Category: Home Power

A Winter Storm After Action Report, by Emily in North Texas

The ice storm that hit north Texas this past Thursday was forecast at least four days in advance, if not longer, but when it hit  apparently just about everyone was taken by surprise.  Drivers on I-35 north of Denton were stuck for so long they eventually abandoned their cars and sought refuge in local churches.  There was talk of sending in the National Guard to rescue them before that.  These people had days of advance warning about the weather but chose to drive anyway.  (Many of them apparently on their way to a rap concert in Dallas.)  Imagine the conditions …


Letter Re: Alternative Power Systems

Dear Mr Rawles, Mr J’s submission makes interesting and useful reading, however I would like to add a few observations on the subject to possibly aid the decision making/wallets of people who are building/upgrading photovoltaics systems. – Batteries: if at all possible get used golf cart batteries that have been properly maintained. Around here they get recycled for a $25 core charge which is easy to beat. My deep cell batteries are now 4-5 years old (2 seasons in various golf carts and 2.5 years in my battery bank. They are in like new condition as they take really well …


Letter Re: Low Voltage DC LED Strip Lights for Disaster House Lighting

Dear JWR: This might have been thought of before, but I just stumbled into something called LED strip lights. Here is a sample. They come in 15 meter rolls, are about 1/2 inch wide and have 300 individual LED lights. They can be cut into segments between every third light. They run off of 12 volts DC and are actually rather bright while using little electricity. If you purchased one of those little strips the reloading companies sell to mount inside the press so you can see what’s going on, it is probably this stuff. There are several versions. Some …


Letter Re: Light Blocking Suggestions for Windows

Mr. Rawles, I’ve just listened to another interview you gave, and noted yet again that you consider light control of utmost importance.  I have several suggestions from the fabric store.  There is a material that really does work perfectly for light control at a reasonable cost (helped by the readily available Joann Fabric Store – also online – 50% off coupons): drapery lining material referred to as ‘blackout’ fabric.  A common brand of this fabric is Roc-Lon, if searching Joann.com online for it.  Another fabric I’ve worked with is the Warm Window insulated shade system (www.warmcompany.com and also carried at …


Letter Re: AC Wiring Safety Warning

Hello Sir: I suspect this may have gone unnoticed by most, but as a former electrician (12 years in the trade) this passage caught my attention:   "I saved some money by making my own connections and crimps. The 00 wire was too thick for my wire strippers, had to use a separating disk with my Dremel tool."   Let me cauthion readers that stripping wire this way is a bad idea. Likewise, taking a box cutter (razor knife) and scoring the insulation in a ring around the cable is also bad. Stripping wire this way tends to cut slightly …


Five Letters Re: Tips on Selecting and Operating a Generator

Sir: Re: Gary D.’s piece on generator use. Good article; I’ve learned a few additional things over the years about generator usage which your readers may find helpful. Power cords – usually, they’re undersized for the load. There are different American Wire Gauge (AWG) specifications for current carrying capacity: 16 gauge – 12 amp maximum for 25 ft, 3.4 amps for 100 ft. 14 gauge – 16 amp max at 25 ft, 5 amps at 100 ft.. 12 gauge – 20 amps at 25 ft, 7 amps at 100 ft. 10 gauge – 30 amps at 25 ft, 10 amps …


Alternative Power Systems: An Update, by David J.

A couple years back I wrote a piece for SurvivalBlog about alternative energy in the suburbs.  I described a strategy for dealing with a potentially prolonged blackout in suburbia.  Essentially the plan is to keep a low profile, by camping in my grid tied, stick built, difficult to defend home.  This was accomplished by shrinking our energy footprint by using a well-insulated basement, propane heat and small scale solar to primarily power DC appliances.  The article is still available in the SurvivalBlog archives.   It is a sound strategy, well within the reach of most suburbanites and could keep many people …


Tips on Selecting and Operating a Generator, by Gary D.

Those of us who plan on “bugging in” during  upcoming times of uncertainty realize the need to plan for possible extended power shortages or blackouts. These preparations can range from a total separation from anything electrical or electronic to a series of sophisticated alternate power sources designed to completely power a survival location up to pre-blackout levels.  Based on the questions frequently asked by members of the survivalist community in numerous forums, the most common item of interest for the temporary generation of power for daily living seems to be the portable generator. Some of the most frequently asked questions …


From The Mountains of New York, by M.D.L.

In this, the third installment of the chronicles of my preparedness journey (#1 The Secret Prepper and #2 Selecting a Retreat), I hope to share with you the improvements I have made in my retreat home. I have found in the last couple of months that owning a second home is a monstrous headache.  If you only own one home just imagine everything that can go wrong and multiply it by a factor of two to the exponent of Murphy’s Law.  Or worse… my liquid asset value has fallen victim to the inverse square law: The amount of money I …


Letter Re: House Window Blackout Materials

James, I heard you in your recent interview on the SGT Report podcast talking about [the need for] interior blackout material [to stop light from escaping windows when the power grid is down.]    What is the name of the material and tape and where can I purchase it? Thanks, Paul Z. JWR Replies: You will find the information you need in these archived discussions in SurvivalBlog. Also see this theatrical supply company, and specifically this blackout fabric and this blackout tape.


Four Letters Re: Natural Gas Powered Generators in a Disaster–Their Compressors, and Yours

Captain Rawles, I saw the disagreement from the former natural gas industry gent located in Texas about your grid assertions as they relate to potential natural gas outages. Two years ago in Northern New Mexico there was a multi-day natural gas outage to 30,000 homes and it was due to precautionary measures from Texas, caused by rolling blackouts.  New Mexico made the decision to keep the population centers pressurized since it would be more difficult to get the pressure back up in those areas compared to the smaller yet more remote pipelines in the northern part of the state.  I …


Three Letters Re: Natural Gas Powered Generators in a Disaster–Their Compressors, and Yours

JWR, Thank you for letting your readers know about [public utility] natural gas system compressor stations. I, for one, was was blissfully ignorant about them, and had just assumed that natural gas was “always on.” So, now knowing that, I can now see that a tri-fuel generator that can quickly be changed to propane or gasoline would be best. Thanks also for mentioning the capacity limits of generators. That I was aware of, but I hadn’t ever looked at the specs on my GE refrigerator/freezer. Now I can see that I need to do a “load budget”, to determine what …


Letter Re: Natural Gas Powered Generators in a Disaster–Their Compressors, and Yours

James, Thanks for the information you deliver every day. I have recently gone on Social Security Disability and have some money to further our preps. My wife and I will hunker down in place, that being said, we have done what we can to make this as easy as possible. We can heat our home without electricity, but still need a solution for limited electric needs in the event of power outage. We are looking at the Honda EU2000i portable generator with the multi-fuel upgrade. In our years here we have never lost our natural gas supply, but have often …


Letter Re: Some Off-Grid Living Techniques

Mr. Rawles, Thank you for a great blog site.  I’d like to share some techniques we use every day at our off-grid homestead that would be applicable for grid-down living With 280 watts of solar panels in the southern plains, a good Xantrex controller, three marine deep-cycle batteries and an inverter we power a 9 cubic foot freezer-turned-refrigerator fitted with an analog temperature controller, a portable dvd player used nightly for movies and documentaries, 1 to 3 small fans in summer, a netbook computer, and a couple of compact fluorescent lights along with charging cell phones and cordless tools and …


Stuff Hitting the Fan: A Position Paper – Part 3, by R.L.

(Level II Scenario, continued) Utilities For me, a 1,000 Gigawatt generator is not needed. Just 12 volt deep cycle storage batteries and a photovoltaic panel to charge them up, along with with a homemade generator from a lawnmower engine fan belted to a Chevrolet car alternator will be enough to power some communication electronics and spot lighting.  Deep cycle batteries are preferable to regular 12 V car batteries as they last much longer, but car batteries will certainly do in a pinch.  Incandescent lights need more power than fluorescents which need more than white LED arrays. Do some experimenting.  Another …