Fridge / freezers

[Wy_White_Wolf]

...All I am trying to say is that in these harsh periods, the hard gained solar electricity would be much better used in other areas other than fridges/freezers.
Dave H,

I'd like to know what task is more important than keeping my beer cold?

Not hauling propane means I have room to haul more beer. lol



WWW

[russ]

When Hugo hit Charlotte, NC in 89 I just happened to be home on vacation = as we were at the end of a rural line it took almost 3 weeks to get power back.

A small 4000 watt generator I had in a storage trailer worked well - had never been out of the box before. Getting gas was a nuisance the first week but no big deal. That gave me water, fridge, TV ad a couple of lights.

[SunEagle]

Was it 2004?? oh, I forgets, my decades get confused. That does make more sense as mom died at 88 last year.
hahaha, power was out here for weeks. Going thru a hurricane can be ok bodily but emotionally make one feel like you've been inside a blender for a day. Every one's in a daze coming out of it.
Peace is good

Yep. In 2004 Charlie had a bulls-eye on the Tampa bay area and then turned right into Port Charlotte and then up into the Lake Wales area. Sad part is that a lot of people in Tampa fled Charlie and went to Orlando and then got hit there.

I have friends up in Jersey that went for weeks without normalcy after Sandy nailed them. There was a lot of damage due to the area not being storm resilient.

Hurricanes will age you but you can survive since the damage it localized. Now a nationwide power grid failure is something entirely different.

[FloridaSun]

You are correct. You don't have to be rich to survive. Anyone who is healthy and has the ability to live off the land has a really good chance of making it through a catastrophe. Glad to know that you have that ability.

We got lucky back in 2004 with all them hurricanes. The worst problem we had was that we lost power for about 10 hours during one of them which was nothing to go through. Wife and I were actually pretty relaxed during the black out.

Unfortunately now most of the people I love require some form of medication and would have real health issues should that medication stopped being produced. I could survive but others couldn't. Not something I want to go through so while I do some preparation for them hurricanes I don't see a really good path for a major system breakdown. I can only pray my loved ones go peacefully.

Was it 2004?? oh, I forgets, my decades get confused. That does make more sense as mom died at 88 last year.
hahaha, power was out here for weeks. Going thru a hurricane can be ok bodily but emotionally make one feel like you've been inside a blender for a day. Every one's in a daze coming out of it.
Peace is good

[SunEagle]

... you don't have to be rich to make it through a disaster. The rich can be much more dependent on creature comforts and dwell in despair with minor inconvenience. What makes for survival is resourcefulness and stamina, things which most poor folk have plenty of (I'm not counting the crap folk addicted to welfare).
The well off dig-a-hole types, bunker mentality, may think they're gonna survive but few have any realistic idea just what it takes to survive 'natural' surroundings.... after catastrophe. Folks like my live alone mom, then 80 yrs old, who did quite well after the three hurricanes in six weeks passed over Lake Wales back in the 90s weren't too inconvenienced. Course it did help daughter and I came to fix the roof hours after Charlie passed.
People now-a days are spoiled, pampered with convenience, worried about a future 'comfort crisis'. So called 'civilized' society is fragile. May be the wave of the future and good to live in a world of technology but personally I enjoy living in natural surroundings... no, living WITH natural surroundings. If that grid burnout does come I will be one of the very few around this small lake of 30 so homes that will go on living contentedly as always.... power or not. I'm set.

hehe, and if the infrastructure does go in the future and I can't get online... good luck to all of my friends here

You are correct. You don't have to be rich to survive. Anyone who is healthy and has the ability to live off the land has a really good chance of making it through a catastrophe. Glad to know that you have that ability.

We got lucky back in 2004 with all them hurricanes. The worst problem we had was that we lost power for about 10 hours during one of them which was nothing to go through. Wife and I were actually pretty relaxed during the black out.

Unfortunately now most of the people I love require some form of medication and would have real health issues should that medication stopped being produced. I could survive but others couldn't. Not something I want to go through so while I do some preparation for them hurricanes I don't see a really good path for a major system breakdown. I can only pray my loved ones go peacefully.

[FloridaSun]

My apologize for the "dig a hole" comment. It may have been a little too pointed but there were quite a few people that did spend millions building a "retreat" in case something happened last December. I feel that was a lot of money for a comfortable hole in the ground.

Living in Florida I have to plan for hurricanes and their aftermath. I believe that is survivable. I am also very well versed on solar flares and have kept in touch at a space weather website along with a couple of apps on my phone. I do believe a grid failure due to a CME is a very real possibility. Surviving that type of event is much lower a probability for the common man.

What I do not believe in is that the US or any other 21st century country will be able to return to normal only a few years after a major event like that. You said it yourself civilized society is very fragile. We live in a house of cards that will collapse if our normal way of life changes drastically. There will be survivors but since I do not belong to the ultra rich group I do not have high hopes of making it through which is a fact I accept

... you don't have to be rich to make it through a disaster. The rich can be much more dependent on creature comforts and dwell in despair with minor inconvenience. What makes for survival is resourcefulness and stamina, things which most poor folk have plenty of (I'm not counting the crap folk addicted to welfare).
The well off dig-a-hole types, bunker mentality, may think they're gonna survive but few have any realistic idea just what it takes to survive 'natural' surroundings.... after catastrophe. Folks like my live alone mom, then 80 yrs old, who did quite well after the three hurricanes in six weeks passed over Lake Wales back in the 90s weren't too inconvenienced. Course it did help daughter and I came to fix the roof hours after Charlie passed.
People now-a days are spoiled, pampered with convenience, worried about a future 'comfort crisis'. So called 'civilized' society is fragile. May be the wave of the future and good to live in a world of technology but personally I enjoy living in natural surroundings... no, living WITH natural surroundings. If that grid burnout does come I will be one of the very few around this small lake of 30 so homes that will go on living contentedly as always.... power or not. I'm set.

hehe, and if the infrastructure does go in the future and I can't get online... good luck to all of my friends here

[SunEagle]

I don't think people who prepare for the unknown "dig a hole". I guess some do, but that is a broad generalization. I think most of those folks are productive members of society, they have to earn decent incomes to spend the amounts of money some of them do on preparing.

I used 3-5 years because that is the figure from the 286 page government study on the affects of EMP or solar flares to the electrical grid (most applicable to this forum). It is an interesting read if you find yourself with some time to kill. I won't post a link to it for fear of Russ reprisal but it is easily found and unclass.

I find it strange that some people believe it is prudent to prepare for some catastrophes, such as hurricanes, which could last a week, but actually laugh at people who prepare for events that could last a year. Civilized society is a very fragile thing; most folks are a max of 3 days away from becoming very uncivilized.

My apologize for the "dig a hole" comment. It may have been a little too pointed but there were quite a few people that did spend millions building a "retreat" in case something happened last December. I feel that was a lot of money for a comfortable hole in the ground.

Living in Florida I have to plan for hurricanes and their aftermath. I believe that is survivable. I am also very well versed on solar flares and have kept in touch at a space weather website along with a couple of apps on my phone. I do believe a grid failure due to a CME is a very real possibility. Surviving that type of event is much lower a probability for the common man.

What I do not believe in is that the US or any other 21st century country will be able to return to normal only a few years after a major event like that. You said it yourself civilized society is very fragile. We live in a house of cards that will collapse if our normal way of life changes drastically. There will be survivors but since I do not belong to the ultra rich group I do not have high hopes of making it through which is a fact I accept

[thastinger]

I don't think people who prepare for the unknown "dig a hole". I guess some do, but that is a broad generalization. I think most of those folks are productive members of society, they have to earn decent incomes to spend the amounts of money some of them do on preparing.

I used 3-5 years because that is the figure from the 286 page government study on the affects of EMP or solar flares to the electrical grid (most applicable to this forum). It is an interesting read if you find yourself with some time to kill. I won't post a link to it for fear of Russ reprisal but it is easily found and unclass.

I find it strange that some people believe it is prudent to prepare for some catastrophes, such as hurricanes, which could last a week, but actually laugh at people who prepare for events that could last a year. Civilized society is a very fragile thing; most folks are a max of 3 days away from becoming very uncivilized.

[SunEagle]

An Inconvenient Truth!

Maybe I am way off with my perspective of what may happen after a total melt down but I would rather spend my time and energy making my world a better place to live then building a hole in the ground and hoping there is something left when I crawl out.

[russ]

You are probably close to your estimate of 20% of the total populace surviving but I think there will be more than 20% dead in the first month. You forget about the other 80% that won't go down without fighting. When the smoke clears (figure of speech because the fires will continue to burn for a long time) most of those batteries will be useless due to inactivity.

With the majority of the people gone so will manufacturing. A 3-5 years time frame before a "reset" to normal is probably off by a few hundred years. As for wanting to live in a world where I have lost most of my loved ones and where every day is a day of just trying to stay alive... you can have it.

An Inconvenient Truth!

[SunEagle]

If people are preparing for something, I don't think most are preparing for a "forever" disruption. I think most are planning for 3-5 years and a reset of the norm. I don't think anyone could argue against having the capability to generate some power for use even if it is just one set of batteries worth. What percentage of the population do you think would survive a grid loss scenario? I'd guess maybe 20% and if that number is accurate, there will be alot of unused golf carts, cars and other machines with batteries. 20% of the population would be dead within the first month (everyone on insuline, dependant on caregivers, various medications etc). I think there is plenty of reason for folks to prepare for the unknown.

You are probably close to your estimate of 20% of the total populace surviving but I think there will be more than 20% dead in the first month. You forget about the other 80% that won't go down without fighting. When the smoke clears (figure of speech because the fires will continue to burn for a long time) most of those batteries will be useless due to inactivity.

With the majority of the people gone so will manufacturing. A 3-5 years time frame before a "reset" to normal is probably off by a few hundred years. As for wanting to live in a world where I have lost most of my loved ones and where every day is a day of just trying to stay alive... you can have it.

[thastinger]

That is the truth no matter how much people like to think they are special or they have a "scheme".

If people are preparing for something, I don't think most are preparing for a "forever" disruption. I think most are planning for 3-5 years and a reset of the norm. I don't think anyone could argue against having the capability to generate some power for use even if it is just one set of batteries worth. What percentage of the population do you think would survive a grid loss scenario? I'd guess maybe 20% and if that number is accurate, there will be alot of unused golf carts, cars and other machines with batteries. 20% of the population would be dead within the first month (everyone on insuline, dependant on caregivers, various medications etc). I think there is plenty of reason for folks to prepare for the unknown.

[russ]

My plan is to move to a nuclear generating station. At least there will be power for a while.

Or at least everyone will glow in the dark so seeing at night won't be a problem?

[SunEagle]

That is the truth no matter how much people like to think they are special or they have a "scheme".

My plan is to move to a nuclear generating station. At least there will be power for a while.

[russ]

And when your batteries die and they are no longer being made due to a collapsed economy what are you going to do?

Batteries like fossil fuel have to be manufactured. If the collapse happens then we will all be living a life similar to the days of horse and buggy before the electric light bulb.

That is the truth no matter how much people like to think they are special or they have a "scheme".