Tips to Keep you Comfortable During a Power Outage

[Miss Marty]

Have you asked yourself what you would do if the power went out
for a day or two or for even a week? What would you do?

Share you tips/suggestions on how to keep comfortable during
a power outage at home or on vacation at a timeshare resort...


http://www.backdoorsurvival.com/15-tips-winter-power-outage/

 

[WinniWoman]

Good advice, but don't want to think about winter yet! LOL! Already got our wood supply for the wood stove.

After a few really bad winters where we were out of power for days, we sprung for a whole house generator. Reminds me- we have to check the propane gauge.

 

[theo]

Brand?

Good advice, but don't want to think about winter yet! LOL! Already got our wood supply for the wood stove.

After a few really bad winters where we were out of power for days, we sprung for a whole house generator. Reminds me- we have to check the propane gauge.

Just out of curiosity --- what brand of whole house generator did you ultimately decide upon --- and why?

In Maine, there seems to be a whole multitude of brand options, each of them seemingly having their devoted supporters and their grousing detractors.

Our solution in retirement is to escape as much winter as possible. With water pipes all drained down and the furnace able to restart on its' own with the restoration of power, I don't get too concerned about winter power outages anymore. If we're around, that old Upland wood stove can crank out serious BTU's until power is restored.

 

[lvhmbh]

We have a whole house generator. We also have lots of flashlights, etc.

 

[AnnaS]

We also bought a generator a few days after Sandy hit. No power for three weeks

 

[Passepartout]

With a tip o' the hat to another ongoing thread, in the unlikely event of a power failure here, we can simply decamp to the fully equipped and self contained RV right outside the door. The power failure would hardly be noticed.

Jim

 

[WinniWoman]

Just out of curiosity --- what brand of whole house generator did you ultimately decide upon --- and why?

In Maine, there seems to be a whole multitude of brand options, each of them seemingly having their devoted supporters and their grousing detractors.

Our solution in retirement is to escape as much winter as possible. With water pipes all drained down and the furnace able to restart on its' own with the restoration of power, I don't get too concerned about winter power outages anymore. If we're around, that old Upland wood stove can crank out serious BTU's until power is restored.

We have a Generac. It tests itself once a week- we have it set for Sat. mornings at 7am so we always listen to make sure it turns itself on. Then it runs for 15 minutes and shuts off. Has worked well for us- have had it quite a number of years now. My husband changes the oil and only occasionally we have it serviced/checked out by a pro.

I personally don't like the idea of leaving our home for any length of time in the winter. Even with taking all the precautions, just too much can go wrong.

 

[moonstone]

Like Jim, and probably others, we have an RV in the driveway with its own battery always fully charged and 2 (usually) full propane tanks to run the fridge and lights.

In August 2003 there was a power failure covering a huge part of Ontario & some of the northeast USA. Our trailer fridge was already on & cold in anticipation of a camping trip. I transferred all the 'essential' fridge items from the house fridge into the trailer fridge. Since the trailer fridge is a lot smaller I left fruit, vegies and DH's large assortment of pickles, hot peppers... in the house fridge.

I also took every comforter & sleeping bag I could find & wrapped up our 2 big chest freezers in the basement. I didn't even bother to take any food out for supper first! When the power came back on & the freezer motors stopped I opened the lids to find that the bags of ice cubes had not even started to melt so I knew all our food was safe.

Our outside solar lights were pulled out of the garden at night to supplement lighting indoors so we didn't put an additional strain on the battery.

We were able to continue to watch TV in the trailer although we limited viewing to just a couple of hours each evening. Between the BBQ and the stove in the trailer we were able to eat well and not much differently than our ordinary way of life. Our kids were young then & they thought it was a great adventure. We met so many of our new neighbours because everybody was out walking as there was no TV or electronics to keep people inside.

When an ice storm caused a big power failure in Toronto a few Decembers ago I could not believe how many people were complaining that their food in the fridge was going to go bad! It was December & there was lots of snow on the ground and cold temps -why didn't they just put their stuff outside? Friends filled a tote with snow & stuck it on their deck with milk, eggs & other essentials in it & never had to throw a thing out! Meanwhile their neighbours submitted a claim to their house insurance for spoiled/lost food!

Living in the country & owning an RV, power failures really don't affect our way of life that much.

~Diane