It’s blowin like a sumbitch in western Kansas and our electricity just went out. What are your hacks?
We run as much water as we can in the tub and use a 5 gallon bucket to pour in the top of the toilet for usage.
We have LED lights that are always plugged in and automatically go on when the electricity goes off. They are handy flashlights too.
It’s cold so the garage makes a huge walk in freezer.
Everyone adds layers of clothes.
I am soon buying a big generator and a MM plug-in to plug into my 220 volt plug in. Must turn the main breaker off so no electricity gets backed down the line and kills some poor lineman !
In the last 25 years I'm pretty sure I've lost power 3-4 times in total.
Never an issue. I don't live in a 3rd world country. I have had issues in some places I've traveled. Haiti, Cuba and Rio de Janiero had problems. [Reply]
Living rural we deal with outages from time to time, some go long. I have deep repect for our Rural Electric Coop and the work they do. But about 10 years ago, I made the decision to instal a whole house backup generator and its been a blessing since day one [Reply]
Originally Posted by scho63:
In the last 25 years I'm pretty sure I've lost power 3-4 times in total.
Never an issue. I don't live in a 3rd world country. I have had issues in some places I've traveled. Haiti, Cuba and Rio de Janiero had problems.
If I had a basement, I wouldn't be too worried about it.
In a summer power outage, a basement won't get hot.
In 110+ heat, my house heats up quickly.
When Sacramento hit the all time high record of 116 a few years ago, my power got turned off. Not because of a rolling black out due to insufficient power supply, but because local equipment over heated.
The equipment hadn't been designed for that high of Temps (and the previous days highs) and the continuous max load. Because the area had never seen Temps/heat wave like that, duh.
The ~$400 I spent was worth it for that one event for me.
I don't do well in heat and it was a very small investment for me.
The chance of losing power obviously varies by location as does the inconvenience to different households as does the experience of being prepared for various contingencies.
I keep two weeks of drinking water on hand. I'm connected to a city water supply, so I really doubt I'll ever use it. But I have space and it's really cheap and easy to do, so why not. [Reply]
My solar system has a controller that allows it to run independent of the grid. If I lose power, it trips and diverts power to preferred breakers on the main panel.
Originally Posted by displacedinMN:
life on the farm. Did a lot of that as a kid. Dad bought one and loved it. I have it now. I do not have it hooked up to the panel.
Did the same thing with water. Started saving water in Oct so we could flush the toilet in December.
We had a floor heater that always worked. Gravity heater?
Now, if we lose elect our fireplace has a battery backup to get it to fire.
I greatly miss the gravity heater the house I grew up in had. Fond memories of sitting on the steel grate after running around in the snow for hours.
Originally Posted by Hog's Gone Fishin:
I own one of these. Won't run the house but minor shit can run. Solar generators can be run in the house without issue