Jered's 2016 Windstorm AAR

[Jered]

Well, today, we had a windstorm and some of the gusts topped out at over 100 miles per hour. I lost power at about 0430. I just got power back on about ten minutes ago. I managed to feed myself, survive, and my kit worked. I have a generator, and I used that to run the fridge for a while.

These are some elements of my preparations that went great.

-Kerosene lasts ages. I used a hurricane lantern that's been hanging on a nail in my shed for several years, with the same kerosene in it. It lit up right away. They also put out a decent amount of light.
-Store your generator with no gasoline in it. I put a little bit in mine, and it ran for a couple of hours. It makes it much easier to drain out that way when the power comes back on and you don't need it any more.
-My cute little alcohol stove, a windbreak, and a trangia kettle boil enough water for a freeze dried chili-mac. Yum.
-It's always good to keep a lot of flashlights around the house.
-Those Costco lights that come on automatically if you lose A/C power are a great investment. They actually stayed on all day, too. And seriously, they are the best thing since sliced bread. If you're wondering what I'm talking about It's something like this
-A headlight is helpful for scooping cat shit.
-It's good practice in minor scenarios like this.
-That 12 volt battery I have my radio hooked up to holds a charge pretty well.
-It's good to stay busy.

So...what do I need to do?

-Program my Ham radio with more repeaters so that I can listen to what's going on. I have 652 in there, but that's only simplex.
-I need a sling for my shotgun. I kept it stashed in the house by the door.

[Aesop]

Good info.

Between SoCal Edison's ceaseless efforts to randomly cut power, and the potential for earthquakes, my personal fave is to Velcro chemlights over each doorway, backed up with a couple of headlamps, and several of those whole-room LED lanterns, powered by rechargeable C- and D-batteries.
60-80 hours per charge, and a single Horror Freight solar panel will recharge all of the batteries for them in a few hours of full sunlight.

I also have a solar-powered patio motion light mounted inside my workspace, with the collector panel inside under a skylight.

Looking forward to when I own my own roof, and can panel it out to charge deep-cycle 12V batts and run the fridge, freezer, and microwave off of it. I can be off-grid anywhere with that set up, at least for electricity.

As for generators, if you're not using a diesel, which mostly avoids storage problems for fuel, you can store it wet if you treat the fuel with Stabil or Pri-G first. The gas is then good for a year, and you should be running at least quarterly function tests runs.
FYI, two smaller generators are better than one big one, because redundancy, scaling your production to match your load, and having one running while you pull maintenance on the second.

[JAG2955]

Those hand-crank radios are fantastic. I think mine's an Eton. It also has a USB port for charging a cell phone. Sure, you'll be cranking for awhile, but you might be able to send a text or play Angry Birds for 30 seconds. AM/FM/Weather band, with a built in flashlight.

When the tornado hit Jacksonville in 2011, I had that radio and my hand-held police scanner going at the same time. It was a great way to get info. I don't know how useful a police scanner is now, if everyone's going encrypted.

We're a bit better prepared at the new place in Texas now. Whole-house, auto-start, natural gas generator. I'll be watching Blu-Rays with microwaved popcorn in the air conditioning while everyone else's family is crowded around their iPhones in the heat.

[Steamforger]

I think my most urgent need at the moment is a new radio. I currently have a Midland handheld CB with 10 NOAA channels that I got for some simple comms when I was driving over Snoqualmie quite a bit a few years back. Usually these drives were between 0000-0400 in the morning and in winter months. Being able to talk to a rig was a much better idea than trying to flag one down by hand.

I also have one of these and love it. I'm stocked pretty good in Heet too.

[randy]

I don't know how useful a police scanner is now, if everyone's going encrypted.

Depends on your location.

Locally, Public Safety is planning on running un-encrypted except for designated channels handling sensitive info (surveillance, SWAT, passing access codes,etc).

Part of that is a "treaty" with the local media: "you don't encrypt everything so we can't monitor, and we won't be calling your dispatch center every 30 seconds during an emergency to get updates".

Another issue is that many places are going digital which requires newer and more expensive scanners. That flea market bargain may not be very usable depending on your local conditions.

A lot of rural areas are still running analog VHF which most any scanner should cover.

If you do have an older scanner, you should at least be able to monitor local VHF/UHF Ham radio frequencies. Between SKYWARN weather spotter reports and support to disaster relief operations you could still get a lot of valuable information.

[Jered]

I also have one of these and love it. I'm stocked pretty good in Heet too.

The problem with those is that you need a way to hold the pot.

[rightisright]

I also have one of these and love it. I'm stocked pretty good in Heet too.

The problem with those is that you need a way to hold the pot.

I can personally vouch for this unit: http://www.amazon.com/EcoZoom-Versa-Roc ... cket+stove

It's very efficient, but at 16#, not so portable.

[Greg]

I also have one of these and love it. I'm stocked pretty good in Heet too.

The problem with those is that you need a way to hold the pot.

I can personally vouch for this unit: http://www.amazon.com/EcoZoom-Versa-Roc ... cket+stove

It's very efficient, but at 16#, not so portable.

Is that a chimney stove? (If the walls were hollow and used as water tanks, it'd be a Kelly kettle.....)

Looks pretty cool.

[rightisright]

Is that a chimney stove? (If the walls were hollow and used as water tanks, it'd be a Kelly kettle.....)

Looks pretty cool.

Similar to the Kelly kettle. It's a small version of a rocket stove. The walls are insulated. It's built like a tank.

I've used it while camping (drive in.... you wouldn't want to backpack this thing). A few small branches will easily boil two quarts of water. It's also sturdy enough for a 12" cast iron pan.

ETA: I bought it after I read some natural gas sources were close to shutting down after Hurricane Sandy. I have a propane turkey fryer I could use, but if the propane runs out, it's nice to have a back up.

[Jered]

I used this one.