Solar Water Disinfection and Pasteurization, by Ariel

This article describes so me simple and practical methods for providing drinkable water in disaster situations. They fit with my motto: “Keep calm, and carry on!”

According to the EPA, if you can’t boil water, you can disinfect it using household bleach. Do not use non-chlorine bleach to disinfect water. Typically, [when freshly-purchased] household chlorine bleaches will be 5.25% available chlorine. Bleach will kill some, but not all, types of disease-causing organisms that may be in the water. If the water is cloudy, filter it through clean cloths or allow it to settle, and draw off the clear water for disinfection. Add 1/8 teaspoon (or 8 drops) of regular, unscented, liquid household bleach for each gallon of water, stir it well and let it stand for 30 minutes before you use it. Store disinfected water in clean containers with covers. There are two big disadvantages of treating water with chemicals. First chlorine can be potentially dangerous if used improperly and it may not be readily available when you need it. But there is a safe, chemical-free, and inexpensive option for disinfecting your water.

Cardboard and aluminum foil are unlikely tools for disinfection water until you factor in sunshine. Solar water pasteurization uses the heat of the sun to raise the temperature of water to a point where microbial pathogens are destroyed. Disease-causing organisms in water are killed by exposure to heat in a process called pasteurization. Water that has been heated to 165 degrees F is free from living microbes including Escherichia coli, Rotaviruses, Giardia and the Hepatitis-A virus. [JWR Adds: The water need not be “held” at a boiling point for ant period of time. Just make the water reach 165 degrees F, and it is done]

Although traditional fuels can be used to pasteurize water, on sunny days solar energy is the better choice. A major problem with boiling water for disinfection is its energy consumption in relation to cost and availability of the fuel supply. If you do not have electricity you might not be able to sanitize your water..

With full sunshine, it can takes up to two hours to reach 165 degrees F pasteurize two liters of water. In order to determine when water has reached pasteurization you will need to invest in a simple device called a Water Pasteurization Indicator (WAPI). The WAPI is a simple reusable device containing a special soy wax. The wax melts at the same temperature as the water is pasteurized. The tube hangs on a string inside the container with the wax end up, and once the water around it becomes hot enough to kill the bacteria the wax melts, running from the top part of the tube to the lower end. Although it is designed for solar pasteurization, the WAPI can be used for pasteurizing over most fuel sources including gas, wood, and charcoal. WAPIs generally cost between $5 and $10.

As described previously in SurvivalBlog, SOlar water DISinfection (SODIS) involves filling clean PETE (Polyethylene Terephtalate) transparent plastic bottles with water and exposing them to full sunlight for six or more hours. [JWR Adds: Do not use polycarbonate water bottles, such as those made up until recently by Nalgene, since that type of plastic blocks ultraviolet (UV) light!] The combination of UV-A radiation and raised water temperature disinfects the water. There are a few drawbacks to this method. SODIS efficiency depends on the physical condition of the plastic bottles, with scratches reducing the efficiency of the SODIS process. There has been some concern over the question whether plastic drinking containers can release chemicals or toxic components into water, a process possibly accelerated by heat. A solar cooker will make the SODIS process more efficient.

While pasteurizing will solve a lot of disease problems, it does not remove other things found in the water such as chemicals, pesticides and heavy metals.

You can purchase elaborate solar cookers or build one using simple materials. You can find a large number of solar cooker building plans at SolarCooking.org. I have included instructions for a simple windshield shade solar cooker as an addendum to this article. I have also included instructions from Needful Provision, Inc. on how to construct a simple solar water-distilling unit.

Building and testing a solar cooker also makes an excellent school science project. The last project I worked on with my child was, “Can you bake cookies in a solar oven in North Carolina in the month of January?” The conclusion was yes. Solar cookers should certainly be one the items at the top of the list for TEOTWAWKI. They are portable, use only the sun as an energy source and they work!

This is one of the easiest cookers to make and it works great. You can make it for less than $10:

Kathy Dahl-Bredine’s Auto Windshield Shade Solar Cooker

Materials Needed:
Reflective accordion-folding car sunshade
Wire frame or grill)
4 inches of Velcro
Black pot
Bucket or plastic wastebasket
Plastic baking bag
1. Lay the sunshade out with the notched side toward you.
2. Cut the Velcro into three pieces, each about one inches long.
3. Stick or sew one half of each piece, evenly spaced, onto the edge to the left of the notch. Attach the matching half of each piece onto the underneath size to the right of the notch, so that they fit together when the two sides are brought together to form a funnel. If using stick-on Velcro, you can align the two pieces easily like this: Stick down one side of the Velcro, then press the two pieces of Velcro together, fold the shade into the funnel shape and stick down the second side.
4. Press the Velcro pieces together, and set the funnel on top of a bucket or a round or rectangular plastic wastebasket.
Place a black pot on top of the rack, placed inside a plastic baking bag. A standard size rack in the U.S. is 10 inches. This is placed inside the funnel, so that the rack rests on the top edges of the bucket or wastebasket. Since the sunshade material is soft and flexible, the rack is necessary to support the pot. It also allows the suns rays to shine down under the pot and reflect on all sides. If such a rack is not available, a wire frame could be made to work as well.

Tips:
1. The funnel should be tilted in the direction of the sun.
2. A stick placed across from one side of the funnel to the other helps to stabilize it in windy weather.
3. After cooking, simply fold up your “oven” and slip the elastic bands in place for easy travel or storage.

Source: SolarCooking.org (A modification of a design by Kathy Dahl-Bredine, Oaxaca, Mexico)

[JWR Adds: As Reader William B. pointed out, distilled water is NOT good for you, for any length of time, as the minerals your body needs, have been effectively removed! Consider it a very short term contingency method!]

The Needful Provision Solar Water Distiller:

Select a place with good access to sunlight. Dig a hole in the ground about the size of 2-bushel basket, then smooth the bottom of the hole, and add about an inch of sand as necessary to cover any objects that have sharp edges. Line the hole with black plastic (10 mil if possible), and leave about 10 to 12 inches of the plastic around the outside edge of the hole. Use rocks, gravel, or course dirt to hold this edge to the ground. Fill the hole half-full of polluted water (or salt water). Then float a clean, potable water-tub, with open top, on the water. Use ropes and ground-anchors to secure the tub in a center position while floating on the polluted water.

Once the preceding steps are completed, place a siphon-type tube (suitable for potable water) so one end is anchored on the bottom of the tub–and one end extends a few feet beyond the edge of the hole. Now add a clear sheet of plastic over the hole, and allow enough plastic to extend 6 inches beyond the black plastic around the edge of the hole. Place a small, round rock in the center just over the above-described tub, so that the top plastic sags to within 4 to 6 inches of the tub. Now seal the edges of the top and bottom plastic using a layer of dirt at least 6 to 8 inches deep. Cut a circle of white cloth, or similar material, a few inches larger than the collection tub, and then place this over the tub, on top of the plastic, and under the rock (this covering should act to shade water in the tub).

By means of solar water distillation, pure water vapor collects on the underside of the clear plastic where it re-condenses and forms water droplets. The water droplets slide down the plastic, and fall off into the collection tub just below the rock. The siphon tube is then used daily to drain-off the daily ration (1 gallon per person day) of potable water. Hole sizes may be adjusted to meet the water demands of a particular family, as well as adjusting for changes in climatic conditions. If the same water distillation hole is to be used on a regular basis, then a tube and funnel system should be included to add more source water daily, without the need to move dirt or the plastic cover. Pure, potable water was the result of all our prior uses. We do know that there are 2 or 3 chemicals that may evaporate at about the same temperature as water. If such chemicals were present in the source water, then potable water may not always result.
Source: Needful Provision, Inc.

Letter Re: Advice on Accurizing a FAL or L1A1 Rifle

Dear Mr. Rawles,
I was lucky when I purchased a Century Arms L1A1 (British Commonwealth inch pattern FN/FAL) Clone a few years back. Not only does it function flawlessly, it also can use both metric and inch pattern magazines reliably. I purchased the rifle at a gun show for $400. Like I said, I was lucky.

I see that in the past few years you have changed from the M1A to the L1A1 as your primary weapon. I could do the same, if I could get anywhere near the accuracy from the FAL that I get from my AR. But the accuracy of this ugly FrankenFAL clone is just okay–not great, not terrible. I’d like to improve upon that. Do you know of any reputable companies that sell accurized FAL uppers, and would it be as easy to upgrade for accuracy as to simply add a new upper (like with an AR) and maybe a trigger job?
Thanks, – Steve E., Loyal 10 Cent Challenge Subscriber

JWR Replies: Since the serialized upper receiver on a FAL or L1A1 is legally the receiver, here in the US you can’t just buy one by mail order. (That is the part that is subject to FFL controls, in interstate commerce). This is often confusing, because with the more ubiquitous AR-family rifles, things are just the opposite: The serialized lower is restricted, but the unserialized upper is unrestricted. This is the case simply because one day back in the 1950s, Eugene Stoner decided to stamp the serial number on the convenient broad slab expanse of the trigger group (“lower receiver”) of his new AR-10 design, rather than on the part that everyone else would consider the “receiver.”–the chunk of metal where the barrel is attached.

OBTW, if I ever establish my own Libertarian Seastead or island nation out in the Pacific, I will decree that it is illegal to put serial numbers on any “Books” made there. Then, we will proceed to shower the Peoples of the Earth with good tidings of unregistered receivers, via convenient Internet mail order. (Yeah, I know, only in my dreams…)

The accuracy problem with your Franken-L1A1 is likely due to just the last 20 millimeters of barrel rifling, at the muzzle. L1A1 muzzles were often butchered by the Neanderthal gunsmith imposters at Century Arms, when they welded their ugly Section 992(r)-compliant intra-ban muzzle brakes on. So I recommend that you have a qualified gunsmith shorten your barrel by an inch, and either crown it, or install a proper American-made L1A1 style flash hider, or install a Vortex-style flash hider from “Moses”. You will likely see you group size cut in half.

The trigger pulls on most FALs and L1A1s are usually decent, but if your rifle’s is particularly bad, then trigger work is available from T. Mark Graham at Arizona Response Systems (ARS). Since the lower on a FAL or L1A1 is a non-restricted part (unlike an AR-15 or AR-10), you can mail the lower to ARS for a trigger job with no lasting paper trail. I highly recommend their gunsmithing and metal finishing work.

Odds ‘n Sods:

Norman in England spotted this: Plight of the Humble Bee

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KI4U (the NukAlert folks) just announced a 10th Anniversary SurvivalBlog Special: In celebration of our 10th year in business, and gratefulness for the support and encouragement of SurvivalBlog readers, if you order any two of the same products using their online order form and you’ll be shipped a third one free. (Buy 2, Get 3). The order form won’t reflect it, but type “SurvivalBlog” in the comments section, and you’ll be shipped a third extra item for every two you order. This special will be honored up until midnight CST on Sunday evening (February 8th.) Again, be sure to type “SurvivalBlog” into the comments section of the order form.

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Craig W. suggested this “must read” piece with some alarming charts: We’ve Only Just Begun? Craig also suggested this editorial by James West: U.S. Debt Default, Dollar Collapse. (“Imminent”???) Here is more de-leveraging news: As economy needs cash, Americans are saving. (I stand by my prediction of two years of deflation, followed by substantial inflation, as the government massive “stimulus” MOAB overspending devalues the currency.)

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The Economatrix sent all this swell news and commentary: The Next Catastrophe: Pension Funds — Allstate’s Catastrophe Bonds Face Imminent Default — World Stocks Fall on Poor Earnings, Economic Woes — Closing Car Dealers Stun Buyers with Liens on Trade-Ins — Violent Unrest Hits China as Crisis Hits — Dissent Beginning to Spread Across Russia as Crisis Bites — US-China Currency War Eclipses Davos, Threatens World — Don’t Rely on Dollar, Putin Warns Davos — Global Crisis Has Destroyed 40% of World Wealth — Is it Time to Bail Out of the US? — Banks Can Americans, Hire Foreign Workers — Global Food Prices are Rising Fast — 6 Billion Pounds to be Pumped Into Irish Banks — Huge Drop in Peso Value — 46 of 50 States Could File Bankruptcy 2009-2010 (Jim’s comment: Note that three of the four excluded states are on my Recommended Retreat Locales list. Any guesses where taxes will increase the most? Can you spell N-a-n-n-y State?)

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

"I have often thought that if heaven had given me choice of my position and calling, it should have been on a rich spot of earth, well watered, and near a good market for the productions of the garden. No occupation is so delightful to me as the culture of the earth, and no culture comparable to that of the garden. Such a variety of subjects, some one always coming to perfection, the failure of one thing repaired by the success of another, and instead of one harvest a continued one throughout the year. Under a total want of demand except for our family table, I am still devoted to the garden." – Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Charles E. Peale, 1811.

Note from JWR:

We’ve had a big spike in SurvivalBlog site visits, after Yahoo News picked up this article from the AFP news service in France about me and SurvivalBlog: Thought things were bad? US survivalists await worse. This in turn inspired a lively discussion at the MetaFilter blog. Many folks there are having a outsider’s hypercritical heyday, complete with cliched caricatures of survivalists as racist, ignorant hicks. You can see the diatribes (as well as a few well-reasoned posts) at: What if things just keep getting worse? Largely posted by entrenched unprepared urbanites, the majority of those posting obviously are not willing to accept that there may come a day when incivility will go beyond just someone cutting ahead of them in a movie theater queue, or talking too loudly on their cell phone and spoiling the ambience at their favorite eatery. And the whole concept of private civilians owning guns for self defense sends some of them into paroxysms of apoplectic horror.

To all the newcomers: Welcome! Please take the time to look at SurvivalBlog objectively, rather than just dismissively deriding the blog as a gathering place for misfits and malcontents. You will find that the vast majority of those posting are well-educated and well-adjusted. SurvivalBlog is inclusive and anti-racist. Once you start looking through the archives (now nearly 6,000 posts), you’ll also see that SurvivalBlog has a wealth of well-reasoned articles and letters on practical preparedness, largely from intelligent, articulate and common-sense viewpoints.

Sometimes newcomers are overwhelmed with the scale and complexity of the training and logistics that they see described by more seasoned SurvivalBlog readers. Just take a deep breath and think through the basics: Food, water, and shelter. Make the best preparations that you can afford, take advantage of low-cost training, and rest assured that in the event of a disaster you will be able to provide for your family far better than most of your neighbors. You can start by evaluating your own locale and situation and then develop a list of lists. Whether it is just a storm that knocks out utility power for a few days, or The End of the World as We Know It (TEOTWAWKI), you’ll be way ahead of the power curve. – JWR

Inauguration Fallout: Will Retreat Locale Priorities be Skewed?

The recent inauguration of BHO and the establishment of a quasi-socialist majority in congress will have some far-reaching implications. Today, I ‘m just going to focus on one of them, because it is of concern to many preparedness-minded individuals: The possibility of Federal gun laws becoming just as bad or perhaps worse than those extant in the most gun-grabbing states.

For many years I have advised my consulting clients and SurvivalBlog readers to “vote with their feet”, if they live in states with restrictive gun laws. Unlike the UK, that has a uniform set of national laws, the US has always been characterized by it patchwork of state laws, which vary widely. Here in the US, if someone dislikes paying sales tax, they can simply move to a state like Alaska, Delaware, Montana, or Oregon, that have no sales tax; or someone that doesn’t like income tax can move to Florida, Nevada, Texas, South Dakota, Washington, or Wyoming. Likewise, someone that feels oppressed by the gun laws of New Jersey or California could move to a mecca of firearms freedom like Idaho, Kentucky, Montana, or Wyoming . These various taxes and restrictive laws weighed heavily when I developed my ranking of 19 western states for their potential for relocation for those that want to be prepared for long term societal disruption. The recent paradigm shift in Washington, however, may change that. It now appears that Federal gun laws may become more draconian than the worst of the existing state laws. This will make those state laws essentially a moot point. So how will this affect my rankings? Depending on how things play out, this could push up the rankings of Arkansas, California, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oregon, and Washington. I’d appreciate your comments on this issue.

Moving Offshore?
I plan to stick it out here in the States, but for the sake of showing other points of view, I’d also appreciate hearing from any American readers that have gone the ex-pat route. Please let us know you reasoning in deciding to move offshore, and a description of where you settled. Do you feel more of less free there? How are the gun laws in your new country? Are they more or less restrictive that in the US? Is registration required? Are the gun laws openly flaunted?

New Impetus to Buy Pre-1899 Guns

The other major fallout of the new Washington paradigm for gun owners is the prospect of almost universal nationwide registration of firearms. Knowing that registration is often a precursor to confiscation (as in Australia, Canada, and the UK, for example), this could be a proverbial Very Bad Thing (VBT). I predict that if nationwide gun registration is established, many Americans will refuse to comply with what they see as unconstitutional law. Then, much like in Finland and Germany, Greece, Italy, and Spain, rather than register their guns, owners will simply hide huge numbers of them in elaborate wall or attic caches, hidden rooms, and underground caches. (Not surprisingly, some of the highest rates of unregistered gun ownership are in countries that were occupied by Germany during World War II, wand where there has been a fear of occupation by other invading armies. (With the reasoning being “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.”)

Massive noncompliance with gun registration will lead to a predicament: If most guns get buried somewhere, then what will people use on a regular day-to-day basis for target shooting, hunting, and self-defense? Certainly, some wealthy owners might embark upon buying a “second set” of registered guns. But this is prohibitively expensive for most of us.

I predict that many shooters will begin “collecting” Federally-exempt cartridge guns that were made in or before 1898. These guns have always been outside of Federal jurisdiction, and the December 31, 1898 cut-off date has been set in stone since the passage of the Gun Control Act of 1968. Thankfully, Federal legislators consider pre-1899 guns a thoroughly obsolete non-issue, and they will likely be exempted in any nationwide gun registration scheme. I predict that the prices of pre-1899 cartridge guns will increase substantially in the next few years, regardless of changes in Federal gun laws. But if there is indeed a nationwide registration law and pre-1899 guns are not included, their prices will likely quadruple or quintuple, practically overnight. Keep in mind that there is a very small, finite supply of these guns! Presently, you can buy a Mauser rifle made in 1898 for just 20% to 30% more than one made in 1899. But in just a few years, there might be a 5X difference! Plan accordingly. For details on pre-1899 guns and how to identify them, see The Pre-1899 Antique Guns FAQ, that I authored.

County and City Divergence

In addition to the sharp differences at the state level, there is also the issue of divergent county and city ordinances. For example, the state of Nevada as a whole has fairly non-intrusive gun laws, but just Clark County (home to the sprawling Las Vegas metroplex) has some absurd gun laws on the books. Residents of states without firearms law preemption laws share this predicament. I find some of the local restrictions on full-capacity magazines particularly onerous, and hard to keep track of. Here are some examples:

No magazines with a capacity over 12 rounds are allowed in Chicago, Illinois
No magazines with a capacity over 15 rounds are allowed in the state of New Jersey, South Bend, Indiana, or Aurora; Illinois.
No magazines with a capacity over 20 rounds are allowed in the state of Maryland (without a special permit), Wichita, Kansas, or the City & County of Denver Colorado

There are also some idiotic restrictions on sales of firearms ammunition at the local level. For example, it is illegal to sell ammunition by mail order (using common carriers such as UPS) to private parties in:

The city of Sacramento, California

Marin, Napa, Ventura, and Yolo counties in California

Cook County, Illinois;

Alaska

Hawaii

The Chicago metropolitan area,

New York City

New Jersey

Massachusetts

The District of Columbia

Puerto Rico

APO or FPO (US m overseas) addresses

But state, county and city laws also provide a few interesting loopholes. One well-known loophole was mentioned to me by reader F.G., who forwarded this article link: Old firearms given new life by restrictive New York gun control laws. I’d be interested in hearing about others.

The flip-side to all this is state reservation of rights, wherein states effectively thumb their noses at over-reaching Federal jurisdiction. A recently-introduced bill in New Hampshire is a good example. (A hat tip to SurvivalBlog reader Larry T. for that link.) Another example is HB 246, Montana’s proposed “made in Montana” Federal firearms jurisdiction exemption bill. I predict that if new Federal gun laws are enacted, many more states will do their best to exempt themselves, citing the 10th Amendment and the Lopez decision. Some might even go so far as to start rumbling about secession from the Union.

Keep the Change, Pal

It is difficult to predict how gun laws might change at the Federal level in the next few years, and any broad implications thereof. All that is certain is that the majority of the American electorate consciously voted for change in the last election. We may soon find that we are the recipients of more change than is comfortable.

Retreat Building Lighting Systems, by The Old Yooper

Lighting systems in a retreat home (not connected to the grid).

My home does not fit the definition of a retreat. I built it about 30 years ago in the UP (Upper Peninsula of Michigan) when the idea of a retreat location was not on my radar screen. Only by coincidence has my home worked out to fit a retreat definition, better situated them many, not as good as some. It is quite secluded, the only house at the end of a dead end dirt road. It has never had grid power run to it. The utility company wanted as much money to run the power lines through the woods back to my cabin as the cabin cost me to build. It’s not that I didn’t know that when I built the cabin, I just did not think it was anything I needed to have at the time. This is not that unusual in the UP as it may seem to most people. There are lots of homesteads too far off the beaten path to have grid power connected up here in the UP. The cabin is 2000 sq. ft. with three bedrooms, two baths, living room, kitchen and dining room. Also a full basement, not included in the square footage above. It is as modern as most houses today except for how every thing works. I will only concentrate on lighting in this essay. In later essays (if anyone is interested) I can explain cooking, refrigeration, heating, electricity, etc. I hope you don’t mind my folksy/personal writing style; it’s just the way I am.

Today we are heading into a monumental depression of historic magnitude. No one truly knows how bad it will get or how long it will last. I think it was Benjamin Franklin that said “prepare for the worst and hope for the best” and that’s as true today as it was over 200 years ago. I know the subject of lighting may seem somewhat mundane and even silly to some, put a few candles away and we will be OK, they hope. But without sustained, reliable lighting, day to day life can get pretty difficult at best. It’s important to try to keep your home as normal as possible in the hard times ahead for you, your family and whoever may be seeking refuge with you. All lighting systems take energy of some form just as cooking and heating do, this is the first thing to keep in mind when planning for your lighting systems.

As Mr. Rawles has said in the past “two is one and one is none”. I have learned this the hard way, by experiencing a failure in a system. I have four, separate, distinct and independent (from each other) lighting systems in the house. So a failure of one or even two will not make my lights go out.

The first lighting system is AC electric. The cabin is fully wired for 110/220V AC power, normal household electrical current. Supplied via gas generator, wind generator, and inverter/charger battery bank system, again if anyone is interested I can go into greater detail about the electrical systems in another essay. For the most part the electric lights in the house are compact fluorescent with a few exceptions. One of the exceptions are the under-cabinet 10 watt halogen lights in the kitchen. Ten watts is not much but there are 13 of them under the cabinets. I must admit that they are nice to have on and 130 watts is not all that much either, however I tend to forget about them being on and along with the TV and lights on in the living room, bathroom and a bedroom (kids, you know how that is) the batteries are drawn down much too fast. Well I can’t use the kids excuse anymore, it’s grandkids now. We all know how electric lights work; you flip a switch and the lights come on. That is true with inverter power also, as long as you use the right inverter system.

Just to be clear about electricity, it is by far the most convenient and at the same time the most susceptible to failure of all the lighting systems I use. I have run out of gas, aggravating at the time but not a major problem, unless gas becomes unavailable? I have had generator and/or inverter system failures; yes even the best will not last indefinitely. The worst electrical failure I have experienced was lightning hitting the phone line coming into the cabin. The phone lines are underground but the lightning hit it anyway. It followed the line into the house, blowing every phone jack off the walls and ruined all three of my phones. It also crossed over to the electrical wiring and fried most every thing plugged in to wall outlets. NOTE: I have plug strips supposedly with electrical breakers built into them, so I can turn off the TV, stereo, and the like so they will not run down the batteries. All modern electronics and appliances use power even when there not in use. [JWR Adds: These are so-called “phantom loads”, typically caused the microcircuits for clocks and other sub-modules.] The lightning went across these plug strips as if they were hard wired in. This was a major system failure. My homes owners insurance covered all repairs and replacements. However in a TEOTWAWKI there would be no insurance and no repairs or replacements unless I fixed them myself and, spare parts would be out of the question.

My second lighting system is propane gas. The cabin is plumbed for gas lights in most of the main rooms down stairs and the master bedroom and bathroom upstairs. These are gas mantle lights. To light them I use a Bic lighter under the mantle and turn on the gas, and I have instant light. When I first installed the gas lights, I would use a kitchen match (wooden matches), to light them. I soon discovered I was very good at poking a hole in the mantle with the match; I soon switched to a Bic lighter. Mantles cost about $7.00 each. They are about as bright as a 65 to 70 watt incandescent light bulb. I have two styles of gas mantle lights in my home. The first and the ones I started with are Humphrey gas lights; I only have two of them. These are good dependable well made lighting fixtures of sheet metal construction; the only drawback is there a little homely. As far as I know there is only one style, a wall mount fixture. Humphrey gas lighting fixtures can be found at most propane distributors and country hardware stores.

The second gas lighting fixture and the one I prefer is Falks gas lighting fixtures. These are a much more elegant lighting fixture made in Canada out of solid brass. There are three styles of Falks lighting fixtures to pick from. A single mantle wall mount, double mantle wall mount and a double mantle chandelier, I have all three styles in my cabin. Both the Humphrey and Falks gas lights use the same globes and mantles. I have several spare mantles and globes on hand at all times. Falks gas lights can be ordered from Lehman’s. The cost for the single Falks gas light is about $80 US and $75 US for a Humphrey gas light. Gas lights are just as bright as electric lights.

When I installed the gas lights I used 1?2” soft copper tubing for main runs and 3/8” soft copper tubing off the main run for a single lighting fixture. If you put in gas lights never use hard copper tubing that requires soldering the joints. Only use soft copper tubing and flare fittings that are designed for gas applications. Use a soap swab to check for gas leaks at every connection. Never use a match to check for leaks. If there is a leak (and there will be some) at a connection you can have an instant blow torch on your hands, and that blow torch can just as well be in your face. If you do not know how to install gas fixtures have a licensed plumber do them.

Both Falks and Humphrey gas lights use about .085 lb of gas per hour per mantle. I think a little math is in order here.

One gallon of propane weighs about 4.23 lb.
A 20 lb. propane tank (type for gas grills) contains somewhere in the neighborhood of 4.7 gallons of gas. If you did the math you will find that it isn’t exactly 20 lbs., the numbers aren’t carried out properly to the last decimal place.

Therefore a 20 lb. propane tank will run one mantle light for approximately 234 hours of continues use. If you ran a gas light for 5 hours a night one 20 lb. tank will last for 47 days. However refilling 20 lb. tanks is the most expensive way to buy and store propane gas.

A 100 lb. tank will run one mantle light for approximately 1,176 hours of continues use. And if you ran a gas light for 5 hours a night, one 100 lb. tank will last for 235 days more or less. I’m sure someone will check my math to see if it works out and that’s Okay, I make lots of mistakes.

I have a 500 gallon propane pig (tank) for gas, which is kind of a lot for just lighting. I also use propane for other things in my cabin. The last time propane was delivered last October it cost $2.49 per gallon. At that price it cost approximately $0.05 per hour to run one light. Also propane will store for ever with no degradation of the gas (it doesn’t “go bad”). You can’t say that for gasoline, kerosene or diesel. A side note: I am told that we are in a deflationary spiral, but the only things that I can see going down in price is real estate and gasoline. Food, clothing, repairs of anything and the stuff you need day to day haven’t gone down at all. (Just a little whining).

My third independent lighting system; kerosene lights. I use two types of kerosene lights in the cabin. The first is Aladdin lamps. I have four Aladdin lamps, one is a Majestic Table lamp, and three Genie III shelf lamps one of which is in a hanging fixture in my bedroom, and the two others are on each end of the fireplace mantle. Aladdin lamps can be a bit temperamental to operate. All Aladdin lamps are mantle lamps similar to Coleman Lanterns however they use a round wick like an old kerosene lamp. The temperamental part, the wick must be trimmed evenly all around the top. If it is not you will get flame spikes (I call them horns) coming up into the mantle and if, (not when), these little fiery horns touch the mantle it will start building up with carbon. All you have to do is turn down thee wick so the horn is not touching the mantle and the carbon will burn off the mantle. However if you don’t turn the wick down, the mantle will continue to build up carbon and eventually put out copious amounts of lovely black soot, to coat your ceiling and fill the air with a witches’ brew of noxious gas and smoke. On the bright side, Aladdin lamps will generate the equivalent of a 50 watt incandescent light bulb and at the same time will put out about 2,700 BTU’s of heat, that’s a lot of heat in the summer time from one lamp. In the evenings in the fall and spring of the year, I can heat my cabin with nothing but Aladdin lamps (if it’s not too cold out). A log cabin retains heat very well, and all my windows are triple glazed. If you would like to try Aladdin lamps they are available at many country hardware stores and Lehman’s by mail order. After making it sound awful, I like my Aladdin lamps, it just takes a little practice to learn how to use them. If you are going to use Aladdin lamps you will need to stock up on Aladdin Chimneys, Mantles and Wicks. There are two types of Aladdin Chimneys. The first is the Lox-On Chimney; I’ve had them last for years and also had them break in a week. In my opinion the Heel-Less Chimney is superior, it allows the glass to move as it heats up and cools off without breaking. For about $12.00 a Gallery Adapter will convert a Burner to use a Heel-less Chimney. Newly manufactured Aladdin Lamps come with Heel-Less Chimneys.

I have several table and wall mounted old fashion kerosene lamps. I also have one very ornate Victorian hanging library lamp in my dinning room. It is solid brass with a ruby red hob nail, glass shade, and lots of prisms. If it sounds like my cabin is old fashioned, it is. One rule of thumb in lighting any kerosene lamp, light the wick with a low flame and let the lamp and kerosene in it heat up. As the kerosene gets hotter its viscosity goes down and flows much faster. As the kerosene flows faster the flame will get bigger and bigger. There is no reason for the chimney to soot up if you just start with a low flame and let the lamp heat up. After the lamp is hot you can adjust the brightness. If you plan on using kerosene lamps stock up on wicks and chimneys. The wicks are consumables and no matter how careful you are chimneys break. Almost forgot, every time the lamps are filled the wick should be trimmed, I trim the wick just to clean it up flat across its top and I cut a small 45¬? angle off each end of the wick, so the flame will have a domed appearance. If that is not clear just experiment with it, you will learn as you go.

How mush kerosene should be stored? I am told that kerosene will last for about 15 years before it goes bad. In 2008 I used about 30 gallons of kerosene; I use more in the winter then in the summer. In a TEOTWAWKI I would be mush more conservative than I am right now. If you’re going to use kerosene as one of your lighting systems I would suggest storing from 100 to 200 gallons in 55 gallon plastic drums.

The last lighting system is just old fashion candles. Several years ago I was able to acquire about 200 pounds of wax from a company I worked for. The company applied wax to one of the products they manufactured. When they had a product change on the coating machine they had to purge all the wax out of the machine and put in a different formula for the changeover. The purged wax was pumped out into five gallon buckets and discarded. It is amazing how much stuff is thrown away that could be used in a grid down situation. All this wax I have stashed will someday have to be made into candles. There are two basic ways to make candles. The first is to mold (cast) them in a candle mold. I have had one of these for a very long time; it casts 8 candles at a time. The candle mold is simple to use. Just feed a pre-waxed string (wick) through the hole in the bottom of each candle mold, bend it over so it will not come out. Tie the other end to a rod across the top of the mold and fill the mold with wax. Let the wax solidify, dip in hot water and pull out the candles. Trim the string off the bottom of each candle and store in a cool place until needed. Candle molds can be made fairly simply to just about any length and diameter you desire. I have made 1” diameter x 14” long candle molds. Use hard copper tubing, or PVC plastic pipe would work also. Cut to the length desired and chamfer both ends inside and out side (de-burr it). Take a cap that fits over the end of the tubing and drill a hole in the center of it to fit the size of wick you have, or make. Use the same procedure for casting candles above. After the candles are cast and hardened put the molds in vary hot water to loosen the wax from the mold. Remove the mold from the water and using a wooden rod with an end on it that fits the full diameter of the candle push the candle out of the mold and let cool. The ends of the candle will be flat, but this is not a drawback in my mind.

The second way to make candles is by dipping them. This way is a little more cumbersome [and time consuming] and I don’t recommend it. But if anyone is interested in hand dipping candles, just Google the subject to learn how.

One more safety concern, never melt wax in your house and never on your kitchen stove. Melted wax is highly flammable. A wax fire is almost impossible to put out with water; it just spreads the fire over the kitchen and all over you, and anyone that is with you at the time. Do not take this warning lightly. I make candles outside away from any buildings on a nice summer day. – The Old Yooper

Letter Re: Lessons from the January Ice Storm

Jim:
The Ice Storm that just plastered Kentucky brought some reminders of just how bad things can get and how being prepared – in advance – is critical. Within a few hours, everything became coated with a half-inch to an inch of ice: roads, cars, trees, power lines – everything. Throughout the night, we heard crashes as our neighbor’s trees lost massive limbs. We knew it was only a matter of time before trees limbs (which are not properly trimmed back by our utility company in an attempt to cut costs) collapsed on power lines and caused widespread outages. In the morning, everything had turned to crystal. About a quarter million people were without power in our county, but almost everyone in the western half of the state had lost power.

Our county actually did a good job of plowing and salting roads. Unfortunately, it didn’t help as hundreds of traffic lights weren’t working. Traffic was snarled badly and travel times easily doubled. Hundreds of businesses are closed and losing money every day the power stays off. Looking for a generator at the local big box home and garden center? Forget it, quickly sold out. Ice scrapers, gone. Gas cans, gone. Driveway salt, gone. Snow shovels, gone. The sales guy told me they weren’t going to get restocked for the rest of the season.

My daughter called from the university she attends about a four hour drive to the West. Their whole city was without power and water. The university asked students to leave, if possible, and those who couldn’t were sheltered in the campus auditorium. They didn’t have any cots so you had to sleep on the floor or in the auditorium chairs. She wanted me to come pick her up, so as I headed out the next morning on a full tank of gas, my plan was to stop at each significant town on the way to check their power and gas pumping status. Each stop was the same as the next – dead. As I neared the half-way point on my gas gauge, not one city on the way had electricity. It’s as if a nuclear ice bomb had been dropped on the state. I turned back.

It’s amazing when you fully realize how dependent our society has become on electricity. We are being told it will take up to 7 days to completely restore service in our county, which is completely urban. Out in the rural areas, they say it will be two weeks or more. Temperatures have been dropping into the teens at night. Lots of people I know have no alternatives to heat their homes or cook food. Fireplaces, like mine, are electrically controlled gas logs. I can’t even light it manually. I’ve learned a lesson: get what you need before you need it. Get extra. I will be buying a dependable generator once this crisis passes. My next home will be better equipped with alternative sources of heat and power. – J.S.

JWR Replies: Events like the recent ice storm underscore the need to be self -sufficient: Think things through, and prepare systematically: Wood or coal fired stoves with a horizontal cook top. Kerosene lamps and plenty of fuel, a backup power generator, again with plenty of fuel. Extra stored fuel for your vehicle (which would have allowed you to make that 8 hour round-trip). Often overlooked in winter is the need for a backup water supply, and water filtration, even if it mean melting buckets of snow–which is agonizingly slow and laborious.

Letter Re: Lost Tribe Bypassed by History: Ragtag Band of Khmer Families

James;
This is an old story but still interesting: Lost tribe bypassed by history.

My [Cambodian] wife, who is in her thirties, still has some of these jungle/farming skills. Her younger brothers and sisters who have lived in Phnom Penh do not. Most young people only know about Karaoke and mobile phones. Many of the under 15’s think the Khmer Rouge is something their parents made up.

See:

Lost tribe leaves the jungle for brave new world of mobiles.

Help runs out for the lost tribe of Cambodia

Slide show: Lost tribe

I don’t think most people want to copy their example. But their story does illustrate that long term survival is possible for people with skills even if they have little resources. Regards, – F.D.

Odds ‘n Sods:

Be advised that the 25% off special on Mountain House and Alpine Aire freeze-dried foods in #10 cans at Ready Made Resources is just a short term sale. This sale ends on February 14th, so be sure to get your order in soon! Ready Made Resource was the very first advertiser to support SurvivalBlog, and they have loyally been with us continuously since our first week of publishing, in 2005. They deserve your business.

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Bryce pointed out that Newsweek recently had an interesting article on survival in emergency situations titled: What it Takes to Survive.

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Rob at MURS Radios mentioned that starting in January, Dakota Alert (the makers of my favorite outdoor passive infrared intrusion detection systems) raised their prices up to 12% on some products. Rob has just one more shipment arriving next week at the lower 2008 prices. After this stock is sold, unfortunately, prices will go up. If anyone is interested in “getting in under the wire”, please contact him to reserve inventory from this shipment.

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A couple of economic items, courtesy of Ben M.: Bill for Financial Bailout Seen as High as $7.4 Trillion, and Bank Bailout Could Cost Up to $4 Trillion: Economists. (Obviously, these is quite a divergence of opinion. But to take the liberty of updating a famous saying by Senator Everett Dirksen [best if you apply a strong southern accent]: “A trillion here, and trillion there, and pretty soon, you’re talking about real money!”) And here is one bit of interesting news, courtesy of Jack B.: Hedge fund to offer shares priced in gold.

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

"Great works are performed, not by strength, but by perseverance. Yonder palace was raised by single stones, yet you see its height and spaciousness. He that shall walk with vigor three hours a day will pass in seven years a space equal to the circumference of the globe." – Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)

Notes from JWR:

I was saddened to hear that “Barefoot” Bob Hardison passed way on Saturday. He was a Korean War veteran, a patriot, an outspoken A.A. member, and an influential figure in the preparedness movement. Over the years, many SurvivalBlog readers have referred to the Barefoot’s World web site. I just heard that Bob’s site will be maintained by our friend Michael H., as a lasting legacy and tribute to Bob’s amazing collection of lore, Constitutional history, and practical skills.

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We’ve completed the judging for Round 20 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. . And the winner is: George S. for his lengthy article Field Gear on a Shoestring Budget: Ten Project Examples, posted on Jan 12, 2009. His prize is a pair of transferable Front Sight  “Gray” Four Day Training Course Certificates. This is an up to $4,000 value!

Second Prize goes to H.I.C., for his article Survival Gardening: Growing Food During A Second Great Depression, posted on Jan. 17, 2009. His prize is a three day course certificate from OnPoint Tactical. He can take his pick of OnPoint’s three-day civilian courses.

Third Prize goes to The Army Dentist, for his article Survival Dentistry, posted on Dec. 19, 2008. His prize is a copy of my “Rawles Gets You Ready” preparedness course, from Arbogast Publishing

The judging was so difficult that Honorable Mention prizes are being awarded to two other Round 20 authors:To Jerry the Generator Guy for Building a Low-Cost, Low-Profile Shortwave Dipole Antenna, and to Kyrottimus for Comparing the Big Three Battle Rifle Chamberings in the United States. They will each receive autographed copies of my novel “Patriots: Surviving the Coming Collapse”.

Round 21 of the writing contest ends on March 31st, so get busy writing, and you too may be a prize winning author!

Note to the prize winners for Round 20: Let me know your snail mail addresses for mailing your prizes. Once again, congratulations!

Today’s first post is the first entry for Round 21 of the writing contest. It was authored by Kathy Harrison, whom many SurvivalBlog readers will remember as the author the mainstream nonfiction preparedness book “Just in Case.”

The Community Retreat, by Kathy Harrison

Establishing a retreat seems to be the dream of many survivalists but realistically, evacuating to a retreat is not a proposition that is readily available to very many. There are generally problems with finances as well as family commitments to contend with. Many folks, like me, have spent years in establishing perennial food plants, compost piles, garden plots, building small businesses and, most importantly, forging important community ties that would not be easily broken. Therefore, we would be well advised to explore how to approach ways to turn our own residences into retreat communities.

The location of the community is of the utmost importance. Pulling off such a feat off in a large city or an affluent suburb would be pretty difficult. A small town in a rural location with a high proportion of families who already raise food and livestock is your best bet. Such a town is likely to have a well-developed sense of community, strong family ties and a faith-based community. You will also likely find a diverse set of necessary skills. Such communities are generally located in areas that have climates suitable to growing food crops. Hunting is often a part of the local culture so firearms ownership is not seen as a problem. It has been my experience that a large number of survival-minded folks find themselves living in this kind of locality. The question then becomes, “how do we locate like-minded families and establish a network of support, with possibility of barter arrangements and the sharing of skills and tools in such towns?”

We began by attending a film series a few years ago. Free showings of films such as The End of Suburbia, King Corn and Life At The End Of The Empire were shown. Each film was followed by a discussion group. Setting up this kind of series can happen at a library or house of worship. Out of this format, a core group formed, all with the sense that life as we knew it was unlikely to be sustainable for the long term and that we needed to take steps to prepare for the eventual change. We began meeting on a monthly basis. We are a diverse group; some more interested in the implications of Peak Oil, some with financial collapse. Others are the local growers of organic produce and the breeders of heritage breed livestock. We have no membership list, no rules of order, no dues and no criteria for coming to our monthly meetings. We do follow a loose agenda to ensure that we get some work20accomplished but much of our time together is devoted to chit chat about current topics and sharing ideas.

One of our most successful endeavors has been our “101” classes. This is a series of free workshops devoted to helping people learn valuable skills from others. We have had classes in raising chickens, canning produce, cheese making, mushroom propagation, herbal medicine, knitting and many other subjects. The object is to make all of us less dependant and share skills that might otherwise be lost.

Recognizing that energy shortages are likely, we set up a panel of people already alternative sources of energy. This was remarkably well-attended and led to a day long event where folks opened their homes to people who wanted to see each system in operation. We saw underground homes, photovoltaic systems, solar heat collectors, wind powered homes and a couple of places that had been off-grid for years. The tour ended with a pot-luck soup and bread dinner.

We consider helping each other as a given. We have helped each other get in our winter wood supply, can an abundance of bulk purchased chicken and traded off tools, vehicles and equipment. When my husband scored some very inexpensive sap buckets, he bought enough for many other group members. When I found myself overwhelmed with peaches, three of us processed 50 quarts in an afternoon. A couple of us are really interested in wild foods. Together we gathered fox grapes and put up 20 gallons of juice, harvested and dried over 100 pounds of wild mushrooms and canned 35 quarts of wild applesauce. We are still eating the fiddleheads we froze last May. Out latest project is to take a firearms safety course together.

When a major ice storm left our town without power for over a week, we saw an opportunity to check our preparedness level and hone our skills. Many of us were also able to provide help and provisions to those who were less prepared including the elderly in our small town.

We still have work to do. We realize that we are not as well prepared for medical emergencies as we would wish so some members are researching becoming EMTs and First Responders for our local volunteer fire department. We also see the wisdom in becoming more involved in our town government.

I know this is not the kind of preparedness one generally reads about on sites such as this but I think for many, this is the most realistic. Should the worst happen, we will be prepared to ride it out with friends and neighbors, bonded together with common purpose and presenting a united front. – Kathy Harrison

Letter Re: Mobs of Young Beggars on the Streets of Baghdad

Jim
I definitely look forward to reading your blog every morning as I begin my day here in Baghdad. I wanted to share some perspective on what I see on a daily basis as an American GI patrolling the streets of Baghdad on the topic of begging. I think your readers might eventually come face to face with this type of behavior and it might not be pleasant for them if not dealt with correctly. When my team stops at a project site or we conduct patrols throughout the various neighborhoods of Baghdad, we are besieged by Iraqi children asking us for items such as candy, pencils, pens, and soccer balls. There are two ways these scenarios usually play out. One, if soldiers hand out any items, the floodgates open and more children appear as word spreads that items are being given away. A mob typically surrounds the soldier and/or vehicle. Even if those children get that which they ask for, they do not leave. Rather, they continue to ask for more. Fights typically break out amongst the throng of children as they fight over what is given out. When we ask our interpreters why the children are not happy with what they’ve been given, we are told that because they are poor (but no longer starving, mind you, since the USA put an end to the UN Food For Oil scandal and Saddam’s reign of terror) and the Americans are perceived as being rich. Another way this is dealt with is the children are told “Mako Shay” which in Arabic means “I Have Nothing”. If said soldier stands firm and refuses to give in to the pleas of the beggars, they usually dissipate and go on to other soldiers to beg from or go on to playing with their friends. The key here is to stand firm and tell them that you have nothing to give them. I see strong parallels between this daily occurrence here in Iraq and that which could occur should the [American] populace flees their homes in search of food and shelter.

Just some food for thought, should the SHTF. Regards, – The Survivalist

Letter Re: The Weekly Bank Failure Hit Parade

Greetings!
Three more down, and waaaay too many more to go, most likely.

SurvivalBlog readers and everybody else ought to keep looking at The Weiss Research ratings regularly – – just to keep tabs on their own bank, investments, insurance companies, etc. I’ve gone from checking once a month, to once a week, to a couple times a week now -all in the span of a year! – Bob M.

JWR Replies: The situation in the banking world has become so fluid that the ratings from Marty Weiss, et al may not be timely enough to be of great value. Their ratings are based on monthly and in some cases quarterly filings. So, in addition to watching the TheSteet.com ratings, I recommend that you watch the stock price for your bank, assuming that it is publicly traded.