Are You Ready For A Blackout In Your Area? (Vanity - Poll)

Aug 15, 03 | SLB

[SLB]

How many FReepers feel they would be ready for a blackout right NOW? What do you do that makes you feel like you are or are not? How about personal safety.

[Noumenon]

I live in Montana. I have a generator and plenty of food, fuel, water and ammo. Any questions?

Nope. Greetz from northern Idaho.

[archy]

I have the underground shelter (root cellar). Just need to figure out how to filter the air. Would a HEPA filter work?

A couple of real quick-and-dirty adaptation possibilities involving HEPA filters and a shop vac come to mind, with a precharger auto battery or two and an inverter to power the setup. Something more elegant can then be considered and obtained- there are outlets for surplus lab equipment that might have something suitable- as well as a manually operated backup.

The article linked here may be of interest to you as well.

HEPA is one way to go; easily replacable Farr paper air filters might be another.

-archy-/-

[brianl703]

Given that you're supposed to change the oil on small gasoline engines every 24 hours of operation, I can imagine what happens to a 5KW generator's engine when you run it a week straight!

[brianl703]

My house has a 200 amp panel. It would probably be quite fine with a 100 amp panel, but 200 amps is the minimum they install anymore.

As another example of how the panel rating may bear no resemblance to how much power you'll be likely to use:

If you were to decide to do something crazy like put a 400 amp panel in a 1500 sq ft home, the power company can and does figure out how much power you'll actually be likely to use, and size the service entrance conductors accordingly.

They may well end up feeding your 400 amp panel with the same gauge wires that would have fed the 200 amp panel you didn't want.

[MainFrame65]

Protecting a 200 Amp service loop with a 400 amp (dual 200) circuit breaker (or fuse pair) would be a code violation.

I think 400 amp service is common in new houses in Memphis now, and it is overkill for most. My AC has 60 amp, long delay fuses, so I know it is the biggest energy hog around, but a lot of newer homes have two smaller units. That has some advantages.

[from occupied ga]

One day's ammo as defined by the standard load carried on a M113 during the SE Asian games.(10k rounds for Ma deuce) At least that many for the other stuff. If it takes more than that I'm hosed anyway

[brianl703]

Power companies don't follow the NEC. They follow the NESC, which has different rules. Since the customer is typicallyresponsible for the wiring to the meter, that does need to be sized for 400A per the NEC tables.

However, the power company can size the service drop conductors (which they, not the customer, are responsible for) between the meter and the transformer for the expected load, not the size of the main breaker.

It is apparently pretty common for the service drop conductors to be smaller than the service entrance conductors.

I was just reading of several cases where people with 400A services that actually use most of it had to call the power company due to low voltage problems or in one case tripping a breaker at the transformer. The power company had to take the appropriate steps to solve the problem--a case where they estimated the load to be lower than it actually was.

[brianl703]

I meant service drop instead of service entrance in my original post.

[from occupied ga]

If you go over what the standard residential load for your area is - usually 200A - you can be charged a demand charge as well.

[archy]

One day's ammo as defined by the standard load carried on a M113 during the SE Asian games.(10k rounds for Ma deuce) At least that many for the other stuff. If it takes more than that I'm hosed anyway.

I figure if it comes to that, my own efforts will take place among about 4 light trucks of the pickup/CUKVEE class, carrying pretty close to what an ACAV M113 did back then [a .50, a pair of M60s, plus other novelties.

But by the time your basic load of ammo and POL are expended, I'd also expect you to have picked up more than a few usable replacements and ammo thereof from those in opposition to your efforts. And if hosed in the process, then you'll have no further concerns for such Earthly matters and material.

-archy-/-

[RightWhale]

It's been a couple months since the last power outage. It's tough to call it a blackout in the summer, but in the winter it could be that if you are driving you won't know where you are. Anyway, we lose power frequently.

[archy]

Given that you're supposed to change the oil on small gasoline engines every 24 hours of operation, I can imagine what happens to a 5KW generator's engine when you run it a week straight!

I'm looking to obtain another used genny or two, hopefully of the same type as those I'm now operating, after memories of the present difficulties have ended and those who ran theirs into the ground scrap them out or trade them in. But I'm looking to obtain them for rebuildable components and spare parts, and am not expecting to return them to service as-is.

-archy-/-

[TexasCajun]

Not in Texas! We've got our own grid!

Maybe this event will change the NIMBY's mind a bit!

[from occupied ga]

plus other novelties.

Yes novelties - I like that word. Implies a real surprise - just be sure that no one turns the convex side of your "novelties" toward you :-)

[Phsstpok]

I live in the Memphis area. We were without power for over 6 days at my home at the end of July. Some folks only got power back last week after one of the most powerful super cell thunderstorms in US history (100 MPH straight line winds). Over 350,000 customers (bill payers) were without power, which translates into well over a million people in a blackout. Guess you didn't hear about it on the news, as they compeltely chose to ignore it. We didn't have circuit breakers trip. We had wires and poles ripped out of the ground. We had 10's of thousands of trees toppled. We had a few hundred miles of power lines torn up. It wasn't a matter of throwing switches to get us back on-line.

The AP put together this lovely chart they sent to all of their subscribers after the NY blackout showing the biggest recent blackouts. They showed two blackouts in the SF bay area in the last 10 years where 200,000 people lost power. They didn't mention Memphis last month. I guess we really don't exist as far as they are concerned.

I'd like to see how many seconds they devoted to our problems versus how many hours to New York, or how many minutes to Baghdad or Paris.

are we ready? Damn straight we're ready. And we're not counting on any help from anyone else (the local unions would reject it, anyway).

[Phsstpok]

I live in Montana. I have a generator and plenty of food, fuel, water and ammo. Any questions?

yeah, but that's your normal rations for getting out to the mailbox, isn't it?

My family homesteaded in Riverton, Wyoming, with other's in Montana - I understand fully (the ones in Montana run the only exotic car (Ferrari, Lamborghini, etc.) repair company in the state - go figure).

I've always said I wished I could live in Wyoming as long as I didn't have to live in Wyoming.

[CholeraJoe]

Can't understand why anyone would want to own a Ferrari in Montana. You could only drive it 3 months out of the year. On the other hand, lots of people out here own $500,000 combines that they only use 3 weeks out of the year.

[Petruchio]

Gas Gen. large enough to power whole house.

Solar Cell Charger for Battery bank large enough to power heating + fridge.

Dried food stored as well as backup water supply.

Enough guns and ammo to insure that the above stays in my posession.

Yup. me ready.

[Phsstpok]

Can't understand why anyone would want to own a Ferrari in Montana.

it's the Hollywierd types (including Ted Turner) who have discovered "pocket ranches" in the great "wilderness" of the Rocky Mountain states. Me, I prefer Du Bois or Cody, but I'm a Wyoming kinda guy.

[from occupied ga]

I'd like to see how many seconds they devoted to our problems ...

The networks are run by New Yorkers - the most self-absorbed, arrogant and short sighted people in the universe*. If it doesn't happen in NYC it doesn't happen (when they say fly over country, they actually mean it). I happen to have relatives in Memphis It was pretty grim from what I heard. Tree fell on the house and it cost $3400 to get it removed - not counting cost to fix the house. One of my vehicles was there and a tree fell on it too - a few minor (but very expensive) dents.

*The majority of New Yorkers are not only all of the above, but dumb as dirt too - for evidence of this hypothesis look at who they elect to Kongress.