(Continued from Part 1. This concludes the article.)
Generators: TWO is NONE
In all this time my second biggest concern, after the generator, was our outside hot tub. When the power is out it becomes a liability. 250 fifty gallons of hot (warm but cooling) water, waiting to freeze and wreck the tub…. The hot tub water temp was down to 74 degrees after one night. My choices were to get the generator going, or drain the tub. Part of the equation for this decision was the availability of the hot tub’s water for toilet flushing. I had only hours to make that decision before the cold made my decision for me.
Friday dawned bright and sunny. In the afternoon it was so sunny that I could see well in the garage and began to check out the starting system for the generator again. The choke linkage was not working right. Apparently, a small piece of plastic in the linkage had broken off. By reaching under the gas tank I could pump the choke. I gave it one more try and it started! It was a great relief! However, now a new learning curve started. Before I plugged the house into the generator, I changed the settings on the house electrical panel. I flipped the main house breaker off from the commercial system, and flipped the generator breaker on. (A built-in, required safety feature — to prevent a back-feed). At the same time I shut off the AC unit breaker, as well as the breakers for the electric hot water heater, several rooms that we don’t use, and the hot tub. Then I plugged in the generator to the line to the panel.
WE HAD LIGHTS AND POWER! It was a major victory. The furnace started up and began to heat the house. Eventually, I was able to reset the Internet, and the satellite television eventually did its analysis and came on.
So, I moved on to using the electricity to my advantage. I ran the generator about eight hours at a time. Our power priorities were the refrigerators and freezer to keep the food frozen, the hot tub hot to protect the large investment, and charging batteries. We also used the Internet for communications and news updates. When the generator was off we reverted to the lights out, no television, conservation mode of living.
We also found an unexpected problem that could easily become problem number one: We have a CPAP machine user in our family. If someone in your family uses a Continuous Positive Airway Pressure Device (CPAP) it could be a huge health threat, if it were not operational. The CPAP is a form of positive airway pressure (PAP) ventilation where a “constant level of pressure is continuously applied to the upper respiratory tract of a person”. The effects of a lack of a CPAP range from loud noises while sleeping to “fatigue, high blood pressure, heart arrhythmias, heart failure, heart attack, or stroke”. And I can guarantee that the loud noise problem can deprive everyone in the house of very much needed sleep. So… absolutely need power for this!
I then turned my attention to other problems, like the tree branches that were now leaning beside our garage and blocking the sidewalk to the house. Since the gas chainsaw was dull, I decided to use my new electric chainsaw to clear out the smaller branches blocking the sidewalk. That worked well, but eventually the chain bucked and jammed in the machine, bending a couple of teeth. So my two chainsaws became one dull chainsaw. So, TWO may be LESS than ONE…
We had a ton of snow that had to be moved so we could eventually get the cars out. I was able to start the snow blower from the power from the generator. It uses a 120-volt starter, and a pull start that is impossible to make work. But, once it was going with the electricity supplied by the generator, I was able to clear the driveway and part of my neighbor’s walkways.
We needed news and wanted entertainment during the quiet, no-power times. Our phones and iPads were heavily used for games, reading, and most importantly for weather reports. My plan was to use my old transistor AM FM radio for music, but it did not have good reception or sound, so I will be looking for something better. Overall we had almost no connection to the outside world if the power was not on. This also was a blessing in disguise as we were weaned off of having the television news on in the background constantly. Peace of mind…
Phone functionality, as I mentioned, was spotty at best. When the phone’s batteries got low we charged them from our solar chargers. The solar chargers were my best experience. Of the four, all had full or almost full charges even after a long period of storage. My newest charger is a four-part folding unit, a Survival Frog QuadraPro 6500mAh Solar Wireless Phone Charger Power Bank. It is advertised as having four high powered 5.5W solar panels that fold open to charge the on-board, ultra-high capacity, 6,500 mAh battery. In my reading on which one to buy recently, this looked like it has much more power than some others.
Research is important
I have some alternatives to house power and light, mostly batteries. I was not worried about running out of them, but several of the flashlights were pathetic, either due to low batteries or poor design. I have all sorts, from old-fashioned ones to USB chargeable, to lamps, to remote switched lights, etc. My CO detectors are all battery-operated and the batteries are replaced often. I had just added a new one in November. When the power was out, the optional electric fan on the woodstove doesn’t work. So, I was able to stress test my new little 6 Blade Fireplace Fan. It uses the high heat on the top surface of the stove to generate electricity and turn the fan blades. It is very small, and not high volume, but it does move the air from the stove, and I used it to blow hot dry air against the firewood I had to bring in from the wood pile constantly. I also have a couple of the Mr. Heater-style indoor safe propane heaters, and several propane lanterns. We did not use the heaters, but kept them handy in case of the desperate need to keep the house warm. I was not fully comfortable with using them in the house. I did use the camping lanterns, that use the one pound cans of gas, as they put out great light, but I had to replace all four mantels.
Security is always a consideration. I maintained my usual approach to security, with a bit more caution added. In a long-term grid-down situation, I assume that eventually some people would be looking for “help” in whatever means they could get it. Since this outage lasted barely past the proverbial three days, we never hit that situation. However, some normal security items were affected. My camera system uses batteries, but it is internet dependent. So, it was a no-go. I do have some alarms that are battery-operated, and I made use of them. Of course, some security items obviously do not need electricity… I just increased my readiness and response time ability by careful positioning of items.
We stayed home, keeping the place going, on Friday. I kept alternating between generator power and no power.
On Friday, December 16, at about 7:15 PM during one of our “generator off” periods, we were sitting in the great room with lights provided by the camping lantern, when the power and lights came on! It is hard to describe how great that sensation was! Then, at 7:20 PM, the lights went back off… And the lights on the other side of the lake were now off again. What a tease.
On Saturday I went to the village to get more premium gas for the generator. The rumors at the hardware store, grocery store, and gas station were not good. Supposedly there was a major problem with the supply from the utility. The stories ranged from “one day” to “two to three days” until power was restored.
The power finally came on at about 2:00 PM on Sunday, December 18. That was the apparent end of about three and half days of no power.
Interestingly, I realized that since I had our entire house on the generator, I would not know when the power came back on. My other neighbor did not use a whole house generator, so I asked him to leave a yard light on. It was a beautiful sight when I saw that light on! Even then, I was careful not to change anything until I was sure it was staying on. I eventually shut off the generator and switched the house back to utility power, but kept everything at the ready.
As I write this, the power has been back on for almost two days. But a little healthy paranoia persists. Another storm is predicted before Christmas, so we are staying in a ready state. And, the next time we leave for even a short trip we will have to consider how to prepare the house to freeze up. Back in the days when we only had a seasonal cabin here, that meant shutting off the water, draining the water lines, getting our neighbors to check in, etc.
So, I came away with a very sobering and humbling view of my prepping skills. I know now that the difference between success (survival) and failure can be as small as a tiny piece of plastic on your generator. If I hadn’t found that problem, we would be in a completely different situation now, and the clean-up and reset would be much larger. As it is, I need to act quickly on: new chainsaw chains, removal of a large tree trunk sitting across my yard, generator repairs (both of them), recharging all the power banks and solar charger cells.
Going forward, I have collected a list of good things: I got used to working with minimal lights on. I minimize the number of lights I turn on to save wattage. I got my wish to test my power system. I must admit though, it might have been much better to do in the summer.
I developed a list of non-emergent things to do:
- I will not be so stingy when it comes to upkeep/replacement of older 12 volt batteries, generator testing and repairs.
- Keep all instructions and directions in hard copy as you can’t google things with no power or internet.
- Keep more batteries and date them.
- Maintain my flashlight fleet.
- Investigate the safe use of other heaters.
- Buy a new portable AM/FM/SW radio.
- Find a battery-powered fan for the duct from the woodstove to the bedroom.
- Investigate use of some kind of power cell to run the CPAP.
- Keep more stabilized premium gasoline.
- Perhaps procure a land line telephone (assuming it is not grid electricity-dependent).
- Remind myself that a list is just a list until you act on it!
I started to plan this article by calling it “Prepper Fail”, but once the generator started, I decided it wasn’t a total failure. I put it down as one of the best “lessons learned” I have ever had. I know I have a long way to go, but my destination is much clearer now!