Finding the holes in our preps

[JamesY]

I wired in a plug and built a cord. by switching some breakers off and one on I can power the house. did a test run tonight. it ran the freezer, fridge, all the lights in the house and shed, coffee pot and microwave. maybe one day I'll step up to a generac back up genset and a 500 gallon propane tank but for now this will work and I got less than $600 tied up in it.

 

[Neb]

that sounds like a great plan!

Be aware that plan takes great discipline and near anal retentive attention to detail.

I had 50 gallons in my shed and rotated it as described above right up until @ThePrincess insisted I store the quad in the shed. The quad filled the floor space and prevented access to my stores. So now I have what may be 50 gallons of near kerosene. The last time I cycled my gasoline stores I had to pay my mechanic to replace something that was fouled by bad fuel.

Forgive me father for I have sinned...

and let my acquisitions throw a monkey wrench into my my prepping practices.

Ben

 

[joel]

Here in S.C. we get 45 to 80 inches average annual precipitation, that about 62. a year every year.
So the best, cheapest way to get water is to collect it in catch bason or from roofs when it rains.
Next is have a stream or spring on your land, which most people do not have.
Next is a pond, water would need to be boiled.
Then a surface well of less than 50 feet.
Then the deep well with a solar run pump.

 

[JamesY]

Be aware that plan takes great discipline and near anal retentive attention to detail.

I had 50 gallons in my shed and rotated it as described above right up until @ThePrincess insisted I store the quad in the shed. The quad filled the floor space and prevented access to my stores. So now I have what may be 50 gallons of near kerosene. The last time I cycled my gasoline stores I had to pay my mechanic to replace something that was fouled by bad fuel.

Forgive me father for I have sinned...

and let my acquisitions throw a monkey wrench into my my prepping practices.

Ben

I mow 3 acres every 2 weeks in the summer. I could burn 50 gallons in a summer easily. lol

 

[JamesY]

in other news 3 more aquatainers came in today. that brings the total to 9. being under boil order for a week, the 6 if us used only two containers. so i bet 9 would last a bit. we also have a pond behind the house. that water could be filtered and boiled easily. but not as easy and opening one of these guys

 

[Spikedriver]

I wired in a plug and built a cord. by switching some breakers off and one on I can power the house. did a test run tonight. it ran the freezer, fridge, all the lights in the house and shed, coffee pot and microwave. maybe one day I'll step up to a generac back up genset and a 500 gallon propane tank but for now this will work and I got less than $600 tied up in it.

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For a short term outage, that looks great!

 

[Amish Heart]

I was bad about rotating gas, too, Ben. When we moved I gave away a bunch of gas cans filled with old gas I didn't rotate to a friend of the family who lives out in the mesa and needed something to start fires with.

 

[Neb]

I wired in a plug and built a cord. by switching some breakers off and one on I can power the house. did a test run tonight. it ran the freezer, fridge, all the lights in the house and shed, coffee pot and microwave. maybe one day I'll step up to a generac back up genset and a 500 gallon propane tank but for now this will work and I got less than $600 tied up in it.

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Nice!

A transfer switch will transfer your critical loads from line to backup sources. Automatic transfer switches will do it automatically when an outage occurs (doh) but manual transfer switches can achieve the same end.

Transfer switches address 2 hazardous situations.

1
Running a generator that is not phase synchronized with the mains will destroy the generator with a plethera if of smoke and fire.

2
Supplying power to backfeed a power grid can fry an innocent line man try to patch things back together.

Transfer switches will allow one to determine if a load is powered by the line or the the alternative.

Ben

 

[Neb]

I was bad about rotating gas, too, Ben. When we moved I gave away a bunch of gas cans filled with old gas I didn't rotate to a friend of the family who lives out in the mesa and needed something to start fires with.

Thanks!

It is nice to know that I am not alone.

I'm a man but I can change if I have to I guess.

Ben

 

[Amish Heart]

Nah. Don't change being a man. That would be weird.

 

[Aerindel]

Bolt cutter...

Tell me more, tell me more (Grease the musical)

Ben

There is an irrigation canal that runs fifty feet from my front door. It crosses my property and then goes down a pipe to provide high pressure gravity feed water for several ranchers down in the valley a couple miles away.

The canal used to have water in it year round but about ten years ago the water project people decided to shut it all off in the winter so they didn't have to worry about it.

But all it takes to put water in it is to cut the chain on a headgate about a half mile away and open it up a few turns.

As a plus, everyone else downstream would want the water too. Its a good thing to be the first private property along the canal. It would be a lot of other peoples best interest, for me to have water.

 

[Neb]

Nah. Don't change being a man. That would be weird.

Don't worry. We do have a plan that as soon as we finish the the rebuild we will build a shed for all of our large equipment and tools like cement mixers power wagons lawn tractors quads etc. that will let us resume a good fuel regime.

God willing!

Ben

 

[Neb]

There is an irrigation canal that runs fifty feet from my front door. It crosses my property and then goes down a pipe to provide high pressure gravity feed water for several ranchers down in the valley a couple miles away.

The canal used to have water in it year round but about ten years ago the water project people decided to shut it all off in the winter so they didn't have to worry about it.

But all it takes to put water in it is to cut the chain on a headgate about a half mile away and open it up a few turns.

As a plus, everyone else downstream would want the water too. Its a good thing to be the first private property along the canal. It would be a lot of other peoples best interest, for me to have water.

That sounds cool.

Would down stream notice your usage ?

Ben

 

[Aerindel]

Some general water storage advice.

The larger your containers, the cheaper your price per gallon becomes. A 55 gallon drum is about $60, but a 550 gallon container is about $300.

Its easy and fairly cheap to plumb in a water storage system so you no longer have to worry about carrying or physically moving water containers to fill and empty. You simply need to install the piping, a valve, and on on demand RV style pump that can be solar or small generator operated. This also allows you to use all your existing plumbing in your house with your backup water supply. Just make sure to have a check valve or shut off between your house system and everything else so you don't end up watering the neighborhood too.

That sounds cool.

Would down stream notice your usage ?

Ben

Nope. When its running in the summer its something like a two thousand gallons per minute of flow. I am the smallest user with rights to it and I am allotted 2.4 million gallons per irrigation season, which I never come within a fraction of actually using.

 

[hiwall]

2
Supplying power to backfeed a power grid can fry an innocent line man try to patch things back together.

I have heard that a hundred times but I think that is not accurate. If your generator tries to feed the whole line it would likely kill your generator because of the huge draw.
Also I wonder what happens when you feed power backwards through a transformer?

 

[JamesY]

Nice!

A transfer switch will transfer your critical loads from line to backup sources. Automatic transfer switches will do it automatically when an outage occurs (doh) but manual transfer switches can achieve the same end.

Transfer switches address 2 hazardous situations.

1
Running a generator that is not phase synchronized with the mains will destroy the generator with a plethera if of smoke and fire.

2
Supplying power to backfeed a power grid can fry an innocent line man try to patch things back together.

Transfer switches will allow one to determine if a load is powered by the line or the the alternative.

Ben

transfer switches cost money. flipping breakers is free. don't worry man, I'm a sparky from way back. I won't smoke the genny

 

[JamesY]

I have heard that a hundred times but I think that is not accurate. If your generator tries to feed the whole line it would likely kill your generator because of the huge draw.
Also I wonder what happens when you feed power backwards through a transformer?

the problem is when you hit that energized generator with 250 volts from the grid ( if the power comes back on) that's out of phase rotation with the generator. then things get messy. transfer switches make it idiot proof and prevent accidents.

I'm a former electrical apprentice, certified hvac tech, licensed plumber and a volunteer fireman so I'm authorized personnel.

 

[JamesY]

*I'm am not now nor have I ever been affiliated with any fire department or first responders*

 

[Supervisor42]

transfer switches cost money. flipping breakers is free. don't worry man, I'm a sparky from way back. I won't smoke the genny

'Dead-man' (backfeed) cables have been used for years.
We covered it HERE.
The only danger is, if the lines to the house are down on the ground and you forget to open the main breakers. Then those lines go live.
If you try to backfeed the transformer it will just trip the breaker on the generator.
*Disclaimer: The previous is dangerous, illegal almost everywhere, but works really well to light a house back up.

 

[Neb]

'Dead-man' (backfeed) cables have been used for years.
We covered it HERE.
The only danger is, if the lines to the house are down on the ground and you forget to open the main breakers. Then those lines go live.
If you try to backfeed the transformer it will just trip the breaker on the generator.
*Disclaimer: The previous is dangerous, illegal almost everywhere, but works really well to light a house back up.

Agreed

Ben

 

[Aerindel]

transfer switches cost money. flipping breakers is free. don't worry man, I'm a sparky from way back. I won't smoke the genny

Not just money but A LOT of money. It can be more than the cost of the generator itself.

 

[Aerindel]

'Dead-man' (backfeed) cables have been used for years.
We covered it HERE.
The only danger is, if the lines to the house are down on the ground and you forget to open the main breakers. Then those lines go live.
If you try to backfeed the transformer it will just trip the breaker on the generator.
*Disclaimer: The previous is dangerous, illegal almost everywhere, but works really well to light a house back up.

Something that is legal, and cheap, are interlock switches, simple plates of metal added to a breaker box that make it impossible to have both the generator feed, and the line feed on at the same time.

 

[hiwall]

If you throw the main breaker to off as your very first step in generator use, you are pretty safe.
Safety with anything usually means doing things in the proper order no matter what you are doing.

 

[Alaskajohn]

If you rely on electricity, regardless if it comes from the grid, backup power, solar, wind, water turbines, etc, that is the hole in your prep.

 

[Aerindel]

If you throw the main breaker to off as your very first step in generator use, you are pretty safe.
Safety with anything usually means doing things in the proper order no matter what you are doing.

Well, in engineering terms, safety is something that is built safe and is INHERENTLY safe rather than safe only if you remember to be safe.

So the proper order is "Build a system that does not allow you to use it unsafely" as the first step.

The human brain is little more than a coked up rabid monkey banging the drums. Never count on it for safety. It will let you down.

 

[Tootsie]

Those Aquacontainers are handy. I have used them for bulk cider, and do use them for water. I was surprised when the water containers got slimy though, after several months storage in the basement. We switched to smaller jugs for more frequent turnover. 3.5 gallon size is easier for me to carry, too.

 

[Meerkat]

I tell my friend all the time she needs off grid power. She has to havw insulin type 2 diabertic. needs refrigeration to keep insulin.
I would like to have more medical supplies and ammo.

 

[joel]

I tell my friend all the time she needs off grid power. She has to havw insulin type 2 diabertic. needs refrigeration to keep insulin.
I would like to have more medical supplies and ammo.

A root cellar can be designed to stay at 55-65F year around, if you have a mountain spring even cooler.

" If refrigeration is not possible, it can be kept at room temperature [15-25 degrees C] for 28 days. The in use vial may be kept at room temperature [15-25 degrees C] for 28 days. In use cartridges should be kept at room temperature and SHOULD NOT be kept in the refrigerator."

 

[Meerkat]

A root cellar can be designed to stay at 55-65F year around, if you have a mountain spring even cooler.

" If refrigeration is not possible, it can be kept at room temperature [15-25 degrees C] for 28 days. The in use vial may be kept at room temperature [15-25 degrees C] for 28 days. In use cartridges should be kept at room temperature and SHOULD NOT be kept in the refrigerator."

Thanks Joel but she lives in N.Georgia close to Atlanta so not cold enough.

 

[Aerindel]

Thanks Joel but she lives in N.Georgia close to Atlanta so not cold enough.

I'm sure she is a nice person....but if the power is out long enough for insulin to be a problem in that location there probably isn't a lot of point in heavily investing in backups.