Scary Power Outage

[Prof]

I was cooking stir-fry on the wood stove today and the power went out for about a minute. At this time of year I rely on my heat pump to take the chill off, but we are having a cold snap in my area and I had the stove going. For about 15 seconds, I thought, "Oh no, the heat pump isn't going to work without power." Then I remembered I was cooking dinner on a woodstove and have 3+ years of dry wood sitting in the yard. How do people who depend on electricity sleep at night?

 

[Highbeam]

I was cooking stir-fry on the wood stove today and the power went out for about a minute. At this time of year I rely on my heat pump to take the chill off, but we are having a cold snap in my area and I had the stove going. For about 15 seconds, I thought, "Oh no, the heat pump isn't going to work without power." Then I remembered I was cooking dinner on a woodstove and have 3+ years of dry wood sitting in the yard. How do people who depend on electricity sleep at night?

Generators. You need to keep the fridge cold and water flowing too.

 

[ABMax24]

Most people don't know enough to even understand where their electricity comes from, nevermind worry about what to do in an outage. Ignorance is bliss.

You are the outlier in being prepared for an outage.

 

[marty319]

As I live in a heavily wooded area and endured many power failures I put a generator in my outdoor shed and wired underground to my crawlspace for a heater to keep the pipes from freezing,ran power up to the fridge and TV as well,3500 watt generator takes care of everything I need,and the osburn keeps me toasty.

 

[clancey]

I am so glad that we are thinking ahead and even if nothing happens we have our backups...This lets me have a peace of mind and life is much better when you know what your going to do if everything goes ca put---my word here...clancey

 

[MTY]

Not only do I have heat covered, I have 4200 gallons of water storage gravity fed. I can be warm and flush in the dark.

 

[kennyp2339]

Most people don't know enough to even understand where their electricity comes from

Oh so true, so many times we've had huge outages on main lines miles away from an underground neighborhood, part of restoration during a storm is to do a quick patrol of the rest of the line before heating it up to make sure there are no other down wires. So many people have came outside, flagged down a utility truck and asked why the electric is out since they have underground lines.

 

[Woodsplitter67]

We are on a well. It only took 1 outage for me to put in a sub panel and have a portable generator. Iv used the generator enough. in 2015 we lost power for 8 days in June due to front line winds. My generator is big enough to run the frig, well, hot water heater and a couple of big window ac units.. lots of others we know had to move to hotels for the week..

 

[Prof]

We are on a well. It only took 1 outage for me to put in a sub panel and have a portable generator. Iv used the generator enough. in 2015 we lost power for 8 days in June due to front line winds. My generator is big enough to run the frig, well, hot water heater and a couple of big window ac units.. lots of others we know had to move to hotels for the week..

I have a well too, and have thought about doing what you did--probably will eventually, but our power rarely goes out and when it does it is a few hours at worst. I do have a spring that comes out of the hillside a few hundred feet above my place and flows through my back yard. This is my back-up plan for water right now. I have a small generator that could run the freezer and fridge if need be.

 

[Highbeam]

Don’t forget the all important charging of your phone! It’s amazing how much a teenage girl can endure so long as her phone is charged.

 

[begreen]

We have a propane generator, but more for seriously long outages. A short outage of a few hours is no big deal. Most modern refrigerators will hold the cold for 8-12 hrs. And many people forget that during an extended winter outage that outdoors there's a really big refrigerator. If a cellphone needs charging, plug it into the car. Our van even has a 120vac outlet.

 

[clancey]

Good idea and in winter one would not have to have a refrigerator but in summer that's another matter...Those young ones actually get sick without their cell phone and by all means plug them in for charging --somewhere---lol For them that would be the emergency-lol clancey

 

[stoveliker]

Same here. Portable generator that runs the fridge, a few lights and a fan.
Winter has the stove and the fridge outside.

How other people survive? Move the supplies from the fridge to inside the body before they spoil, and curl up under an extra blanket in winter. Nothing wrong with that either.

 

[johneh]

How do people who depend on electricity sleep at night?

In the Dark
Sorry had to say it

 

[johneh]

Never worry about power outages
Whole house unit installed years ago
power is out for a max of 30 seconds
everything works heat, lights, freezers,
refrigerator, water pump, A/C, Hot water heater
you name it if I got it it is working.
Put this unit in after the ice storm of the late
90s we were without power for 31 days
never again

 

[bholler]

I have a generator and wired in a hookup for it when I redid the electric but honestly I haven't used it the longest we went was 2 days do far and I honestly thought it was kind of nice. Water is the only annoyance but we fill the tubs when we have high winds coming so we can flush the toilet. But after 2 days I was actually going to bring the generator up to the house when the power came back on so we had water. Otherwise I have a gas range gas insert and woodstove we are fine. But I will use it if we loose power in the summer to run the fridges and freezers. In the winter I just wheel them out the door

 

[FramerJ]

I know some people go stay at hotels if they lose power.

We probably lose power 3 times a year. Longest was 5 hours if I recall. I have a Honda generator and installed a transfer switch on my subpanel which runs all the necessary circuits (frig, freezer, furnace and a couple outlets and lights). We have a natural gas water heater, furnace and stovetop. I also have six 20 gal propane tanks ( for outdoor grill, camping stove and heater-not for inside use of course) and three 5 gal gas tanks ( for generator) in my shed. Pantry is usually kept full. We wont starve by any means. And lots of flashlights.

Ive looked into a standby generator. Just not sure I can justify the cost. Of course now that I said that we will lose power for 3 weeks and all gas stations will run out of gas due to a cyber attack. Im being negative--that doesnt happen....oh wait.

 

[velvetfoot]

We're still waiting on a standby generator we ordered in December.

 

[clancey]

I hope you get it soon..It will give you a piece of mind just to have it in a emergency even if you seldom use it and every week it will exercise and you will hear the hum and know what day it is..lol clancey

 

[MTY]

Prof, I too have a spring on the hill above my house. Of my 4200 gallon storage, 2100 is from the spring. All outside water use comes out of the spring storage. It is pretty simple to set up. I have a simple spring box that is connected to the cistern by poly pipe. Poly pipe leaves the cistern to a frost free hydrant by the power meter. At the base of the frost free I have a piece of 2" culvert 4' long buried on end. At the bottom is a ball valve and a piece of flexible 1" water line with a banjo fitting on it. During cold weather it sits in the bottom of the hole.

In warmer weather, I fish the banjo fitting out of the hole and connect it to a cheap pump with pressure tank. The pump is plugged into a timer. Gravity self primes the pump, at a pre set times the pump kicks on and waters the garden and ornamental plants, trees etc.. The frost free hydrant works off gravity year round.

The other cistern feeds the house by gravity. Having the cistern means the well pump only has to kick on every month to a month and a half.

 

[paulnlee]

I know some people go stay at hotels if they lose power.

We probably lose power 3 times a year. Longest was 5 hours if I recall. I have a Honda generator and installed a transfer switch on my subpanel which runs all the necessary circuits (frig, freezer, furnace and a couple outlets and lights). We have a natural gas water heater, furnace and stovetop. I also have six 20 gal propane tanks ( for outdoor grill, camping stove and heater-not for inside use of course) and three 5 gal gas tanks ( for generator) in my shed. Pantry is usually kept full. We wont starve by any means. And lots of flashlights.

Ive looked into a standby generator. Just not sure I can justify the cost. Of course now that I said that we will lose power for 3 weeks and all gas stations will run out of gas due to a cyber attack. Im being negative--that doesnt happen....oh wait.

Just wondering how the water heater & furnace ignite w/o electricity. Stove all you need is a match

 

[FramerJ]

Just wondering how the water heater & furnace ignite w/o electricity. Stove all you need is a match

the water heater has a continous pilot flame going. If it were to go out for some reason it has a punch button spark igniter-just like a gas grill. No electricity needed. My furnace is on one of my emergency circuits in my subpanel that would be hooked up to my generator.

 

[clancey]

A punch button spark igniter --never knew there was such a thing..nice..clancey

 

[begreen]

Never worry about power outages
Whole house unit installed years ago
power is out for a max of 30 seconds
everything works heat, lights, freezers,
refrigerator, water pump, A/C, Hot water heater
you name it if I got it it is working.
Put this unit in after the ice storm of the late
90s we were without power for 31 days
never again

What fuels it? Is the generator on a natural gas main?

 

[johneh]

What fuels it? Is the generator on a natural gas main?

No natural gas within 30 miles of me unless you are talking
methane from the cows. It is a propane run unit I have 2 large bottles