[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Prepper: FAIL (Page 1 of 2)
Posted: 10/30/2012 5:13:03 PM EDT
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So, you just really dont know how fucked you are until you get a Sandy Vagina smelling up the place.
on a score of 1-10 for Prepper: FAIL, FAIL miserably. Thank god it wasn't as bad here as some other parts around up. a catastophy. but boy, I thought i was prepared. And i was wrong. Maybe those doomsday preppers arent crazy afterall... Anyone else find themselves fucked these past few days? |
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Luckily, I did not need any preps for this. Had I; I think we would have been fine. The one thing I thought about is, I think I want a better gen set (larger) It would work fine for just me but I went to the elderly couple next door to check on them during the storm and I found out that if/when we lost power they would have no way of having any power and he is on a 02 generator 
If we needed it I would have went without and powered them up. So with that said I think I'd like to pick up a larger one. |
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So, you just really dont know how fucked you are until you get a Sandy Vagina smelling up the place. on a score of 1-10 for Prepper: FAIL, FAIL miserably. Thank god it wasn't as bad here as some other parts around up. a catastophy. but boy, I thought i was prepared. And i was wrong. Maybe those doomsday preppers arent crazy afterall... Anyone else find themselves fucked these past few days? Real world tests are significant. You'll fix it and do fine (mostly) the next time. |
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So what went wrong? yeah, don't leave us hanging. Seriously, reach out maybe someone here could help. Luckily we are safe and fine. No power. Few dents in cars. Few trees down. Thank god not as bad as some places around here. Problems/Lessons learned: Need bigger generator to power more shit. (Could only do 1 fridge and some small stuff) need one to power blower for furnace. Got cold. Need more kerosine. Everywhere closed today that had kerosine. Cell phones ain't shit. Died after first night. Then no signals. Don't have house phone. Didn't have battery operated radio. Couldn't find shit. Got darkand spent more time looking for shit and not finding it. Didn't expect power to go out so early. Wasn't ready. No easily made food. Sure had non perishables but still... 1 +. Had hot water or we'd be really fucked. Cell battery dying again. Later. |
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So what went wrong? yeah, don't leave us hanging. Seriously, reach out maybe someone here could help. Luckily we are safe and fine. No power. Few dents in cars. Few trees down. Thank god not as bad as some places around here. Problems/Lessons learned: Need bigger generator to power more shit. (Could only do 1 fridge and some small stuff) need one to power blower for furnace. Got cold. Need more kerosine. Everywhere closed today that had kerosine. Cell phones ain't shit. Died after first night. Then no signals. Don't have house phone. Didn't have battery operated radio. Couldn't find shit. Got darkand spent more time looking for shit and not finding it. Didn't expect power to go out so early. Wasn't ready. No easily made food. Sure had non perishables but still... 1 +. Had hot water or we'd be really fucked. Cell battery dying again. Later. its like watching some one discover the wheel. no offense but welcome to my 04. |
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Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: So what went wrong? yeah, don't leave us hanging. Seriously, reach out maybe someone here could help. Luckily we are safe and fine. No power. Few dents in cars. Few trees down. Thank god not as bad as some places around here. Problems/Lessons learned: Need bigger generator to power more shit. (Could only do 1 fridge and some small stuff) need one to power blower for furnace. Got cold. Need more kerosine. Everywhere closed today that had kerosine. Cell phones ain't shit. Died after first night. Then no signals. Don't have house phone. Didn't have battery operated radio. Couldn't find shit. Got darkand spent more time looking for shit and not finding it. Didn't expect power to go out so early. Wasn't ready. No easily made food. Sure had non perishables but still... 1 +. Had hot water or we'd be really fucked. Cell battery dying again. Later. First world problems.  Sounds like you have the basics covered, and just have some holes to patch in your preps. Stay safe. |
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I have some basic preps. Food, water, first aid, alternate heat source, Genny, gasoline, guns, ammo, cash. These are for temporary interruptions in services. I find prepping for TEOTWAWKI to be futile, for the most part. My Genny is for finite power loses. When I know the lights are coming back on, be it a day, or 2 weeks. Otherwise, it's pointless, and the gasoline might be better served bugging out, than keeping the lights on for a few more days into Armageddon. |
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Lessons learned.
Bigger generators are good but how big? do you get the 25K, 10K, or something smaller that you can actually move around if needed. We have just a 3500 watt, with a gen trans switch, a few lights, charge cell phones, watch TV, play on the computer, all of that and then one of the following, furnace fan, house refer, garage refer, well pump, septic pump. Sure I need to flip a switch now and then, but this way the generator is stored inside the garage, and small enough, the Mrs. can move it, it is on wheels. Something that is forgotton by many is dag and kittah food, and toilet paper |
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So what went wrong? yeah, don't leave us hanging. Seriously, reach out maybe someone here could help. Luckily we are safe and fine. No power. Few dents in cars. Few trees down. Thank god not as bad as some places around here. Problems/Lessons learned: Need bigger generator to power more shit. (Could only do 1 fridge and some small stuff) need one to power blower for furnace. Got cold. Need more kerosine. Everywhere closed today that had kerosine. Cell phones ain't shit. Died after first night. Then no signals. Don't have house phone. Didn't have battery operated radio. Couldn't find shit. Got darkand spent more time looking for shit and not finding it. Didn't expect power to go out so early. Wasn't ready. No easily made food. Sure had non perishables but still... 1 +. Had hot water or we'd be really fucked. Cell battery dying again. Later. First world problems.
]Sounds like you have the basics covered, and just have some holes to patch in your preps. Stay safe. [/div] this... |
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That's awesome. 
OK someone who has the engineering tables handy, figure out how deep those anchors have to be. He looks like he used large tent stakes. |
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So what went wrong? yeah, don't leave us hanging. Seriously, reach out maybe someone here could help. Luckily we are safe and fine. No power. Few dents in cars. Few trees down. Thank god not as bad as some places around here. Problems/Lessons learned: Need bigger generator to power more shit. (Could only do 1 fridge and some small stuff) need one to power blower for furnace. Got cold. Need more kerosine. Everywhere closed today that had kerosine. Cell phones ain't shit. Died after first night. Then no signals. Don't have house phone. Didn't have battery operated radio. Couldn't find shit. Got darkand spent more time looking for shit and not finding it. Didn't expect power to go out so early. Wasn't ready. No easily made food. Sure had non perishables but still... 1 +. Had hot water or we'd be really fucked. Cell battery dying again. Later. Make a list of things you HAVE to have running at any one given time. Then make a separate list of things you can cycle on and off as needed (refridgerators, freezers, etc) Then make a list of things you WANT to plug in (tv for a little bit, etc) Buy a generator that is sized for what you HAVE to have running and what you can cycle on and off. Remember, the bigger the generator, the more fuel it uses per hour, the heavier it is, the more it costs, etc. It will really make you rethink your power plans and usage during an emergency. Use only what you need at any given time. Also, not to criticize, but the furnace blower is not essential in my opinion. Only if the temperature is going below freezing for an extended time, then you would have to worry about it. In general you can wear an extra layer or put an extra comforter on the bed. Yes I know Jersey winters get cold, this is a general statement for everyone. Your other problems are fairly easily fixed. Glad you're realizing this now, versus a much worse disaster 
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One thing to remember is that if you have a UPS for your computer (and everyone should) you can use it to charge a cell phone or similar item if you lose power. Better than Irene last year. I thought I was prepared, then Irene put over five feet of water in my basement. Guess where most of my non-perishable preps were stored? Luckily, we were spared Sandy this year...so far. They say she may loop back through the northern half of New York later this week. Good luck and stay safe. David |
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Make a list of things you HAVE to have running at any one given time. Then make a separate list of things you can cycle on and off as needed (refridgerators, freezers, etc) Then make a list of things you WANT to plug in (tv for a little bit, etc) Buy a generator that is sized for what you HAVE to have running and what you can cycle on and off. Remember, the bigger the generator, the more fuel it uses per hour, the heavier it is, the more it costs, etc. That's solid advice, all around. Attempting to power every appliance in your home with a generator is a fool's errand. As a very rough rule-of-thumb, a modern gasoline generator will consume around 0.2 gallons of gas per hour, per KW of power being generated - For example, generating 2.5 KW of power will require roughly 0.5 gallons every hour. If you do the math, it becomes obvious that storing enough gasoline to generate several KW for a few hours per day is easy - even if you need to do it for several weeks. However, storing enough gas to generate dozens of KW around the clock is nearly impossible. The secret to not running out of fuel before the power comes back on: Keep your electrical loads as small as possible, and power them only for as long as is absolutely necessary. |
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One thing to remember is that if you have a UPS for your computer (and everyone should) you can use it to charge a cell phone or similar item if you lose power. Better than Irene last year. I thought I was prepared, then Irene put over five feet of water in my basement. Guess where most of my non-perishable preps were stored? Luckily, we were spared Sandy this year...so far. They say she may loop back through the northern half of New York later this week. Good luck and stay safe. David If you want to keep your phone topped up, a UPS is overkill. Get a 12V sealed lead acid battery. I have a 7aH one sitting next to me now. Get a car USB charger and hack together a cable for it. You can get all fancy and use powerpoles and a cig socket, or do what I do and use alligator clips to connect the cig plug to the positive and negative poles of the battery. My 7aH battery will charge my phone a HUGE number of times before it goes flat. I also use it to power my scanner and low power HF radio (FT-817). I have a solar charger for it (which is of dubious usefulness during a storm since there won't be much sunlight) but I can also charge it from my truck when running errands. I also have a "Genius" charger that I use for my motorcycle which keeps it topped up nicely. |
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I have some basic preps. Food, water, first aid, alternate heat source, Genny, gasoline, guns, ammo, cash. These are for temporary interruptions in services. I find prepping for TEOTWAWKI to be futile, for the most part. My Genny is for finite power loses. When I know the lights are coming back on, be it a day, or 2 weeks. Otherwise, it's pointless, and the gasoline might be better served bugging out, than keeping the lights on for a few more days into Armageddon. Buy a couple of solar panels, a charge controller, and a stack of 6V golf cart batteries. Generators are for short term use, Solar may be expensive and impractical for most to run a whole house on but it doesn't take your life savings to get enough solar power to keep a DC fridge going and watch TV a few hours a night. |
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That's awesome.
OK someone who has the engineering tables handy, figure out how deep those anchors have to be. He looks like he used large tent stakes. Reminds me of that episode of the Simpsons where Ned secured his house like that and his house was the only one destroyed during the storm....
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Luckily, I did not need any preps for this. Had I; I think we would have been fine. The one thing I thought about is, I think I want a better gen set (larger) It would work fine for just me but I went to the elderly couple next door to check on them during the storm and I found out that if/when we lost power they would have no way of having any power and he is on a 02 generator
If we needed it I would have went without and powered them up. So with that said I think I'd like to pick up a larger one. Props to you for taking care of your neighbors. I just got a new snow blower to make it easier for me to do my neighbor next door's driveway and sidewalks who has MS. |
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rarely does the power go out on a perfectly sunny day.
snow, ice, wind, rain, hail, etc, you have to be prepared for it all. I welcome diff. wakeup calls like this, it REALLY tests your gear and your prep level, showing you stuff you didn't know. It also tests how McGuyver you are... improv skills... I found out that my knife will open cans almost as good as a can opener............Wanna guess how I learned that lesson?
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Quoted: It sounds trivial, but 'Litter' isn't something you want to be out of after you've fed them.Lessons learned. Bigger generators are good but how big? do you get the 25K, 10K, or something smaller that you can actually move around if needed. We have just a 3500 watt, with a gen trans switch, a few lights, charge cell phones, watch TV, play on the computer, all of that and then one of the following, furnace fan, house refer, garage refer, well pump, septic pump. Sure I need to flip a switch now and then, but this way the generator is stored inside the garage, and small enough, the Mrs. can move it, it is on wheels. Something that is forgotton by many is dag and kittah food, and toilet paper  |
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Move to Idaho Just kidding glad you're alright. I am not prepared at all. Well, I guess I have my ammo/mags all in one bag in the closet ready to go haha
I would like to be more prepared but I start feeling a little crazy when I start planning for things I don't know are coming. People who do though will have a good head start for whatever happens. |
| Glad you guys all did ok. To the O.P, we all have a major test of our preps now and then and we cant always be perfect, that shit is for the movies. If you thought ahead and figured you were ok then thats all you can really do until test time. Read up on what failed for other people and consider these things for your situation and make sure you cover your soft spots for next time. Dont sweat if bro, your alive and your loved ones are safe. Sounds like you were successful to me |
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rarely does the power go out on a perfectly sunny day. snow, ice, wind, rain, hail, etc, you have to be prepared for it all. I welcome diff. wakeup calls like this, it REALLY tests your gear and your prep level, showing you stuff you didn't know. It also tests how McGuyver you are... improv skills... I found out that my knife will open cans almost as good as a can opener............Wanna guess how I learned that lesson? My generator was at my camp when the storm hit. Just in case I needed it I took an old sump pump and pulled the motor off it and rigged it up so I could run the pump off my weed whacker .it would have made my basement stink even with all the windows open but it still would have beat a flooded basement. |
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Quoted: Quoted: One thing to remember is that if you have a UPS for your computer (and everyone should) you can use it to charge a cell phone or similar item if you lose power. Better than Irene last year. I thought I was prepared, then Irene put over five feet of water in my basement. Guess where most of my non-perishable preps were stored? Luckily, we were spared Sandy this year...so far. They say she may loop back through the northern half of New York later this week. Good luck and stay safe. David If you want to keep your phone topped up, a UPS is overkill. Get a 12V sealed lead acid battery. I have a 7aH one sitting next to me now. Get a car USB charger and hack together a cable for it. You can get all fancy and use powerpoles and a cig socket, or do what I do and use alligator clips to connect the cig plug to the positive and negative poles of the battery. My 7aH battery will charge my phone a HUGE number of times before it goes flat. I also use it to power my scanner and low power HF radio (FT-817). I have a solar charger for it (which is of dubious usefulness during a storm since there won't be much sunlight) but I can also charge it from my truck when running errands. I also have a "Genius" charger that I use for my motorcycle which keeps it topped up nicely. I don't know if I would say overkill. What I'm talking about is using the supplies at hand. I have a UPS for my computer. If the power goes out, I don't need it for that, so I can re-purpose an existing item. As opposed to having to purchase an additional item that may not have another general use. I'm not bashing your idea. A spare car battery with some type of charging option (solar, wind, hydro) is a great idea for running small electrics. I'm planning on putting a small wind turbine on the roof for that purpose. As well as feeding back onto the grid for credit during good times. As Alton Brown says, "Think multitasker, not unitasker." David |
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Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: One thing to remember is that if you have a UPS for your computer (and everyone should) you can use it to charge a cell phone or similar item if you lose power. Better than Irene last year. I thought I was prepared, then Irene put over five feet of water in my basement. Guess where most of my non-perishable preps were stored? Luckily, we were spared Sandy this year...so far. They say she may loop back through the northern half of New York later this week. Good luck and stay safe. David If you want to keep your phone topped up, a UPS is overkill. Get a 12V sealed lead acid battery. I have a 7aH one sitting next to me now. Get a car USB charger and hack together a cable for it. You can get all fancy and use powerpoles and a cig socket, or do what I do and use alligator clips to connect the cig plug to the positive and negative poles of the battery. My 7aH battery will charge my phone a HUGE number of times before it goes flat. I also use it to power my scanner and low power HF radio (FT-817). I have a solar charger for it (which is of dubious usefulness during a storm since there won't be much sunlight) but I can also charge it from my truck when running errands. I also have a "Genius" charger that I use for my motorcycle which keeps it topped up nicely. I don't know if I would say overkill. What I'm talking about is using the supplies at hand. I have a UPS for my computer. If the power goes out, I don't need it for that, so I can re-purpose an existing item. As opposed to having to purchase an additional item that may not have another general use. I'm not bashing your idea. A spare car battery with some type of charging option (solar, wind, hydro) is a great idea for running small electrics. I'm planning on putting a small wind turbine on the roof for that purpose. As well as feeding back onto the grid for credit during good times. As Alton Brown says, "Think multitasker, not unitasker." David You can go just about anywhere and buy a jump start box with a cigarette lighter socket and air compressor for $30. Spend a few dollars more, and they already have USB ports for charging cell phones. I've spent enough time working on used car lots that I now wouldn't be caught dead without one of these. Jump start box with USB ports for $40.  |
You have my sympathy OP. I haven't experienced a hurricane, but I did sit through a 2 week power outage the year before last due to an ice storm.  It was rather...boring.
oh the noes the power is out!...oh well, we got a genny to power the freezers damn, it can power the well pump too...guess we won't be fetching water from the stream and getting any latrine digging practice in 
it's -10* outside...fuck, the woodstove is working fine and the wood has already been cut 
Anyways, that was my experience. 14 days of being stuck at home with family bitching at each other because we couldn't go to work. |