Posted: 2/14/2009 4:08:45 PM EDT
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Not many people have the gumption to do it but if you really want to know where the holes in your preps are shut off all your utilities for a week, water, elec, gas, everthing and see what happens. I did it in February 07 for 10 days during a particularly cold (for Texas anyway) snap and found out a lot. I learned among other things that a 20lb propane tank doesn't last long when you're trying to heat even a room or two in a drafty old farm house. I also found that I really want to be able to take a hot shower when the mood strikes so a camping shower is a priority for me. |
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Adopt the strategy of "One is none, two is one, and three is security". Do it all over again & again.
Go deep: Example - a generator is no good when the first part breaks. What's your parts inventory look like? Do you have the tools to repair it? We've adopted a three layer approach to beans, bullets, & band aids and taken each layer deep. Specific needs list was made and reviewed extensively. For instance, specific need #1 - Water: local municipal water is the primary source, on site well with shielded 1500 gallon storage is the secondary, alternate manual filtration with multiple sources is backup. Secondary "deep items" are two sources of power for well, replacement well pump and wire & piping repair parts, multiple marine battery backed distribution pump (for when well is inop or generator is not running) with repair parts for supplying pressurized water from tank to house; multiple filters, excessive amounts of water treatment chemicals. Tools & well pump retrieval tools are also on hand; as shared "deep items" also bought & learned how to use a lathe & milling machine for making replacement/repairing broken items which itself required raw materials - steel, bronze, aluminum rods, flats, angles & plate. Of course engine fuel, lubrication, coolant, etc. was required for generator backup power as were parts, tools, etc. Even have diesel engine internal rebuild parts. Backup "deep items" include extra filters, o-rings, gaskets, raw water transportation containers for UTV. Also have cleaning brushes for filters and couple of dozen spare personal fresh water containers as well as a bulk house hold size (55 gal) one. Raw surface water sources have been scouted for usability (found one was contaminated with oil - bad on filters) and test runs made for 'proof of concept' - getting to the water, filling containers, returning to UTV, loading & securing, and returning to base. All this & more is for specific needs item #1! Another example, what if you pull the end off the spark plug wire for your generator when you go to put the new plug in required by burning some 'old & dirty' gasoline? Do these kind of preps for every specific needs item; even toothpaste & TP & weapons! Our TP needs analysis is interesting BTW. The steps are: Categorize, expand, then diversify. Also, examine every task associated with keeping things going for specific needs item identification. |