Make a Power Outage Bearable - wikiHowHere's another good one for our weather...
from wikiHow - The How to Manual That You Can EditPower outages are more than just sitting in the dark. The refrigerator stops running and everything starts to defrost. If you live in the tropical climate, the air conditioning is the first to shut off and so are the ceiling fans. Then of course, the power that opens the garage door stops working, so you are stuck with the car remaining inside the garage. Out comes the flashlights, and portable fans, and you just sit quietly, waiting for the power to return. During the day of course, you can and should get out of the house, even if it means lifting the garage door by hand. Some power outages are caused by accidents that hit the power lines and are usually repaired in a day or two. We are talking about normal power supplies being cut off, and not when due to hurricanes and tornadoes, which might last for days or weeks.
Steps
- Consider the type of emergencies your particular home is most likely to face. A blizzard-prone area will be different from one in a tropical area that commonly faces hurricanes. Urban areas face different challenges than rural areas.
- Keep the cold inside. If the temperature rises, take anything out of the refrigerator that might spoil and prepare to cook it or consume it before it warms up. Eat perishables before spoilage can occur.
- Have stable food that does not require refrigeration. Those that do not require cooking are even better. Canned meats, fish, soups, vegetables, and juices will work, and can be kept for months at a time. Crackers, cookies and snacks for the kiddies are a necessity. Eat these items after the perishables are eaten or are unsafe to eat.
- Have a back-up method of heating food and water. A camping stove is ideal (and be sure to know how to use it safely--see warnings). A barbeque grill will work quite well, but do not bring it into the house. A gas stove can often work if you have matches for ignition. Remember to have plenty of fuel on hand for you camp stove or barbeque in case this adventure lasts several days.
- Water is actually more important than food, and if your water supply is pump-driven, it may give out in a power failure. Put aside many gallons or liters of drinking water. Fill your bathtub or pails with water for flushing the toilet, washing, and so on.
- Have a back-up method for heating or cooling your home during a blackout, depending on your climate's needs. Do you need to stock up on wood for the wood stove? You should consider buying portable fans, and cold water rinses to stay cool? If your home runs on natural gas or propane, install a gas fired fireplace that has it's own thermopile electronic ignition. Should you get a gas-powered generator?
- Prepare by equipping your house with automatic power failure safety lighting so that it does not go dark when the power goes out. Many of the commercial style emergency lights look pretty bad on the wall of your kitchen or living room, and they typically only last 90 minutes - day or night. Try to find power failure safety lights that sense darkness before going on otherwise the batteries will be dead before darkness comes. Some new power failure safety lights are either on the market or about to enter the market that deliver light for long periods of time because of the improvements in LED brightness and battery life. Look for power failure safety lights on the web and find ones that you can install in any room of your home without being an eyesore. Start with the kitchen and bathrooms - the two most used rooms of the house.
- Power outages can mean 'get out of the house' during the day if it is safe to do so. Go to the mall, or take in a movie. Have a few good meals at a nearby diner or at a fast food restaurant. Unless you are snow bound, or ill, there is no reason to stay indoors and be uncomfortable. Plenty of time for that when it gets too late to stay out.
- Remember that there will be no TV, no light, and games that need reading will not be able to be played. Turn on your flashlight only when you need to move about. You can make up your own games, sing songs, or talk to each other. Now is the time for 'togetherness', lost when each sit at the TV or at the computer.
- Read a book to pass the time, but remember, this can only be done during the daylight hours. At night, the best thing is to go to sleep. Time passes faster when you sleep, especially when there is nothing else to do but wait.
Tips
- When the power does fail and the lights go out leaving you in pitch black darkness, do not jump up immediately to find your flash lights. Take a minute or two to let your eyes adjust to the darkness before moving. You'll be surprised how much better you can see and you won't be as likely to hurt yourself by walking into a table, wall, door, etc.
- Put luminescent stickers on flashlights. Have flashlights out where the stickers can "charge" when lights are on: bookshelf, next to the TV, bedstand, and so on. When the power goes off, your flashlight's location will be obvious.
- Remember that portable phones don't work during a blackout. Make sure you have at least one wired phone in the house. A cell phone will usually work, but keep a car charger handy in case your battery runs low.
- At the first notice of a loss of power, phone the power company to inform them. At times, you might be the first one to notice when others are at work, and if you do not alert them early, they will not start fixing whatever the cause might be.
- Don't keep phoning the power company to find out how long you will remain without power. Once is really enough. The power company is most likely full of dedicated, trained individuals who know that your power is off, and are trying to fix the problem. Nagging them isn't somehow going to make the power go on any quicker, and can tie up phone lines in a true emergency.
- Keep some board games like chess, checkers, or puzzles in the house...handy and keeps you and kids busy when no video or TV is available. Think of the ways in which people amused themselves before the invention of electricity.
- Purchase and use "Self Powered Radios" and "Self Powered Flashlights" and glow sticks. Find these at the local Wal*Mart (for the self powered lights and the glow sticks), and at the local Radio Shack (for the self powered radios). These do not use batteries at all, and are safer to use than candles, and you'll be informed about what caused the failure, like some idiot who hit a pole, or an animal got into a transformer, shorting it out, or when power will be restored.
- If you live in a area that has this problem chronically, it is a good idea to get a wind powered generator and solar panels, and a generator that uses "eco-friendly" fuel, such as "Bio-Diesel", a lot of 12v Deep Cycle batteries, power inverters, and make sure all of this is installed in a manner to AVOID killing line crews, and that you will have "Auxiliary Power"
Warnings
- This guide refers to regular, few day long power outages only. This does not refer to hurricanes or tornadoes, or other storms that also cause power outages and tear down and destroy power lines. The preparation is more intense when power goes down because of storms and breakages. If this is the case, it may be time to evacuate the home.
- Candles, if used improperly, can cause fire. More than 140 people die each year from candle related home fires according to the National Fire Protection agency - nearly one-third from using candles for lighting. Candles are not recommended as light sources during power failures. Flashlights are far safer.
- Gasoline powered generators kill people when used indoors or in attached garages that allow the fumes to flow into the home. Carbon monoxide is odorless and your CO detectors will probably not work when you have no electricity. Never use a generator in your home, garage, or other closed environment!
- Exercise extreme caution when using a generator and ensure all extension cords are properly sized and UL listed. Generators can and do electrocute people.
- Barbeque grills and camp stoves kill people - from fires and carbon monoxide emmissions. Use with extreme caution and never bring gas fired equipment into your house or garage.
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