Who all went 72+ hours with one or more failed utilities in sub freezing weather? I mean like the entire city is out, not just the neighborhood or small section. Cause of failure is irrelevant; if it's out it's out.What were some gadgets you found most useful?What things did you buy in advance as an attempt to prep for an extended utility (especially power) outage, but proved to be a gimmick or otherwise failed/useless?What things did you wish you had bought in advance, or bought more quantity and/or higher quality/capacity?>recently moved to area that routinely gets -10F for weeks at a time (-20F is not unheard of)>tornadoes in summerso far my biggest concern is power being knocked out for a week straight or some shit, especially during our brutal winters. I am asking here for people who actually lived extended utility outages and not some sponsored influencer guessing at shit or trying to sell gimmick trash.
Woodstove, water jugs, generator, chest freezer and deer rifle. My propane stove, and some other pilot-light fired devices have a thermostat that is powered off a minute (750millivolt i think) amount of voltage generated by the pilot light and need no power.
>>2869961Get a bunch of water, spices, condiments, dry foods, and canned foods. Wood (or some other fuel) and a stove to cook on will be necessary if you're expecting the power to fail. Frozen food won't do you any good if your power goes down for an extended period of time. You'll also need entertainment that doesn't rely on electricity. You can try a generator, but it will be expensive to run, especially if you try to use electricity as often as you're used to. You could try solar or wind with a small battery so you can use your power if the grid goes down. They have a safety feature that prevents them from sending power back into a dead grid because you could electrocute workers. If you get hit by a tornado they probably won't survive though. Maybe consider building a small rack mounted solar array that you can pull out of your garage during emergencies.
>>2870006>>2870006>>2870006>Frozen food won't do you any good if your power goes down for an extended period of time>worried about food preservation in a thread explicitly about surviving the extreme coldWhat are you on about? Just put your bag of tendies in the garage or in a bear bag on the back porch and let nature's freezer do the work
>>2869961Has your schizoid ass actually checked if one of these tornadoes can actually happen while it is winter? Or moderately close to the end of autumn?Because to my knowledge you need warm humid weather or storm systems for Tornadoes to form....
>>2870006> canned foodsThe cans will typically explode in the cold> a bear bag on the back porchI had to do this last winter when my freezer died.the secret to extreme cold is to *use it* rather than fighting it.Solar cells, for example, are way more effective in the cold and there’s no hail in the winter to break them.
Wood stove is all i need
wood stove or fireplace for heatwood stove is also great for boiling a kettle or heating up a mealtake advantage of the cold to store essentials while your fridge is out.get some candles or a nice lantern for light.flashlights are fine too but you'll need batteries.get a hand crank radio to keep up with weather and public announcements.be wary of pellet stoves. in my area at least, wood pellets are almost entirely a byproduct of industry and there's a shortage of them every storm.a grill or camp stove is useful if you don't mind to cook outside.do not use a camp stove indoors.keep a supply of water, food, fuel (wood, propane), and warm clothes.if you can, get your place set up to take a generator. you'll at least want your lights and your fridge or freezer patched in.>>2870048>The cans will typically explode in the coldyour living space probably isn't going to get cold enough to explode cans.oh, but your water pipes might burst.if you expect extended outage, crack your taps open a little just to keep the water moving.
>>2869961I experienced loss of power during a 3 day blizzard in Alberta in '86. Power was out ~50 hours. Mom had four 100 yr old kerosene lanterns. Kept the temperature manageable and plenty of light. Weird to venture outside at height of the storm and to look back and see bright light coming from our windows only.
>>2870032Shut up and let this guy dream about his life getting even worse
thanks everyone. I made this thread hoping people who went through extended utility outage could chime in on unexpected issues they had. Particularly but not exclusively during cold weather.>oh shit my propane heater stopped working because I got the wrong propane and now the line is clogged>fuck I didn't know I need to change the oil in my generator every 100 hours. I don't have enough, now it will probably fail soon>that 2¢ critical part for the generator cracked now I'm fucked>damn I didn't know that gizmo was only meant to run 10 minutes at a time, now it's melted>holy fuck the water isn't running, where do I piss and shit??The summers are mild enough I don't think much will need to be done. My concern for summer is a tornado (or terrorism, who knows) knocks out a substation or something, in which case my house is probly fine. I could probly keep a bunch of canned food, water, and a few solar panel to charge tablets & shit and call it a day for summer outages. If it rips up my house wrecking my shit then it probly didn't fuck up things for the whole city and I just get a motel or camp in the backyard and get takeout for food.>wood stoveA quick search suggests this requires I cut a big hole in all floors of the house to the roof. Why can't it go through the wall on the side? I have a 2nd floor + attic, then roof.>generatorI have a prius. I was thinking of getting a 1kw sinewave inverter for it (plus 1 or 2 more for backup), and rotating between like 40 gallons of gas. This would hopefully power my gas heater. If gas is out or it's not enough power, then it can power lamps and TV + media player or game system. It can power my mini fridge and fans in the summer.Any reason this won't work? >alternative fuel stoveI have a butane stove that I use almost daily and always have 2-3 months of butane at all time. I also have a portable induction burner that can be set to 600 or 900 watts to possibly an inverter. ...and a propane stove
>>2870351When I was snowed in for a few months the water stopped working and my food stores dwindled to just rice and beans, but the electricity was still working fine and I had a wood stove for heat. Focus on water, food, spices/condiments, and a heat source. Everything else is a luxury.
>>2869961Standby generator my nigga. Kinda expensive but our infrastructure is third world tier and those lazy niggers at the electrical company can take up to a week to fix shit.
Kerosene heater if you are cheap like me. You can cook on it too pretty easily. Really the biggest concern you should have is frozen pipes.
>>2870351It sounds like you have the obvious stuff covered, so I will say one of those big ass portable batteries that are often sold with a solar panel did help me quite a bit. I lost power entirely for about 3 days in a big old storm last January. It wasn't cold enough to really use the outside for refrigeration, so I hooked one of those batteries up to my fridge, drained it about 3/4 of the way, and then set it up outside to recharge. If you have any sun it can help a ton. A proper generator is going to be better for the money, and it sounds like you have a hybrid car to cover that, but being able to get some free electricity at a time when it can be hard to find is great.OH and double check your gas chainsaw. I had a tree fall across my drive and my chainsaw decided it didn't like me that day and would not start at all. Surprisingly my battery electric one did pretty well and I was able to use that same backup battery to give it a couple of recharges and finish up the chop job.
It once got so cold that our well froze up, ended up using two 50' extension cords and a 25 watt refrigerator bulb to heat it up.The actual pump failed a few months later, probably because it had frozen up during winter
>>2870351>Why can't it go through the wall on the side?dunno. mine does that. consult local building code i guess.oh and make sure you have plenty of space from the wall, and a wide brick surround. fire code tings.
>>2869961I don't know about gadgets (/diy/ tourist), but you would probably want to have a duck down sleeping bag and a duck down parka in your kit. You could use them indoors.
>>2870351>Why can't it go through the wall on the side?It can.
>>2869961
>>2870032He specifically said summer, are you illiterate?
>>2869961I was in Texas during the big freeze in 2021. My power went out for a full week, and I was living in an apartment at the time. The apartment above me started leaking water into my unit about halfway through the week, which was ass. I'd never really prepared for a disaster before that, but having seen the weather forecast I bought some charcoal and canned soup and some mostly shelf-stable food like cheese, bread, and pickles. The food worked great, I picked at it through the week and it kept me full enough. The soup sucked ass and was not filling at all. The charcoal went surprisingly fast, fire takes more fuel to keep going than I'd expected. It was nice to get a warm meal in the middle of it, though. I barely managed to give my phone enough charge to contact family a few times with my car. And, after hearing news about a boil water notice likely coming midway through the week I filled up my bathtub with water, only to see it later that day completely empty due to the drain slowly leaking even while plugged. Afterwards I bought some camping equipment. A lantern, propane stove and propane, a large li-ion battery. I'd get a generator but I don't have the room for one. I got some buckets, a battery-powered radio, and a fluffy blanket, too. Hopefully I'm better prepared for the next extended blackout. In terms of needs -- I wasn't really expecting it, but light and entertainment were very important. I knew water was important, but underprepared for burst pipes and completely lacking flowing water. Warmth wasn't too big a deal, bundling up with layers worked fine, but it was 10F, not negative. Food was fine, I just recommend not soup.
>>2869961Talk to your neighbors. Find out what they do, and what emergency systems are in place. You have a Prius so I can’t imagine you are actually anywhere that is actually rural. It sounds like you are paranoia larping some shit, because the first thing you should do is get a real fucking truck. >prius>prepping Fucking hell
>>2871515you can line your tub with a plastic sheet if you don't want it to drain like that.also if you don't want to drink out of your dirty bathtub.if you want to spend money there are also tub sized bags built for purpose.
Always wanted one of these but I live in Texas so I would never end up needing it.>>2871515My power stayed on the whole freeze, it was really comfy. I did end up buying one of those propane tank-top heaters later that spring though, just in case. Already have a propane grill and an extra tank so if the power did go down I'd be alright. Good idea to get some power banks and maybe a car jump box. A lot of people went out to try and start their car to warm up/charge their phones and the battery just didn't want to start because of the cold.
>>2871515>Texas >big freeze
>>2871560>there are also tub sized bags built for purpose.this is good information thanks bruh
>>2871560I should try getting something like that, thanks for the info anon.
>>2869961lots of cans of beans so i can fart and capture my ass gas to produce fire and heat for my family, your sister and most importantly your mom
