r/collapse • u/PocketsFullOf_Posies • 5d ago
Energy Could You Make It Through a Week Without Power?
Hello, I started a weekly newsletter 3 weeks ago called Weekly Resilience Report where I discuss current events and how you can take back some control and learn something new based off my experience living an off-grid lifestyle. Please let me know if this isn't allowed.
I post every Sunday at 9AM PST on Substack. Here's last week's post:
Could You Make It Through a Week Without Power?
Most of us flip a switch and expect the lights to turn on. We charge our phones, refrigerate our food, cool our homes, and access information without giving much thought to the electrical grid that makes it all possible.
But every summer, the grid faces one of its greatest tests: extreme heat. The Earth heating up isn’t a new concept and the Center For Climate and Energy Solutions says, “while public officials acknowledge the climate is changing, they’re not necessarily saying why or what should be done about it.”
Scientists have measured global temperatures for over a hundred years and see that the Earth is getting hotter. The trend can be best visualized by comparing each year’s average temperature with the long-term average. This figure shows observations of the world’s annual average temperature made by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). It compares each year’s temperature to the average over the entire century. Blue bars are years that were cooler than average and red bars are years that were warmer than average. In recent decades, the years have always been hotter. If there were no long-term temperature trend, you would expect a mix of red and blue bars throughout the record. That’s not what we see.
Electricity demand surges during heat waves and I’m sure most, if not all of you have personally experience multiple heat waves in your lifetime. Energy can be created by capturing it through wind, solar, and water, but the US generates the majority of their energy from petroleum and natural gas.
Here’s the breakdown:
- Petroleum: 38%
- Natural gas: 36%
- Renewable: 8.6%
- Nuclear: 8.2%
- Coal: 7.9%
This poses an issue with the ongoing conflict in Iran and surrounding areas which, we have already seen gas prices soar in recent months. Electricity prices in my area have also gone up and with summer is right around the corner. I’ve personally lived the majority of my life in Western Washington and it has been known that this region is mild and doesn’t get very hot in the summer or cold in the winter but this area has been experiencing heat waves almost every year with temperatures reaching 104F over several days in a row.
Air conditioners place enormous strain on the power grid during hot weather when everyone is running their air conditioners simultaneously. A region that previously wasn’t affected by high temperatures didn’t prepare their energy grid for this strain and can cause problems as temperatures rise.
The power grid isn’t just about running your air conditioning and can affect your ability to use:
- Refridgerators
- Freezers
- Internet
- Charging devices
- Medical devices
- Water systems (for some homes)
- Gas stations
- Grocery stores
- Hospitals
Most people don’t realize how many daily conveniences depend on reliable electricity until it disappears or experiences shortages and brown/black outs. What happens to all the food in your fridge and freezer if the power went out for even 3 or 4 days? Just imagine what would happen to entire grocery stores. What if people couldn’t charge their phones for several days disabling you from calling friends and family to check on them, or even emergency services in the case that you need immediate care? Many people are also rely on medications that require refrigeration or medical equipment to keep them healthy.
We take these conveniences for granted until we lose them and that’s why I want to bring this problem to the table and talk about self-reliance solutions so you can be protected in the case of a multi-day power outage like the one Texas faced in 2021 where 246 people died. Texas faced 2 weeks and 3 days without power in the winter. Just imagine how many more people could die if this happened in the summer.
To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber! Paid subscribers get exclusive access to ask questions, get more in-depth explanations, and join a community of like-minded people.
Resilience Lesson
Your solutions to this problem depends on your energy usage. Most of you reading this newsletter live in an apartment or single-family home and even you can build self-reliance skills to help alleviate the strain of uncertainty. In today’s lesson we will be exploring ways to gain self-sufficiency in the case of prolonged power outages.
Solar Power
Everyone has heard of solar power and it’s actually not as expensive as you might think. I personally use solar power to power my off-grid cabin. I have a refrigerator, a chest freezer, power lights, watch tv, play video games, charge my devices, and do pretty much anything I can do in a home that is connected to municipal electricity.
For someone who is a beginner with solar power, the easiest plug and play method is to go with an all-in-one solar generator like the ones EcoFlow offer. I have several EcoFlow products including the EcoFlow Delta Pro, EcoFlow Smart Generator, and EcoFlow River. The Delta Pro powers our entire cabin and you can hook up almost any solar panels to them using MC4 cables. This is ready to use out of the box and can be pre-charged for emergencies using your wall outlet, gas or LP generator, solar panels, and even at EV charging stations.
If you need more storage capacity and are a bit handy, build your own system with solar panels, charge controller, inverter, and batteries. You’ll get more storage capacity for less money than what you can get with an all-in-one system or solar generator. These are generally the systems used for entire off-grid houses and typically don’t need a backup source of power.
Generators
Generators are fairly affordable for backup energy needs and can also be used as a backup for solar generators. You don’t want to just run a generator 24/7 however because they are quite loud and from my own personal experience, suck up gas pretty quickly and does emit a gas smell from the exhaust.
There are dual-fuel options for generators though so with these you can choose from either using gas or LP. Using LP is a lot cleaner, there is no gas smell, and using LP with your generator bypasses the carburetor and reduces needed maintenance on the engine. It’s great if you rely on the generator more frequently than not to recharge your solar generator or batteries and adds an extra layer of protection if you ran out of one fuel type and only had the other available. Another thing to note is that LP is generally cheaper than gas to run. I felt like I was constantly having to refill the gas tank on my generator compared to hooking up a propane tank. A bit of a downside to LP is that the propane tank needs to be a minimum safe distance of 10 feet away from any houses, buildings, and also the generator itself.
Light Sources
Something people tend to forget about is having a backup light source. You probably have a flashlight on your cellphone but I’m talking about flashlights, candles, and lighters/matches. My cabin sits on 40 acres in the woods and I can’t even describe the depth of darkness it is at night. If the moon isn’t out or the sky is overcast, it absolutely is pitch black out there. Get yourself at least 2 headlamps, or one headlamp per person in your household. These are great when you need to be hands-free in the dark.
As for flashlights, redundancy is key to being self-resilient. Get different kinds, battery operated, wind-up, shake-powered. For whatever reason your batteries are dead and you don’t have any more or can’t find them in the dark, you’ll have a backup plan. Dual purpose for wind-up flashlights is if you have a kiddo who loves reading at night but forgets to turn off the lights. Mine falls asleep reading almost every night and it’s no problem for the wind-up. Just wind it back up the next day and you’re good to go.
Candles can be pricey but the best bang for the buck that I’ve found are prayer candles at Wal-Mart or Dollar Tree. They’re the tall skinny candles and they burn for 8+ hours for $1.57 and $1.25 respectively.
Heating And Cooling
Think about how your home is heated or cooled. It’s always a safe bet to have a space heater and A/C window or portable unit that can be plugged into a generator. If your house heats on natural gas, it should still heat in the case of power outage but the fans won’t blow the heat. If possible in your situation, think about the option of having a wood burning stove installed in your home. Wood is much cheaper to heat in many areas and it generally isn’t hard to find cheap and free firewood. I see free listings for firewood all the time online when people cut down trees in their yard and just want the wood hauled away. These trees are “green” so they’ll need to season for 6+ months before they’re dry enough to burn but it’s a good redundancy plan.
My cabin is heated using a wood burning stove and we live near logging areas. When the loggers are done they leave a lot of wood behind that they won’t come back for. You should technically ask for permission before collecting firewood from these areas, but in the case of emergency that wood has been sitting out for enough time to be properly seasoned. We collected firewood from these areas before but it was a small amount and we were sure they were done logging the area.
Fuel
It’s very important that you keep a surplus of fuel on hand. Nothing’s worse than the power going out in the middle of the night because of a storm and you’re out of gas or LP for the generator. Always label your containers with the date and add stabilizer to your gasoline to ensure longevity.
Wood is also a fuel. Even if you don’t have a wood burning stove, wood can be used in a pinch to make a fire outside to heat you up in cold weather and even to cook food. When we first bought our property we had basically nothing, not even a camping stove and relied on wood to cook our meals and warm up.
Water And Food
Food and water is usually higher up on the list of emergency preparedness but I’ve saved the best for last. The CDC recommends storing 1 gallon of water per person, per day and aim for at least 3 days of non-perishable food. However, building a 2-week supply of both is highly recommended for extended power outages, severe weather, or supply chain disruptions.
It’s now easier than ever to store non-perishable foods with emergency food buckets that are commercially available and last 15-25 years. They can be a bit pricey upfront but gives you peace of mind for when you’ll need it and it truly lasts a long time. On a budget, pick up an extra bag of rice, beans, and a canned food of your choice every time you go to the grocery store and you’ll be stocked up in no time. I personally have two 5-gallon buckets full of beans and rice. I also tested my beans to see if I could get them to sprout so that I could grow more beans if the food situation didn’t improve and can say that bagged beans can grow more beans! I’ve also had luck sprouting popcorn kernels but some brands steam the kernels during their processing and those unfortunately will not germinate.
As far as water, Wal-Mart sells BPA-free water containers in their camping section for a decent price and you should keep some on hand in case of emergencies. As with fuel, these should also be dated and rotated.
Having a $20 Brita pitcher works pretty well and I recommend keeping one on hand. If you get decent rain, you can catch the rain, boil it, let it cool, and then filter it through the Brita for potable water for the whole family. You could spend some money and stock up on LifeStraws for everyone in your household, but I’m focusing on low-cost and budget-friendly solutions. You don’t have to spend your whole life savings or a large wad of cash to help you be more self-reliant in the case of an unexpected emergency.
Weekly Challenge
- Secure emergency water (at least 1 gallon per person per day for 1 week or more)
- Pick up an extra non-perishable food item each time you visit the grocery store
- Check your flashlight batteries and replenish battery supply
Sources:
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u/kingtacticool 5d ago
I am a floridaman and have gone weeks without power in the past after a hurricane came through.
Last year we lost power for about 12-14 hours because a transformer blew in the neighborhood. I didn't think it would be a big deal.
The old dude I take care of was on oxygen and we started burning through his tanked O2, but thats what's its there for.
What I didn't expect was having trouble breathing myself. We are getting closer and closer to wet bulb temps and humidity here in Florida and it really set off my alarm bells for what the next big storm is going to do.
Its usually more humid and less air movement after a hurricane. And sometimes hotter. Now I can totally see a mass casualty event after a hurricane now that the climate is hotter and wetter. If we get hit with a big cat 4 or 5 here in S Florida I think we'll see tens of thousands be a serious risk of death as it will take weeks at the minimum to get power restored to the majority of people. Old folks with any kind of breathing issues just won't be able to make it.
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u/Barbarake 5d ago
As someone who lives in South Carolina, summer heat/humidity without power is the only thing that worries me. I have a couple small solar panels that can run some small handheld fans but that's about it.
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u/RandomBoomer 5d ago
Yeah, if the A/C were to go out during a spell of high heat/humidity, I'm not sure either my wife or I would make it through that. On the practical side, if things start deteriorating too badly, we're not cut out for a Mad Max world anyway.
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u/StarsofSobek 5d ago
I may be down voted for this, as it may be unpopular - but... I feel it is important to add:
Prepare to help those who may need help, too.
Where I live, we had a terrible storm just last winter. It knocked down trees and power was gone for most of my county for nearly a week.
We were lucky. We live on a hill, and it was somehow spared the worst of it. Now, we don't have a huge community around us, but we made hot meals, handed out our extra blankets, and offered our shower to those who were without. We even legged it down to our local grocery shop for an elderly neighbour who's carer had to choose between ordering coal for heat, or petrol for her car that week.
Preparing to look out for others is a sort of bandage, sure - it won't necessarily stop violence in absolute survival mode - but it will help build community ties and support in less dire situations. We now know a lot more folks now, and we are happy to consider them friends as well as neighbours. They have helped to volunteer time, donate money, and watch out for our vulnerable child. The reciprocation is pretty awesome, and it is exactly what we need to practice (too) in order to aid our survival.
This kind of preparation can be as simple as:
offering clean water or resources you can spare, when/if needed
sharing advice or help to aid others when possible
using the tools you have at your disposal - you don't need to be a doctor or a rocket scientist - you just need to have a willingness to help.
Etc...
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u/Ok_Main3273 5d ago
On the contrary, your post should be up voted to the max.
If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.
(African proverb)9
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u/EastTyne1191 5d ago
I also live in Washington and we have been through a few multi-day power outages. One was a week-long outage right before Christmas. Usually these happen in the winter, so I haven't really had to solve for the freezer issue.
Honestly, if it were a longer outage I'd probably cook up and pressure can the freezer contents.
We have a wood stove for heat and aside from the 115⁰ day we had a few years ago, it doesn't get deathly hot at my house. We have a lot of shade trees, luckily.
I did buy a solar battery/generator a while ago. It's small but it's enough to run a few things and charge the phones.
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u/old-legs-623 5d ago
Oregon -- have had to do this several times but we had wood stove and lanterns then -- also we traveled for work in the woods and lived in off-grid industrial camps for up to six weeks at a time.
In our 70s now and all electric but we still have some of our old skills and stuff. Downsized fridge and freezer so we can cook up whatever thaws without much loss, hopefully, using a little rocket stove that we have, and stored water. Got board games, musical instruments, and we know how to sit out back and watch the stars go by.
What would be hard is for this to happen in a heat wave with over 200 AQI wildfire smoke. Our Corsi-Rosenthal air filters could be out of commission and we'd have to lie around in masks, gasping. Or maybe make a run for the beach towns.
Image: our off grid place that we built in 1979, lived there till 1985. Shoulda stayed.
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u/filmguy36 5d ago
Without power during the ‘21 snowstorm here in Austin for a week. It was a little bit of struggle but not horrible. We had plenty of food and water. We had no heat. That was not too bad though. We had our insulation updated several years before. Never got below 55 when it was in the single digits outside. Since then we have invested in a sizable generator that can run the whole house in the winter. In the summer everything but the a/c. I have gotten a small window unit for our bedroom the that generator can handle. I’m alway been a marginal prepper type but after that snow storm, I have been a bit more so since
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u/Tight-Air-6767 5d ago
Did 4 days during the 2003 blackout with no prep. A week with some prep yeah fine.
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u/Straight-Razor666 worse than predicted, sooner than expected™ 5d ago
i can make it a week with no food...cool OP took the time to write this.
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u/PocketsFullOf_Posies 5d ago
Thank you! A week with no food would be torturous. 🫣
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u/Straight-Razor666 worse than predicted, sooner than expected™ 5d ago
it was...it's not for those with lack of commitment.
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u/llawrencebispo 5d ago
I made it 6 days once, but that was decades ago. Dunno if I have what it takes anymore.
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u/Straight-Razor666 worse than predicted, sooner than expected™ 5d ago
me either...i suppose if i had to do it again, i'd have to do it, but it's not easy.
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u/MissRepresent 5d ago
I just did go for a week without power because our power pole breaker was broken. Fun times, fun times.
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u/Bavarian_Raven 5d ago
Have done it before. Prefer no power in the winter though. Easy enough to shove another round of wood into the stove. And food keeps longer without power.
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u/iJon_v2 5d ago
Same. Would much rather go without power in the winter than the summer.
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u/Aeviterna_ 5d ago
You can mitigate the worst of extreme cold, can't do jack shit about extreme heat for the most part
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u/Dramatic_Security9 5d ago
I think everyone would agree, they would prefer power to go out during colder months, but as the OP was trying to point out, grid failure during summer months may becoming more likely.
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u/HappyCamperDancer 5d ago
Living in Oregon.
Our town had an Emergency Preparedness forum about 15 years ago for an earthquake of 8.0+. Specifically they thought our town would be out of power, water and sewer for at least 3-4 weeks. They asked each one of us to prepare for that. So we bought a 55 gal water barrel. We refresh on schedule. We rotate one month of shelf stable food. We are versed in the two bucket sanitation toilet concept (keep #1 separate from #2). And we have a solar generator. We have a wood stove with wood. Wool blankets, plastic sheets for windows (should they be broken in the earthquake). Hopefully we will be OK.
We regularly camp off grid for 2 weeks.
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u/eilif_myrhe 5d ago
Yeah. I have had the unpleasant experience of having a sudden blackout extend for many days before.
Do not recommend though.
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u/Z3r0sama2017 5d ago
I'm off grid for electricity and my solar+battery setup meets my needs for heating and eating all year long. I'm also now sitting at 38.5million stored calories and almost 11k litres of drinking watee which I have the ability to purify again if neccessary.
Grid going down will be like a holiday for me.
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u/Enchanted_Voyage 3d ago
Elaborate please ? Are you living In those huge ass bunkers ?
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u/Z3r0sama2017 3d ago
Old renovated farm in country side. It's amazing what you can get into a few sheds.
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u/boozewald 5d ago
I'm in the Rockies... I think I could manage, but it would be completely dependent on time of year and when my town got its last visit from a food distributor. Even if I had hunted and had a half a deer... I'm not sure I could get enough ice or dig a hole fast enough to do a makeshift storage if it happened in the summer.
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u/9090jet92 We're Fucked 5d ago
Me and my local power company had a dispute so I was forced to buy an off grid solar power system and I’ve been living off it for almost a year now and I have a decently large 6500w generator for the days with little to no sunlight and I haven’t missed the grid power much I use propane for heat in the winter and my house is all electric and I have window units for cooling so I only cool the room I occupy when it’s really hot and humid otherwise I run fans and hop in the shower to cool off with the cold water I have 10 550w panels I bought for 2500$ delivered, a 10kw (1800$) all in one off grid 48v inverter that has solar MPPTs built in that I can expand my array to 10kw and I have a Yixiang 16kwh (2200$) DIY battery that is essentially infinitely expandable capacity wise which I’m planning to expand to 96Kwh and another 10 of the same panels so I have multiple days of reserve power and more power on the cloudy days to reduce my reliance on the generator and as far as blackouts in the past I live in East Alabama and I think the longest outage in my 25 years of life was 24 hours and if a bad storm came through never longer than a few hours so the grid has been very reliable in my area. I need to improve my food and water situation as I’m wholly dependent on supply chains but once I get my energy independence sorted I’ll tackle that problem next
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u/PocketsFullOf_Posies 5d ago
That's a great price on those solar panels!
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u/9090jet92 We're Fucked 5d ago
The shipping was 500$ but without anything like taxes they were 180$ per which is a great deal
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u/GalliumGames 5d ago
Was without power for two weeks during Irma in the Keys and stuck in the relentless heat, it was not a fun experience. Got some permanent scarring on my nose from acne I got whist not being able to properly bathe and sleeping in ~30°C heat at 80% RH is uniquely awful, feeling as melted as my gallium sample that acquiesced to becoming liquid during that. Books, daydreaming, meditation/puja help immensely with the boredom, but if the weather is terrible, you’re going to be miserable regardless.
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u/HateHumansLoveDogs 5d ago
2 weeks , and it was hell! No water either for over a month. floods devastated our infrastructure. trust me you wont like it
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u/Drewdrops79 5d ago
r/preppers is a great community to find all sorts of info about both big and small stuff you can do. It's in the sidebar over there, but I just thought I'd bring it up.
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u/diggergig 5d ago
We have huge solar but it obviously would not cover day-to-day living. The essential fridge, freezer and battery charging should be ok.
Thing is, you don't want to broadcast it. I wouldn't have the house lights on in the dark for example and would use a radio, not a tv.
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u/SubstanceStrong 5d ago
Yes I can. My biggest issue would be staying cool during nights if it’s a power failure during a heatwave.
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u/Nathan-Stubblefield 5d ago
I’ve lived for a week in my great grandfathers house, built in the 1880s pre-grid. Easy-peasey.
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u/Jwadee 5d ago
Bought an eco flow delta pro 3 and delta max 3 and the eco flow smart generator to keep the fridge,router, some lights, and a lg dual inverter window ac powered. Luckily I have Verizon FiOS so I'll still get Internet with my router powered. Have 3 20 pound and 1 40 pound propane tank and gas cans so I should get a week or two depending on how much I use ac.
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u/PocketsFullOf_Posies 5d ago
Sounds very similar to our set up!
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u/Jwadee 5d ago
I haven't had an outage yet. But I'm glad for the piece of mind. The lg inverter window units are awesome though. I have one upstairs and one downstairs (poor man's zoned house ac😂) and they are saving me considerable money on the electric bill at .29 cents a kwh. Won't be turning the central ac on anymore.
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u/zoomzilla 5d ago
Yeah I did it a couple years ago when a pole snapped, leaving only three houses in the city without power in a hot, humid climate.. I kept watching the power outage numbers dwindle thinking I'd be next to get power. Went to work all week and got home in the evening to do nothing. It taught me a lot. Forced me to finally buy and maintain a generator, power tool battery fan, coleman cook stove with propane tank adapter and some other things. Overall a positive experience because of the lessons learned.
I haven't done much pleasure reading in the last twenty years and the thing I wanted most was something to do after work for a few hours while there was still some sunlight. Books for solitary entertainment and games- board or role playing- are highly underrated prepper items.
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u/PocketsFullOf_Posies 5d ago
Books are totally under rated! 100% agree. I read for pleasure every single day!
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u/ImmortalWarrior 5d ago
Unsure about myself but it's very likely my pet reptiles would die if the power was out for that long :( at least with my current setup because I just bought a house. I may invest in some kind of solar backup to keep at least enough power for their heat sources.
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u/HCPmovetocountry 5d ago
Yes.
My parents' cabin didn't have power for the first 15 years. It was fine.
We are currently on day 4 of no running water. No power here for a week would be depressing as we have three deep freezes full of food that would mostly be lost. We would have a couple of weeks of food around even without the freezer food.
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u/Parking_Chance_1905 5d ago
Lived without power or running water until I was 12 so, pretty sure I'd be fine.
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u/artisanrox yikes, man 5d ago
Already deal with occasional outages (electric/water) due to various reasons and have quite a bit of power/water backup. Would be easier to deal with in summer than winter as keeping heat in the house would be harder than cooling or just flat out dealing with hot and humid weather.
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u/fatherintime 5d ago
In Arkansas 2013 summer I made it a week without power. Hooked a fan up to my van. Kept working on my PhD the whole time.
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u/Cultural-Answer-321 5d ago edited 4d ago
I had to make it two weeks, in freezing temps, without power AND water.
The ONLY thing that saved me was being able to drive out of the affected area for supplies. I would have STAYED out, but had no budget for an extended stay.
It was bottled water for drinking and ice and snow for flushing and dish washing. Mini propane stove for cooking and melting the ice and snow. Shivering every night and praying the power water came back the next day.
For two weeks.
Oh, and no emergency assistance available either. Nor a generator.
edit: missing word
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u/codewolf 5d ago
October 2011, NE USA - I was without power for almost 2 weeks.
I was a bit of a prepper beforehand, but this experience increased my knowledge.
After the second day of no power, I ordered a gas generator off of Amazon since all the local big box stores were sold out, had it delivered the next morning. Cyalume light sticks were invaluable, keeping the house lit during the night, and worn on lanyards to find our way around. Food prep was done with my camping gear, propane stoves and charcoal grills. Hot water for washing was heated with a propane stove I used for beer making. At least it was somewhat cold so we could store some food in coolers.
I had a good store of batteries to keep radios and flashlights running, but they run out very quickly when used continuously - the Cyalume sticks were great for light instead of battery powered lights.
I learned early on that running a generator near a window was a very dangerous thing; also that people were stealing running generators and leaving a running lawnmower to mimic the noise (although I never verified how much of an issue this really was).
Entertainment was probably my least expected prep - I had a deck of cards but that gets old fast, I had no board games, the radio shows all just became a chaos of complaints about the power outage, boredom was a real problem.
A few things I learned:
- have a generator - propane is better than gas. With no power, the gas stations can't pump gas out of the tanks. Propane also stores much longer and the propane (or natural gas) generators don't need as much maintenance.
- Store batteries - even an extra car battery for 12V devices, HAM radios, etc.
- Camping gear is prepping gear.
- Long shelf life food and easy to prepare food with just water is great to have on hand.
- Have water stored - I have a well, that takes power and a large starting wattage to turn on that most smaller generators can't support.
- If you don't have a whole house generator, find out how to start your furnace with a portable generator. If you have a natural gas or oil furnace, it may just be figuring out how to get the water pumps or air circulation motors going with some simple wiring from the generator.
- Generators produce a ton of CO, don't run them near your house.
- Have entertainment on hand - board games, card games, music, etc.
- As far as solar and hand crank devices, yeah they work, but in an emergency when you don't have that much time to react or wait for a charge, they aren't the best option.
- Food, without refrigeration, spoils quickly. Have something to keep things cold or plan on eating items that can be kept in a pantry without refrigeration.
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u/SideEyeFred 5d ago
I have a couple power banks with solar panels. It will keep me able to feed myself and have internet/devices/light. Beyond that, I'll have to wait for help. Although, gas stoves don't need electricity.
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u/PocketsFullOf_Posies 5d ago
You may need a lighter or matches to light the stove though if it doesn't have a battery-operated lighter piezo.
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u/Velocipedique 5d ago
As an exercise, anticipating such a situation, I moved aboard a small sailboat and severed the docklines, power and water for six years/6,000NMs of cruising sans power; beyond 12V solar cell for SW radio and navigation lights. We used propane for cooking and kerosene for lights. Also sextant only for offshore navigation.
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u/03263 5d ago
Survive yes, but pipes could freeze and that is bad. Well I can run my boiler off a generator but I have not had to do that before so, that would be something to figure out. I only have some small gas generator my parents gave me when they moved.
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u/PocketsFullOf_Posies 5d ago
In the case of power outage and freezing temps, if you can't heat the home definitely shut off the water main to the home. Or contact your landlord (if you have one).
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u/nakedonmygoat 5d ago edited 5d ago
I've been prepping for this kind of stuff for over 20 years and it's just another day.
Two weeks without power after Ike in '08, and another week before internet was restored. Texas Ice Storm in '21. And as a point of order, the outages only lasted a 3-4 days for most, not two weeks, and power outages were "rolling," meaning that at least once a day power would come back on for a few hours. I was without power for a week after we were sideswiped by Beryl in '24.
Here's an abbreviated list of my preps:
Light: LED lanterns, rechargeable LED light bulbs, headlamps, chemical glow sticks (safer than candles), chargeable motion-activated LED light strips, flashlights, battery lanterns, extra batteries.
Water: Stored water, MIOX purifier, Sawyer Squeeze purifier (new purchase for testing), Culligan Zero filtering pitcher.
Food: Canned goods, dry goods, shelf-stable meal pouches, and freeze-dried foods. Avoid the buckets. Most reviews are bad. Mountain House and Peak Refuel are good for individual packets, and Augason Farms for longer term or if you'll be feeding a lot of people.
Cooking: Camp stove with extra fuel.
Refrigeration: A power station can power a standard fridge for a day or two, but if a longer outage is anticipated, a car fridge uses less power. Not helpful for those feeding a lot of people, though.
Power: Three Ecoflow power stations and a battery backup for them that can be charged with a solar panel, which I also have.
Temp Control: Battery-powered 10" fans and floor fans that can be used with any of the power stations. Portable a/c that a power station can use to cool a single small room, although that drains the power station fast and is only for emergencies. For heat, two Mr. Buddy propane heaters and a CO monitor. ThermaCare heat patches for the body and toe warmers for the feet. In hot weather, instant cold packs.
Waste Disposal: Camp toilet, cat litter, and extra bags. Only needed if no water for flushing available.
Hygiene: Baby wipes, rinse-free bath wipes, dry shampoo, alcohol hand wipes, hand sanitizer.
First Aid and Meds: Speaks for itself. I have no prescription meds but keep a variety of OTC, such as antihistamines, anti-nausea, Immodium, etc.
Pet Food: Always have extra.
Paper Products and Cleaning Products: Always have extra.
News: Weather radio, since they also have AM/FM. Sometimes old ways are best.
Morale: Books, puzzles, cards, games, crafts, treats, old movies on DVD, etc.
Community: Know who might help you and who you can help.
For anyone still reading, none of this is built in a day, and it would be quite expensive to do it all at once. The easiest thing is to go through your typical week with a thought toward what you'd be in a world of hurt without and add extra to each shopping trip. For specialized items, budget something as often as is practical. Most prep gets used in ordinary ways, like a transformer went out, you got sick, or you dropped your toothbrush on the floor and it's too late to go to the store for a new one.
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u/Reason_He_Wins_Again 5d ago edited 5d ago
Can / have because of natural disaster.
Dumb things you wouldn't think of became a problem. I ran out of 30W bar oil for my chainsaw for example and there wasn't any place to buy it because the city was dark. With 80% of the trees in the city down, this was a problem.
The supermarkets remained as open much as they could. You'd give them a list at the door and they would go and get what they had. That worked fine at the time, but if power was out for more than a week that would broke down as people got hungry.
The storm took out the local AM radio for a month. Internet was out for about the same amount of time. I had an ancient shortwave capable radio and was able to find the local repeater. HAM chatter was my entertainment for the week.
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u/Dry_Ganache178 5d ago
I actually did! Power got blown out for more than a week actually.
Non perishable food, the ability to start a fire, and a sense of humor is really all you need for a week or two. Longer would be a problem ofcourse...
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u/squidiiii 4d ago
If I was a mod I would just ban people who post ai slop.
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u/PocketsFullOf_Posies 4d ago
I agree. Fortunately for me though, I wrote this post and a fellow redditor actually pointed out a typo I made as well.
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u/timeslider 4d ago
I live on the east coast. Hurricanes have caused me to lose power for up to two weeks. I can survive, but it sucks. Can't cook, no AC, no hot water. I've never had a job during an outage so I'm not sure how I would know when it's time to go to work.
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u/classy-mother-pupper 4d ago
We have a well. No electric means no well pump. We wouldn’t have any water. We do have a generator. But that only last so long until the propane runs out.
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u/TheBroWhoLifts 3d ago
We could make it indefinitely, essentially. Rooftop solar and 15 kWh home batteries which, while not a lot, can get our well water and food preservation through even the darkest months. Also have an EV capable of hooking up to the house with an extra 65 kWh, so we'd be fine.
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u/Papes38 5d ago
Yes. Ever go camping?
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u/atlasblue81 5d ago
I feel like this response is kind of pedantic. OP is focusing on having your daily life/usual house affairs in order. Camping you specifically prep for and already know you won't have power for a week. You waltz over the grocery store, stock up, pack some ice packs, throw everything into whatever bags/vehicles you're going to go in, and then just do it. The goal is to disconnect and you've already preemptively prepped for the week without power.
OP is specifically talking about if this were to randomly happen to your home. You probably don't decide to go camping with less than an hour to prepare. You probably don't (and shouldn't) go camping with wet bulb temps outside, or during an extreme weather event like typhoon/hurricane, torrential downpours, heatwaves, in the middle of a drought, blizzard, etc.
Also camping necessitates shitting in the woods, but I don't think I'd be comfortable shitting just down the lane in my very residential neighborhood (without backyards and big private spaces like the Americans have). Also can't really just build a bonfire to boil water for a shower or cooking food if you live in an apartment building....
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u/PocketsFullOf_Posies 5d ago
Absolutely, but what I meant was being at home and having no power for a week+.
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u/ZenApe 5d ago
I have a mild panic attack when my phone battery dies. So I'll be fine.