What would you do without Electricity?

[Rick]

Well, I had the opportunity to test this out this week. We lost power overnight Sunday and Monday morning we awoke to a dark house. Egads! I thought, the coffee maker didn't start. No problem. I'll just get me trusty backpacking stove out and make a cup of Joe. Then I'll check the forum and....oh, yea. No power. Bummer.

It doesn't happen very often and I have no idea what the outage was all about. The power came on about 10:30 but it was little more than an inconvenience. Not even that really. Now if the water had been off that would have been a different story. Hopeaks place is a long way to trek just to use the outhouse.....

[someguy1980]

Having just gone through Ike I can say from experience that I did a lot of milling around the house and listening to my priceless Grundig Mini 300 AM/FM/SW Pocket Radio (excellent battery life BTW).

[nell67]

Power is still out in places in southern Indiana and Kentucky from the Sunday Winstorm (now dubbed the Hoosier Hurricane)we had as evidenced by the number of people being admitted to the hospital with carbon monoxide poisoning around here,because they either can't or won't read warning labels on generators.

A lady in Louisville died Wednesday night/Thursday morning when her landlord generously loaned her and her family a generator to get them through until their power was restored,and you guessed it,they set it up and ran it inside the house,her husband and 2 year old son are in the hospital,and she is in the morgue.

I have come to the conclusion that not only generators,but also any portable fuel burning space heater should not be sold to JQP,until they have been properly trained and explained the seriousness of their actions if they do not follow the safety warnings on the equipment.

End of rant

[Fletcher]

sit in silence

[trax]

sit in silence

....until......

[crashdive123]

.....the beans kicked in.

[ledzeppie]

if electricity went out I would simply light up a fire in my fire pit in my back yard just to sit around for warmth (assuming its cold). Then I would use my little MSR whisperlite stove to cook.

In terms of keeping the fridge cold, I would simply go to the store and buy a bag of ice (assuming that its just a normal power outage, not a natural disaster). I would probably eat a lot of canned food and energy bars because I dont have to open the fridge to get to them.

For lighting I would just use flashlights and candles.

for entertainment, i would simply play my guitar or ride my bike, like I always do.

oh, and i would make LOTS of hot chocolate if it was the winter, i would just sit by the fire all day relaxing, drinking some good ol' hot chocolate.

[erunkiswldrnssurvival]

I have always invisioned myself useing a car generator hooked up to a bicycle so that I could peddle the bike and charge car batteries. If I was to stay put and didnt have to travel, thats what I would attempt to do.

[Fletcher]

I have always invisioned myself useing a car generator hooked up to a bicycle so that I could peddle the bike and charge car batteries. If I was to stay put and didnt have to travel, thats what I would attempt to do.

I don't think you can peddle the bike fast enough. I've seen a alternator with a 3 1/2 hp and a fan belt setup that worked. But would only recharge batteries. Maybe multiple alternators run off one small 3-5 hp motor would give you plenty power
or one LARGE alt. might work. What are you planning on running?

You are an exstremely interesting fellow! And talented keep the great posts comeing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!

[erunkiswldrnssurvival]

Just the basic stuff like a lamp, and stuff like that.

[nell67]

My daughter in laws father hooked up a Geo Metro to his house to power it while the electric was off after the windstorm,not sure how he done it,but he didn't loose anything in his fridge or freezer,had hot water and cooked while everyone around him was in the dark.

[erunkiswldrnssurvival]

The alt. or gen. from a car can power a lot of stuff if you have batteries thats even better.

[buttercup]

Nell, we live in southern Indiana. Our electric went off on the Sunday of the storm and didn't come back until mid day on Friday and then it only came on for half the house.... we found out where we were prepared and in good shape and we discovered our problem areas.
It was a good thing since it allowed us to have a practice run as far as what we had arranged in the event of no electric, water, and changing our way of cooking. We had some setbacks over the week with no services but I was proud of how we managed.
I even canned two different days, putting up pears and other food.
Life does go on - we ate well, visited more with each other, and got plenty of sleep since we burned kerosene laterns for a bit after dark and then went to bed.

[nell67]

Buttercup,I was one of the luckier ones,as the power here came back on much sooner than most of the neighbors,since this house seems to be at the end of the line for one road (two roads intersect in front of the house),and the neighbors to the left of me are on another line,they were without power for several days . Made for some very grumpy neighbors,the second day two of them got into an argument and around midnite one of them got drunk,jumped on his 4 wheeler and ran up and down the road screaming and cussing,trying to get the other one to come out,was very easy to hear with out the a/c on and the windows open,the sheriffs deputy came by and told him to behave and left,half an hour later he was back at it,they still didn't take him in!

[Jericho117]

Im not shure exactly how this thread is so hot right now, but I would assume most of you guys have propane stoves of some sort. Can't refrigerate food (My spazed out political mother would soon harshly learn the truth), and eventually canned food supplies would run out. Supermarkets would most likely be shut down, and street traffic at a halt because of no street lights and stop lights ( I would assume). I highly doubt an electrical outing would last more than a week (unless it was an EMP attack), but in long-term cases, I have my fresh water creek deep in the forests by my new house ( which I question it's purity, even though I boil it, it runs through a city park miles up, potential contamination) to obtain water. I have thousands of yellow wood sorrel and Cattail near my house, and some wood grouse near the edge of the forests. Cottontail Rabbits are next to my house. I doubt anyone in my area has the ability to capture game without firing a loud gun, and local police called in. To many doubters and fancy people here. I would assume survival in my area quite easy if electricity were out. I would probably flee to the forests to avoid thousands of panic filled people, but I wouldn't abandoned my family.

[nell67]

Some here are going on a week and a half without power Jericho,And they are not liking it much either,me?? Other than missing out on the forum once my battery for my laptop died,it would not have bothered me too much if I had to wait this long for it to be restored.

I feel sorry for the crews that have came in from out of state to help these people,just to get cussed and screamed at because they didn't get their electric on sooner,there is only so much the poor souls can do and they ran out of wire and transformers and had to wait for those to be shipped in before finishing their job.

[buttercup]

Nell, like you say, we didn't miss much except the internet. Hate to admit I am getting addicted to this silly thing but whatever . . . we cooked over propane and went to bed early. Life went on. Life is possible without electricty although some people don't realize it. It was easier for us that we had a generator to run the fridg and our two fully stocked freezers. I would have been very unhappy to lose all the hard work that was represented in the freezers - made a decision to can lots more in the future, including meat, so I wasn't so dependent on man made power to preserve my food supply.

[Madrox]

Great thread! I've invested quite a bit in books and have a decent amount of camping gear to use in time of an emergency. I'm looking at some small solar stuff (portable) to charge aa or c batteries along with small radios, etc. At the house I have a propane BBQ with a (hopefully) pretty full tank so I could cook with that for a while. Also have a small Coleman single burner stove... if it were a full on emergency I would fashion some sort of wood stove from stuff in the garage and burn what was needed. Would definitely read a lot during the day light and get a ton of sleep.

[Nomad]

What would I do without electricity?? Oh wait, I do without it already. I do charge up my rechargeables when I come to town. Flashlight, razor, laptop. wow, I just realized that's all the electrical things that I own. One thing I do miss is an electric bill.

[HOP]

I am going to go around the house and turn of everything incase the power comes back on real sudden like.
then I would fal back on whatever I have for backup going real rustic in most things . Solar and wind would be good if I could afford it. Generators need fuel which to my thinking will need to be in place in a large quanity .