Dealing with our first "natural disaster"...

[David Cressey]

Score one for the unwashed rednecks!

One of my sons in law grew up in far northern upstate New York.  His family lived through the great ice storm of 1998.
Last year, when the power failed where he now lives,  he was the only person within blocks who had a generator.  He had a steady stream of people coming to him for help.

I might refer to him as an "unwashed redneck",  except for two things:  he washes more meticulously than I do,  and he leans towards redneck values less than I do.

Fortunately, my son-in-law is as generous as the day is long.  Also fortunately, the other people in his development are also very ready to help out when they can.  This was driven home in another disaster that happened recently,  where my daughter and son in law were receiving help, rather than giving it.

[David Cressey]

During Saddam's rule, the people of Baghdad had electricity but no guns.  Shortly after the overthrow,  they had guns but no electricity.

Your dictum might have been true for each of them individually.  But as a society, the exact opposite of your dictum holds in the case of Baghdad.

[David Cressey]

Many public libraries are hot zones for free public access to the internet from your own laptop.

There is a device called an "inverter" that draws 12 volt DC current off your car's alternator,  and produces 120 volt (110 volt?) AC for use with household appliances.  This converts your car into a giant generator. Notice that I said you car's alternator and not the battery.  You can run one of these things off your car's battery, but you are better off not to.

Also, if you plug this thing into your house wiring,  you by golly had better have one of those throw switches that isolates your house from the power line.  Otherwise you could electrocute the repair crews.

Also, remember that your car spews carbon monoxide out the tailpipe.

[The Gorn]

I have been thinking (for a long time, actually) of the following two-pronged approach:

1) A small bank of 12v batteries (deep discharge marine type) continually trickle charged, connected in parallel. During a brief (4 hr or less) power outage, run select appliances off of an inverter connected to the batteries. Main problem: hydrogen gas buildup from charging.

2) A plain old gas fired generator for lengthier outages.

I didn't really consider using wifi hotspots, although I suppose I could have. Internet was actually a very low priority  to me in some respects.

See my last (upcoming) response to DG for more...

[The Gorn]

Very thoughtful observations, DG. And again, we are extremely fortunate compared to the people in, say, Galveston.

Our power was apparently restored about 4 AM today (I interpolated from our stove's clock which froze at the time of the outage.)

I had moved my entire computer setup to our in-law's to keep working. And I got 5 hours of billable work in at their place yesterday. It was actually pretty nice; almost like an office rental; I could just shut off my computer and forget about work when I came back home.

Your notes on stress, etc are very apropos. One big stress for us was losing several hundred dollars worth of food. But the main stress was the disruption of normal routines. Even going out in the car was a hassle - we have power door openers and we garage our cars so at night it takes about 10 minutes of walking back and forth to leave or to pull in and park. And we didn't really want to drive ANYWHERE for the last several days - you get into certain "zones" and every major intersection had no lights operating, just stop signs. Driving scared the shit out of us. VERY heavy traffic volumes everywhere - people seemed to be restless and looking for entertainment.

We were out of power for four days. A month for you? Wow!!! I respect what it took to not go nuts under the circumstances.

It's funny. I was resigned to power being out "indefinitely" and it just came back on today. I had a routine for getting up - I bought a coffee press to make coffee (strangely the wandering idiots/locusts who picked all store shelves bare did not notice these things) and would boil water on a camp stove and use the press to make coffee. And we had a few necessities like milk, yogurt, etc in a cooler, and we would mooch ice off of our in laws for the cooler every day.

As I noted above about the wandering idiot mobs in their cars with nowhere to go that I saw, some people's reaction to the storm was really interesting. The gal next door was pissed because her husband couldn't take being without his ESPN and cable TV, and he checked into a hotel for 3 nights (first night tonight - power came on today. )

It is sobering how addicted to trifling entertainments we all are. I seemed to do OK but I still needed the "comfort" of a battery operated TV.

And, this whole experience has gotten me really interested in off-the-grid technologies!!!!

[The Original Dinosaur]

I have been thinking (for a long time, actually) of the following two-pronged approach:  
 
  1) A small bank of 12v batteries (deep discharge marine type) continually trickle charged, connected in parallel. During a brief (4 hr or less) power outage,   run select appliances off of an inverter connected to the batteries. Main problem: hydrogen gas buildup from charging.  
 
  2) A plain old gas fired generator for lengthier outages.

I would vote for the latter.  After two serious outages 20+ years ago in our all-electric house, I opted for a Sterno-fueled two-burner camp stove.  This would work for a day or so, until we had no water pressure due to no juice for the well pump.  Then I looked into generators and found a used diesel powered 2KW job for $2K (1980$).  But the Ms. wasn't interested.  Jeez, if I provided adequately for the family, she would have nothing left to blame on me, and I might get feelings of adequacy.  

[datagirl]

GB - great news!  Welcome back to the 21st century!

Bad moments?  Yeah, I had a few.  Generally I'm the type that can keep it together during crisis, then fall apart afterward.  Also, we did have the tap into our well-house power.  Our house is just down the street from a power substation, so we are generally first to get power restored.  We had to get the service connection on the side of the house repaired, along with the other damage.  It's hard to find reputable repair folks help during normal times.

Don't get me started about off grid technologies.  Alabama is one of a handful of states that does not require net metering.  Any "home-made" electricity requires the backfeed kill box - so it's an all or none proposition.  Our co-op charges extra for "green" power blocks, supposedly from some garbage methane in Florida.  I suspect the money is actually going to someone's pocket.  On our last bill, there was an added $54 "power cost adjustment" to cover their added expense from the price of fuel.  My usual bill is under $200.00 - percentage wise, it really sucks.  Mentally composing a letter to the Public Service Commission...

Oops, I guess I needed to vent.

Seriously, though, I'm glad you have electricity.

Oh, and driving without traffic lights - yikes!

Regards,
-DG

[pxsant]

If you plan to use standard vented 12V lead acid batteries, they will need to be housed outside in a vented enclosure.   They are too dangerous to have in or too close to the house.  It is best to use a sealed battery that does not need to vent hydrogen.  They are also maintenance free, i.e. no need or ability to check fluid levels.  While they are much more expensive, they are safer and are designed for primary or secondary power use with an inverter in or near a house.  There are several types of sealed batteries.  I have installed a couple of wind power systems and have used both sealed lead acid and AGM types (electrolyte is absorbed into a fiberglass mat).  Following is a link to a distributor for AGM batteries although any alternative power distributor would be a source also.

AGM Source

A real working system including inverter/charger would cost several thousand by the time you are finished.  This includes nothing but house power to do the charging - no solar panels or wind power.  If you wanted to splurge, you could back it up with an autostart small gas powered generator for when the batteries get low.   All in all, a pretty hefty chunk of change for the rare case when you might need it.

I think your second choice would be better - just a plain old gas generator - forget about the battery bank.  If it were me, I would have a cross over panel installed where you could disconnect utility power completely while connecting the house to the generator through the cross over panel.  That way it is all ready to go.  Just throw a switch and start the generator.

[Marvin C NiceGuy]

I live on a small powerboat, essentially 'off the grid' for days at a time, and its a highly specialized engineered environment !
I have 3 large 4D AGM batteries for the 'house' load, another 4D to start the main diesel engine, and a smaller AGM battery to start the 5Kw diesel generator.
They're all recharged from a 105A alternator on the main engine, and a 2.5Kw Inverter/130A battery charger.
We can run the boat on batteries for around 48 hrs (using around 300 Ah) before needing to recharge in some manner. We're probably 'plugged-in' at marinas maybe 40% of the time.

We have a total of 400 gall of diesel, 150 gall of water aboard, and a 46 gall holding tank for the head.....
(and I just spend $980 on diesel fuel - now thats a fill-up. Eat your heart out, Hummer owners).

Since fuel, water and electricity are a limited resource aboard, I have to monitor everything all the time. As well as heeding the 3 important rules of cruising:
1. Keep the water on the outside
2. Keep the people on the inside
3. Keep the boat going in the right direction !
Its much more time-consuming than a house....
 

[DG9]

Marvin,  How long you run on that $980 fill up?  If that can cover a month it is close to what I pay in property taxes per month...  Sounds like a good life!

[expat]

I had an outage of about 5 days once, about Christmas 1999, when there was a big storm ("at the limit of what is possible in Europe") in northern France where I then lived. I thought out all the things I could do - for the next time - including working out a parallel set of wiring in the house, to handle the essentials but not overload a small generator. In the end I decided that the cure would be worse than the disease: the house might not be wired for emergencies, but we humans are wired for adaptability.

 

We just got through it, and it wasn't so bad.

 

Contrary to our old opinion that the French are at their best when everything is going right and the British are at their best when everything is going wrong, the French were admirable. Hardware stores had mostly sold out of useful stuff, but what was left, people did not overbuy. I saw people carefully buy what they needed, and leave the rest for others. I admired the French more, and silently ate humble pie.

 

While I ate and slept in the house, it was sort of my house, I supposed. After I sat astride the rooftop ridge with a bucket of cement and fixed some tiles on, I knew for sure it was my house. And there was a fine view from up there.

 

We had just moved in to this house in the country a couple of months before, and were especially pleased to have so many trees in the garden (over 1 acre, a lot for Europe). The storm blew down a few (I can still tell you which ones), which was sad, and left some at risk. Plum trees all snapped at the ground, but we roped them all upright again, and all bore fruit next year. What we roped them to was the apple trees, which all stood like reinforced concrete. What we dragged them up with was the cars: we compared the relative cost, and real value, of an automobile clutch and a living tree, and made an easy decision.

 

We were worried about our favourite tree: a large mature walnut tree. It leaned over at nearly 30 degrees, and we worried it might fall. I finally believed that it might stand, when a few months later I saw another tree the same size, in an urban setting (where it must have been checked by the authorities for safety), leaning over at the same angle and looking like it had done so for a long time without any trouble. Strangely, that other tree was in New Orleans, and I have often wondered if it is still there.

 

But when I had a few trees that I was worried about, I started looking carefully at all trees that I saw anywhere, to see how they were doing. This led me to a greater appreciation of the intricate beauty of trees, which has stayed with me.

 

Looking back, I'd have to say that the impact of the storm on my life was positive overall, in ways that I would never have guessed.

[The Gorn]

 

I thought out all the things I could do - for the next time - including working out a parallel set of wiring in the house, to handle the essentials but     not overload a small generator. In the end I decided that the cure would be worse than the disease: the house might not be wired for emergencies, but we     humans are wired for adaptability.

     

We just got through it, and it wasn't so bad.

   

That is also my posture. I may buy a portable generator, in order to save frozen and refrigerated foods and to give us some minimal comfort during another   outage. But no "house backup generator". I expect that I will have some work to do to save things when another outage like this one hits.  

   

And we got into a "rhythm" of sorts during the outage. I found a source of ice for a cooler, I figured out how to make coffee during the outage,   and we figured out how to keep the house cool with no fans or A/C.  

   

Contrary to our old opinion that the French are at their best when everything is going right and the British are at their best when everything is going     wrong, the French were admirable. Hardware stores had mostly sold out of useful stuff, but what was left, people did not overbuy. I saw people carefully     buy what they needed, and leave the rest for others. I admired the French more, and silently ate humble pie.

   

I think that's what I resent the most about common stupid people here during such a storm - hoarding by idiots. I am positive, based on behaviors that   everyone observes here during "Black Friday" (Christmas shopping season), that when I tried to find a couple of compact cylinders of propane for a   camp stove and Wal-Mart was out, that there were probably @ssholes buying the things by the armload who will have them sitting in their garage unused for   years now. Nothing useful was available because of hoarding. I am almost positive of it.  

   

While I ate and slept in the house, it was sort of my house, I supposed. After I sat astride the rooftop ridge with a bucket of cement and fixed some     tiles on, I knew for sure it was my house. And there was a fine view from up there.

   

I had a similar moment of tranquility at times. We had a full moon and clear skies during the outage. So I walked around our yard, in a rural subdivision,   and marveled at the effect of the moonlight in an area that almost never sees no electric lights at all on. And except for the rattle of generators in a few   houses, it was absolutely silent save for crickets and frogs.  

   

But when I had a few trees that I was worried about, I started looking carefully at all trees that I saw anywhere, to see how they were doing. This led     me to a greater appreciation of the intricate beauty of trees, which has stayed with me.

   

Same for me. We have five mature maple trees in our yard and I look at them and think about the stress that they absorbed. Of course we will need to have   a qualified tree surgeon make a diagnosis (when the current local backlog of tree and brush removal is over.)  

   

Looking back, I'd have to say that the impact of the storm on my life was positive overall, in ways that I would never have guessed.

Probably because things are "out of control" and there isn't a damned thing you can do about it. It teaches discipline and humility. Qualities in short supply in society today.

[unix]

A generator is a must...

I found a LED headlight very useful for navigating around. Plus a large supply for batteries in all sizes. AA and D being most common.