Two Letters Re: Generator Experiences During a Recent Nor’easter

Jim:
The letter about Generators today inspired me to write this email. I have owned generators for around 20 years for emergency backup and portable power uses. I use my generator primarily for powering sound equipment in the field. As a result I looked for a quiet generator. The very quiet generators all run at 1,800 RPM, but it is expensive to make a generator that runs slow and quiet, and the affordable portable generators all seem to run at 3,600 RPM.

When I purchased my current generator 10 years ago, Coleman had just started using the Briggs and Stratton “Vanguard” OHV engines in their generators. These I found to be significantly quieter than the
typical generator engine, though not as quiet as a 1,800 RPM engine.

With regards draining the fuel, I have found the key is shutting off the valve in the fuel line under the tank and letting the engine run until it starves for lack of fuel. It is not necessary to drain the
fuel tank or take other steps in my experience as long as the valve is closed and the engine run dry of fuel. My current generator has had fuel in the tank for its entire ten year life and starts on the first
pull every time. Of course Sta-Bil. or Amsoil’s gas stabilizer is always added to the fuel.

The most important issue for long generator life is clean oil. Oil gets dirty from dirt in the air. The engine on my generator has a dual air filter with both a pleated paper filter and an oil soaked foam filter. The combination seems to do a good job in keeping the engine oil clean.

It is also important to use an oil that does not break down under use, and that keep water in suspension so it does not rust engine parts. I use Amsoil’s Synthetic Marine Oil in my generator, but when my current stock of oil is used up I will probably switch to the new Amsoil Synthetic Small Engine Oil. (I recommend Amsoil Synthetic Oils for all your cars as well.)

I have a plastic storage bin that holds spare air filters, spare spark plugs, and oil for my generator along with the needed spark plug wrench and a fuel siphon. I keep one or two 6 gallon gas cans out in
my shed (not in our garage or house for safety). Since all our vehicles have full tanks of fuel, I can always use the siphon to refill the gas cans.

Running the generator under load every few months is an excellent idea. Always start and stop a generator with no load connected. If your loads are connected during start up in particular the voltage
surges as the generator engine gets up to speed and settles to a constant running speed can destroy electronic equipment, and is not good for any equipment. Get the generator running at a steady speed,
and then plug in your power cords. Likewise disconnect the power cords before stopping the generator

Blessings on you and your family! – RAR

 

Mr. Rawles,
I live in Florida and have had quite a few encounters with week long power outages due to hurricanes. Four years ago I converted my portable generator to run on natural gas for only a little more than $200.00. I don’t have to worry about ethanol contamination in the carburetor anymore. The conversion is also able to run on propane, or back to gasoline with only the re-gapping of the spark plug. It has a pull start and only takes one or two pulls to start after sitting in storage for months. Here is the web site where I ordered the kit. – Jim H

Letter Re: Sources for Food Grade Buckets

Jim,
I have found that Dairygold dairy (and probably also other) dairies in Boise, Idaho will sell once used HDPE #2 Food Grade buckets with lids inexpensively. (These were $2 or $3 the last time I bought a bunch of them.)

These were used for bringing into the dairy the flavorings for ice cream, so you might have to wash out the strawberry syrup or whatever. These are HDPE #2 and Food Grade marked.

They also have some food grade 55 gallon drums, metal and plastic that they will also sell. The same should be true of other large dairies all over the US and Canada that produce ice cream. – Terry in Idaho

JWR Replies: As I mention in the the “Rawles Gets You Ready” family preparedness course, there are innumerable sources for food grade HDPE buckets. The phone is your friend. Keep calling until find someone that has a big pile of them, available free, or nearly free. Also, be sure to watch Craigslist, like a hawk.

Economics and Investing:

Chad S. sent this: Get ready for 65 percent tax rates.

Also from Chad: “You could be running out of time to buy gold”

The folks at The Daily Bell linked to this piece over at Seeking Alpha: High Gold Prices: It’s the Oil, Stupid

Items from The Economatrix:

Signs of Life in Stores as Holiday Shopping Begins

Food Banks Nationwide Report More First-Time Users

Russia to Invest in Canadian Dollars

Recession “Is Even Worse Than Feared”

Dubai Bankruptcy is a Taste of Things to Come. Global intervention has only bought us time

Dubai is a Harbinger of Things to Come for Sovereign Debt

Dubai Tries to Stem Investor Panic

FDIC Reports the Biggest Drop for Business Loans on Record

Credit Card Monopoly: Five Banks Hold 60% of Credit Card Debt

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

"It is, in a way, an odd thing to honor those who died in defense of our country … in wars far away. The imagination plays a trick. We see these soldiers in our mind as old and wise. We see them as something like the Founding Fathers, grave and gray-haired. But most of them were boys when they died, and they gave up two lives — the one they were living and the one they would have lived. When they died, they gave up their chance to be husbands and fathers and grandfathers. They gave up their chance to be revered old men. They gave up everything for their country, for us. All we can do is remember." – Ronald Wilson Reagan

Notes from JWR:

Notes from JWR:

There are just three days left in the 33% off sale for the “Rawles Gets You Ready” family preparedness course, Order yours soon!

—

Today we present another entry for Round 25 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest.

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 between $500 and $600, and B.) Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees, in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $392 value.) and C.) A HAZARiD Decontamination Kit from Safecastle.com. (A $350 value.)

Second Prize: 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 $350.

Third Prize: A copy of my “Rawles Gets You Ready” preparedness course, from Arbogast Publishing.

Round 25 ends on November 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.

“Cross-wire” Your Home Heating and Save Money, by Ted B.

This article explains one way that you can configure a hybrid heating system for your house in a Schumeresque environment, but it is also potentially a way to cut your heating bills before TSHTF, depending on the prices of various heating fuels in your area.

We live in North Idaho, in a house that would be better suited in Hawaii.  It’s watertight but mostly a heat sieve.  Each of the last few years as the propane prices jumped each winter, we ended up getting hit with astronomical bills to keep the inside of our rather large home livable in outdoor temps that, for months, hovered between 20 °F and –10 °F.  We use the wood stove that was already upstairs when we bought the place, and we have added some house insulation, installed double pane windows, and done all the usual maneuvers to limit heat loss, but the basic structure of most of the house is still about R-3 and right now we don’t have the money needed to get it all up to snuff.  We have a forced air propane-fired furnace, but in our region wood pellets are much cheaper than propane and that was the basic reason that I started thinking about how to take advantage of that fact.

I came up with an interesting approach to marry the existing propane furnace system to a recently purchased, used pellet stove.  Normally, pellet stoves provide lots of heat in a limited area, at a relatively low cost per BTU.  Their drawback is that, typically, you can’t get that cheap heat spread all over the house so you end up with one nice warm region, and many cooler regions in other rooms or on other floors.  Turning on the furnace blower can help to move the warm air around somewhat, but airflow patterns and the tendency for heat to rise often thwart this approach significantly.  Then there is the fact that the two systems don’t “talk” to each other so you could end up with the furnace blower running when the pellet stove is cold, or it’s off when the stove is cranking out the heat, and manual synchronization requires constant attention.

I put the pellet stove in the same room that has the furnace closet and cold air intake (aka the cold air return).  I placed it on an outside wall of the house and plumbed the flue through an existing small window, re-framing half the glass and using a wall thimble to separate the hot pipe from anything remotely combustible.  I would have just gone through the wall but in our walkout basement it is cinder blocks filled with puffed mica and I did not want the mess, or the reduction in structural integrity.  The stove’s hot air outlet in front is aimed, more or less, at the cold air intake of the furnace.  Make sure that you install both a smoke detector (if you don’t already have one near the furnace) and a carbon monoxide detector in the room.  Consider having the stove flue professionally installed if you aren’t certain that you can do it in a way that gives you a safe and decent looking result.

Instead of putting a thermostat on the pellet stove, I installed a 7-day multi-cycle programmable timer that provides thermostat-like contact closure at the times I programmed.  This does two things.  It helps to avoid too much repeated use of the self-igniting feature of the stove – often the first part to go bad and a costly part at that.  Secondly, it assures that in the winter, the heat comes on long before we are awake so the house is fully warmed when my wife gets up.  This part is very important because If Momma Ain’t Happy, Ain’t Nobody Happy (IMAHANH).   James, you might want to add that to your glossary. [JWR Adds: Done!]

The timer starts the pellet stove and heats that room quickly.  In a normal system this would soon tell the furnace thermostat that the house is warm enough and no action is required, but I want the blower to operate to spread the heat using the existing ducts throughout the house.  So I installed a second mercury-switch type thermostat and placed it so that it could “feel” both the heat in the room from the pellet stove and the cooler air returning from the balance of the house when the furnace blower is on.  Here’s the part that seems backwards – but it works perfectly.  I used the “air conditioning” side of the thermostat and tied the switch in parallel to the furnace blower’s manual fan terminals.  These are the wires that go closed circuit when you flick the house thermostat’s blower switch from “auto” to “manual.”  Now I have two devices that can turn on the furnace blower and they operate independently without interference.  I leave the house thermostat’s blower switch on “auto” so that it works with the furnace in those rare times that heat is required but my pellet stove is not on.  But when my pellet stove heats the room, the new thermostat thinks that the room is too hot (above ~76F in my case) and it “turns on the air conditioning” which is actually my furnace blower.  Voila !  My house furnace is spreading the heat from my pellet stove.  When the timer tells the pellet stove to shut down – like as bedtime approaches – the utility room starts to cool down, aided by the cooler air returning from the rest of the house.  When the room gets below the “air conditioning” setting the thermostat shuts off the furnace blower.   If, during the night the house goes below the temperature I have set for the original furnace, it can come on and do its thing as before, but I set that nighttime temp quite low since we are sleeping in warm beds anyway.

Using this scheme, my propane bills have already dropped to around 25% of what they were and even with the cost of the pellets, my total heating costs are way down!

Yes, you need electricity to run the pellet stove timer, the pellet stove and house furnace blower, but in a TEOTWAWKI scenario I’ll be using my diesel generator to keep the food freezers and critical accessories “refreshed” anyway.  The thrifty aspect is that the pellet stove’s timer has an internal rechargeable battery backup that it uses when turned off, so none of the parts of my new system produces “phantom loads” on my electrical network.  I intentionally used a [traditional bi-metal style] mercury switch thermostat ($2 used, from Habitat for Humanity) because it has better hysteresis characteristics than newer solid state battery operated thermostats. A thermostat that controls a furnace is either off or on, with nothing in between. The thermostat is a system; the input is the temperature, and the output is the furnace state. If one wishes to maintain a temperature of 71 °F, a solid state thermostat will try to stay as close to that temperature as possible, often cycling the furnace and blower on and off many times per hour.  This is both inefficient and hard on the furnace parts.  Some mercury-switch units allow you to set the “width” of the hysteresis.  So you could, for instance have the furnace go on when the temperature drops below 68 °F, and turn it off when the temperature exceeds 74 °F. This thermostat exhibits hysteresis.  It keeps the added thermostat from cycling a lot after the pellet stove is off but the room is still warm enough that stopping the blower (and the flow of cooler air into the room) would result in the thermostat thinking it needs to” turn on the air conditioning” again and again.
All my best to you, James, and your family in this difficult time.  Keep your powder dry and your Bible open  – Ted

Letter Re: The Fabric of Our Lives

Mr. Rawles,
I took a textiles class while in college. This is a subject I recommend to anyone, as it is very interesting, and more useful than you would think (our textbook was Textiles by Sara J. Kadolph if anyone is interested). One of the things I learned is that fabric should not be stored in plastic or next to cardboard or wood. The chemicals or natural acids will be absorbed by the fabric and deteriorate it. The best way to store fabric is to wrap it in cotton (I use an old pillowcase), and of course keep it in dry place. You might want to consider this when storing extra clothes as well.
Best Wishes and Happy Holidays. – Sarah M.

Two Letters Re: Sources for Food Grade Buckets

Greetings JR-
Regarding the discussion on the mother lode of seed buckets: Be aware that seeds meant to be placed in the ground are almost always treated by industrial seed firms with a pesticide that is designed to protect the seed and give it a greater chance of making it out of the ground from such enemies as rodents, weeds and fungus’ etc. For the same reason you don’t want to eat seed grains if they are treated as seed materials, you might want to make sure that you are able to adequately wash or remove the pesticides that might still remain in the buckets. Oftentimes the seed treatment will be [with a dye that is] a bright neon colored orange or reddish color. If possible contact the seed company on the bucket label and find out what the pesticide is…If possible -educate yourself by reading the warning label and you might have second thoughts -but that decision is yours to make. Your local county extension agent can also be a great help if you have questions.

FYI, our area of Idaho/Oregon is one the seed growing capitals of the world and several international seed firms are located just a few miles from here. Sadly, most, if not all are hybrids products. – RBS

Dear JWR:
I don’t know if you respond to such e-mails, but if so, I would like to know if a bucket stamped HDPE#2 is certain to be a food grade bucket. I have seen buckets stamped as such at stores like Lowe’s, but I was not sure if their being stamped HDPE#2 was in itself a guarantee. If you can answer this, I thank you. Thank you. – Daniel Miller

JWR Replies: I appreciate RBS reminding our readers of that hazard. (It has been mentioned a couple of times in the blog.) As I explain in the “Rawles Gets You Ready” family preparedness course, contamination of food grade buckets is one issue, but an equally-important issue is the suitability of buckets themselves, as they come new from the factory. Determining whether or not a particular used bucket is truly food grade can sometimes be a challenge. I’ve had several readers and consulting clients who have mistakenly been told that the the number 2 (with the number 2 inside the “chasing arrows” recycling symbol) refers to Food Grade HDPE, but that is not true. Not all “2” marked plastics are food grade! Let me explain: The “food grade” designation is determined by plastic purity by and what mold release compound is used in the injection molding process–not by the plastic itself, since all virgin HDPE material is safe for food. For paint and other utility buckets, manufacturers sometimes use a less expensive (and toxic) mold release compound. For food grade they must use a more expensive formulation that is non-toxic. Unless the buckets that you bought are are actually marked “food grade”, (or, marked NSF, FDA, or USDA approved), then you will have to check with the manufacturer’s web site to see if they make all food grade buckets. For more details, see the information at this barbecue and brining web site. If in doubt, then mark the suspect buckets to strictly non-food item storage, such as for storing cleaning supplies or ammunition

Economics and Investing:

Bobbi-Sue mentioned an extensive Niall Ferguson interview. Bobbi-Sue’s comment: “Ferguson is still bearish based on historical norms and a few of his other popular ideas such as the China/America dance.”

From Damon S.: Dubai Debt Woes Turn Ugly After It Seeks Standstill Deal

Items from The Economatrix:

FDIC Rescue Fund Slides into the Red

Washington Post Closing All US Bureaus Outside of DC

Britain Has Run Out of Money

Cold Turkey Thanksgiving 2009

The Day The Dollar Died (Part 4–Arrogance of the Gods)

Odds ‘n Sods:

M.K. sent a link to a piece on potassium iodide (KI) that ran on NPR. By the way, KI and KI03 are sold by several SurvivalBlog advertisers.

   o o o

Joe Ordinary sent a link to footage of a large meteor that went over South Africa late Saturday evening. Listening to eyewitness accounts it was seen from as far away as Maputo (in Mozambique) Zambia, Zimbabwe and Botswana. The meteor was traveling northwest and was presumed to have landed beyond the Botswana border. This video footage was taken approx 350 kilometers from the border.

   o o o

The editor of The Mountainsteps Blog posted a very favorable review of my latest book.

   o o o

Jason sent a link to a sporadically-updated blog on trikes, bikes and small campers.

Note from JWR:

Happy Thanksgiving! There are just four days left in the 33% off sale for the “Rawles Gets You Ready” family preparedness course. Order your course binder and audio CD soon!

Two Letters Re: Sources for Food Grade Buckets

Mr. Rawles,

I’m glad that I bought the “Rawles Gets You Ready” family preparedness course! It has a ton of great information. I followed one piece of advice in the course, and I struck pay dirt: I went to three local bakeries (one was actually part of a supermarket). All three had food grade buckets available. At two of these bakeries, I got charged just $1 each for five gallon buckets with lids. Most of them had already been cleaned. They also threw in a few extra [bucket]s with no lids, for free. And at the other bakery, the buckets and lids were absolutely free. “Just remember us, if you ever want to order a cake,” was all they asked in return.

Thanks again for putting the preparedness course together. When I first ordered it, the price seemed high, but it is now plain to me that having it is going to save me and my wife thousands of dollars. Thanks for all that you do with your blog and books. It is nice to see that you still offer all the stuff in your archives, free. You are a saint. God Bless, – P.D.K. in Cleveland

Dear James,
Many of SurvivalBlog readers look for or mention places to find food grade buckets for their long-term food storage needs. I have tried many of them myself (supermarket deli’s, ice cream parlors etc.) with some success, however one place I recently found via a Craigslist posting ended up to be my new “motherload” source for these buckets. It was a local vegetable farm. Unbeknownst to me, the seeds to plant various crops just so happen to come in bulk quantity in either five or six gallon plastic HDPE #2 food-grade buckets with rubber gasket lids and sturdy metal handles. I paid the farmer one dollar for each bucket, including the lid. The buckets were dusty but clean, had no traces of any odors, and a quick wash and rinse with soap and water was all it took to prepare them. The farmer told me that he had over a hundred available, with many more to come during the planting season. He said that most all of the local farmers had so many buckets that they just ended up throwing them away in the recycle bin. He told me that his young daughter had suggested trying Craigslist. He told me to stop by at anytime if I needed any more (which, rest assured, I will).

With the price of these same buckets going anywhere from five to eight dollars (plus shipping) on e-bay and other sources, one only have to make a few enquiries at any local produce farms. You may end up be pleasantly surprised.

Wishing you and all of survivalblog.com readers a happy and Holy holiday. The late Memsahib, your family and your good self will be in my prayers. – Bill M.

Letter Re: The Fabric of Our Lives

Mr. Rawles;
Spinning and weaving are certainly not lost arts. I know many women and some men who spin, and some who also weave. Spinning wheels and lessons are available in many cities, and there are active spinning and weaving guilds. Cards, wheels and looms can also be ordered online, and there are YouTube videos demonstrating the various processes.

It is true spinning is more difficult to learn than knitting, and requires a larger initial investment in equipment. The cheapest spinning wheels start at around $200, from Babe’s Fiber Garden. (I have not used one of these so I cannot comment on how well they work, but I know they have been selling them for ten or twelve years.) It is also possible to make your own spinning wheel from directions available on the internet. The basic principles are not that difficult. [JWR Adds: In my family’s experience, rather than buying a low-end wheel, it is best to look for a used name-brand spinning wheel, such as an Ashford or a Louet. These can often be found for under $250 if you watch Craigslist diligently.]

As to whether spinning is practical as a survival skill—well, maybe. It is time-consuming, especially if you start with preparation of the fleece itself. However, once the yarn is spun, knitting or weaving it goes much faster. But hand spun or at least hand knit wool socks, gloves, mittens, hats, and sweaters are a great comfort, so there is that to consider, too.

As much as I love spinning, knitting, and weaving (I am still very much a novice at weaving), I do think it would be more practical to lay in a supply of yarn, cloth, thread, needles, scissors, pins, etc. (Don’t forget sewing machine oil!) Bear in mind that cloth deteriorates with time and cannot be expected to last forever on the shelf. The fibers will weaken and the cloth will rip or fray when you finally try to use it.

If one anticipates having to do without electricity, treadle sewing machines in working order may still be found in some places. There are also hand-cranked sewing machines, from the British Isles , available on e-bay. I bought one a year ago and am very pleased with it. If I had the right set-up, it could be converted to foot treadle operation, which would be even nicer. There are instructions available on the Internet for repairing sewing machine—search for “how to repair a sewing machine,” or “how to repair a treadle sewing machine.” It would be a good idea to locate a set of instructions and print them out to have them available any time in the future.

My condolences on the loss of your dear wife. The thought of her Ashford wheels standing silent is a very sad one. Sincerely, – Kathie C.

 

Mr Rawles:
I read with interest the article about the fabric of our life and it got me to thinking about my own sewing. I learned to sew when I was in the 7th grade. I sewed on my grandmother’s treadle sewing machine. I still have that machine along with my mother’s and my own sewing machines. For those of you that don’t sew -You Can Learn. This goes for you men as well. Through out history it was the man that was the tailor. There are classes at places like Joann’s Fabrics. Most places that sell sewing machines have sewing classes to teach the basics. Adult Education many times will have classes on things like sewing and knitting. If you contact places that sell fabrics they can direct to places to learn. There are a number of books that can show you the techniques. I like the Singer series of books but there are others out there as well.

Like most women that sew, I have the “fabric stash” and lots of sewing notions. I decided to take a look at what I have and what I needed more of. For men, I have patterns to make basic collared and cuffed long sleeve shirts, pants, men’s underwear, casual jackets, tee shirts and pajamas. For women, there are patterns for blouses, skirts, pants, jackets, bras and pajamas. As all our kids are grown, I don’t have too many patterns for children but children would need the same types of clothing in sizes for them. I like the multi size patterns and just trace out the size I need while leaving the pattern intact. I buy a bolt of tracing pellon (a thin polyester fabric) just for this. After assessing my fabric stash I think every one should have a bolt of white cotton sheeting (it is a little more substantial than regular muslin) It can be used for a wide variety of items and could be dyed to what ever color that you want. You could use Rit Dye or try your hand at natural plant dyes. There are lots of books out there to guide you. A bolt of denim is great for pants and light jackets. A bolt of cotton knit for underwear and tee shirts. If you get a bolt of white cotton knit you can have a lot of fun tie dying it for your tee shirts. A bolt of polyester fleece can make jackets, hats and I like to use it for warm pajamas. You could also use the fleece to line a jacket or pants to have something warmer for winter. A bolt of flannel can be used for shirts and pajamas.

For notions you will need zippers and buttons, snaps or Velcro. I like the no sew jean buttons that you hammer in like rivets. Lots of thread especially in black and white. Elastics for pants and underwear waist bands and wrist openings. The plastic snap buckles and webbing are great for pants self belts. Plush elastic and plastic parts for bras. The hook and eye part and plastic parts can be recycled from your older bras if they are still in good condition. You can order bra patterns and notions online from places like So Sassy Fabrics. Bias tapes in the single and double fold. Make sure that you have lots of needles for hand sewing as well as your sewing machine. It is a good idea to have lots of straight pins and safety pins and several pairs of scissors and tape measures. Interfacing is used on lots of thing like collars and cuffs. If you check out the back of your sewing patterns they always list the notions that you will need and when you see the same things listed over and over again you will know what you need to stock up on. For those that have not tried sewing give it a chance you might find that it is not as hard as you thought. Best Regards – Glennis