Could you cope

[veggiechicken]

I have this bonkers image of you in full scuba diving outfit in your dental surgery. I think its the snorkel and flippers that are making me giggle.

Pp, where did you spring from or are you a dentist in flippers too?

[quanglewangle]

Our woodburner, which is wonderful in many ways (heats the water and the radiators and looks the business) goes in some sort of mad panic about 10 minutes after the power goes off and starts to shut down - including noisy emergency water cooling. I think it must have been a side project for a bored nuclear engineer.

Every time Lidl have generators in I eye one up but give up when I realize it's too heavy to move.

[edit] on the bright side Pendeen, where we live, used to have a couple of tin mines. It still has really heavy looking electric grid stuff for a small village.

[SarrissUK]

I have two freezers full of food that would go wasted so my neighbours would be well fed, that's for sure! Lots of tins and pickled stuff too, so I'd not go hungry for quite a while. Gas hob, and plenty of equipment and candles to keep the light on, so to speak. I would need some kind of generator though, because without my internet access, I'm not happy. But I guess it would make you appreciate the fun you can have without it too!

[quanglewangle]

Prepping

There is a whole sub-culture of prepping (Google it, or better "wtshtf") in the US. At the extreme it can get all tied up with the 2nd amendment and international conspiracies but some of the web-sites are fun. Take care though: you could end up living in a shipping container in the Oregon backwoods.

[SarrissUK]

Oh, and I have plans to put in a wood burner in my front room - all of downstairs is open plan, so it would heat everything I hate being cold!

[greenishfing]

I would be useless these days. In the past I have lived completely off grid...generator, inverter and well for water (even a gas fridge/freezer). I've also lived aboard various boats. But nowadays I am well and truly reliant on mains services.

[Snoop Puss]

Yes.

This last storm, our solar panels were covered so deep in snow they didn't generate anything for four days. But we have a generator, and when bad weather threatens we get plenty of petrol in. So not a problem. Always have loads of dried food (pasta, rice, flour, legumes), cat and dog biscuits and firewood in. I sometimes wonder whether I'm verging on prepper status, but it does pay to be prepared!

The freezer is amazing. It'll stay at around minus 18 ºC with two sessions of around two to three hours of generator power every 24 hours or so. So nothing lost. Satellite for internet and phone, so just need to keep the dish clear (accessible with a broom). Like lots of people, we keep plenty of head torches, batteries and matches in stock. We also have two 4 x 4s. Greedy, I know, but one of them is mine and I love it for its tiny size and high driving position. So I won't change it.

We once survived being cut off for three weeks.

But if we had no electricity whatsoever (no solar panels and no generator), that would eventually be impossible. Even when we move into the village because we're too decrepit to live out in the countryside without help, I imagine we'll still have a small inverter generator, just in case. Don't think the neighbours would complain about the noise: they'd be coming to us to charge their phones. Small generators aren't that heavy, QW. What are the Lidl ones? Maybe 25 kg?

[mothhawk]

I'd manage but my Mum would be stranded, she needs a stairlift to go up and down stairs. The battery would maybe last a day or two but after that I'd have to make up a bed on the sofa for her, as she'd have to stay downstairs, there'd be no heat upstairs and meals would be easier. We have gas so OK for gas fire and cooking.
Only a small freezer so we could eat our way through that before it all went off, I guess.
Plenty of nightlights and torches, and the days are lengthening at quite a pace now.

[Snadger]

Sounds like a romantic valentines day.

[ESBkevin]

Petrol generator with enough fuel on hand for about 5 hours. I could drain Carols car for more ;-) mines a diesel. Candles (loads of them blasted scented things too), gas oven and hob. Torches (head torch is a godsend) Enough foodstuffs on hand for a couple of weeks (although opening the freezer reduces the life of the contents faster).
We have a gas Bar B Que I've not used in ages and a bottle gas camping stove too.
We have a couple of those friction/piezo lighters and two boxes of matches.

Having experienced the bad old days i tend to be more prepared than the youngsters today. On Saturday I cleared the debris and dragged the genny to the front of the shed ready during daylight. As it transpired it was not needed but I wouldn't have wanted to do that in the dark.

[Starch]

Gas hob, gas fire in kitchen, wood burner in lounge, candles, motion sensitive led lights and a head torch. Plus a 12v wind turbine that still needs erecting, 2018 Christmas present, must get round to that.

[veggiechicken]

Some be prepared advice at https://www.homeheatingshop.com/keep...rm/power-cuts/
which reminds me that I also have a calor gas heater.
and for cooking https://www.homeheatingshop.com/home...ing-power-cut/

[Guest]

Please, please, please be careful. There are a lot of gas appliances and other emergency firey things being mentioned. It is one thing to eat and stay warm it is another to die from carbon monoxide poisoning. If in doubt don't use it. As my Hubby moaned at me 'there is a reason they call it the silent killer'

[FB.]

Yes, we could cope for a few days.

We have an open fireplace in the living room.
Our hobs are mains gas so we could light them with a match if no electric for the ignition.
We have plenty of torches (and candles) around the house.
Wife is a guide and brownie leader so has loads of camping stuff - gas burners, sleeping bags, thermal clothing, battery-powered LED lanterns etc.
We have two 3kW petrol-powered 'builders' generators in the garage.
We have cars with four-wheel-drive and/or snow/mud-capable tyres, if we needed to venture out for supplies in severe weather.

[rary]

Of course we can cope. We regularly do.
Had a power cut today. Only a little one. I didn’t notice it, as I was outside fleshing a deer hide.

We have a generator for longer power cuts.

Sp that reminds me of a story, when one of the smaller Scottish islands got electricity installed, every house received a powe supply and after 6 months they had their meters read and one man had only 50p of a bill, so the electric company thought that most unusual, or, possibly the user was bypassing the meter, so someone was sent out to check, he went to the house, chapped the door and when the old man answered he was asked if his meter could be checked, so he said yes, 3verythingchecked out OK but the man was puzzled how could the 6 month bill just be 50p so he asked the old man to explain, "Och laddie before we had this electric thingy when ah came hame fa the pub ah hud to search a boot fur ma matches ta light ma lamps, noo a gist hit that switch an a can get ma matches right away"