Could you survive a month with NO electricity?

In 2006 i went home to visit my family for christmas and it ended up just being me and my mother. Well it snowed then the temperature dropped i mean dropped. Well we lost power for five days, its not fun going to the bathroom outside having no running water ect...

Well would you survive a month? When you lose electricity you lose a lot more than you might think...gas, heat, anything mobile, some foods, water.

I think its important for people to look in the long run if something bad were to happen.

 

Perhaps not a month but just two years ago we had to survive a week without power and it was bitch

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdxjFRBwG0E"]YouTube - Ice Storm New England 2008


Hotwater

 

You bet I can. Been there, done that and in the jungle too.

 

When I was about 16 and it was just my mom, me, and a couple we "adopted" we lived for 4 months without electricity. It can be done. It was just us, not the whole city or anything. Just a huge bill and no $$$.
Coleman lantern and candles, ice chests, etc. Luckily we live in So Cal., so temps never were a problem.
But yes, you can survive without electricity if needed.

 

I would survive yes....but I'd be so bitchy it'd be unbearable for anyone with me

I NEED my coffee and I NEED my morning hot shower

actually I guess it wouldnt be so bad since I have a woodstove going most of the time anyways..no showers though..NYXX will have to come over and sponge bathe me :d

 

I think I would make it but it sure would suck. My plan of attack would be to sleep as much as possible, especially during dark hours.

 

inside the house should of been warm enough to melt snow, if you had gas.. pour water into toilets with buckets, males could urinate in plastic jugs, as could females, you may not like it you will survive, take plastic bag place over garbage pail. defecate in there, twist up baggie remove to outside storage in the cold..
summer time gas grills can be used indoors, if you only heat water on them, you need to keep them from smoking(dump the rocks out, used burner and grill to heat water indoors, you can get alot of use out them even outdoors with loss of power..
generators. thats easy but you need fuel on hand..

gas stove operate with out electricity , the only thing disabled should be a furnace motor. gas hot water tanks required no electric..
NEVER NEVER have a home with only one utility. Its a death trap!!

When you may know your going to have a freeze, fill up tubs with water...even if its for toilet flushing, you can stay dirty for a couple of days. rubbermaid 30gl bins are excellent for storing water.. Dump all them summer clothes on the floors fill them with snow, let melt indoors..
you shouldnt need to worry about cold storage food in the cold, your Frigidaire is now going to be outside. (protect from animals)..
candles, oil lamps, and 5gl of oil you should always have on hand. gennys need gas, keep that on hand.. it may not last forever , but its easier to pull a gas can on a sled than it is to drive ..

 

Yes No Problem At All, Already All My Lighting, Phones, Alarms, Run Off 48

Batteries Under The House Which Are Charged By 5 Solar Panels And A

1000watt Wind Turbine...:2thumbsup:

I Have A 12-240 500 Watt Inverter That Can Run Small Appliances Like A 14 Inch T.V.etc.

My Stove Is Electric But 12 Years Ago I Removed One Of The Front Burners

And Put A Triple Ring Gas Burner In Its Place, A Full Gas Bottle Lasts Me About

15 Months.

I Have Central Reverse Cycle Heat/Cool But I Also Have A Wood Fire.

The Fridge Is Electric But I Also Have A 60litre 12volt Fridge Which Would

Work Just Fine.

Only Problem Being It Can Work As A Fridge Or Freezer But Not Both At The

Same Time, So I Think I Would Run It In The Low Freezing Mode And Suffer

The Inconveinence Of Ice In The Butter And Milk...

And Finally, If I Need To Use Something Too Big For The Inverter Like The

Washing Machine, All I Have To Do Is To Start Up My Petrol Generator.



Cheers Glen.

 

So Cal

That's not surviving, that's living :toetap05:


Hotwater

 

OMG Glen is a Hippy

 

well yeah, i wouldn't die or anything. i would not be particularly happy though.

longest i remember going was about a week, once due to snowstorm, once due to primitive camping.

 

I’d survive alright but I’d hate every minute of it

The Wind chill outside is currently -10 F If the power goes out I’m scrambling around the woodpile out back to feed the fireplace in the den.

Secondly I’d have to turn on the gas oven in the kitchen just to create a second refuge from the cold - not fun

Hotwater

 

One way or another I'd make it. But I'd still get weed someway somehow.

 

I Originally Built This System As A Hobby, The Cost Of Things Like Solar Panels,

Batteries,etc Would Buy A Lot Of Electricity....

It's Rather Ironic That I Have All This Alternate Power Stuff, And There Was An

Ongoing Dispute With The Power Company Over The Distance Between The

Power Line And My House, All Boiled Down To My Builder Putting The House

In The Wrong Place, And Finally The Power Company Backed Down, And

Instead Of Me Moving The House, They Pulled Down The Bare Lines And

Replaced Them With Insulated Ones, And Raised Them Higher...:2thumbsup:.



Cheers Glen.

 

if the house is that close to high voltage that they had to move wires...maybe you should have invested in an induction type system and grab electricity from the air for free

powerline noises give me the heebeejeebies

 

Cold wouldn't be a problem with the woodstove, but things would get boring without internet, T.V. and radio.

I'd have to find a place to swim too in place of showering.

 

It would not be easy to do. Being in the country all is very dependent on power from heating to water.

I have a generator but that can only take so much load and depending on the season water in the sump takes first call, then heat, then all else.

If winter at least the food in all my freezers might be alright as I could bury it.

I could uncap my well and pull it up manually.

I could remove the insert out of the fireplace and use it for heat. The insert runs on power to circulate the heat with a blower so it would have to come out.

We went 11 days with no power during the big ice storm and survived but it was not pleasant.

 

The house i live has wood fireplace and we make sure we have enough wood for 6 months of below freezing weather. But its going primitive after awhile. Propane only goes so long and after that if you don't got wood heat. I don't know how you can make it. How do you boil water ect?

 

The first couple of months we were here we were not connected to the grid, the only power we had was from a small gas generator and two small solar panels.

We're connected to the grid now, but working towards not being so.

As for if something happened... it wouldn't be an issue, we can generate enough with what we have that the only thing that would change would be we would watch less tv..

If you are waiting for it to come back on after an emergency, it seems like an hour is forever... but if the situation is you know you wont have it for a couple of months, after the first week it isnt so bad...

 

I'd probably blow myself up to end my misery :bomb:

A little thing to add: I hear buddies of mine saying they will go 'camping' and 'rough it', yet they have a trailer with satellite TV, stove, fridge, PSP... Modern day view of roughing it apparently.