For the most part, the three days my household was w/o power were not extremely “painful” because of preparation. This emergency was my opportunity to test gear and know-how and see if I could stand up to this challenge with my physical limitations. I’m including my Lessons Learned in the topics below.
Sensible Preparation and Response
Refrigeration: We kept fridge and freezers closed to conserve cold. I waited too long to save many refrigerator items, (foodsafety.gov says 4 hours) but acted quickly enough (48 hours) to save frozen meats/fish, etc., with bags of ice in well-insulated coolers. This was a high stress item for me. I’ll do better next time.
I now keep 10 bags of ice in my freezer units, along with pre-frozen packs, that I can transfer to coolers early enough to save refrigerator items as well as frozen food.
Cooking and Heating: We relied on my $15.00 Gourmet Chef butane burner purchased from Recreation Outlet. It worked perfectly for cooking and producing heat in the kitchen. Venting necessary.
I have also used: light weight sun cooker/warmer ($25.00ish), Sun Oven appliance (expensive) and Volcano Oven as alternative, non-electric cooking sources. These are all have their uses but are more involved to use than the butane burner.
High winds caused the outage and brought unseasonably cold temps. Mr. Buddy Propane Heater, made for indoor use, put out enough BTUs to comfortably warm a small room. Venting necessary.
Over the years I’ve made/used a few low-tech heating items: In this event I used my pre-made toilet paper/alcohol heaters (TP) and tea candle heaters.
TP heaters are made by stuffing a roll of toilet paper (minus cardboard center) Into a never-used quart paint can. To use: I soaked TP with 70% rubbing alcohol and lit to create a major flame that needs constant watching. To increase safety, I set TP burner in an unused gallon paint can. It gave off enough heat to warm cold hands and make a very small bathroom toasty. Isopropyl alcohol is expensive these days. Consider tea candle burner (below).
Tea candle burners DO NOT require constant watching. They produced less flame and heat. I placed about a dozen tea candles in the bottoms of a few, never-used gallon paint cans, then lit with long utility lighter. These heaters handily removed the chill in my small bathroom and provided ambient light. Unused quart/gallon paint cans came from Dunn Edwards. Tea candles: Amazon/IKEA; Utility lighters: Hardware /Amazon.
Lighting: Our yard is dotted with Home Depot solar lights easily brought indoors. While they are not adequate reading lights, one or two in a room dispels the darkness.
Our solar/battery lantern with radio is a substantial unit and stays put in one location. It charges faster with power cord, but solar charging during daytime sunshine worked.
Our Solar Observer radio has a few bells/whistles including a reliable light beam. It is charged by battery, solar or hand-cranking. Forget hand-cranking! A non-electric radio is a must. Make sure battery operation is one of its power sources.
Hands-free head lamps work great. If angle is adjustable, excellent for reading.
To read/entertain myself (Sudoku book), I used Duracell Duradream Ultra flashlight with strong adjustable beam, sold two to a package, including C batteries at COSTCO.
To move about safely at night we used compact, collapsible camp lights, with handle by EZOEKAS (multiple brands on Amazon). Top lifts for light and collapses to shut off.
Digital equipment: By habit, I keep my devices charged before bed and have two compact power banks. By sticking to essential texting communication, I was fully operational for 2.5 days. This was the first time I used my power banks; they worked perfectly. But because it had been three+ years since I charged and packed them into my emergency kits -- they were not at full capacity. For future, I will use my power banks periodically and recharge. I’m shopping now for a heavy-duty charger.
Medical equipment, medication refills: I went without my CPAP machine for 3 nights w/o harm. If you depend upon a medical device that is life-sustaining this is the single most important matter to solve in preparing for sustained power outages. What is your plan? One of my neighbors used his van engine to fire up necessary electrical items. The most reliable solution is a generator.
I routinely refill meds at the earliest date my insurer permits, to sustain an emergency supply of essential medications.
Generators: Before the three days were over, I was wishing for a generator to have the fridge, freezer, furnace and my iMAC running. The matter of toxic fumes, noise (and cost) have prevented that purchase -- as these are health drawbacks for me. My dream is a solar generator that can store enough power during daylight to produce some power for temperature control and for refrigeration units at night.
Batteries: Manufacturers of alkaline batteries claim a shelf life of 5-10 years. If batteries are in use, how long they last is dependent upon the device in which they’re being used. By keeping batteries next to devices, but not inside, this adds to battery life. I also use re-chargeable batteries and a solar unit that recharges them. These do not last forever. Check all batteries now -- those in use and those stored.
Master List: There were a couple of things I couldn’t find because I had changed their location w/o revising my master. This created a waste of my limited physical energy, trying to find those few things. What good is gear if you can’t locate it! Keep an updated, accurate master list of emergency items and their storage locations.
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