Something to keep in mind is that if you’re out of town when the power goes off you may not realize it was off while you were away. If it was off long enough for the food in your freezer to spoil and then refreeze before you get home, you will be at risk for food poisoning. One thing you can do is freeze some water in a jar and then put a coin on top of the ice. Then, if your food has thawed while you were away, the coin will no longer be on top of the ice and you will know to throw the food out.
If you have a backup generator that requires you to manually connect it and start it, as I do, then you’ll still need to know the power went off for long enough that your food thawed.
The coin on ice trick is genius. :)
“”””freeze some water in a jar and then put a coin on top of the ice. Then, if your food has thawed while you were away, the coin will no longer be on top of the ice and you will know to throw the food out.””””
Brilliant, that is so much better than what I do.
My way is to lean a half filled jar on its side to freeze and then stand it up, if the water is at the bottom half then it means it thawed and refroze.
Your way is much better and even tells you it melted in case over time the jar gets knocked over.
Exactly.
I’m a snowbird. Up north I live in a quiet circle. Nobody comes here unless they are looking to come here. If I’m in Florida for the winter and the power goes off here I need a generator to kick in automatically. Can’t have the house get below freezing and all the pipes burst. Or even later in the spring wet season and the sump pump has no power; yes you can get one with battery backup but that only lasts several hours and then your basement is a swimming pool.
In 2020 we had a major windstorm with serious damage across a 30 mile wide swath across 70 percent of our state and into the neighboring state. Our power was out for just over a week. Fortunately it was summer and not even especially hot or humid. My brother loaned me our late father’s tiny ancient generator so we were able to keep the fridge going and charge phones. Ran the pedestal fan at night to sleep until the fuel ran out about 4 AM. Cooked outside on the propane grille. Fortunately water was fine from city and gas water heater kept us in warm water.
Looking to get a whole house NG unit in the next couple years.