Posted: 6/17/2015 8:37:48 PM EDT
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This isn't gd so I'm not talking about the gun!
Reading in the "what have you done?" thread got me thinking. For those of us in the south, it's hotter than 2 hells wrapped in a July right now. I know meds lose their efficacy quickly from the heat. What about items in your GHB like lifestraws? Do any of you get new ones annually? How about water purification tablets/ systems? Anything else I'm leaving out that will degrade? |
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I have a Sawyer Mini filter in my remain overnight bag... it uses tubular filter media of absolute diameter, so should be ok...my food is freeze dried MH... my heat source is a couple of cans of Sterno, and they might need to be replaced...most of my first aid tape is coban style stretch/cling ... some of the bo bo band aids might need replacing...
it is 10:45 PM and still 86F on the central Gulf coast of Florida 
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Food degrades quickly...I just had a lengthy thread about this in SF here....
Water gets wonky pretty quick too. Anything that is in the form of a liquid or gel, medication, chapstick, etc....get destroyed rather quickly. DEET bug sprays seem unaffected. Pretty much all came to the conclusion that things need replaced on a regular basis. |
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The rule of thumb (Arrhenius equation) of every 10 degrees C doubling reaction rates (thus halving lifetimes) applies to just about
everything. So not just meds or food, but batteries, things like rubber gloves (high altitudes seem to kill them too). Anything that has a shelf life of less than 5 years I rotate out annually or even more often. |
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Quoted: I have a Sawyer Mini filter in my remain overnight bag... it uses tubular filter media of absolute diameter, so should be ok...my food is freeze dried MH... my heat source is a couple of cans of Sterno, and they might need to be replaced...most of my first aid tape is coban style stretch/cling ... some of the bo bo band aids might need replacing... it is 10:45 PM and still 86F on the central Gulf coast of Florida 104+ at casa de protus when i got home last night (6pm)...least humidty was below 70% lol Gotta love living away from the coast it was 15f lower on the east coast where i work lol. I dont change out much ..filters can take it....other crap i rotate every six months or so . |
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So not just meds or food, but batteries, things like rubber gloves (high altitudes seem to kill them too). Anything that has a shelf life of less than 5 years I rotate out annually or even more often. To add to this, natural latex rubber exam gloves can spontaneously ignite when stored at high temps. We're not talking a couple of pairs, but the dense-packed bulk boxes. That risk aside, they do get brittle after much heat exposure, which kind of defeats the purpose. I have less experience with nitriles, though. What does their storage life look like, particularly in heat? |
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Sunscreen ....
Don't forget the sunscreen in your gear. I keep a face stick and tube of 50spf I swap most of my liquid items and food out at the beginning of the summer and then again early fall. Just rotate them into my usual use supplies. And the heat down here can be oppressive. Tips I use: Plan activity early and late in the day. Stay hydrated Keep clothes on (light colored and thin wicking fabrics) Cool off as much as possible whenever possible. I soak in my creek on days like today. Just lay down and relax. Does wonders for making sure I'm not raising my core temp while working outside. |
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Let's talk about ways to combat heat in the absences of air conditioning.
Shade - seems obvious enough. This includes wearable shade - ie Long sleeve, light material. Hats that cover neck and still leave room for airflow (boonie hats work well here though my cowboy hat works too) I wear boots and jeans when hiking the desert not only for protection from spiky shit (which is everywhere) but also because it keeps legs from getting burned. I have a good tan but that doesn't mean I should go short pant. Besides, I can put water on clothing and it will keep moisture on skin longer, if need be. Depth - even at a blazing 100 degrees on the surface, the earth maintains a consistent temperature of around 50-70 degrees about 30 feet down. Remember that cellars have been around for a LOOOONG time. Wind - use it to your advantage. You can direct airflow using anything from tunnels to vegetation to walls to create a "funnel" for the wind to come down. House of old (French style) used to feature double doors, front and back, since air conditioning didn't exist. Ever hear of the "Venturi effect?" I should hope so if you're familiar with carburetors, among other things. Water - well that seems obvious. Having a pool of water for wind to go over increases cooling effect, same as misters. Vegetation - this is more important out west, where it isn't green. Vegetation has a huge cooling effect in the desert areas where the sun is baking off of dirt and concrete. I can feel a 15 degree difference from the city to driving by a corn field. Not quite what the OP was talking about but important and easy physics lessons to remember. 
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The biggest problem facing American's about no AC is houses for decades now have been specifically built for AC. The old houses before AC were built for hot weather. They had high cellings, poor insulation, and tall windows that opened at the top, window placement to encourage air flow, all things that helped in summer and absent in modern homes. Most of our homes now without AC, they'd just get hot and stay hot. Cooler night temperatures would have little effect. We'd be sleeping on our porches or in our basements.
Prolonged outages, we'd be digging root cellars guys and knocking holes in our roofs to vent heat. BTW, Having grown up without AC, I'm nostalgic a lot for the past but laying in a hot bed fighting over who gets the fan is not one of those things I miss. |
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The biggest problem facing American's about no AC is houses for decades now have been specifically built for AC. The old houses before AC were built for hot weather. They had high cellings, poor insulation, and tall windows that opened at the top, window placement to encourage air flow, all things that helped in summer and absent in modern homes. Most of our homes now without AC, they'd just get hot and stay hot. Cooler night temperatures would have little effect. We'd be sleeping on our porches or in our basements. Prolonged outages, we'd be digging root cellars guys and knocking holes in our roofs to vent heat. Precisely
My house is very well insulated and efficient... for an A/C unit. I am in the desert. In the winter it pretty much stays warm with no heat needed. In the summer, it stays fairly cool if I had ac off for a day (86 or so, any more days it can climb up to about 95) which is pretty cool... but long term? Well, all windows would be open and would be taking measures to increase airflow. I have solar (grid tied) that I'm sure there's a way to rig to trick it even with power off if worse came to worst. And a generator. Long term, out comes the sledge 
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I always get some laughs when I post this pic, but a battery powered tent fan, modified with a collet propeller adapter and propeller works well to spin my ceiling fan... runs for 9+ hours on a new D and 6hours on a 2 cell AA to D conversion pack on Eneloops...in the 2004 hurricane power outage, it was high 80s until well after midnight
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lasnyder, I assume that since you built that fan system, that you know something about battery powered fans available. If you were doing it again, would you use the same battery powered fan or a different one? And do you have a current source for same? I again assume that the prop and adapter are available at hobby shops. Any part numbers? I want to steal your idea for myself. I can take 100 degrees all day/night long, just as long as I have a breeze... |
It's 102 out right outside my open doors and windows. Very light breeze. I'm sweating. The fan and Gin and Tonic is helping  I would hate to sleep in this, I'd have to have a hammock for airflow. Something I do need to get. Couches and bed are off limits in this heat, bodyheat would be trapped too easily.
Back to my drink. 
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insert this pic below my following post... this is a pretty flimsy 2AA adapter, but works if not abused... with a single AA in an adapter, the fan ran 6 hours... 9+ hours on new D ... a couple of options to power your fans
I added a cigarette receptacle directly to the (-) post to power 12v appliances... digital TV and ability to charge the Eneloops or drive the 12v fan 
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MongoCaver... the fan shown in its original form is a single D Coleman tent fan with a small foam propeller, with magnetic base that sandwiched a plate to hold it to the tent fabric that I got on clearance... there are better options now... that was all I had for the first hurricane in 2004 (9 day outage), I boarded up for a high CAT 3 and it was miserable the first night until I took down the plywood... I then bought a 12v fan (pic) and ran it off a Harley Davidson Sportster battery for hurricane 2 (about 3 days outage), but didn't care for the air being blown only on one spot ...upgraded the power source to a auto battery with a cigarette plug to cable clip adapter... don't remember if I had outage for hurricane 3... a couple of days outage for hurricane in 2005... I retired in 2009, and had time to fool around with a couple of things, and a ceiling fan motor was high on my list...about that time I switched my hurricane power source to AA Eneloops, got a Goal Zero 7w panel to fool around with, and later a deep discharge trolling motor for my fan and digital TV...
the model plane propeller idea came from watching a couple of friends that are doing RC aircraft, with brushless DC motors....one of them gave me the collet/adapter and the pusher prop...sorry I don't have any numbers, but if you get the electric motor first, the collet adapter can be matched to the shaft diameter ... it worked surprisingly better than my expectations, though does need a counterbalance on the opposite fan blade...if I were to do it again, I'd buy a pre made battery box and attach a DC motor to a U shaped bracket (on side) with something like a small radiator hose screw clamp... both the battery box and motor bracket could be clamped directly to the fan blades... you could balance the fan by moving the locations... I'd probably use a pair of small "C" clamps to attach pic is of intermediary 12v tent fan (actually ran off a 9v battery pack, but had no problem working on 12v with a cigarette plug to RCA style plug)... but I like the fan motor best as it moves more air with less velocity 
DIY battery pack of 3 AA Eneloops... two quarters and bicycle inner tube slightly longer than the cells to roll the end over... penny to make contact... may need some foil to make contact on the (-) terminal....finally got a couple of two cell commercial adapters 
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Today it hit 104 but by 10:00 PM it was 75 degrees with cooling down to 59 predicted tonight. That's plenty comfortable enough to sleep in (it's a dry cool).
If the SHTF during "that" week or two where we get a tropical storm and the humidity climbs I have a nice small RV trailer that will be very easy to keep cool using the heat pump in it. The little Honda 2000i will run that thing for hours and hours on a tank of gas. Hang on ... the helicopter is hovering around the 'hood. |
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Looks like the local elementary school got vandalized. Helicopter and a handful of units.
For "normal" situations I have a small 500W AC which will cool one room down very well. I picked a small downstairs bedroom on the east side. Come evening it's on the cool side of the house to start with and it's small size is easy enough to cool. I'm in a bit of a transition period having removed 1200 pounds of my UPS leaving just 400 pounds worth of battery bank. I had a solar array installed and the installer needed to get to the home's central ground and it just happened to be behind the UPS bank. Once the solar array is commissioned I'll refresh my batteries with about 600 pounds of batteries good for about 6KW/hr worth of power. |
| I just don't do much outdoor stuff in the heat of Summer. The ready box I keep in the old 4Runner is inside, the BOB stays inside at night, the A/C runs all day long. I was going to head up to the Osceola NF and do a swamp hike this morning, but said "nope, too damn hot" |
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101 ...65% humidity here at 2 pm...index 114. Got a rain storm that dropped us to 75f.... It sucks. Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile Quoted:
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It's seems early to be this hot... 101 ...65% humidity here at 2 pm...index 114. Got a rain storm that dropped us to 75f.... It sucks. Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile Big time. No AC here and I don't trust the wiring in this house enough to run a window shaker.. |
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Big time. No AC here and I don't trust the wiring in this house enough to run a window shaker.. Quoted:
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It's seems early to be this hot... 101 ...65% humidity here at 2 pm...index 114. Got a rain storm that dropped us to 75f.... It sucks. Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile Big time. No AC here and I don't trust the wiring in this house enough to run a window shaker.. Your brave I know it ain't much different from me to yours.... I spent sat am running insulation under the house.......I prolly lost 5lbs in sweat. Could get a basic 110v portable unit least to do one room... Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile |
This sucks to hear. I'm spending time with family here in WA state and it's a cool 55-degrees with highs expected about 75 with sunny skies, oh, and low humidity My wife's father is having surgery so, we're departing early and heading to Panama City, FL...I'm expecting sweltering, humid-life sucking heat at the end of the week again. Oh well, there are times when being nomadic could be beneficial
ROCK6 |
| I grew up in the UK and I hate the heat....however, I lived in the Philippines for 4 years (68-72) and we had no air conditioning. On Clark AB we had old high ceiling'd houses with plenty of ventilation and ceiling fans (they were reputed to have housed Japanese soldiers in WWII) and it did ok to be getting along with. If you ever served in the middle east you know that heat degrades everything, especially batteries. Now my solution is an underground house. We have thick concrete walls and ceiling and a few feet of dirt on top of that. It stays cool all summer and takes very little to heat it in the winter. |
Stefan-DSO... I was at Clark from March 72 to the end of the air war in 73.... 110" of rain in 40 days...it was 90F and raining the day I got there, and 90F and raining the day I left... but the San Miguel was always cold...gratuitous pic of my old unit 6922nd Security Group
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