Posted on 01/22/2012 8:48:55 AM PST by djf
I lived!!!
As anybody who doesn't live in a cave probably knows, the Seattle Pacific Northwest this week was hammered by winter storms - knocking out juice to what amounted at the high point to over 300,000 households, which affected around 1.2 million people!
In this case, it was actually predicted that there could be scattered power outages. News on Wednesday evening had pieces about people stocking up in stores. IN A NUMBER OF CASES< THE STORES WERE ALREADY SOLD OUT OF THE DESIRED ITEMS!!!!
Flashlights, batteries, generators, stuff like that were already either unavailable or a premium item.
The snow started falling late Tuesday evening, and continued into early Wednesday morning. Local news was predicting a wide variety of amounts, Seattle has alot of microweather because some areas are closer to the Sound which is warmer, and some areas are at much higher elevation, which (usually, but not this time!) are colder.
I made no advance preparations right then with the exception of digging out some small propane bottles and my little Century Primus single mantle lights. Well, except for making sure that my flashlights were out in the open in readily available places.
Now I say I made no advance preparations but in a way I lied. Because over the years, I have accumulated things, some because of immediate need, some as a planned activity in cxse of a SHTF scenario.
I have two generators, a Champion 3500 watter (quite new) and a Coleman 1800 watter. Every summer I move them to the front of the shed they are stored in and fire them up. Make sure the oil is clean and full. Put a bit of a load on them and let them run until they are warm just to make sure they are lubed good. Hit them with a touch of carb cleaner. General small engine maintenance things.
I also have LOTS of extension cords, not just household type cords, but serious shop type cords. And power strips.
Food and coffee. One of the things people were stocking up on were ingredients for soup. Soup is good food. In an emergency, soup can warm you and keep you alive!
Having been up almost all Tuesday night, with it still snowing, Wednesday morning I slept.
Later on that evening, it started getting bad (according to the news). I am at 600 feet, and only had had about 6 inches fall, now every single year I have at least once when I get way more than 6 inches - so I was concerned, but not overly.
I heard a few branches fall, but not many.
About ten PM, my lights flickered and went out. I started my propane lights and turned on my BATTERY POWERED!!!! radio of which I have about 3, but rarely use.
I didn't start the generator, it didn't seem so bad and my house was still warm (I had had the foresight to make a pot of coffee beforehand and put it into my thermos. My juice goes out enough that I've learned to do that, if the juice stays on, I just pour the coffee from the thermos and use it that way.)
A click and a ping and the power came back on about 2 AM. So I went on my porch. That was when I got scared.
Air temp was about 28 degrees. And it was raining...
Power was on, my heat was on, so I had a drink and went to sleep for a bit.
Awake at 6:30 AM Thursday, I went on the porch and was astounded. A lilac tree near my porch was covered with ice and bent over my porch. A cherry tree that grows nearby had it's limbs almost touching my porch. It was still pre-dawn, and I had a cup of coffee and a smoke, suddenly a big blue flash, and my lights flickered. They came back on. Second blue flash, they went out. Came back on once more and the final blue flash killed em for good. It really was spectacular standing on my porch and watching the flashes in the distance. And there was almost a roar of sounds of tree limbs and even whole trees coming down.
Now I'm not the greatest housekeeper in the world and I soon realized that you do not want to have alot of clutter lying around when you are in anything like survival mode! So keep the paths to your important items/resources CLEAR if possible.
My house was still warm so I didn't worry about the generator, but I could tell then that it was going to be an extended event.
About ten in the morning I got one of my shop extension cords and a power strip and headed out to start it. I looked at the road and just did a general look of the neighborhood and saw no lights, heard no generators, not even a car engine, everything was coated in ice.
I tried to start the small one, even gave it a shot of starter fluid, no dice. It was cold out. It is no secret that when you are cold to the point of being uncomfortable, you RAPIDLY lose your effectiveness. So I came back in and got gloves and a hat, went back out. Didn't want to waste time, so I moved the small one towards the back and rolled the other one up (the Champion), gave it a shot of starter fluid, and yanked on it.
First pull, it started.
Plugged in the cord, came back inside and plugged the power stip in, then from there I hooked up various items starting with my pellet stove to try to keep the place warm.
One of the lessons: Over the next few days I used 4 shop type extensions cords (two of them 50 footers), two power strips, and about five household type extension cords. Better to have too much than not enough.
My power finally came on 6:30 PM Saturday making for 60 hours without juice.
I lost Internet. the phone worked for a while, but after about 6 hours, there was no dial tone, just white noise. Phone system totally powered down about 3 in the afternoon, I concluded from that that many of the small phone substations you see around are running off of UPS's and if the local juice goes, they can only last for so long.
I was unable to get out because the snow was so bad I couldn't get my chains on. Next time, if I know or hear about this in advance, my chains are going on BEFORE it happens.
It was OK though because I have plenty of food and coffee and propane for my lights (when the generator was off). My routine was to run the generator for about 8 hours, warm my place up good, then cycle it down and let it cool off. Wait (sleep) for 5 hours or so, gas up the generator and restart it for another 8 hours.
It was Thursday afternoon before I heard anybody else running a generator, about 4:30, right before dark. After dark fell, it was totally obvious who was prepared and who was not!
Fewer than one out of six had a generator, most places were completely dark, or very dimly lit as if by candles.
Temps in my house would get up to about 63 degrees with the pellet stove, but after 5 or 6 hours when the generator was off, it would fall to about 55 degrees. I quickly learned that SOCKS ARE GOOD FRIENDS!!
I have a small propane cooking setup so was able to feast on scrambled eggs and ham, carbs will give you short term energy, but if you are going to do heavy work while trying to stay warm you need something more substantial.
Over the years when it gets cold (and it has gotten to zero in the Seattle area, I will fill up plastic bottles (like Gatorade bottles) with hot water from my faucet and put them at the foot of my bed. This worked very well for me this time, it's important to be warm when you sleep and not fight the cold, you will be much more rested and ready for the next day when you wake up.
So I used this approach, it's kind of a toss up because ny the end of the second day I really, really, really, really wanted a shower, messing with gasoline, oil, my tire chains, snow shovel, etc.
I was scared I wouldn't have enough hot water left, but turned it on and in a minute or so it was steaming so I relished what might have been the last shower I could ever take!
Saturday morning it had warmed significantly, and I was finally able to get the chains on my truck. I was approached by a neighbor and she asked if I could charge her cell phone, hey, no big deal so I brought it inside and put it on the charger. At this time, the power was still out and there were estimates that some limited areas might not have power until mid-week.
Talking to people on Friday I had heard rumors of some people being around who basically didn't live here or belong here. So I started on Saturday if I was outside carrying a small .22 mag revolver I have. But I want to stress I heard of no break-ins or gunshots or anything like that. I have ZERO doubt that if the situation went on like that for another three days or so, that would change, and desperate people would do whatever it takes.
Now at one point in time in the past I had told someone I had two generators. I bumped into him walking around, and he WANTED that generator! I'm not really sure what the solution to that problem would be if the outage was more long-term.
Another lesson: KEEP YUR LIPS ZIPPED ABOUT WHAT YOU HAVE!
One thing that struck me is that if there was a general SHTF power outage type thing, do you know who would be the richest man in town? The guy who owns a LAUNDROMAT!!
Gas was already becoming an issue, fellow I know has a 4K generator and he flat out told me he would be out of gas today. Now does it make any sense at all to spend many hundreds or even thousands of dollars to have a generator and be OUT OF GAS on day 3?
Power came on here at 6:30 PM Saturday. Didn't hear any shouts or yells but I am sure everybody was relieved. I had a fairly daunting task of just cleaning things up (still need to wash the dishes I let pile up).
So, thought FReeper preppers might find this interesting. If somebody asked me what the most important thing was I would say "Keep it simple". Simple things like propane lights, canned foods that need little prep, stuff like that won't make you feel like the Waldorf Astoria, but it might keep you from getting so frustrated you don't go out and start shooting from your front porch!
Here's how they explain it on the website:
The principle of the Aladdin burner is to produce a blue flame (virtually 100 % combustion) for maximum heat output. This heat causes the mantle to incandesce due to its unique chemical composition and properties. The Aladdin emits approximately 2500 BTUs of heat per hour. The Aladdin lamp emits 60 candlepower of white light—No pumping—No noise—No smoke—No odor—No Danger. So easy to use, all you need is a match.
All I can tell you is that they work.
We were without power for 5 hours here in North Texas for who knows what reason. It was a great time to test my supplies. The first thing I discovered is that too many of my lighting items, such as oil lamps and lanterns were stored too high for me to reach by myself and hubby was gone. So...first lesson..get those things in an easy to reach area. We found that little collapsible lantern made by Coleman to really put out a lot of light. It uses D cell batteries. I got a big fire going in the fireplace for warmth and lighting. This blackout hit around dark which made a problem for gathering things together. We just ate sandwiches from things in the fridge. We have one phone still on a land line which meant we had phone service to the house. Most of our phones are the cordless variety which don’t work in a powerless environment. We had cell phones but tried to not use those unless absolutely necessary. In general, a good trial run for some things.
That is exactly what I have securing my 10kw generator. A Kryptonite chain, lock and concrete bolted anchor and Mossberg 500. I also have motion detectors and two large dogs.
You had the wrong generator. Spend a few more bucks to get a generator that won't harm sensitive equipment: http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200467367_200467367 Also don't try to avoid the cost of having an electrician install a transfer switch by backfeeding into your dryer's input plug. When the power comes back on you just might electrocute a utility worker and be charged with manslaughter.
Those look nice. I have a bunch of regular wick lamps (from the thrift store) - but might need to splurge! The branches are again falling at my house near Seattle, but we lucked out this storm.
A few years ago we were without power for 7 days when it was cold (5 degrees IIRC). The family was downstairs with the woodburning stove, fold-out couch, puzzles, etc. Plenty of food to cook on the wood stove or the camp stoves.
After a couple nights the old gal next door in poor health finally took up our offer to stay with us in the heat and light. (Shared the sofa with my wife!).
The wood went fast though! I figured I had enough, but at those cold temps I would have been out in another 3 weeks. Luckily it doesn’t usually get that cold here.
Got a kerosene heater and generator after that. Still haven’t needed either one yet.
Hot water is from the gas company - so even with the electric out could still get a hot shower. Except it was upstairs where it was only in the low 40’s!
According to my dad they'll burn for at least 10 hours on a tank of fuel. And they just plain look really, really cool.
5000 / 6250 surge has served me well in a similar situation.
Get chains or cables and locks for your generators. The one fear I had was that, during the night after the gennie was put to bed, someone would come back and steal it. It’s locked to the deck post.
Yeah we had a similar outage here a few years ago. 5:30 AM I wake up and all my power failure lights are on, tv is off, and my UPS units are beeping away.
I get up, see that the power is out on the whole street (It wasnt just my breaker blown) and proceed to set up my indoor safe propane heater. Back to the living room as its 17 outside and freezing, so I set up the fireplace and that is going good. Once I see the power is not coming back any time soon, I set up my 3 propane stoves on the counter in the kitchen, and I am cooking breakfast for the wife and I will coffee. I put the garage freezer on my smaller solar backup unit.. it kept going for 2 days without issue. I also put the fridge on the larger solar unit (I have two solar backup units) and it worked flawlessly.
I had company.. lol our neighbors, kept everyone warm and fed for 2 days until the power came back. My neighbors are now much better prepared.
I didnt even need to fire up the generator.. I was good with the solar backup and propane running everything else.
It was a Sunday and I Still remember hearing the call over the police scanner about needing cops at the power company as people were banging on the windows telling them to “Turn the power back on” lol
Yes good point. We have a large set of chains for our generator and mind you, we have a screened in room in the back of our house (Patio area) that works perfectly for running it. Even inside there, we keep chains on it when we have needed to run it.
There is something refreshing about stepping outside and not hearing traffic, trains or any other noise during ice storms. Just complete silence except for tree limbs breaking and crashing down.
I can relate to that. The morning after Katrina hit, I opened my front door and the water was to my porch. No one was in sight. When my son and I would talk to each other you could almost hear an echo it was so quiet. I could see the stars at night for the first time in years. Frankly, it irritated me when people started to return. I had the land and the streets to myself and I liked it. Then, back to reality.
***Generators came in from other areas - they were being snapped up quickly (many sold after power came back up****
Our local stores learned of a scam real quick.
When a storm was forecast, locals would rush to the stores and buy up the generators. As soon as the storm was past and clear, they would return the generator (often unused)to the store and demand their money back. There was nothing wrong with the generators.
The stores now require the buyers to return the generator to the manufacturer.
We got stung because of people returning generators after their power is back up
We had an old generator - a 4,000 on it’s last leg- wanted to get a new one - they were coming in from everywhere - so my husband bought a 7,000 from Home Depot one morning - we took it out of the box and realized it wasn’t an electric start.
My husband went to sleep that morning - he was working the storm - and I went back to HD to switch to electric start (2 hours later) They took it in the back to check it (I should have went with them) - and found gas in the tank (say huh?)- we didn’t touch anything - they would not take the return. Policy. (it was 2 hours later from when he bought it - the wheels weren’t on the thing - we were still without power - they wouldn’t take it back)Wherever the load came from apparently that store didn’t check for fuel on return....or they did something ‘in the back’...that bit us in the rear.
We just struggled by with the old struggling generator. (we had to sell the new one to recoup our purchase - $700)
Ended up selling it to a friend weeks later
Home Depot stinks
Got a new Generator from Costco
Lessons Learned (open up and inspect every big purchase with strict return policies before you leave the store)
And working for 20 hours straight is no excuse for buying the wrong product - lol:>)
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