[4 eyed six shooter]

I have found that people who take responsibility for their own self defense such as the people on this board are usually better prepared for for life's little hick ups such as the power outage. My question is how many of you have a means to produce power, light, heat and store enough food & water to outlast these "acts of God". I know that I could last quite a while, even in the dead of winter. I got a kick out of the people in LA during the last big earthquake who were panicing because they did not have food, water etc. to last even a few days. I would bet the people stuck at work wished they had a pack in their car or business with a few supplies also.
If your not prepared, take stock of what you have and what you need and stock up. It's amazing how easy the apple cart gets upset these days.
Good shooting, John K

[TarpleyG]

Well, I guess since we are fully prepared for three days on our own from a hurricane, we could handle a power outage. Everyone should take something from this regardless of whether you live on the coast or in the middle of the country.

GT

[swifter]

I reckon mountain folk tend tobe prepared better.:p

Around here, power outages are a way of life, especially in winter, but ya never know when a power pole will run out in front of a fun-crazed flatlander...:cuss:
Tom

[Hkmp5sd]

Let's see, I live in Florida and it's hurricane season. Yep, I'm ready. :) The lights going out tends to be one of the lesser inconveniences. Boats sitting on the roof and no street name signs left in the city are generally more annoying.

[Zedicus]

I'm Allways Prepaired to some degree for:
Power Falures, Earthquakes, Major Storms (Inc Tornado's & Hurricanes), and most natural disasters...

EG: I allways have Several Flashlights with working battrys handy, Candles and Dry Matches, Dry & Canned Foods, Water Resistant Clothing (IE: Coats/Ponchos), battery powered radio, fully charged cell phone,
Laptop with 2 batterys & a12v DC PSU:rolleyes:, can opener, swiss army knife, hunting knife, fishing rod and tackle,
12V cordless 500,000 CP Spotlight, camera, 1x25 or 8x28 pocket binoc's, Keyring light, compass, etc....
(just no guns......YET!:D)

(& Yes Skunk, it's all Tactical type stuff!:D)

and to top it all off, I know how to live off of the land if need be.:)

[Moparmike]

My mom has stuff like that out at her place. The bad part is that everything is electric. She has food though, and I always have enough gas to get there. Right now I have trouble stretching my money for all my needs bi-monthly, as I am still on reduced-summer hours and pay. Yay student loans.

OT question: How can I make a generator shed theft resistant? Concrete pad, building, but then what?

[Skunkabilly]

California has seasons:
Rolling blackouts, earthquakes, riots and fires :D

http://www.skunkabilly.com/images/tactical/shtf.jpg

Breaklights for light, food, water for a month, and a 5 gallon bucket lined with trash bags for doing my skunkiness.

[Art Eatman]

Outages from thunderstorms in summer are quite common for me. So far, the longest was about 40 hours.

I wait an hour of so, and if no lights come on, I fire up one of the generators. I have a 2500 portable, and a 5000 that runs the whole place. It's not initially critical, since I have a propane stove and a propane water heater. A refrigerator is good for 12-18 hours, if you don't open the door.

Water? A 2,500-gallon cistern, backed up by a 1,600-gallon cistern.

Food? Well, it's 85 miles to not-cheap groceries, and 240 to WallyWorld. The pantry tends to stay full. :)

Fuel? Well, with full-siized Tonka Toys around, there's usually a few hundred gallons of something flammable...

:), Art

[dinosaur]

Mike, how big a generator? They had to deliver mine with a crane.:what: :D Kinda hard to walk away with. Anything portable is just about impossible to guarantee. If you could bolt it down I guess that would be best.

[sm]

Yep, raised that way. T'storms, tornados, riots. Been flooded and been in a fire...last twodealies kinda hard to make it, but contingency plans were part of what I was brought up with too.

Being in the city, as I am does have disadvantages tho...

Dang Art...you gonna give the sheeple a "head hurtin" thinking and being prepped like that...good I say...:D

[RVSinOK]

Yikes, Skunk! When you get down to the Spam, does it mean it's time to go huntin'?:D

[Hkmp5sd]

Gotta admit, Skunk is tougher than I thought he was, Spam w/Cranberry sauce.

[Gordon Fink]

Other than being justly pissed, I did just fine when Southern California Edison shut off our electricity last summer.

~G. Fink :cuss:

[Dr.Rob]

Really skunk if you can afford an M-1a, you can afford better eats.

I'd BET you that post 9-11 more New Yorkers were prepared that you'd think.

Always keep a flashlight, candles and a battery powered radio handy. Bottled water (or at least a good filter) also a fine idea. Food for a few days can mean gourmet soups or chipped beef. Just because the world is crashing doesn't mean you can't eat well. Don't forget the canned peaches.

[ACP230]

"I got a shotgun, a rifle and a four wheel drive, A country boy can survive." Hank Williams Jr.

We have canned and frozen food, flashlights, lanterns, a barbecue grill and charcoal, and a small propane table-top grill, battery radios too. We could use some more batteries and there's no bottled water here now. There is a water heater full downstairs though. The truck is usually has three quarters of a tank of gas.

Our power goes out now and then but my buddy Mike the electrical engineer usually gets it back on pronto. A couple of hours is the longest outage I remember in the last year or two.

Guns and ammo are available if needed.

[Glamdring]

Some ideas from past experiences.

Area lights (flourescent or camp lights) are more useful than point source lights (normal flashlights). Hard to read or do everything with a flashlight.

Candle lanterns are very good to have.

Good idea to have playing cards, chess set, books, & other forms of games in your kit.

[Kamicosmos]

I have to admit that I have no food on a daily basis. And I know better, seems every year we have an ice storm that knocks power out for a day or two. If not that, tornados, t-storms, droughts, whatever comes along.

I got the lights, the clothes, the survival gear. Plenty of guns 'n ammo. Jeep is well maintained and full of gas (most) of the time, ready to tear across Kansas at any time, roads or no.

Food though. I'd starve. Right now in my fridge is half a loaf of stale bread, some (probably bad) milk, and some jelly. Cupboards have a can or two of soup, some mac 'n cheese, and peanut butter. Hell, my dog has more food in the house than I do!!

I need to rectify the food issue. Both for everyday food, and emergency food.

[Moparmike]

I read somewhere that you can tell who rules the roost by who has the most food. My dog definitely has that one down. (aww, cooooot puppy daawwwwgg, yes you are...) Spoiled rotten and loving it.

Got to get more prepared, as here this winter looks to be a hard one. Its friggin august and in the past week it has hit 90F once this week, and that was today. It is really freaky. Its normally fighting its way below 100 this time of year.

[5ptdeerhunter]

We just got our power back after 34 hours. We had plenty of candles, water, food, batteries, and company. We just past the time playing Euchure and talking with the neighbors. I also passed most of the time with my new NEF muzzleloader I got 2 hours after the power went out.

[stevelyn]

Guns, ammo, camping gear, woodstoves, generators, chainsaw, tools, loads of bulk food from Sam's and Costco, freezer full of meat and fish, spare fuel for vehicles and equipment. Boats, snowmachines, 4-wheelers and the occasional dogsled for transportation.
Alaska bushkins and those living in low orbit of urban areas (along road system, but miles from town) are not generally found to be unprepared for any eventuality. :D :neener:

[Waitone]

I coulda walked home where I would have turned on any one of 5 battery operated radios to see what happened back there. At dinner time I'da fired up my generator so I could turned on the microwave to heat up a Swanson turkey dinner. While it was heating I'da taken a potty break since I'm on a well system. Turn off the generator and light a candle for a nice quiet dinner. After dinner I'd pull out my dirty shootin' irons and spend quality time making them clean. At some point late a night I would have blown out the candle, grabbed a flashlight and gone up stairs to go to bed. It happens several times every winter around here. No reason to get worked up.

[Momto4luvs]

Hurricane Season in Fla. with 4 young children, I am definately prepared.

[BenW]

I was going to go into a rant on one of the other blackout topics because of the evident lack of prepardeness I saw on TV. People walking around the streets of New York with candles for Christ's sake! Were they all going to a friggin' rock concert or something? Can't people even keep a $1.99 Walmart flashlight in their homes and vehicles??? I've been truly amazed at the big deal people have been making over being without power for a day or two, and the "investigations" all the politicians are launching into the cause. I think everyone needs to take a deep breath -- it's only electricity.

During the Northridge earthquake in CA, I was without power for 36 hours (I was living about 50 miles from Northridge, but because of the power grid setup, certain parts of my city went dark). I turned on the portable radio and after hearing the news updates, drove down to the beach to look at the dolphins jumping out of the water because of the earthquake (which I was able to do because I always keep at least a half a tank of fuel in my vehicles). When I got back home I fired up the propane grill and barbequed steak I had in the fridge for dinner, then read books by flourescent camping lantern before going to bed. If the power outage would have continued, I would have resorted to the canned food and extra water I had on hand.

Nowadays I'm actually more prepared because of modern prepardeness conveniences. I live in a condo, so don't have a generator, but I keep a portable jump starter / power supply in each of my vehicles. Plenty of juice to run a laptop and cell phone so I can surf the net and keep in touch with people. If the power goes out a really long time, I have a 15 watt solar panel to charge the power supplies and other small electronics. I keep a few LED flashlights (including a magneto driven Freeplay) around in addition to regular flashlights, so I've got plenty of light. As was the case during the Northridge quake, I've got a good 2 weeks supply of food and water around. If food runs out, I live a half mile from the beach and can make a quick run to the ocean market to spear some fish :) .

A lot of this prepardeness stuff (as was pointed out earlier) is a rural vs city thing. Out of all my coworkers, only one person besides me keeps emergency prepardeness supplies on hand. My parents live on a farm, and they and all their neighbors are accustomed to power outages caused by weather, drunk farmboys running into power poles, etc. They all just flip on their generators and continue as normal. The most worked up talk about power outages around there is, "Guess the power went out for a while yesterday, huh?" "Yup."

[DragonRider]

The only thing I am lacking is a Generator. Any brands that you guys can recommend over others? I would simply prefer a gas generator since I have the stocks for the car. At a minimum I would like to be able to run the fridge for a bit.

John

[Art Eatman]

The startup surge for a refrigerator pretty much means around a 2000- or 2500-watt rig. Once running, they pull around 8 amps, IIRC. Anything bigger than 2500 starts getting heavy, and louder. For occasional or intermittent use, most of the brands are reasonably well built and the lower-priced versions will serve. Running a max load for many hours requires a heavy-duty unit.

After use, drain the tank and run the carburetor dry. It doesn't hurt to use some sort of mouse-milk like "GumOut" from time to time, to clean out any varnish.

Often, the only thing wrong with a used unit is that the carburetor needs cleaning--and that's a piece of cake. :)

Art

[Mike Irwin]

Me.

Food enough for about a week for both me and the dogs.

2 full bottles of gas for the grill.

A couple of bags of charcoal for the other grill.

Several bottles of propane, normally for the torch, but work on my lantern.

Extra batteries for the flashlight/fluorescent light I have. Used it the other night when the power went out for about an hour during a bad T-storm.

Water is, I believe, tank pressurized in my end of Fairfax County. It would become a problem after a couple of days when the tanks can't be replentished. The water hasn't gone out, though, even during extensive power outages in the area.

If worse comes to worse, I know how to make very effective solar stills.

Ammo & guns. Gee, I wonder if that's a problem? :)

Usually have more than 1/2 tank of gas in the car.

Hum.

You know, come to think of it, I fail in two serious areas.

I don't have a battery powered radio that doesn't take fewer than about 2 gazillion batteries, and I don't keep much ready cash around the house.

Those are both problems I think I need to rectify.



Dragon, you don't need much of a generator to run the fridge. A small Honda would be just the ticket. Just make certain that you have an extension cord that is both long enough and heavy enough to adequately supply power to it.

[Ex-Doc]

DragonRider: Honda EU3000....quite & efficient....you don't want to be the only guy within ear shot running a generator 1-2 days into a situation.

[DragonRider]

Well, after reading the boards of RV camping, I think I will try the EU2000 route, instead of the EU3000. Deciding factor is weight, 150 vs 50 pounds, and price, 1000 vs 2000.

Now, after reading all this stuff. There is a way to parallel the 2 EU2000's and get close and if not above the EU3000 output. Also, I can afford to get the EU2000 now and when funds allow the 2nd, I can hook them together.

Running the cord wouldn't be a problem due to my deck and kitchen placement.

Thanks

John

[Nathaniel Firethorn]

Got stuff for about 2 weeks, maybe 3 at a stretch.

Plus I've tried hard not to get as addicted to air conditioning as 99% of the contiguous US seems to be.

- pdmoderator

[Art Eatman]

$1,000? Lordy! Think "Harbor Freight" or "Great Northern Tool". They're online! Or a Thrifty Nickel; they're also online, fresh every Thursday.

My 5kw is some kind of Chinese thing with a Briggs & Stratton, and it's still going after 20-some years. It was about four years old, I think; $400.

Two years back I bought a like-new unknown brand 2500 for $200. I used it to run an air compressor to power a nail gun when I added on to my hunt camp. And saws and such. :) Plus intermittent cooling and computer a few months back during a 20-hour outage.

Because Y2K didn't happen, there are still many unused like-new generators out there...

:), Art

[AZTOY]

Think "Harbor Freight"

I agree

[Duncan Idaho]

Around here, power outages are a way of life, especially in winter, but ya never know when a power pole will run out in front of a fun-crazed flatlander...LMAO

Born and raised Agro-American hillbilly. I'm ready for anything. :p

[4 eyed six shooter]

For those of you who are going to store gas, get "Fuel Saver Plus". It is available from www.nitro-pak.com. It costs $16.00 for 16 oz. and it treats 160 gallons. They state it keeps gas good for three years and you can retreat after 3 years. The longest I have kept gas with the fuel saver in it was two years. Put 20 gallons of two year old treated gas in the truck and it ran just fine. I tend to use the gas after a year most of the time and then buy fresh and treat it. I like the fuel saver much better than the Stay bil. Anyway, it works for me and the price is right.
I am glad to see so many of you prepared and those who aren't are thinking about it.
With the talking heads on TV all stating how easy it would be to disable our power grid, if the terrorists were not planning an attack on the grid, I bet they are now.
I live in an area that gets damn cold in the winter and I am amazed how many people here would go without heat if the grid goes down. I installed a propane stove upstairs that will run without power to back up my furnace and have a wood stove in the basement. 750 gallons of propane and 5 cords of wood are stored. I plan on staying warm if the SHTF. Nitro Pac also sells solar battery chargers that charge AA thru D cells. A couple of these and some ni cads can keep a radio and flashlight going for some time. For good food storage plans check out www.waltonfeed.com

My best to all, John K

[swampsniper]

I had some Y2K beans and rice for supper. Still good. Burned generator gas up in mower, fresh gas in the generator. Ammo never a problem.
Wild hogs in back yard this morning, smoker ready to go. What, me worry?:rolleyes:

[DragonRider]

Its all about how loud the thing is. My roommate had a 5kw for her house when the electricty would drop off for the server, she hated how loud the thing was. I'm doing the compare thing later today and if your interested pm me.

[swampsniper]

If you don't have to move your generator around a lot you can easily convert the exhaust system to use a larger muffler. You can get it to the point where the mechanical noises are louder than the exhaust. Mine is on the porch, sits in a mount made from an old tire to keep vibration from structure. It is a Coleman and some of the imports are a lot smoother to begin with. Noise doesn't have to be a problem.:D

[BlkHawk73]

These city folks couldn't get by with an electric can opener. :p

As for myself...it wasn't many yrs ago that we got hit with a big ice storm up here. No electricity - in February - for 9 days! Wasn't that bad. Kinda like camping in the winter.

As far as everyone clamoring and complainging about the heat and not having AC...if you can't take the heat:fire: , get out of the kitchen.;)

[telomerase]

>Plus I've tried hard not to get as addicted to air conditioning as 99% of the contiguous US seems to be.

Come down to Dallas and your non-addicted desiccated dust will be blowing away in the wind. This is my biggest problem in a blackout; my solution so far is a big screened-wall tent in my woods. Not a complete solution at 109 degrees; I need to set up come sort of backup power for a fan or two back there.

[mtnbkr]

I have an extra tank of gas for the grill, a coleman camp stove with an unopened can of fuel, about 12 gallons of water, canned, dry, and nonperishable foodstuffs stored on a shelf in the basement and in the kitchen pantry, a deepfreezer about half full of frozen foods (Mostly meat) with several blocks of ice to keep it cold during outages, a wideband receiver that runs on 2 AA's, plenty of spare batteries of all sizes we use, flashlights in known places on each floor of the house, etc.

In each car, we have a stash consisting of first aid supplies, flashlights with extra batteries, 2qts water, trioxane fuel bars, large tin cups, freeze dried camp food, coffee and hot chocolate, matches, lighters, dogfood, etc.

Oh yeah, guns, guns, and more guns. :D

Chris

[greyhound]

Yep, got guns and ammo and lots of canned food/PowerBars etc to last a week.

Also have about 30 gallons of water, but honestly I don't know how long that would last for two people, a dog, and a cat. (During the elevated terror alert before GWBRWTETW (that's leftist for "George W. Bush's Racist War To Enslave The World") I got into the habit of buying one case of water every time I went to the store. Seemed like a pretty easy way to stock up without much effort).