Severe Weather Alert - What is your backup?

Not too cold in my parts, but over the Christmas holiday, we had power outages on/off for 4 days leaving the wood stove in the guest house as the only source of heat at my place. That event and the price of diesel #2 prompted the Englander 24 craigslist purchase and chimney install.

So, for a power outage we have 2 woodstoves between the main house and guest house and a T connection to a gravity fed spring box that allows me to switch between my well and the spring. No generator yet, but looking for a decent used diesel powered one. I am going to need something to burn the furnace fuel in since I am no longer relying on it as primary heat. We also have 5 cords of wood in the equipment shed and plenty of food in storage.

Just another walk in the park. Y a w n.
Our snow machine is froze solid so we won't see much but it will be cold.

I am a little short on bread and milk, but lots of firewood. The wood stove may be the only appliance running in this house tomorrow. Our power is the first to go and the last to be restored, so we won't have lights and the well pump won't be pumping water. We filled every container we have with water, but I think my wife will abandon ship if the power stays out very long. I'll stay behind and burn wood to keep the pipes from freezing.

Woodstove, lots of candles, coleman stove(s) to be used in well ventilated areas, coleman lanterns, 2 inverters that can be run off always fueled small tractor, lots of food in pantry, lots of food in freezers, well with a pail and rope dedicated for emergencies, and lots more.

bboulier said:

"For this coming storm, I have a little Honda generator, a 5 gallon water jug, groceries (milk, bread and TOILET PAPER), "

PopCrackleSnap: Toilet Paper is key. That is my first priority.

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5 gallons of water is good for 2 flushes, but you can burn all of the used TP, :bug:

For several days now the weathermen have been warning of the approaching winter storm ..... freezing rain, ice, and lots of snow. Well today we find out that it is going to miss us, much to the dismay of those north of here. Poor St. Louis and Indianapolis are expecting an inch of ice, Chicago lots of snow, airport will shut down. We are supposed to get some snow starting Wednesday evening, but not supposed to amount to much. Temps will get much colder though.

We had our share of ice in 2009. My power was out for 4 days. Many others in the area were out far longer, some up to 2 weeks. This is mainly why I got my wood stove insert. I don't want to be that cold again. They had shelters set up in the area but I wouldn't leave my animals behind.

My back yard has lots of trees and during the night they started snapping, popping, and c-r-a-s-h-i-n-g. It was like a gun was going off. The region looked as if it had been bombed.

I wanted to attach this pic also. This was my patio ....... ice rink.

I am an assistant director in the grocery business, let me tell you it was an absolute madhouse past two days for what my mil calls french toast weather...milk, bread, eggs.
I've got enough wood stacked indoors and outdoor under the tarp on the porch to last a few days. With the ice expected and outages looming, I might end up seeing how the insert handles it with out the blower. We also have a gas fireplace that kept a room full of us warm for 5 days in 2006. I've got plenty of food, water and beer to survive.
This is supposed to be a history making storm for the StL.

Yeah, I'm watching the Weather Channel, who are saying this is their Super Bowl. I guess because it is going to be bad in the midwest with the ice, especially. I have to drive just north of NYC tomorrow. I can go whenever I want, so I can take my time.

As far as the "bread and milk", we have a pretty high IQ, read that, "Idiot Quotient" here in RI. You will see 500 knuckleheads in a Stop and Shop buying all of the bread and milk, when 6" of snow is predicted. Do you really think 6" is going to bury you in for a few days, or do you just like a lot of French Toast? You will see people trying to buy a snowblower at HD in February, after 5-6 snowstorms. It snows quite a bit here in RI, some more years than others, but probably at least 25" a year. People act like it's a surprise everytime it snows, like we live in Jamaica or something!

Aaah! That rant felt good. Looking forward to some prime skiing at Bretton Woods and Cannon this weekend!

Wingman said:

I am an assistant director in the grocery business, let me tell you it was an absolute madhouse past two days for what my mil calls french toast weather...milk, bread, eggs.
I've got enough wood stacked indoors and outdoor under the tarp on the porch to last a few days. With the ice expected and outages looming, I might end up seeing how the insert handles it with out the blower. We also have a gas fireplace that kept a room full of us warm for 5 days in 2006. I've got plenty of food, water and beer to survive.
This is supposed to be a history making storm for the StL.

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Keep us posted
The news media does a poor job showing it like it really is.

Sound like you're good to go.
I hope it's not as bad as the weather folks say.

Wingman said:

With the ice expected and outages looming, I might end up seeing how the insert handles it with out the blower.

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I purchased a fan at Walmart today (I had looked at it a few days ago) that can be plugged in or run on batteries. It also has a very strong magnet on it that I can attach to the backboard above my stove. If the power goes out at least I can move some air aroound. Takes 8 D batteries, but cheaper and easier than a generator. Yes, I bought extra batteries.

Boozie said:

Wingman said:

With the ice expected and outages looming, I might end up seeing how the insert handles it with out the blower.

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I purchased a fan at Walmart today (I had looked at it a few days ago) that can be plugged in or run on batteries. It also has a very strong magnet on it that I can attach to the backboard above my stove. If the power goes out at least I can move some air aroound. Takes 8 D batteries, but cheaper and easier than a generator. Yes, I bought extra batteries.

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My power went out two weeks ago. I ran the 550 like a stove, with the surround off. I loaded her up really good and got the whole mess going hot. We were in the neighborhood of 800 on the stove top. We were 73 in the stove room, 70 in the adjacent kitchen, and 65-66 up in the bedrooms. I have one fan blowing at the stove, on low.

jhoff310 said:

If things get too bad I have 4 dogs a parrot and a cat LOL

Jeff

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GOOD ONE!

i'm pretty good to go. We've got a ton of wood- only like two days worth inside, but a ton covered outside. We have plenty of food and drinks. We have a gas stove and oven in the basement apartment. Hopefully everything should be fine, but if things get ugly we'll probably have a lot of people at my place staying warm. Be safe!

Boozie
I am in Southern IL. We were also hit hard by the ice storm in 2009. No power for 9 days. They are forecasting ice and strong winds just to the north that is sure to take out a few power lines.
To me ice was much worse than the 78 blizzard which was mostly snow here.

ajreid said:

Boozie
I am in Southern IL. We were also hit hard by the ice storm in 2009. No power for 9 days. They are forecasting ice and strong winds just to the north that is sure to take out a few power lines.
To me ice was much worse than the 78 blizzard which was mostly snow here.

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Yes, I hate it for the people who are going to get caught up in this latest storm. I agree with you, the ice storm was much worse than the 78 blizzard.

Wingman said:

I am an assistant director in the grocery business, let me tell you it was an absolute madhouse past two days for what my mil calls french toast weather...milk, bread, eggs.
I've got enough wood stacked indoors and outdoor under the tarp on the porch to last a few days. With the ice expected and outages looming, I might end up seeing how the insert handles it with out the blower. We also have a gas fireplace that kept a room full of us warm for 5 days in 2006. I've got plenty of food, water and beer to survive.
This is supposed to be a history making storm for the StL.

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May want to think of buying an dc/ac inverter. I got a small Black & Decker just to specifically run the blower on my stove if need be...... since you have an insert, the blower is much more crucial. Good luck and stay safe. I took am in your area and bracing for the ice!


Stay Warm


Btw, you and Ajreid.... where ya from??, I am about 60 miles Southeast of the Lou.

BeGreen said:

Don't use the water for flushes! Buck up and go outside if need be.

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That works for us folks who don't really have neighbors. Don't think folks in a residential area wanna see their neighbor poppin a squat by the fence lol.

As for me i've got a nice pine picked out with low branches that'll keep me dry when using the facilities! :lol:

Oh and i've got wood in the basement, genny gassed up, and plenty of ramen noodle and venison!

Remkel said:

Apparently everyone up here thinks bread and milk will get you through anything.....so I purchased a cow and planted a field of wheat in my basement....

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Are you also growing flashlight batteries??

Beer and gasoline for the snow blower are on my shopping list, to get after work. Already brought a bunch of wood into the basement for tonight and tomorrow, as I'm anticipating not having to work tomorrow.

2 freezers full of food
20 tons of pellets
25 kw diesel generator
5 kw gas generator
good for at least thirty days
bring it on

Honda 6500 IS generator/inverter with 12 gallons of premium fuel and a fully charged battery. One third cord of seasoned ash and cherry in attached garage about 50' from the wood stove. Enough food for a week or so.

Who needs the long lines at the grocery store. My better half is making a homemade Maple Buttermilk bread (simply delicious) on a brerad machine and we have plenty of powdered milk. For all those who own Jotul 550 c inserts when power went out I burned mine wilth the door wide pen and a fireplace screen in front , plenty of heat.

mxjamie540 said:

May want to think of buying an [del]dc/ac inverter[/del]. I got a small Black & Decker just to specifically run the blower on my stove if need be...... since you have an insert, the blower is much more crucial.

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Explain please. how does this work?

Enjoy fellas! (and ladies). These big ones keep missing us, dang it. But we got -16 and 2" so sort of like winter out. Got the truck plugged in and fueled, genny in the shop outside, heading out to get bring in a couple loads of wood this morning. Gotta get to the package store later for more beer though, my dog's got a serious Sam Adams habit. Hope you all stay warm and safe out there.