Some Observations on Non-Electric Lighting, by Ron B.

INTRODUCTION
I began work in Toronto on August 1, 2003.  The lights went out three weeks later.  The entire Northeast was dark for several days.

The company had provided us with three months of free housing.  By my standards it was quite posh ¾ pool privileges, chandeliers, weekly maid service. 

But we knew nobody, had little food in the cupboard, and no local currency.  (Then again the cash registers didn’t work anyway.)  When the sun went down it got dark and stayed dark.  We had no light of any kind.  Granted, the two huge candlesticks on the mantle were a blessing, though some candles for them would have been nice.

Afterwards, my wife confessed how close she had been to begging:  “Let’s go home.  I’m scared.  I don’t care about the job.  I don’t care about the money.  Let’s get the hell out of here.” 

Fear of the dark is both primitive and powerful.

I later retired and began work on a book entitled:  No Lights?  No Batteries?  No Problem.  A Handbook of Non-Electric Lighting.  After three years of research and hundreds of “science experiments,” I submitted a book proposal to a publisher.

They kept my chapters three months and sent me a very nice rejection letter.  It began to dawn on me (at age 71) that there were not enough months left in my life to locate a publisher.  No doubt I’ll self-publish electronically at some point but in the meantime I’d like to share some of my findings.  I wish I’d known this stuff myself in 2003.

SAFETY
Everything that burns consumes oxygen.  So be sure to crack a window and provide ventilation. 

Also, everything that burns gives off carbon monoxide: your gas range, your KeroSun heater with catalytic converter, your gas clothes dryer, your boudoir incense, your wood stove, your kerosene lamp, your fireplace, the candles on your birthday cake.

As a check to see that it’s working, the directions for my carbon monoxide detector suggest bringing a stick of burning incense close to the detector.  Wow!  The detector screams!  A very impressive demo!

VEGETABLE OIL:  THE STRING LAMP
Vegetable oil lamps are less expensive than candles to burn.  One tablespoon of vegetable oil will produce a candle-sized flame for two hours.  Cooking oil has been burned in lamps since Biblical times.       

You can use a tuna fish can to hold the oil but a clear glass container allows more light to escape.  It should be Pyrex; a wine glass is the perfect shape but will probably break (trust me on this).  You can buy small Pyrex custard dishes at the Salvation Army store for 50¢ each.  They have brand names like Glasbake and Fire-King.

Soak a length of cotton string in the oil and let it dangle over the edge of the bowl.  That’s your wick.  Light the wick with a match.  The flame burns right at the lip of the bowl.

Do not use synthetic material for a wick (polyester, nylon, etc.).  Oil is drawn to the flame by capillary action.  Synthetics melt in the heat of the flame and seal off the capillary action.

The best wick material I’ve found (for heavy, viscous vegetable oil) is a strand from a cotton-string floor mop.  Actually, a whole strand is too much.  Just one of the four plies within the strand will do the job.

String mop-heads can be purchased at the Dollar Store.  For a buck you’ll have a lifetime supply of wicks.  An edge seam from your handkerchief will also work.  Ditto for a strip of your flannel pajamas or flannel shirt or denim from your jeans.  Just nothing synthetic.

You can dangle several wicks over the side of the bowl and light all of them at the same time.  That’s a nice arrangement because, when one of the wicks builds up a big carbon goober on the end, it can be cleaned off by the light of the still-burning wicks.

The string lamp is very safe because vegetable oil is fiendishly difficult to ignite.  If you spill vegetable oil, you’ll create a mess but no fire hazard.  In fact, a string lamp is best extinguished by pushing the burning wick right into the oil.  The flame will go out instantly.  (If you merely blow out the flame, the wick will glow and smolder and stink.)   

TIP:  Put a saucer under your string lamp.  It will drip. 

TIP:  Use the least expensive vegetable oil available.  You’re not going to eat it; you’re going to burn it. So don’t buy olive oil for this purpose.  

TIP:  The generous use of mirrors will enhance your light output.   

VEGETABLE OIL:  A SIMPLE LANTERN
The terms “lamp” and “lantern” are almost interchangeable although a lamp is generally used inside whereas a lantern is used outside.  A lantern shields the flame from wind and rain.

A crude but serviceable lantern can be made by pouring a quarter-inch of vegetable oil in the bottom of Pyrex measuring cup or a pot from your Mr. Coffee.  (A cup or jar made from ordinary glass will break for sure using this design, no “maybe” about it.) 

Wad up a 2″ x 2″ square of paper, light the paper with a match, and drop the burning clump into the oil.  Voila!  A lantern.  The flame is down inside the container, shielded from the wind.  The paper serves as a wick.  And a wide range of paper can be used ¾ paper toweling, newspaper, bond paper, paper bag.

The bottom becomes very hot.  You’ll need a trivet under it.  In the case of a measuring cup, the handle becomes very hot.  You will need a potholder or gloves to carry it.  You cannot regulate the flame size so the lantern will smoke, making it suitable for outdoors use only.  After half an hour the glass will become smoked up. 

On the plus side, it will light your way to the privy and back at midnight. And, like the string lamp, should you spill this lantern, the vegetable oil will create a mess but the fire hazard is very small.

CANDLE FLASHLIGHT
This idea came from a booklet entitled Light by Dawn Russell. 

You’ll need:
(1) A candle (i.e. a taper, not a tea candle).
(2) A 3-pound coffee can (well . . . today it’s 2½ lbs.)  And make it a metal can, if you please.  Not plastic and not paper sprayed with an aluminum coating.
(3) A wire coat hanger (for a handle).

We’ll operate the flashlight with the can on its side, not eye-to-the-sky.   What served as the can’s bottom when it held coffee becomes the back wall of the flashlight.     

In use, the candle is vertical while the can is horizontal.  The top of the candle sticks up through (what has become) the floor of the flashlight.  The flame is at the top of the candle and inside the can.  The candle’s bottom end protrudes down through the floor and hangs under the flashlight.  Hence you can’t set the flashlight down; it must be carried or hung on a peg. 

NOTE:  In case you can’t visualize it from my description, the following link shows a picture of the candle flashlight as well as the string lamp and the vegetable oil lantern:  http://mumblingsfromthechimneycorner.blogspot.com/

To build the flashlight, first remove the top of the coffee can (and the coffee, too, may I add).  Then cut an X in the can wall, midway between the two ends.  Each arm of the X should be an inch long.  Push a candle partway through the X and into the can.  The points of the X become spurs holding the candle in place. 

To cut the X, first punch a hole through the can wall with a nail and hammer.  Then cut the metal with a utility knife.  (Cans aren’t very thick these days.)  Use a sawing motion.  Some strength is required.

A piece of wire coat hanger forms a handle.  Punch two holes in the top of the flashlight (the “top” being the roof over the flame).  One of the holes is at the rear of the flashlight; the other in the front. 

Push the wire into one of the holes (from the outside) and, with pliers, crimp the end of the wire inside the flashlight to form a foot that will not pull back through the hole.  Bend the wire as necessary and repeat the process on the second hole.

A 2½ lb. coffee can is 6″ in diameter.  I allow 4″ of headspace between the top of the candle and the flashlight’s ceiling.  It works well.

KEROSENE LAMPS
There is not much to be said about [traditional wick] kerosene lamps (the $6 variety from Dollar General).  They are simple, reliable, and reasonably safe.  And smelly.  They give light equivalent to a 7½-watt nightlight.  Ditto for Dietz-type barn lanterns.  If you want more light than that (ignoring antiques such as Rayos), you’ll have to enter the world of pressure lanterns.

There’s one exception, the Kosmos.  It’s made in Europe, burns kerosene, and outputs light in the 15-watt range.  But it costs $100.  Before you buy, may I suggest a cost-benefit comparison to a propane pressure lamp…

PROPANE LAMPS
Lamps that run on small cylinders of propane represent one type of pressure lantern.  The cylinders are pre-filled with fuel in contrast to liquid-fuel lanterns that are messy to fill. 

A single-mantle propane lamp (Century brand) is $20 at Wal-Mart.  It will produce light equivalent to a 40-watt light bulb.  One cylinder of fuel ($4) will last 12 hours.  That’s a run rate of 33¢ an hour which is a fairly steep.  But because no filling is required (and thus no spills) and because there is no smell while burning, propane lamps have largely replaced liquid-fuel lanterns within the camping community. 

Note that the cylinders used in camping lanterns, and the skinnier cylinders used for Bernz-O-Matic soldering torches, and the 20 lb. cylinders used on barbeque grills, and the 200 lb. cylinder behind the house for the kitchen stove, all contain propane.  And it’s all the same stuff, C3H8.  You can buy adaptors to hook up your little camping lantern to a bigger tank.

UNDERSTANDING WHITE GAS & COLEMAN FUEL & GASOLINE
Liquid-fuel lanterns are less expensive to operate than propane.  Unfortunately, pressure lamps that run on white gas belong to granddad’s era and not many people today understand the technology.  A little bit of homework, though, will help ensure your family’s safety.  So let’s have at it.

Oil refining is a two-stage affair.  First, distillation breaks crude oil into five major fractions:  refinery gases, gasoline, kerosene, diesel oil, and residues.

After fractional distillation comes cracking.  The world’s thirst for gasoline is bigger than fractional distillation can satisfy.  Cracking breaks down heavy oil into lighter products.

White gas is (and was) pure gasoline with no additives.  It is clear as water and 50 octane.  The Model “T” Ford, with its 4.5:1 compression ratio, ran fine on white gas.  So did Coleman lanterns.

Better auto performance required higher compression engines.  Higher compression required higher-octane gas.  Tetra-ethyl lead was added to white gas to increase its octane rating.  A bit of red dye was also added so that consumers didn’t accidentally pump the old-fashioned 50-octane stuff, now called white, into their cars. 

White gas at the pump became hard to find but Coleman lanterns still needed it.  Coleman began selling white gas branded as “Coleman fuel.”

Leaded gas is no more.  It poisoned people and was phased out 1975-1995.  But “unleaded” does not mean “no additives.”  Unleaded means different additives.  No additives would put you back to 50 octane.

COLEMAN DUAL FUEL LANTERNS
Today, Coleman sells “Dual Fuel” lanterns that are billed as running on either Coleman fuel or unleaded automobile gas. 

I was surprised to discover that my new Coleman Dual Fuel 285 produced light equivalent to a 150-watt light bulb on Coleman fuel but only equivalent to 100 watts on automobile gas. 

Would auto gas plug the lantern’s generator (as some claimed)?  I decided to find out.

Day 1.  The 285 started out (on auto gas) at 100 watts.  I kept it pumped up hard.  Eight hours later it had faded to 40 watts.  At nine hours it was almost empty.

Day 2.  It started out at 100 watts.  Six hours later it was 40 watts.  I shut it down at nine hours.

Day 3.  It started out at 100 watts.  Three hours later it was 40 watts.  I shut it down at nine hours.

Day 4.  It started out at 40 watts.  Total hours at 100 watts (actually, 40 watts or more) were seventeen.

Day 5.  I switched back to white gas.  Light output was 75 watts, half of what it had been prior to running automobile gas.  Auto gas had clogged the lantern’s generator.  A new generator was $11.49 plus postage:  www.coleman.com/coleman/parts/parts_lantern.asp

Aside.  The term generator might sound complicated but a “steam jenny” was a generator.  Jenny was slang for generator.  A steam jenny generated steam.  A teakettle is a steam jenny.

And the generator for a Coleman lantern is little more than a length of brass tubing.  Liquid fuel enters one end.  A check valve stops it from reversing direction.  Heat is applied to the outside of the tube.  The liquid inside the tube turns to a gas.  Gas (in the “solid-liquid-gas” sense of things) has been generated from a liquid.

Question.  Will older Coleman lanterns, engineered for white gas, run on unleaded automobile gas?  Yes.  Safely?  Yes.  Will automobile gas slowly clog the lantern’s generator?  Yes.  Did I personally test it?  Yes.  Why didn’t they advertise the old lanterns as “dual-fuel”? 

Why?  Because the auto gas of that era contained lead.  Not good for baby’s little brain.

ORPHANS
An “orphan” is a lamp for which you cannot find spare parts.  An otherwise perfect lamp without the necessary wick or mantle or pump leather is effectively junk.  And when, exactly, is that critical part going to fail?  When the water’s five feet high and risin’.  It’s a law of nature.

[With the exception of Diesel fuel,] kerosene is the least expensive liquid fuel ($3.75 a gallon versus $10.50 for Coleman fuel).  If you want a pressure lantern that runs on kero, your choices are a used Coleman 237, a used Coleman 639, a new Coleman 214, or a new Coleman 639C.  You can find these lanterns on eBay and spare parts at Coleman.  Everything else in the Coleman kerosene lineup is an orphan.

(Petromax is a non-Coleman lantern that burns kerosene and for which spare parts are available.)

Older Colemans that run on white gas and for which spare parts are readily available include the 220, the 228, and the 200A.  Other older Colemans are orphans.

Other older brands (J.C. Higgins and Ted Williams from Sears; Hawthorne and Western Field from Wards; Thermos; KampLite; Diamond; etc., etc., etc.) are orphans. 

Even new lanterns can be orphans.  Today, NorthStar is Coleman’s top-of-the-line lantern but requires a unique pleated, tubular mantle.  No other lantern has it or can use it ¾ domestic or foreign, new, used, or antique.  I own several lanterns but, because of its unique orphan mantle, not a NorthStar.

ARE MANTLES RADIOACTIVE?
This is a hot-button topic.

Pressure lanterns require mantles.  Mantles are made of cloth coated with a rare earth that glows in the heat of the flame and produces more light than the flame itself.

Thorium was the rare earth used in lamp mantles from the 1890s to the 1990s.  Thorium, however, is slightly radioactive.  Thorium has been largely replaced with yttrium, another rare earth that is not radioactive.  The new yttrium mantles are not as bright as the old thorium mantles. 

So how radioactive is radioactive?

A “Roentgen equivalent man” (abbreviated rem) is a measure of radiation.  A millirem (abbreviated mrem) = 1/1000 rem.  Background radiation is about one mrem per day in most parts of the world.

One dental X-ray is equivalent to 0.5 mrem.  One mammogram is equivalent to 300 mrem.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission estimates that “avid campers” (making 26 two-day camping trips per year, using Coleman-type lanterns with thorium mantles) receive 0.05 to 6 mrem per year.

Let’s express the foregoing in more familiar units, Dollars: Background radiation is $1 per day.  A dental X-ray is 50¢.  A mammogram is $300.  An “avid camper” would receive between 5¢ and $6 per year from thorium mantles.

MORE ABOUT MANTLES
Today’s Coleman mantles are the #21 and the #11.  They replaced the 21A Silk-Lite and the #1111 respectively (which were the old thorium mantles). 

The #21 mantle is used on Coleman’s new Dual Fuel lanterns as well as Coleman’s older gas models (220, 228, 200A) as well the Coleman 214 (kerosene).  The #11 mantles are used on Coleman’s larger kerosene lanterns (237, 639, 639C).

Personally, I use the #21 mantle on my Petromax 150CP (i.e. 150 candlepower) and the #11 mantle on my 500CP Petromax.  Petromax is a brand of lantern to be discussed next. 

I’ve given up on Petromax-brand mantles because they are too fragile.  With all the finesse I can muster, I usually break them when starting the lantern.  At $2 apiece, it’s an expensive game.  Fortunately, however, Coleman mantles work fine on a Petromax lantern.  As a consequence, I use only Coleman mantles on my Petromaxes.

PETROMAX
I used to have a friend at work who pulled into the parking lot each day in his clanking Volkswagen diesel.  He would get out, shaking his head.  “When you go to the dealer, they brag about German engineering.  They neglect to mention that it’s built in Mexico.”

Petromax lanterns are like that. 

The Petromax was a German, WWI-era lantern.  Its patents have long since expired so it is freely copied by everyone.  The Petromax trademark is another story.  The original trademark lapsed and was reregistered by other sellers.  In the USA, BriteLyt in Florida currently owns it.  Other countries, other owners.

In the USA, Coleman is the big name.  But worldwide, many more Petromax lanterns exist than Coleman.  Petromax’ brothers, sisters, cousins, and clones include BriteLyt, Butterfly, Anchor, Sea Anchor, Tower, Santrax, Egret, Solex (Italy), Aida, Geniol, Hipolito (Portugal), Primus, Optimus (Sweden), Radius (Sweden), Hasag (Switzerland), Buflam-Petroflam (England), Big Wheel, Light, Red Heart, Silverray, Crown (Iraq), Kohinoor (India), Wenzel (Sam’s Club), Prabhat (India), and Col-Max (USA).  Col-Max?  Yes, just before WWII Coleman made a Petromax clone for export, intended to compete directly with Petromax itself.  

All of which testifies to the excellence of the original Petromax design.

Many of these brands are no longer manufactured (although most appear on eBay from time to time).  All of the new ones (of whatever trademark including Petromax itself) are made in the Far East and any given factory produces several different brands.  Unfortunately, it’s nearly universal that the tooling is worn, threads are rounded and don’t hold, holes don’t line up, pumps don’t pump, and prickers don’t prick.  I feel certain that few if any would meet the old-time Petromax specs.

Advertising hype notwithstanding, if you Google for BriteLyt or Butterfly or Sea Anchor you will discover a whole new world of bitching.  The best advice I can give is to buy a Petromax only where you can return it!  You may have to go through several lanterns before you find a good one.

Why bother?  Because Petromax lanterns will burn diesel fuel with today’s yttrium mantles.  Coleman lanterns won’t. 

In 2006, a contributor to The International Guild of Lamp Researchers said, “the Petromax can be used with diesel – at least for five or six hours (or so, depending on the quality of the fuel). After that time you will most probably find the generator clogged with a coal-like substance . . .:  (ref. question #3644)

Sorry, but that statement is an example of armchair science.  I ran my 500CP Petromax for 50 consecutive hours on diesel.  The generator (Preston loop) was clear before, during, and after the test, ready for another 50 hours. 

The Petromax is a kerosene lantern.  There’s a running war between The International Guild of Lamp Researchers and BriteLyt on the safety of burning gasoline in a BriteLyt.  BriteLyt says you can.  The Guild says you can’t.

There are reported cases of Petromax lanterns “exploding” when run on gasoline.  Neal McRae best covers the design issues.

I have to side with The Guild on this one because, in addition to design issues, there’s the poor workmanship so widespread in today’s Petromax lanterns. 

For example, I own a BriteLyt that will not turn off when run on gasoline.  I returned this lantern when it was brand new to BriteLyt in Florida because of the incredible quantity of gunk in the fuel tank.  They sent it back to me a month later, all better.  

Now, with the control valve in the OFF position, the lantern continues to burn.  It will not shut completely off.  (To my mind, this is a factory workmanship issue more than a Petromax design issue.)

The only way to turn the lantern off is to crack the thumb screw on the filler cap and release pressure . . . thereby releasing flammable gasoline vapor mere inches away from a burning mantle.  Not safe!  (That practice may be acceptable with kerosene ¾ the Coleman 241, for example, a kerosene lantern, was designed that way ¾ but it is decidedly unsafe with gasoline.)

So . . .  Can you burn gasoline in a Petromax and get away with it?  Sure.  Can you pump gasoline while smoking a cigarette and get away with it?  Sure.  Now riddle me this:  Is it a smart thing to do? 

Conclusion
This article is only the tip of the iceberg.  We haven’t touched on mineral spirits or burning fluid or animal fat as fuel.  Or Rayos or Duplexes or Aladdins.  Or carbide miner’s lamps or candle-making or lantern repairs or a host of other topics.  But I hope it gives you some light and I hope it helps keep you safe.

Disclaimers
In the interest of full disclosure, I do not own any stock in any company mentioned in this article.  Nor do I own stock in any competitor of any company mentioned in this article. JWR Adds: Here is my own disclaimer (per FTC File No. P034520): I accept cash-paid advertising. To the best of my knowledge, as of the date of this posting, none of my advertisers that sell the products mentioned in this article have solicited me or paid me to write any reviews or endorsements, nor have they provided me any free or reduced-price gear in exchange for any reviews or endorsements. I am not a stock holder in any company. I do, however, benefit from sales through the SurvivalBlog Amazon Store. If you click on one of our Amazon links and then “click through” to order ANY product from Amazon.com (not just the ones listed in our catalog), then we will earn a modest sales commission.

Small World Department: Image of JWR’s Ferret Scout Car Used for Gray Propaganda

As editor of SurvivalBlog I’ve had a number of “Small World Department” coincidences occur in the past six years. Most of these have been chance meetings with blog readers and mutual acquaintances, everywhere from Reno, Nevada to as far away as Switzerland. But the latest coincidence is absolutely astounding: As you may already be aware, the Russian FSB produces some gray propaganda under the pen name “Sorcha Faal.” Their department’s most recent bit of hyperbolic dezinformatsaya was in an article over at the fairly wacky “What Does It Mean?” web site. (The web site uses the dotted quad address: 207.58.165.85 — which ironically is in McLean, Virginia!) There, they recently posted an article titled: “Obama Issues Secret Order For Military Raids On Civilians”. It included an un-captioned photo showing some menacing-looking storm troopers in all black uniforms, sitting on the front of a military vehicle. Well, guess what: That was MY military vehicle — a Ferret Mark 4 Scout Car that I bought in the late 1990s, as part of my Y2K preps. In late 2002, I sold that vehicle, shortly before I moved back to the boonies. The pictured “storm troopers” were in fact some friends and acquaintances that were journeymen-level science fiction convention costumers and prop builders. In the summer of 2002, they asked me for permission to pose in their Aliens Colonial Space Marines costumes and also their black Jin-Roh Panzer Cops costumes, and I gladly consented. The photos were shot in the side yard of my Fremont, California home. The photo shoot was all great fun and the group thought that my Ferret made a great backdrop for their sci-fi fan photos. Little did I know that one of those digital images would be slurped up from the Internet nine years later to be used for Russian gray propaganda. (FYI, Jin-Roh was a Japanese anime “alternate history” series, with the premise that the Axis powers won WWII and that Germany then conquered Japan. Hence, they wore German “coal scuttle” helmets.)

What a small world we live in! All this time I thought that I was a disharmonious reactionary Capitalist Rotor. But now it appears that I’ve unwittingly been used as a post-Soviet Rotor.

Special note to the “Sorcha” sisters: “Stoi, durakam. Ya znayu sekreti!“

Letter Re: Hurricane Preparedness Steps

Jim:
Now is the time for those in the Southeastern United States to check their preparations for hurricanes.  Below is a list of steps I go through anytime there is a hint of a potential storm.  These steps were derived from past experiences and lessons I have learned from other Survivalblog.com posts.  I do this prep so as not to get caught up in panicked crowds on the days immediately preceding the storm.  Should the storm not hit me directly I consider this prepping chance to practice and shore up my supplies.

7 Days Out
1)    Water (1 or 5 gallon jugs) is purchased and any filter systems, storage systems and well pumps are checked. 
2)    Storage food is checked and additional food is purchased if necessary.  During his phase any non-perishable food needed, including comfort food should is purchased. 
3)    Fuel Stores such as gasoline, diesel, propane, natural gas, Coleman White fuel, kerosene are checked and topped off as needed. 
4)    Cooking fuels are checked and purchased as needed.
5)    Battery stores are checked and additional batteries are purchased as needed.
6)    Flashlights, lanterns and other alternative light sources are tested and batteries are replaced, fuel is added to each device as needed.
7)    Alternative cooking devices are tested.
8)    Radio communications are tested and made ready.
9)    Storm shutters and fasteners are made ready for deployment.
10) Blackout curtains are located and made ready for use.
11) Generators – run on a load for 30 minutes, tanks are topped off and any maintenance need is completed.
12) First aid supplies – are checked and additional supplies are purchased as needed.
13) Double check prescriptions and fill if necessary.
14) Firearms (If you have them) are checked and cleaned and lubricated if necessary.  Ammunition is checked and the amount needed for a possible event is moved from storage to an easily accessible, but secure location.
15) Daily used household items such as cleaners, soaps, tooth care; toilet paper etc. should be checked and purchased as necessary.
16) Start making Ice and have bags ready for when the container for the ice maker gets full.
17) G.O.O.D. packs are checked and replenished as needed.
18) Fuel tanks for vehicles from this point on are not allowed to go below ¾ths filled and as a normal procedure should not be allowed to go under ½ full. 
19) Check vehicles for tire pressure, fluid levels, belt tensions, and any pending maintenance critical to the operation of the vehicle should be done at this time. 
20) Communicate with your preparedness group, family and like-minded friends; discuss the possibility of implementing your preparedness plan assuming you have one.

4-to-5-Days Out
1)    Grocery store – last minute items and surprisingly perishable items such as fruits and vegetables that do not need refrigeration are purchased.   The event may be short term and this will allow for one to two weeks of fresh fruits and vegetables before the need to move to dry and canned food.
2)    Mail all bills due in the next 30 days if possible.
3)    Start freezing water in 2 liter soda bottles. This will help freezers and refrigerators stay cool longer when the power goes out.
4)    Have family or group meeting and discuss preparedness plans to include responsibilities for final preparations and survival responsibilities immediately after the event and contingency plans for when things go wrong.  
5)    Start consuming primarily refrigerated perishable food.
6)    Assuming the garbage trucks are still running; make sure all trash is removed. 
7)    Any member of your family or group who has to work will need to place a survival pack in their vehicle, that should include 3 to 7 days of food and water and one or two Jerry can(s) of fuel if possible.  If possible, preposition short term emergency supplies at the place of employment. 

Experience has demonstrated the hordes of panicked people are beginning to start at this phase, but depending on the event and how the event is covered in the media, the hordes could potentially start earlier than expected; making some of the preparations at this stage more difficult to accomplish.  

48 Hours Out
1)     Impact shutters are installed, leaving one or two off on the back side of the house to allow natural light in.    When shutters go up it gets dark and gloomy fast.  The last few shutters can be installed right before the storm hits.
2)    Loose objects outside of the home are secured or moved inside.
3)    Rain gutters and downspouts are cleaned out.  
4)    Charge any remaining batteries and radios.
5)    Data from computers is backed up and securely stored. 
6)    Paper records are secured.
7)    Important personal items, such as family photos are secured.    
8)    Persons doing prep work in the immediate vicinity of the home should have a two way radio with them at all times, with someone in the home monitoring the radio.  This is especially important for those living in rural areas with large amounts of property and when working a fair distance from the home.  
9)     One person at all times should be monitoring Radio, Internet and television news. Continue to monitoring these sources while available.

10 to 24 Hours Out
1)    Any items still outside the home are secured.
2)    Remaining storm shutters are installed.
3)    Vehicles are moved to the garage or a secure location. Depending on the situation and location this step may be done sooner in the process.
4)    Internal alternative light sources are made ready and strategically placed. 
5)    Food stores and water for the next 24-72 hours are made ready.  Some perishable food for immediate use can be moved to coolers, which if properly packed and insulated will stay cool for two days. A layer of dry ice on the bottom of a cooler separated by a dish towel can keep items frozen for up to 4 days in the proper cooler)
6)    Turn freezer refrigerator temps down).  Get them as cold as possible without freezing the coils.
7)    Turn air-conditioning down and get the house cool before the power goes out.
8)    Entertainment such as games, books are located and made ready.
9)    Charge laptops and cell phones.
10)  Wash all dishes by hand.
11) Any remaining laundry is done (earlier in the 24-hours before landfall and well before the likelihood of power failures).
12) Depending on the water situation, sinks, bath tubs and containers should be filled with water and treated appropriately.  
13)  Move some frozen bottles to the refrigerator.
14) Keep refrigerator and freezer doors closed (once the power goes out, It may be 12 hours or more before the generator can fired up). 

 

3 Hours Out – (Power is Out )
1)    Alternative lighting sources are activated.
2)    All AC Powered lights and appliances, televisions, computers (except one lamp) are unplugged.  The breaker for the HVAC unit and water heater is shut off.   Leaving one light connected to the AC [utility power] and in the on mode will provide an indication when the power returns.  Once power returns, lamps and appliances can be powered up gradually to avert the effects of a power surge.  Those with standby generators will handle this step differently depending on how their backup system is designed.    
3)    If possible, use the remaining hot water; take a shower(s) assuming conditions warrant.
4)    Once hot water is used, and if using a hot water tank, close the incoming water valve; a fresh supply of water is now available.  
5)    Activate the battery operated television or radio and monitor events.
6)    Sleep when and if possible in rotating shifts.
7)    If the situation warrants, move to a storm shelter or the most secure part of the house.  
When prepping for a storm, I print the list and the items are checked off as they are completed.  Doing so allows for a fast and efficient approach to prepping for a storm and helps to ensure nothing is forgotten.   The list is tweaked as needed and steps are added and /or removed based on the perceived severity of the storm in my general area.  Regards, – Florida Dave

Economics and Investing:

Getting ready for a wave of coal-plant shutdowns. (Thanks to KAF for the link.)

Pierre M. suggested this: Trouble in Paradise Strength of Swiss Franc Roils Saint-Tropez and Other Cities Across Europe

John R. kindly sent us a raft of links:

The Root Causes of the Global Financial Crisis (Bob Chapman)  

Bernanke’s last resort: Start dancing? (Paul R. La Monica)  

Plosser calls Fed’s low rate pledge “inappropriate”    

Europe’s banks could break us all Bill Fleckenstein

The Bailout Isn’t Working Bank of America is the canary in the coal mine

U.S. Treasury Hidden Trickery in Mortgage Backed Security Recoveries (Aftab Singh)  

Economists Refuse to Recognize the New Great Depression (Cliff Droke)  

Europe’s Debt Crisis Won’t End Until Greece Defaults (Jeff Cox)  

Politicizing the Fed? Blame Nixon, Not Perry (Real Clear Markets)  

Big Money and the Economic Depression (Martin W. Armstrong) 

The Case Against Rating Agencies—Guard-Dogs for the Banks   (Michael Hudson)  

Items from The Economatrix:

US Bond Yields Plunge as Economy Fears Mount; Drop Below 2% for First Time

Dollar, Yen Up with US Recession Fears at Forefront

Brent Oil Drops Nearly $4 as Recession Fears Grow

The Real Euro Crisis Is Yet To Explode

A Second Great Depression, Or Worse?

Downgrades Felt At Local Level

Odds ‘n Sods:

Mike Williamson (SurvivalBlog’s Editor At Large) wrote to mention that September 6th is “Book Bomb Day” for his novel Rogue. It is the sequel to The Weapon. It has: “Some violence, some harsh language, and very few sexual references.” You can read some advance chapters here. Let’s lift Mike’s new book into Amazon’s Top 20! By the way, Mike will be signing books at Uncle Hugo’s book store on September 10th, 2011, including the signature edition of Rogue.  Uncle Hugo’s is Mike’s preferred outlet for sales ranking. 

Also, Mike’s new Freehold series adventure story (with minimal adult content in the form of two swear words) is now available for free reading at the Baen publishing web site.

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My wife Avalanche Lily pointed me to an excellent post over at the Paratus Familia blog: Long Term Food Storage – Baking with 25 Year Old Wheat

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Businessweek magazine just lumped me in with a bunch of Rapture Profiteers, even though I told their reporter that I’m a post-mil kinda guy. Oh well, it it tough talking about eschatology, even with fellow Christians, much less with a non-Christian reporter.

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Jeff B. sent this: Military bulks up to protect against groin injuries

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Taipan’s editor, Joseph McBrennan suggests: Buy a Gun. Link coutresy of J.B.G.

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“Alas, Babylon was a private, a family signal. When they were boys, he and Mark used to sneak up to the back of the First Afro-Repose Baptist Church on Sunday nights to hear Preacher Henry calling down hell-fire and damnation on the sinners in the big cities. Preacher Henry always took his text out of the Revelation of St. John. It seemed like he ended every lurid verse with, “Alas, Babylon!” in a voice so resonant you could feel it, if you rested your fingertips gently on the warped pine boards of the church. Randy and Mark would crouch under the rear window, behind the pulpit, fascinated and wide-eyed, while Preacher Henry described the Babylonian revels, including fornication. Sometimes Preacher Henry made Babylon sound like Miami, and sometimes like Tampa, for he condemned not only fornication – he read the word right out of the Bible – but also horse racing and the dog tracks. Randy could hear him yet: “And I am telling you right now, all wife-swappers, whisky-drinkers, and crap-shooters are going to get it! And all them who come out of those sin palaces on the beach, whether they be called hotels or motels, wearing minks and jewels and not much else, they is goin’ to get it! And them fast-steppers in Cadillacs and yaller roadsters, they is going to get it!  Just like it says here in the Good Book, that Great City that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, that Great City was burned off the face of the earth in an hour. Just one hour Alas, Babylon!” – Pat Frank in his novel Alas, Babylon

Note from JWR:

Today we present another entry for Round 36 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize: A.) A course certificate from onPoint Tactical. This certificate will be for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses. (Excluding those restricted for military or government teams.) Three day onPoint courses normally cost $795, and B.) Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $300 value.) C.) A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $275 value), D.) A $250 gift certificate from Sunflower Ammo, and E.) An M17 medical kit from JRH Enterprises (a $179.95 value).

Second Prize: A.) A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol. It is a $439 value courtesy of Next Level Training. B.) A “grab bag” of preparedness gear and books from Jim’s Amazing Secret Bunker of Redundant Redundancy (JASBORR) with a retail value of at least $300, C.) A $250 gift card from Emergency Essentials, and D.) two cases of Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value).

Third Prize: A.) A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21. (This filter system is a $275 value.), B.) Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy. This is a $185 retail value, and C.) Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security.

Round 36 ends on September 30th, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that articles that relate practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

Spiritual and Moral Preparedness, by A. Padre

I guess I am a prepper.  When I started “prepping” 15 years ago they called it being a survivalist, but I think prepper is more apropos since the word survivalist suggests Rambo and anyone who knows me knows that’s not me.  Over the past few months I became aware that prepping is gaining momentum again, like it did before Y2K when I first got involved.  Some months back I stumbled on a YouTube channel and since then I have been making the rounds of the prepper sites.  I have been really thankful to all of you preppers out there who have shared so many helpful tips about prepping, and for some time I’ve wanted to give back, but the question is what can I contribute—I have had a diverse past but my expertise is not in weapons or tactics or food storage, but in something that most people would not connect with the prepper movement, you see I am a member of the clergy with advance degrees in Sacred Theology. 

Honestly, as a Catholic priest, I have often asked myself if there is a contradiction between my faith and my long term hobby which I now call prepping.  I mean “wasting” my small stipend on putting away food and supplies when I could be donating it to charity, is that really what Jesus would have me do.  After all, didn’t the Lord warn us against being overly concerned about the things of this world in the parable of the grower who builds larger barns to hold his crops only to die on the night his preparations were complete?   In this question, that I have often asked myself I realized what I might offer to the prepping community.  So I offer this treatment of a few of the moral and spiritual dynamics of prepping and post disaster survival.

As a Catholic priest my Faith teaches me to trust in the Lord for all my needs—and so at first glance prepping might seem an act of distrust. As I said, Jesus warns us about the man who hoards his wealth into ever bigger barns.  However, while it is true that over and over again in sacred scriptures the Lord instructs us to trust in God and proves Himself trustworthy by repeatedly working so many mighty deeds despite our poverty and human weakness, one of the constant themes in the Bible is preparedness. I think is important to remember that the Lord always uses what supplies we bring to the table.  Whether it’s the widow’s measure of grain and oil that feeds Elijah during the years of drought or the loaves and fish multiplied by Jesus or the one young man with a sling through which God routes the Philistines, as the Father’s of the Church were apt to note God will not save us without us.  God wants us to cooperate with His Divine providence, and yes, while salvation is primarily about eternal life, physical life is also a gift, which helps us grow in holiness and love and which we should work with the help of God to protect and preserve. 

It’s also worth noting that preparing for disaster is fundamentally about a realization of human weakness and of the reality of sin that causes disorder in the world and society. Many of us in the prepper movement feel God’s voice in our heart telling us that human vanity is once again likely to cause societal collapse, as it did at Babel, Sodom, and elsewhere throughout human history.  Like Joseph in Egypt, we are being given an opportunity to prophetically prepare for the future, to ensure the survival of the chosen people—and thus, far from being selfish or greedy like the man who hoards grain into ever larger barns, prepping is not about profit but can be a work of charity. We prep because we love life; our own life (not a bad thing) and the lives of others, most particularly our families and friends. We want to be able to preserve life, culture, and civilization as much as possible when the false idol of modern civilization comes tumbling down.  But how do we reconcile this concern for life with so many articles that we read about weapons, tactics, the use of lethal force, OPSEC, and “foraging” (aka theft)?  The circumstances of a “without rule of law” (WROL) situation vastly change the way we as Christians apply the absolute moral principles God teaches us. Here an adequate Christian understanding of morals is useful.

Consider positive (man-made) laws for instance.  In general, a Christian is required by God to obey all just laws—“render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s.”    However, when laws become unjust or the rule of law breaks down, our duty to obey the law lessens or even disappears—and in the case of unjust laws we may even have a duty to oppose them. Two of the characteristics of just laws are their enforceability and the legitimacy of the authority issuing them.  In a WROL situation both of these may be compromised and “law” may become more of a weapon to be defended against than a moral obligation to be obeyed—think of the anti-Jewish laws in Nazi Germany or the Jim Crow Laws in the South. I think this is an essential moral principle for Christians to apply when approaching prepping and a WROL situation. 

Now just remember, a world without the rule of law doesn’t need to be lawless, if each of us keeps nature’s law in our heart. In the Christian ethical tradition beyond the positive laws that society creates Christian’s are also obliged to follow Divine laws, i.e. the Ten Commandments, which for the non-Christian correspond to self-evident natural laws.  From my experience most preppers are decent God-fearing people who want to do what’s right, not just for their families but also unto others. Understanding the moral rationale of prepping and the ethics of a post-WROL reality is therefore essential for making the hard decisions that will be necessary for survival in a Stuff Hits the Fan situation.  You see, much of morality is about habit; the problem is, in a WROL situation, the failure to make new habits that correspond to new situations will cause many to become paralyzed, unable to act when action is required.  Worse, many others will simply cast aside morality accepting the utilitarian mantra: “the ends justify the means.”  God’s moral law does not change and so the ends never justify unjust and immoral means, but what does change is the way we apply moral principles to a much different situation. This is what preppers must consider and prepare for.

The fifth commandment, for instance, often translated: “thou shalt not kill” in fact should be translated: “thou shalt not murder.”  Throughout the Jewish and Christian tradition taking human life, while always a grave matter was not always considered murder.  Self-defense has always been considered morally justified and it strikes me as particularly useful for the prepper to really understand this, and be willing to use even lethal force to defend himself or his family.  While our Lord does instruct us to “turn the other cheek” in the Gospels this is primarily about being willing to forgive those who transgress against us, being willing to risk our other cheek in order to forgive, not about allowing them to threaten our lives.  Especially in a situation where the lives of others are in your care you may have a moral duty, not just a right, to defend the weak against unjust aggressors. This may even mean the use of deadly force against those (e.g. thieves) who today we may not use deadly force against.  In a WROL situation protecting your food supply becomes a matter of life and death as thieves can become just as deadly as axe murders during famines. I think most of us notionally are ready to defend ourselves, but in a world WROL taking personal responsibility for our own life and those entrusted to our care and becoming comfortable with this reality is essential.

Speaking of thieves, another frequent moral dilemma when speaking of a post-collapse or post disaster world is the commandment thou shalt not steal. Foraging or looting will most likely become a necessity in a WROL situation. What we need to remember about theft is that God created all things for the common good of humanity as a whole, and while he does allow us to “own” things privately, private property is still meant to be used for the common good.  When we talk about stealing we are talking about taking unjustly things that rightfully belong to another. However, in a WROL situation theft must be understood with a certain nuance.  The defense of life trumps the strictly legal claim of a person or corporation to foodstuffs and supplies which they are not using. Here I am not talking about robbing people of their supplies, but foraging (aka looting) stores and properties that have been abandoned by their owners.  It truly is better and more just that people take supplies to preserve life rather than allowing them to spoil or be destroyed in the violence that will most likely follow a WROL situation. When the rule of law breaks down the legal claim absentee owners had to property vanishes and possession, as they say, becomes 9/10ths of the law, however if it makes you feel better an IOU or true intentions to repay the owner given the change would be in the best spirit of justice. [JWR Adds: I don’t anticipate a situation where a lawful owner or heir cannot be found unless we have gone through a huge die-off (such as in a pandemic), where more than 90% of the current population dies. Only then could someone justify “foraging.” Any property that has an owner or an heir cannot justifiably be taken.]

Taking what others are not using to preserve life isn’t necessarily stealing in a WROL situation; this moral nuance is predicated on the idea that the owners who are unable to use this property themselves have a moral duty to let you use these items.  It’s important to remember, however, that this moral principle cuts both ways, our duty to be charitable is not negated by catastrophe. While other people’s unattended warehouses might be fair game, when starving people show up on your doorstep and you have enough that you could share, you might be morally guilty of theft, or even murder, for not “giving till it hurts.”  As someone who desires to follow natural law a delicate balance between your family/groups future needs and the duty for individuals, not governments, to be charitable and protect life must be found.  The Bible might offer a minimal suggestion for charitable giving in the principle of a Tithe.  In the Book of Genesis Abraham gives a tenth of all his holdings in thanksgiving to the Lord for His providence, many Christians practice this today, and this might be a good habit for us to get into now and plan on as rule of thumb should the collapse come.  I know it is a scary prospect, giving away food, when you are not sure when you might reasonably hope to resupply, or if you will be able to grow enough food to be self-sufficient, but love, the duty of Charity, always involves a risk and it is better to take that risk and save your humanity (and soul) than to survive and live the rest of your days on earth ashamed of how you survived.  As the Scriptures note: “what profit is it if a man gains the whole world and loses his soul?”

In all things peace comes from knowing that you have done the best that you can, and then trusting in the God who has counted every hair on our head. As Job notes: “the Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away, blessed be the name of the Lord.”  Ultimately none of us can prep for everything, and even if we did, none of us can guarantee that natural disaster or human greed will not deprive us of our preparations in the hour of our need.  Only God can keep us safe through all life’s difficulties and thus I believe that the most important preparation for TEOTWAWKI is spiritual preparation for the trials and tribulations that surely are ahead of us. As a priest I sit with many people who are going through traumatic situations: death and dying.  Those with faith always fare better, that’s why I believe faith is as important a prep as water.  It is necessary for the desperate situations that will follow a collapse.  All of us must learn to trust in the reality that we are God’s children and our life is in His almighty hands.  Do your part to prepare, realizing that in our weakness He is strong and then do your best to let go and let God.  Let not your heart be troubled, because central to the Christian faith is the trust in the goodness of God expressed in Jesus’ prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane:  “I pray that this cup might pass, but not my will but your will be done.”

“Ad Deum qui laetificat juventutem meam.” (“I will go in to the altar of God; to God, the joy of my youth.”)

Letter Re: Racial Tolerance in the American Redoubt

James Wesley
We thank God for your blog and all who thoughtfully contribute to SurvivalBlog. I visit often and it has been a godsend for our preps over the past year.

As much as we enjoy the natural beauty and diversity here in California, we all know how this place is continuing it’s political nosedive so we’re seeking to relocate, preferably to the Redoubt. But the biggest unknown we face in relocation is that we’re a multi-racial couple (Nordic male and Asian female). Even though we’re happily wed faith-filled Christians, proud American citizens, disgusted with entitlement mentalities and politically aligned with those who seek to uphold the Constitution and encourage personal responsibility, there’s those who simply hate my wife for her shade of skin, and probably hate me and our kids for violating their demented views on race mixing. And as China continues to grow in global influence while the morons in Washington undermine the strength of the United States, I fully expect the bitter anti-asian rhetoric of the supremacists will sound sweet to a wider audience and increase our threat.

I’m not at all suggesting this is a problem unique to the Redoubt, racial supremacist fools are can be found in many places and fight for their particular shades of skin and turf whatever or wherever that may be. White supremacists hold their meetings here in parts of California and there’s parts of Los Angeles or San Francisco where my wife blends in just fine and I’m the one on high alert. But since we’re looking to move to the Redoubt, the tables are turned and she’s the one who looks different and I’ve got to be realistic and wise about the possible security issues to my family.

As such I’m trying to identify those Redoubt communities that already understand that Christ and the Constitution aren’t for only one shade of skin, and are already accepting of people who look different but share similar faith and values. I fully expect there’s plenty of such places in the Redoubt, it’s just not so clear to me how to accurately identify them and do our best to avoid those few where white supremacists concentrate. My nightmare scenario is to relocate only to discover there’s a compound of aryan nut jobs down the road that host their hate rallies of hundreds or thousands of people who make it a point to hate us simply because we exist.

Since you’ve been clear about your non-racist views, I’m reaching out to you for any thoughts or advice you may be able to offer, and I know that we’re not alone in seeking this type of information.

Thanks in advance for your help. God Bless , – G. & P.

JWR Replies: In my experience, the American Redoubt region has an undeserved reputation for racism. Part of this reputation is a based on the inordinate mass media attention to the now defunct Aryan Nations group in Hayden, Idaho. The group numbered only about 50 people that actually lived in Idaho and it is now essentially disbanded (a decade ago they were rendered almost impecunious by a $6.3 million civil rights judgment). But most of the mainstream media still seems convinced that Idaho and the entire Inland Northwest is positively infested with Nazis, Doc Marten boots-wearing skinheads, and assorted bigoted malcontents. But here is the reality: Here in the Redoubt, we actually get along remarkably well, and we are socially intolerant of racially intolerant idiots. The handful of racists that are in the region get regularly shunned and shamed.

Granted, the demographics of the Redoubt look “mighty white” compared to California. But that is simply because with the exception of the foundries and aluminum mills of the Spokane Valley, the region never developed much heavy industry. During World War II, large numbers of ethnic minorities moved to West Coast seeking war industry work, at places like Boeing, Lockheed, and at the Kaiser shipyards. They enjoyed the climate, and they stayed. But there was no corresponding “draw” to the Inland Northwest during the war. And nearly all of the Chinese immigrants to the Idaho and Montana’s gold fields in the late 19th Century moved on, before 1920. Even the Native Americans that preceded us palefaces by several thousand years are presently a fairly small minority in most counties. (Although they enjoy large land holdings and year-round hunting and fishing privileges that are the source of some envy.)

In the community nearest the Rawles Ranch, there are a few multi-racial families by virtue of inter-marriage or adoption. Ironically, members of these families tell me that the few racist comments that they’ve heard have mostly come from visiting summer tourists who live elsewhere. We all get along remarkably well here, regardless of racial or religious differences. Part of this can be attributed to a strong “overseas missions emphasis” by the local churches. The rest, I chalk up to our frontier spirit. In this sense, we get along so well because we realize that we depend a lot on each other, in a society with minimal government and an infrastructure that resembles the 1950s. We still have lots of narrow highways, and many roads are gravel rather than paved. We have minimal government amenities, but that also means minimum government intrusiveness. For the most part, we like it that way. (There are a few drawbacks–like the dearth of guardrails on steep highway embankments, chronically cracked windshields because of gravel roads, and a response time for sheriff’s deputy calls that can exceed an hour.) We’re essentially already on YOYO time.

In summary, I believe that you will like living in the Redoubt. I can’t guarantee that you won’t face some racism, but there’s no guarantee of that in California, either.

Michael Z. Williamson: Roads and Infrastructure in Bangladesh

One of my regular correspondents is a civil engineer with the highway department in Bangladesh. He sent me the following article links from The Daily Star [in Dhaka, Bangladesh]:

They are facing problems of massive corruption, infrastructure failing, and several large rivers that are dammed on the Indian side of the border, which threaten to turn fertile deltas into deserts.

He’s sufficiently placed he may be able to, and “considering” emigrating to Canada or to the US.  I suggested he “consider faster” and not wait until it’s too late.

This adds to my estimation that India will be at war with Pakistan, Bangladesh and possibly China before 2025, for water and other critical resources it needs to feed its people.

– Michael Z. Williamson (SurvivalBlog’s Editor at Large)

Economics and Investing:

File under No Great Surprise Department: China May Stop Buying Treasurys as Growth Slows: Roach

Reader Chris D. suggested: Honest Work for Honest Silver Pay

U.S. closes 3 more banks, 68 so far in 2011. (One with 1.7 billion in deposits!)

Investors: Threat of Stagflation Looms as Prices Rise Despite Bad Economy

Items from The Economatrix:

Moody’s Lowers US Economic Outlook Through 2012

Analyst:  “Not To Own Gold Is To Trust Governments”

Economists See Growing Risk Of Global Recession

Here We Go Again:  Another Big Down Day For Dow

Gold Hits Latest Record High, Near $1,830

Behind The Selloff:  Stocks Pricing “Worst Case Scenario”

Odds ‘n Sods:

Dirk W. spotted this: At Vacant Homes, Foraging for Fruit

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Reader Bob J. sent this: Did Wal-Mart stop people from giving CPR to man? Bob’s comment: “This news story reminded me so much of an incident from Michael Z. Williamson’s excellent book “The Weapon.”

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The End is Nigh: Let’s All Move to Barter Village! “Located in a tiny castle (yes, castle) in northeast Arkansas, Barter Village is an “experimental educational project” where people who’ve been particularly hurt by the down economy can go to learn survival skills such as organic farming, sewing and, yes, bowhunting. Villagers hunt, fish and learn to dress their own game.”

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Steph T. sent us this headline from Columbus: Community gardens plagued by thefts — Despite signs, people are helping themselves to crops at harvest time

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Josh D. recommended the Surveillance Self-Defense web site.

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.

Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:

And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that [spirit] of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.

Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.

They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them.

We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.” – 1 John 4:1-6 (KJV)

Note from JWR:

Today we present another entry for Round 36 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize: A.) A course certificate from onPoint Tactical. This certificate will be for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses. (Excluding those restricted for military or government teams.) Three day onPoint courses normally cost $795, and B.) Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $300 value.) C.) A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $275 value), D.) A $250 gift certificate from Sunflower Ammo, and E.) An M17 medical kit from JRH Enterprises (a $179.95 value).

Second Prize: A.) A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol. It is a $439 value courtesy of Next Level Training. B.) A “grab bag” of preparedness gear and books from Jim’s Amazing Secret Bunker of Redundant Redundancy (JASBORR) with a retail value of at least $300, C.) A $250 gift card from Emergency Essentials, and D.) two cases of Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value).

Third Prize: A.) A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21. (This filter system is a $275 value.), B.) Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy. This is a $185 retail value, and C.) Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security.

Round 36 ends on September 30th, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that articles that relate practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

Partially Safeguard Your Well Pump Against EMP and Solar Flares, by R.L.

Those of us who at all remain connected to the main power grid run the very real risk of having no water following an electrical crisis event, whether man made or natural. That back up generator you intend to switch over to after a power failure will not fire up your well if the pump and/or the pump control box is already fried.
 
Unless you have not only food, but several thousand gallons of water in a buried cistern (with a hand pump) all the storage supplies in the world will count for naught within only a few days without safe and readily available water.
 
Even those who are totally off grid may have enough electrical “antenna” exposure via their wiring system to render their well useless. (There are conflicting opinions whether relatively “short” runs of wiring, such as those under the hood of a vehicle, or as part of a solar/wind generator array, might be susceptible to high-altitude EMP bursts, but why not prepare to
be “on the safe side” of the question?)
 
But what is not in much question is that the hundreds-of-miles of “virtual antenna” which comprises our nation’s power and phone transmission lines will act powerfully upon anything connected to them — perhaps to include your home and vital water well. Even a fence line may constitute a fatal conductor to have your hand resting on should one be so unlucky as to be in
contact with it during the initial main pulse (or pulses if follow up bursts are part of the strategy.)
 
And although a hugely powerful solar flare event is possible — and would likely produce a similar result — my bet will always be on the “human factor” rather than cosmic “coincidence.” (That is, the more likely scenario would be a daylight deployment of high altitude EMP weapons (which would be largely invisible/unnoticed by most people) which could then be blamed on whatever a treasonous government felt was in its best interest. They could swear it was a “natural” event, or they could hop up and down in a froth with false-flag accusations against a Muslim or other fall-guy nation — and who would be able to dispute them? They might even proclaim the grid failure to be the work of “home grown” terrorists supposedly using conventional explosives or suitcase nukes against key points in the grid. Since only government-controlled media would likely be broadcasting (if at all) after such a devastating event, we’d have to take their word for whatever they affirmed — no more Internet or phones or local stations to counter with the truth (assuming it could even be discovered amid the chaos.)
 
All of which brings us back to the “mission critical” protection of the homestead water well. Fortunately, a fairly inexpensive “fix” is available for the problem, little more than a few feet of wire, a power relay, a small electrical enclosure box (available at Home Depot) and a modest bit of know-how. Most electricians and most well service companies could do the whole job within a couple or hours, or for those of you who are more technically proficient and adventurous, you could do it yourself with some careful study and appropriate safety measures.
 
Now before we get started with the details, let me suggest (as others have done in previous posts) a couple of “superior” alternatives to be considered. Perhaps the simplest and most reliable long term answer would be to remove the submersible pump (or surface mounted jet pump) and install a Brumby pump. (Several YouTube videos show how to build your own, very inexpensively!) No wires, no motor, and no moving parts at all down in the well hole to wear out!
 
Yes, an air compressor somewhere on the property would be required (and could be protected in the same manner as outlined herein) but in comparison to the challenges of protecting/removing/replacing/servicing pumps tens or many hundreds of feet deep, the Brumby approach really can’t be beat! Also, the air compressor can do double duty, i.e. power air tools, aerate ponds, et cetera, and should it ever break, they are far easier to come by (and/or repair) than a deep pump or jet pump. Moreover, the air compressor can be hugely oversized (if that’s all you could find) and still do just fine, whereas a submersible pump must be properly sized both electrically and in physical dimension, etc.
 
With the Brumby design there are various considerations regarding overall well depth, actual depth to the water level within the well, etc, but even if your particular configuration would make a Brumby pump problematical, you could still easily construct or purchase a positive displacement style air/water pump that would likewise dispense with motors and wires down in the well, yet still have great simplicity and reliability and ease of repair. There also exists at least one brand of lever-action mechanical pump able to handle a couple hundred or so of depth with no problem. I can post more on these alternatives in a subsequent post, if some readers indicate an interest…
 
Okay, let’s start with the relay, widely available, but not likely to be found in a Home Depot or Lowe’s etc. The links below show two variations of the same relay, one with a 120 VAC energizing coil, and the other with a 240 VAC coil. They also are available in other coil and contact voltages, but for now these will suffice for purposes of illustration.  What we are trying to do  here is walk through the general logic and a couple of “typical” installations — as they say, your own mileage may vary, in which case any competent electrician will nevertheless understand these instructions sufficiently to adapt the principles to your own circumstance.
 
Most home or small ranch well pumps either run on 120 VAC or 240 VAC single phase power from the main circuit breaker panel. Almost always the pump will have its own “dedicated” breaker that sends the power on to the pump equipment room, where most often the supply conduit first goes to a manual disconnect box with a lever on the right side which can be pulled down to cut
power so as to safely work on the wiring.
 
Often (but not always) the output wiring of the disconnect box then goes directly to the pump pressure switch, which will not send the power any further unless the system pressure drops low enough to require more water.  If the switch does shift due to low pressure, then the power is switched either directly to the pump down in the well, or in many cases instead is sent first to a pump control box which may contain such additional items as perhaps a start relay, capacitor(s) and other associated items, and from there on down to the submerged pump.
 
Specifically, for a standard 240 VAC set-up, what we’ll be doing is removing the two wires that normally go from the pressure switch to the pump (or to its control box) and let them hang momentarily.  We will then cut two new pieces of same-gauge [and color] wire and connect them from the just-vacated terminals of the pressure switch up to the two terminals of our new 240 VAC relay coil.  We’ll also jumper two short wires from those two coil terminals to the two “normally open” terminal connections of the relay, typically abbreviated and molded into the adjacent plastic as “no.” (Again, for those without sufficient technical know-how and familiarity with safety precautions it would be best to pass these instructions on to a qualified professional.)
 
This new relay is commonly termed a “double pole, double throw” arrangement whereby it is essentially two switches or relays in one. No power will flow through the relay unless it is energized by its built-in magnetic coil via the pressure switch wiring, as described.
 
The two “moving contact” parts of the relay (mechanically linked to each other but electrically isolated) each have their own separate terminals marked as “common” or the abbreviated letter “c” molded into the adjacent plastic.  The two wires that we removed earlier from the pressure switch and left dangling will now instead be routed individually to these two terminals
marked “c” or common.
 
However we also want to protect the pump from any possible high voltage surge that might come into the home from an outside event. High voltages can “bridge” or arc across even a normally “off” switch or relay contact, so to counter that we will use the “normally closed” contacts on the new relay and run wires from those two terminals to the well casing (or other suitable
earth ground.)
 
What this means is that whenever our new relay is off, and the pump is not running, the pump is always connected across the new relay to an earth ground, such that even if high voltage does try to bridge the gap between contacts in the relay, the arc will be forced to encounter an easy and relatively safe path to the earth. It’s still “possible” for some of the voltage to divide and go down the wires into the well, but those wires will also be effectively “cross-linked” or shorted to each other via the normally-closed common wire connections to the well casing, and therefore the pump windings will be much less prone to damage.
 
If the pump system happens to run on 120 VAC instead of 240 VAC, it is still very likely to have a disconnect box and pressure switch, but in this instance usually only the black (or “hot”) wire is routed through through the pressure switch, leaving the white (and green) to continue uninterrupted to the pump and/or its associated control box. For this system we would have selected a relay whose coil also runs on 120 VAC (per the links) and we would slightly modify our new wiring procedure accordingly.
 
What we’d do in this case would be to find a way to cut and splice an added length of white wire into the white wire that goes in  and back out of the disconnect box (via a wire nut) and connect the other end of this new white wire to one of the relay terminals marked “coil.”
 
The black wire coming out of the pressure switch and going to the pump or its control box is the one we will now remove from the pressure switch terminal block, letting it hang loose for the moment.  We’ll cut a new length of black wire (same amperage size as the one removed) and run it from that just-vacated terminal on the pressure switch to the other “coil” terminal on our new relay.  We’ll also jumper a short piece of black wire from that same coil terminal over to one of the relay terminals marked as normally open or “no.”  At this point our new relay coil terminals will have a black wire and a white wire, respectively.
 
The normally open and normally closed and common terminals on the new relay are “paired” individually and separately to either the right side or left side of the relay, so either by following the metal strips and contacts visually, or by using a test meter set on ohms, we need to make sure that whichever of the two “no” or normally open terminals we selected for placing our black hot wire from the pressure switch, we then locate the matching “common” terminal associated with the “no” terminal having that black wire.
 
That common terminal will then need a new piece of black wire running from it back down to the “hanging” black wire that we had earlier detached from the pressure switch.  We’ll wire nut them together or otherwise reconnect them safely.  Thus when the disconnect switch restores power to the system, what now happens is that when the pressure switch senses low water pressure and clicks “on” it will send power up to our new relay coil (turning the relay on) and via the jumper from the black coil lead to the normally open terminal the power will now go across the relay and out the “common” terminal over to the pump, or its control box, thus running the system until pressure builds back up again.
 
As with the 240 VAC arrangement however, we still must protect the pump from EMP surge, so we finish the project by finding the normally closed terminal associated with our other two wires (common and normally open) and connecting it to our well casing or other equivalent earth ground.
 
Thus in either instance, whether 120 VAC or 240 VAC, while the pump is off, it’s internal wiring will always be connected to a direct earth ground connection, instead of being vulnerable to a surge which could instantly burn it out like an old incandescent light bulb that goes “FLASH” and gone before one can even blink!
 
Now some of you sharper readers will have already noted that the protection outlined above will not help if by unhappy chance the pump is actually running to recharge the pressure tanks or re-fill the cistern [at the moment] when the EMP burst occurs. Sorry folks — there really isn’t much of a fix of any nature (that I’ve yet come across) for that rare instance.
 
Fortunately however, most deep well pumps run for only a small fraction of each day, so the odds of being “hit” during those moments is fairly remote, but still possible. (Thus the recommendation to use a Brumby or mechanical lever pump or have a full back up of all major components and the capability of hauling the entire array out of the well and re-installing it all — not usually an easy job for amateurs!)
 
Nevertheless, for only a hundred or so dollars in parts (plus perhaps paying a professional for wiring it all) you will have increased the odds tremendously in your favor, since the alternative is to leave it as is, always at total risk of being fried should an EMP or flare event take place (whether the pump is running, or not!)
 
I’d be happy to provide a clearly-depicted wiring diagram based on your particular system, plus a suggested parts list, for anyone interested.  Contact me via e-mail.
 
Here is one source for the aforementioned relays. (An online search will show other similarly-rated items):
 
http://store.acradiosupplyinc.com/nter04-11a30-120relay-30amp-ac120v.aspx
 
http://store.acradiosupplyinc.com/nter04-11a30-240relay-30amp-ac240v.aspx