Survival Prep For Ice Storm
 

The prospects for the people of the midwest that are suffering with the hardships of a few days without the normal infrastructure and supply pipelines should serve as a wakeup call for preparations and prepardness. A similar ice storm situation occurred in Montreal Canada a few years ago and lasted for months for some people. What may cause the "STHTF" in your area can never be anticipated but need for minimal prep remains the same for all areas. Better to be two years too early than to be one day too late.
William S Cook

Re: Survival Prep For Ice Storm
 

a quick and easy lamp/heat. take an empty coffee can, then a roll a toilet paper which your pulled the center cardboard roll out. smash that into the can. now soak it in lighter fluid. when lit it will burn extremely slow.

Re: Survival Prep For Ice Storm
 

i been through a hundred wintertime outages I figger, most just overnight and a few lasted for days

main thing is have some potable water on hand. oh and dont flush the toilet after urinations, just let those go. and have some water on hand if you need to flush solids because after that first or second pump the reserve will be drained.

second thing is backup heat. a fireplace does for most people, wiether wood or gas, as gas works fine during an electricity blackout.

third thing, is that you need to keep ice in your freezer, like, either jugs of icewater, or, some of those freezer gel packs. that will hold the cold for a good 12-24 hours even if you have to open it once or twice. but keep the fridge closed.

fourth thing is that in a prolonged blackout the shelves will go bare of stuff like bread that gets restocked daily. so make a run early if you think you'll need it.

that covers 95% of it right there.

Re: Survival Prep For Ice Storm
 

I could see the Hydro pylons from my living room window. Not something I ever want to repeat. I had to redo all the water lines in my house because of that. We lost the lot. Had to spend the rest of the winter living at my folks place. Naturally, they heat and cook with natural gas.

Re: Survival Prep For Ice Storm
 

Tn_Andy.... care to chime in here???

He went through a big one that left him in the dark for weeks.

I'd put money on him bein ready for next one.




But let us not forget FEMA will be there to save us:bull-buddy-icon:

Re: Survival Prep For Ice Storm
 

ahahaaa....I wasn't too un-ready for the last one :D....I have an 8kw generator on a Miller Welder unit that I use......I did pick up a spare generator after that one......folks bought them, used for a couple hours and sold for 1/3 to 1/2 off what they paid like they would never need them again.....neighbor sold me a 10hp 5kw Coleman for 300 bucks....and he paid about 700 for it.
I bought it to lug around the farm for a little power here or there.....I can actually lift it in a truck, where my welder is too heavy....I have to move it by tractor forks.

We've had several here over the years that varied from several hours to 2 weeks ( big, wet, heavy snow in 1993 that broke down power lines all over the region )....we already heat with wood, after that one, I changed the water heater to propane because it eats too much of my generator capcity to use it to heat water. We use a propane camp stove to replace our normal electric stove ( which will be propane in the next remodel of the house ) and use Coleman propane or gas lanterns + oil lamps for light. Our water has always been gravity fed spring, so don't depend on power for that.....basically, all I use the generator for is a few lights and keeping refrigeration. Now I'm going solar cell on that, so ready won't even need the generator unless we simply want a lot of excess power for something.

To me, anyone that lives in a house dependent on just one source of heat, or light, is just asking to get creamed at some point......and invariably, when you hear of these "disasters", the stories come out.

"Disaster" is merely an inconvienence when you are prepared for it.

Re: Survival Prep For Ice Storm
 

I like that. ...should be the motto of GIM

Re: Survival Prep For Ice Storm
 

If you're rural you already know what the city folk are learning about ice storms and power outages.

A guy at work was bitching about being out of power for the last four days - his solution ? Get a big generator and feed it lots of gasoline so it runs two space heaters that won't even keep his water lines from freezing.

Lets do the math, 8 kw generator to get 6000 btu's worth of heat.



I keep two hundered gallons of propane for 40,000 btu's of non electric powered back-up heat.

I cook on it, heat my water and refill my lanterns too.

Guess who doesn't worry about power outages ?

I don't run generators, gasoline is for my ATV so I can goof off from work on bad weather days ...

Re: Survival Prep For Ice Storm
 

Back in 1999 I bought a 1800W Mitsubishi generator. I've got it on the back screened/glassed in porch. Drilled a hole in the wall near the floor and ran two 14gauge extension cords through it. It powers the fridge, lights, tv, fan etc.

For backup heat I've got a Vermont Castings gas stove. No electricity needed, throws a ton of heat. Then I've got a kerosene heater and a Mr. Buddy propane heater. I like having plenty of backup....