Category: Home Power

Two Letters Re: Construction Without Electricity

Jim: The recent Construction Without Electricity article reminded me of a stint spent with the Amish here in southwestern Missouri. I worked making buggy wheels, but one of my duties was to ride a stationary bike which powered a one cylinder compressor so they could spray paint the buggies. The buggy shop owner wanted to run a compressor off his windmill to a pressure tank but the community said that was going too far. With that kind of set up you could run all kinds of air tools. It smacked of being “too modern”. So I rode the bike. – …


Letter Re: Battery-Powered Dirt Bikes

Dear Mr. Rawles, Your family is in our prayers, and we hope everything is going as well as possible. Imagine my surprise today as approximately ten dirt bikes drove by me up the street, but weren’t making any noise. I expressed surprise to the friend in the car with me, who responded with, “Oh yeah, there’s a company that makes battery powered dirt bike motorcycles, just around the corner.” Out of curiosity, I headed around that corner and discovered that they were having a large open house, with free dirt bike rides, information on their products, and free hot dogs. …


Letter Re: Preparedness for Living on a Chesapeake Bay Island

Mr. Rawles, I am just now (pretty late in the game, I know) becoming aware of the impending collapse and have begun reading your blog regularly (it is the first thing I read in the mornings now). I realize now that I must prepare as much as I can and have a question about my current location. I live on an isolated (no bridges, ferry and airplane transport only) Island in the Chesapeake Bay. It is somewhat densely populated for its size, but everyone knows each other and most residents hunt and fish and have their own boats. Many residents …


Construction Without Electricity, by Curtis M.

I watched the second episode of the [reality television show] The Colony, [that is currently airing on The Discovery Channel]. I found one part of it especially idiotic. They had a bank of automobile batteries for electrical power [to power an AC inverter.]s They did not have a way to charge the batteries yet, and they were still using a circular saw and a Sawzall to construct different things, among them was using a Sawzall to cut tread out of tires for shoes. They were building some thing out of plywood and they were cutting the plywood with the circular …


Letter Re: Grid Beam Construction

Hi Jim, Memsahib, “Gridbeam” is a building system that’s been getting some attention recently among do-it-yourselfers. I’ve seen references to it on Kevin Kelly’s Cool Tools and the Makezine web site. Gridbeam is described as a sort of “Erector Set system for adults”. It’s simply a length of squared wood, aluminum or steel with precisely drilled holes [at regular intervals] along its length. Holes are drilled in both directions so that they intersect in the beam’s middle. Sections are simply cut to desired length and pieced together. Additional pieces can be designed and added on to connect pieces at different …


Preparedness Beginnings, by “Two Dogs”

I am a retired Marine Corps officer and Naval Aviator (jets and helicopters), commercial airplane and helicopter pilot, and most recently, an aircraft operations manager for a Federal agency. I graduated from numerous military schools, including the U.S. Army Airborne (“jump”) School, U.S. Navy Divers School, Army helicopter, and Navy advanced jet schools. In addition, I have attended military “survival” courses whose primary focus was generally short-term survival off the land, escape from capture, and recovery from remote areas.  Like most Marine officers, I attended The Basic School, an 8-month school (only five during the Vietnam era – my case), …


Gear Up — Appropriate and Redundant Technologies for Prepared Families

I frequently stress the importance of well-balanced preparedness in my writings. All too often, I’ve seen people that go to extremes, to the point that these extremes actually detract from the ability to survive a disaster situation. These range from the “all the gear that I’ll need to survive is in my backpack” mentality to the “a truckload of this or that” fixation. But genuine preparedness lies in comprehensive planning, strict budgeting, and moderation. Blowing your entire preparedness budget on just one category of gear is detrimental to your overall preparedness. Another common mistake that I see among my consulting …


Community Disaster Recovery–Asking the Right People the Right Questions

I was pleased to see this post over at the Mountain Steps blog: A letter to our county commissioner about emergency preparation for hyperinflation. It is commendable to make such inquiries, but it is essential to ask detailed questions. Especially when contacting elected officials, vague, general questions tend to elicit vague, general answers, and hence most likely no action will be taken. It is also essential that you do some research first, to direct your inquiry letter or phone call to the right individuals. Flunkies don’t create or change policy, they just implement it. You need to direct your letter …


Letter Re: Power Failure Alarms

James; I need your advice. I am worried about power failures, and even EMP while I’m sleeping. This could take out my security system, and leave my family vulnerable. Is there any sort of device that’ll alert me if the power goes out? Thanks, – Nolan S. JWR Replies: There are fairly inexpensive commercially-made plug-in power failure alarms available via mail order for under $15. (Or under $20 each at larger home improvement stores.) I recommend buying one for each bedroom, and one for your generator house. (The 86 dB alarm is not loud enough to be heard from far …


Survey Results: Your Favorite Books on Preparedness, Self-Sufficiency, and Practical Skills

In descending order of frequency, the 78 readers that responded to my latest survey recommended the following non-fiction books on preparedness, self-sufficiency, and practical skills: The Encyclopedia of Country Living by Carla Emery (Far and away the most often-mentioned book. This book is an absolute “must” for every well-prepared family!) The Foxfire Book series (in 11 volumes, but IMHO, the first five are the best) Holy Bible Where There Is No Dentist by Murray Dickson “Rawles on Retreats and Relocation” Making the Best of Basics: Family Preparedness Handbook by James Talmage Stevens The “Rawles Gets You Ready” preparedness course Crisis …


Net Producer-Net Consumer Equations for Self-Sufficiency: Getting Out of the Pit

In a recent phone conversation with one of my consulting clients, I was asked why I placed such a large emphasis on living in the country, at a relatively self-sufficient retreat. I’ve already discussed at length the security advantages of isolation from major population centers in the blog, but I realized that I’ve never fully articulated the importance of self-sufficiency, at a fundamental level. In a societal collapse, where you are in “You’re on Your Own” (YOYO) mode, it will be very important to be a net producer of water, food, and energy. This will mean the difference between being …


From Mike Williamson: Some Useful DIY Home Power Technology Web Links

The following links will be of interest to anyone interested in do-it-yourself (DIY) power generation and 19th Century technology. Most of these come from Lindsay Publishing. [JWR Adds: They are also one one of my favorites!] : Generator and Inverters Wood into Charcoal and Electricity (although the generator design is at best a temp make-work design while you scrounge to build a better one). Gas Engines and Producer Gas Plants DIY Wind Turbine Power Plant (The best DIY design out there, although you might find a cheaper copy elsewhere). DIY Machine Shop (This is a Gingery design, not suitable for …


Letter Re: Advice on Deep Water Wells in a Grid-Down Era

James, I know that I have seen posts about deep water wells, but when I search I really don’t see that many applicable posts. I am looking at a property where water [static level] is about 400 feet down. In a “grid-up” scenario, this isn’t really a problem, but I am looking for “grid-down” options for using a well at this depth. Not knowing much about the specifics of wells, I am not having much luck searching with Google, either. Would you be able to cover some deep well basics and some options for grid down/solar/backup pumping, specifically for deep …


Letter Re: Pros and Cons of Propane Storage

James, Having a lot of propane on hand has some serious issues. Homeland Security via “Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act” (EPCRA) requires anyone that has more than 10,000 pounds of virtually any hazardous material (except for explosives and radioactive materials that have their own unique requirements), to report that quantity to the State Homeland Security Office, the local Fire Marshal, and the Local Emergency Management Manager yearly. These reports are open to anybody that wants to see them. (Now you know how the bad guy knows where the stuff is, all they have to do is ask and the …


Letter Re: Portable Oxygen Condensers

James, I recently installed an AuraGen system similar to the current listing on eBay (#330329068735) onto a customer’s Bug Out Vehicle (BOV), a 1986 Chevrolet Suburban 1 ton (modified with some parts that were originally incorporated in the M1008 CUCV). This customer also is afflicted with COPD and uses a 110 VAC Oxygen generator. The Auragen, being a military designed system is far more durable, far more rugged, and most importantly, far more versatile than an inverter placed into any vehicle electrical system. Being a mil-spec unit,.EMP is also not an issue as it meets the military requirements for such …