Posted: 12/19/2006 6:52:06 PM EDT
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Ok guys, some of us got to really try out our bug-in/bug-out plans. What did you learn? 1. Check consumption of your heating and electricity generating devices. My Kerosene heater runs for about 12 hours on a tank (about 1.25 gallons). I almost didn't have heat Saturday night because my 5 gallon can from last winter ran out. Lucked into a stack at the local Ace hardware thanks to my wife calling around (I drove to Tacoma looking). The generator runs for about 9 or 10 hours on a 5 gallon tank. 2. Electric light is good. Kerosene lamps just don't light things very well, and after several days of no white light in the evenings we were going stir crazy. 3. No shower for 4 days sucks. 4. Buy your generator and gas cans before the outage, they're expensive but you won't regret it. I scored one at the Poulsbo Home Depo on Sunday and it made a huge difference. 5. Use blankets hung over open doorways to keep the heat in the occupied area of the house, it makes a big difference. The Kerosene heater kept the upstairs living room at about 77F, we had to open the windows more to regulate the heat! It was cold enough that we cleaned out the inside fridge and put it all in the garage in coolers. Gave us a good chance to clean out al the crap in the freezer that was over a year old  |
That 3-4 drinks later, no-one really gives a shit!   More seriously... woodstoves bail a guy out of a lot. a deck of cards preserves sanity. flushing is a primary concern. (phew) power outages are a good way to pry dad away from the 'puter for a real conversation. the house is nicer without all the noise of appliances and media, even if not practical. frozen meat is a problem. going without showers does suck at first. cleaning up the mess and fixing the roof was a PIA. I'm glad it happened... we had fun, while making the most of it, and helping others.
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I learned I definitely need to invest in a generator. Not so much for short outages but for long ones. To protect the food in the fridge and such. I need to invest in some lanterns and candles. I have several battery powered lights and flashlights. I have gas hot water and a gas fireplace. So I can stay warm and take showers. The worst part of the outage was simply being too reliant on ARFCOM for entertainment. 
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Chem-lights and babywipes....... |
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We were lucky, in that we had a wood stove, and enough wood to make it through nice and warm. We're on a well, no genny, but had some water on had. Had good cheap candles from Ikea, propane lamp and stove, food in a cooler outside. And damn, it was pretty fun. Kicked back, drank coffee, talked to the wife. Occurred to me however that a lot of my shit - propane lamp, cooler and whatnot - are strictly short term solutions. Seems like the trick is to change things so that you're living without the grid on closer to a full time basis. Made me wish for a hand pump on the well, a diesel genny, and gas appliances. [ETA] - Kitsap! |
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Get candles/firewood for at least four days Never put tea candles on a plastic surface Letting candles burn down to a stub in a glass cup makes the cup painful to pick up Tea candles aren't that great because sometimes they'll drown in melted wax You can use wine bottles as candle holders Rechargeable flashlights aren't that great a choice for long term blackouts because you can't recharge them |
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Got the generator. Had about 4 gallons of lawnmower/trimmer gas, needed more, removed the injector return fuel line from the Nissan and pumped another 5 gallons of gas. Know how to get gas from your vehicle if it is equipped with an anti-siphon device. No wood stove, big inefficent fireplace. If I had to I could have burned the furniture and the back deck. Charcoal BBQ grill, I might invest in a propane unit with a couple spare bottles. Generator powers the microwave, we had hot water. Heated up 5 gallons (gallon at a time) and took a nice sponge bath plus were able to wash the hair. Have a kerosene powered heater that burns clean fuel, didn't need it as the generator powers the electric space heater. Had power been out any longer we would have gone to the base and used the gym showers. On city water, no water worries, but I do have 50 gallons of water stored. Generator powered the fridge, the ice cream didn't melt. I might invest in a chainsaw, have not needed one since I moved from California. Have plenty of batteries. Those head mounted flashligts work great when the power is out. The 130 million candlepower spotlight is GREAT to use when identifying shitheads who are walking around the neighborhood at 2 am. Sattelite (DTV) is great when the telco lines are also hammered, what sucks is no back-up for the internet is avalible. Found out that the local Sprint repeater tower does not have back-up power, so when the power goes my Sprint service sucks. Internet access cell phones ROCK.
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[stan marsh] I've learned somthing today...[/stan marsh] I learned that fueling up my truck BEFORE the storm hit and having a completely full tank after the storm was done was a good idea. Also having 20+ gallons of extra gas I keep with fuel stabilizer is great when the gas stations are down, especially now that there is talk that there is a gas shortage up here after the storm. Having all those spare winter clothes such as thermal underware and sweat shirts and pants negated the need for having a heater. The extra blankets, comforters and the like helped the nights stay toasty warm. Having my pre-existing understanding that the world used to work without power and the day started at sunup and ended at sundown kept me from caring that the lights were not on. Having the mindset for many years that I can walk away from this easy, gadget filled lifestyle and be perfectly happy on a moments notice is priceless. Frankly, I liked it better when there was no power. Yea, i'll use the power when its here, but when its gone, I do not miss it. The store of survival candles, windproof matches, the MSR miniworks water filter with all the spare ceramic filters that could allow me to safely drink just about any water I come across, was not used, but was there if needed and made me feel better. Having a large supply of toilet paper and a nice wooded area fairly close to my front door along with a folding military shovel works just fine instead of having a stinky bathroom to deal with. They made do with less for centurys, so can I. Fuck the internet. Its nice to have computers, but i've plenty of other things to do to keep me busy. Loading mags, cleaning guns, reading books, going through boxes of stuff and organizing my things, getting rid of crap that I havn't used for a year, etc. is a great way to occupy myself. Setting up an Eagle CIRAS with the balcs panels, conjunction sapi plates and all the pouches is fun to do. A little hard on the fingers, but fun. Having a big store of spare batterys to use in my personal music device made my spare time alittle more livable. A nice store of canned food is a good thing. And yes, you can eat it cold and not care. Sure it tastes a bit like dog food, but really, who gives a shit? Its food and thats all that matters. My biggest dissapointment.... Power outages do not cause zombies.  I was so looking forward to mustering with the crew at Costco...  And finally, Grabmywrist and his better half make excellent hosts and are among the few I consider "salt of the earth" type good people. I couldn't ask for better friends.  |
We have a couple of Aladdin B165 Watchman kerosene lamps and not only are they crazy bright (like a 60 watt bulb), but they throw off a lot of heat and will help to warm a room. You could probably boil water or cook over the chimney of one of those things. This storm didn't really teach me many lessons. Except that non-natives and an increasing number of natives who should know better are still whiny fucktards. |
I agree with every bit of the above. I was set up pretty well due to preplanning. I ended up listening to AM 1000 and they still have the crybaby network on, I was very pleased to hear on three different times that there was a "Militia group" that gave out their cell numbers over the air, with offers to bring,split firewood,along with starting it, and gasoline, along food to any Sr Citizen called them 24 hrs. Also happy to see a couple of Guardsmen from the 81st on the news outside the Safeway(?) in Duvall (?). Overall Snohomish County residents did an outstanding job, and took it with stride without help from the outside for the most part. |
my toilet worked......didnt yours?  maybe you just wanted to shit in the woods like a bear.  i learned that i need to get my Propane setup installed sooner rather than later. |
Our home has a holding tank that requires an ejector pump to push the sewage up a hill and into the city sewer line. No power + continued use of plumbing = gray water bubbling up through the front lawn.  Yet another nicety/necessity of having a generator and transfer switch on standby. Although living so close to BPA's Snohomish substation means that they are rarely required. 
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Toilet and sinks worked for the first day or so without power. After that, it stopped working so well other then a trickle. I don't know if its because the local water tower ran out of water, or there was a different issue. Because I already have several 2 gallon jugs of water from safeway sitting here at home for just these possible issues, I was fine, and of course, I also had the water filters should the need arise. Water is fine right now. |
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I learned that when the power goes out bad people get worse and good people get desperate. My bug out bag came out of the trunk of my car and the stored food and water along with the fuel and firewood were already onsite. It sucked not having heat or power for 5 days, but I could have done 5 more very easily. Cash on hand, silver bullion/coins just in case, food, water and fuel along with the ability to protect my family and myself made for cold but sleepful nights. |
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The new next door neighbors came over to ask if they could charge their cell phone, we did it (of course). The husband was talking about having enough food and supplies to last if the power outage went on longer, I told him that I had all the supplies I needed, firearms and ammunition. He laughed and said he never thought of it that way.
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I just talked to my neighbor this morning, he said that he noticed I had power, and could see the TV running through the window as he walked by, but was scared to knock on the door because he figured I would be sitting by a window with a loaded rifle trying to bait in the looters.
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I have a kerosene heater (didn't need it this time due to gas fireplace and only losing power for 14hrs) and would occasionally suppliment the electric heat at my old house with it during really cold nights. Anyway, I learned to just shut it off when it got warm enough (low 70's) and waited until it cooled off to fire it up again. Usually it would stay off for a couple of hours. That practice both saved kerosene and kept the temp reasonable. I would fire it up outside and let it reach operating temp before bringing it inside to keep fumes and CO minimized. I keep about 15-20 gallons of fuel on hand at all times. Probably good enough to last over a week depending on how cold it is outside. |
Yea, I have a few tweakers I need to stuff and mount. These guys are getting desperate around here... |
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few things Surefire G2's are great(you can hold them in your mouth without busting teeth), just make sure you have spare 123's. I actaully only went thru 1 spare set of 123's in 6 days. But I had 5 of these sitting by each door or where ever we were at......always done this. rechargable Steamlights are wondefull, make sure you have a 12volt car charger. I used the crap out of my Lightbox(had it for years, IMOP everyone should have one) and Stinger If running a generator, swap out normal lights for 13watt florecents. Make sure you have the right gen cord ;) make sure you have high quality extension cords and lots of 3 ways. Lots of gas........lots. Don't check the oil on the gen when its running ;) +1 on the sheets over doors, windows ect. Glad the living room had pocket doors. if your on a water system(and are up hill from tank) or your gen wont run your well, have lots of barrels of water, buckets and fill up the tub before the power goes out LED headlamps are VERY handy. If you have a garage with and electic opener and no man door......make sure you have the key pull hooked up and know where the key is, the folks had this problem(and I keep some stuff in their shop) if you have a gen.........wire it up right with a transfer switch(on top of my list) If running off a gen, some thing are polatiry sensitive, such as my gas furnance, seems the gen polatiry was backwards, well ran fine, hot water heater and most lights. Natural gas is very nice and is pretty safe from this sorta storm.......earthquakes might be a problem It gets damn dark outside.....so even a 13watt light make you feel warm and fuzzy. in the last 10 years I have been without power 2x's for 7 days each time.......it gets old fast.....but we also forget fast If you have a spare freezer....if you don't open it....it will stay cold for 4-5 days. I have 2 Engel/ARB 12/110/220 portable fridge/freezers(these aint the cheapo's).......these are the handiest damn things, not cheap($500-1000) but use almost no power(1-3 amps hr) and will make ice. I have one in my Cruiser and have for years..... sure I will think of other stuff |
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Having a shitload of diesel on hand is what I learned. We got a wood burning fireplace, and a couple years worth of wood cut n' split, so heat was no issue, but long term generator running was a worry. So I/We have began looking at hurdles we to jump to get a 500-750gal diesel tank installed here. And being on a well, I am going to go the containment basin route to protect from spills too. Something else that was a minor worry was the well, and getting water. Our well is 160' down, and the pump running was really socking it to the generator. So I need to explore getting an alternative pump installed, like a hand pump, but I am wanting to say that the depth is an issue. So, anybody here versed in hand pumps, or anything else, for a well to use as a reliable backup? |
Get a seperate generator for the well pump or else get a gas powered backup pump for the well. Do you have a cistern? |
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I found out that my APC back-up battery does not have a line converter in it, so I ordered up a Tripplite Line Conditioner for the computer. I'll probably get a Tripplite back-up power supply with a line conditioner for the computer and use the line converter for the TV/DVD/DTV box. |
Gas powered backup pump? I'll have to call the people who dug/installed the well here and see if I need anything special, and how to go about getting it setup to the well here. As for the cistern, yes and no. We have a nice, READ: Complicated, filtration system because the well water is loaded with rust and crap. And there is a big steel holding tank plumbed beside the pressure tank. But, you have to open, bypass, and introduce air into the filtration system to get the tank to flow or drain. And once you do it, the filtration is dicked up and in need of the air you just introduced being bled off to get it running again. I always counted that tank as a water backup too. But I tried opening the valve during the outtage to get water and found it would not drain. So we had Clean Water NW out here yesterday. I had the guy walk me through the procedures of doing it, but remembering how to get filtration back online, without the "water guy", is going to keep me from doing it unless things are desperate. So, another project I have been looking at is big farm sized water holding tanks. I found those things are pretty damned affordable, so right after Christmas we will be getting one. A vertical 1000gal tank is only 500.00 and that is a shitload of spare water for SHTF in the future. We got a heated garage, and the tank I want is only 64" in dia x 80" high, so keeping it in the corner of the garage will protect it from freezing, and Lootie'. Here is a link for y'all to look at for research incase you want to have mass backup water on hand for the next "event"... www.plastic-mart.com/index.htm |