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I have lived in an old wooden caravan..on blocks..seen better days, grew my own food and snared/hunted for meat, water from the river, cooked over a camp fire..no electric, no mains water or sewage...in fact mains nothing...and loved every minute of it, we can live without electricity and like it.
 
Every "plan" should include training and exercise. I know there are a lot of city folk who almost never loose power for more than an hour or two once every 10 years.

If you think you are ready for a power outage, test it. Go to the main breaker (you DO know where it is...yes?) and trip it for 24 hours. Record what works and what doesn't in your plan. After you have done this and corrected any deficiencies, put 364 blank papers in a jar (or identical marbles) with one marked one. Pull one out every day. If you pull the marked one (or "odd" marble) that means the power goes off immediately for 24 hours (no "cheating" by getting things around or finishing up first). If its a workday, go to work (if you must) but don't hit a gas station or any shopping while you're out.

This is about as "realistic" as you can get. I would suggest that even if you once lived in a Tibetan monastery when you were young, who's to say you're truly prepared for a power outage now. If you're on "city water", give yourself 10-15 minutes to gather water also. After that, shut off the main water valve (you DO know where it is...yes?). This would simulate everybody draining down the pipes.

Lastly, I would suggest this regardless of whether you plan on "bugging in" OR "bugging out"
 
During the summer storm season, not unusual for us to lose power for a few hours at a time at least two or 3 times during the season. Never really been too much of an issue. Which is a double-edged sword. My other no-power preps (stored water (as well pump is out), gas grill, battery powered motion lights, oil lamps throughout the house, and our love of books and boardgames) make it hard to sell the wife on a complete no-grid backup power solution.

The only way it would really be worthwhile, is if we lost power for more than about 10 hours, enough time for the house to really get hot without AC, and chances of food going bad in the freezer and fridge. Since that really doesn't happen, hard to sell her on the idea of what I want (a large buried propane tank and propane generator for the whole house).

It's a pricey investment (around 15K or more easily), but basically, if you lose power, it's business as usual. You won't even really notice it much, and it will automatically kick in. In a SHTF scenario, you could do some power rationing and management to really stretch that propane supply (and possibly raid or trade for more propane).
 
talk with the power company first,to let them know your plans..then sneak to the breaker box some day.and turn all power off to the house..
 
Unfortunately, we're all familiar with the breaker box. My wife has a borderline paranoia about fire, so we actually turn off the breaker to the double oven at night (or if nobody is home). I get it though, oven controls are touch, and our cats have been known to turn on a burner once or twice, accidentally. Sometimes, I long for the good old fashioned controls.

It's the first thing they'd check though (breaker box).
 
Lots of good points doc. I have thought of trying to go without electricity for just a weekend, but with the wife being ill, no a/c isn't an option. I would love to practice, as I feel it is only a matter of time before it becomes a reality.

Exactly, what would you do if it became reality and TSHTF tomorrow, you're gonna have to find some way to cope without A/C.

Maybey this winter I can talk her into it. I think security is going to be tough for everyone.

Winter you don't need A/C but would be a good time to see how you'd cope without it.

but sure wish I had a small group to share the work together with.

I've often thought along those lines too. Coordinate with other people who you know and trust and come up with a group plan on what to do when TSHTF and maybe have somewhere for a group bug-out location which would be a lot safer and secure as there would be more of you to take care of security and patrolling the area/perimeter.
 
I've been thinking about getting a jenny to power our house when TSHTF, I've been looking at petrol ones but then read something and that reminded me of the price difference of petrol to diesel and changed it to wanting a diesel one.
I'd want to try and get it rigged up to the house via the fusebox where the mains comes in and replace it with the jenny.
I'm also looking into trying to hide it somewhere where it would be quiet and hidden away but with a good ventilation system so that it can breathe and also expel the fumes.
 
I'm also looking into trying to hide it somewhere where it would be quiet and hidden away but with a good ventilation system so that it can breathe and also expel the fumes.

My son built a house (dog house) that is attached to the house, he uses fire retardant sound deadening insulation, the exhaust is piped up to the roof line, when its running we don't hardly hear it inside and not overly noisy outside.
 
My son built a house (dog house) that is attached to the house, he uses fire retardant sound deadening insulation, the exhaust is piped up to the roof line, when its running we don't hardly hear it inside and not overly noisy outside.
Thats brilliant! Not only does it look nice but is camofloged from potential thieves. During one of the hurricanes I went thru a gennie or a gas can had a short life expectancy if left unguarded!
 
Neither does stored food but many preppers still stock 30 days, 6 months or even a year, I think preppers should prep for short term not just long term and a generator is a short term prep in most cases. We have gone roughly 6 weeks without power one winter, without power our well pump is dead a generator would keep the pump and heat going in the well house. at -15deg F with 30mph sustained winds it doesn't take long for a well house to freeze without power, my wife thought it was the end of the world ;)
 
Thats brilliant! Not only does it look nice but is camofloged from potential thieves. During one of the hurricanes I went thru a gennie or a gas can had a short life expectancy if left unguarded!

with additives the fuel would last a year stored, the generator runs 1hr each week and the oil is changed every three month even when not being use, my son stores about a hundred gal of fuel. ya security is a major plus!
 
I've been thinking about getting a jenny to power our house when TSHTF, I've been looking at petrol ones but then read something and that reminded me of the price difference of petrol to diesel and changed it to wanting a diesel one.
I'd want to try and get it rigged up to the house via the fusebox where the mains comes in and replace it with the jenny.
I'm also looking into trying to hide it somewhere where it would be quiet and hidden away but with a good ventilation system so that it can breathe and also expel the fumes.

Depends on what you're looking to power.

If just a couple of important things, then yeah, a diesel generator could be a good solution. If you're looking to power your whole house though, then I would recommend a larger scale propane powered generator system, with a large storage tank.
 
Neither does stored food but many preppers still stock 30 days, 6 months or even a year, I think preppers should prep for short term not just long term and a generator is a short term prep in most cases. We have gone roughly 6 weeks without power one winter, without power our well pump is dead a generator would keep the pump and heat going in the well house. at -15deg F with 30mph sustained winds it doesn't take long for a well house to freeze without power, my wife thought it was the end of the world ;)
Prepping in the extreme cold takes a little more effort. At least in that kind of cold you could probably find plenty of snow or ice to melt for drinking.:)
 
And keep your food cold. Natural refrigeration.
 
Depends on what you're looking to power.

If just a couple of important things, then yeah, a diesel generator could be a good solution. If you're looking to power your whole house though, then I would recommend a larger scale propane powered generator system, with a large storage tank.

I'd be looking at powering our bungalow.
 
I looked into this for a long time, and so far, the best, most economical and reliable solution I've seen, is a propane generator and tank (an external tank is cheaper than a buried one, but of course, a buried one is more hidden). Me, if we go that route, I'm just going to hide the tank with a fence.

Eventually, solar may be an option here, but with our storms here, I expect the panels would often get damaged, and of course, will always need to replace batteries.

Post SHTF, I have a TON of options of where I could score some propane, so even if running out, I'd be able to keep some stockpiled. Get a big enough tank though, and do some power rationing, and you could really stretch the time though.
 

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