaining.) Fire ants would attack anything too young to get away soon as it was born. That meant no rabbits, deer or quail, and cattle were hit hard.
No phone either, when relatives wanted to come up for the weekend, they just showed up.
Here I have a shallow water well, all I have to do is drop a 5 gallon bucket in and I still have water. Plenty game, ducks on a lake 100 yards away, been keeping a garden for years, most of the neighbors are good folks so I don’t expect a lot of trouble till a couple of months along. Food in freezer will be gone in a week, but I can still get what I need, I’m a good shot. Do need to stock up on .22 ammo and seeds though...just started practicing with my bow a little too. Oh, also need to get some fishing line, have everything else already, Ambassaduer reels never go bad.
The first major obstacle was the 17 mile drive from Troy to my house which normally took about 40 minutes during rush hour. That day it took me 4 1/2 hours........When the power goes out so do the traffic lights.
Then of course there was the run on the local Meijers with all the bottled water and soft drinks and canned food stuffs being bought out.
The cool thing about it was on Thursday evening when my neighbors invited me over for Bar-B-Q chicken. As we sat in the garage enjoying the summer evening, many people in the surrounding subdivisions were out strolling since there was no television or radio to keep them inside.
Once darkness arrived, the silence was stunning. No cars on the streets or on the eight lane highway about a half mile from us. I rode my bike down to that highway and it was eerily deserted and dark with no lights........
Batteries are the biggest pain in the patoot I can imagine.
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Batteries are surely the biggest headache of any system that depends on them. Spending $10k that may only last 5-10 years takes a real commitment. While saying that, unless you live off grid the batteries could easily last 30 years. The life of a battery is how many deep cycles they go through and how you charge them. The less time they sit uncharged the better.
Batteries can often be rejuvenated if you have patience. The truth is that even if you are careful you can ruin your battery.
I have a large Solar or PV array, 12kw on the roof and there is simply no other way to economically use what I generate from the roof without batteries.
I don’t have to use the batteries because normally the utility company takes my excess during the day and gives it back to me at night. After some storm or other reason that the utility company can’t deliver I will be on my own, then the batteries help me to continue normal life. The generator will help but it is hard to sustain a lot of hours on a backup rated generator.
Thanks for all your rationale; it’s very thoughtful of you. Sounds like you have it pretty well figured out. All the best plus God’s blessings to you and yours.
Baby wipes come in handy.
And remember your pets - some people don’t think sufficiently of that in their prepping.
You can’t use the same orifice for propane as you use for natural gas, you’ll overheat the unit and waste a crapload of fuel energy to boot. There is more than twice the energy per unit in propane as there is in natural gas (nat gas=1050btu/cubic ft, propane=2560 btu/cubic ft).
I have a dual-fuel propane/gasoline 7.5KW unit that can run my house just fine. It uses a 20 lb tank in 4 1/2 hours.
If you’re “letting it mellow”, have a bottle of bleach on the toilet tank and put a capful of the bleach into the soup after your donation. It will keep the aroma down to a tolerable level.
My Generac comes with a quick change kit to go back and forth between NG and Propane.
Boy, do I ever!!! My whole family is from the Syracuse area. I love those things. So happy Publix carries them now so I can eat them when I visit everyone in Florida. :)
Don’t you live kinda out by the Wild Wilderness Drive Thru Safari? Is that still around or did Swepco close it down? Folks out there can always resort to big game hunting should things unravel for a really extended period.
Mmm, emu steaks, bring it home on camelback. ;)
Wild Wilderness Safari is still open though new parts where the power lines go through are closed down. Meanwhile, the Power Plant lake still has large fish, and the land around pumps out deer like a factory. Deer, wild turkeys, bobcats, foxes, roadrunners, coyotes.
And forty years ago the Luddites said the area would be sterile because of the power plant ash. Others were afraid the plant would blow up like a nuke bomb. Fear and trembling all around back then.
Meanwhile, the tax base had caused the area to progress very well. No longer a “Hillbilly” area!
And you’re in Alabama. Not many LIVs know Alabama got hit harder and recovered faster than LA.
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