Two generators, probably close to 100 gallons of fuel for them and the same amount of propane for the bbq or propane heaters. Water is gravity fed. It will slow down if the big pumps can't be run, but it will be there. The city is fed from a lake 97 miles away. Ammo, enough. Last winter we had a stretch of cold weather (colder than on Mars) and I didn't go out of the house for 9 days (ran out of chocolate milk).

Yes and no. It'd suck that's for sure. My portable generator crapped out during the last storm and I haven't yet had time to look into fixing it so I have concerns about power loss.

The power (grid) reliability is poor during weather events based on my experiences. We ALWAYS lose power - usually for an hour or two, the worst was three days. I don't trust their distribution network (they do a lackluster job maintaining infrastructure and then to their credit panic and do a good job restoring power quickly when things inevitably fail - but it's not a great business model and not something that gives me a great sense of confidence...).

Unfortunately my heat sources (pellet stove, oil-fired hydronic baseboard system, space heaters) all do depend on electricity to some extent, as does my water supply (pellet stoves require fans / negative pressure to work, the circulator pumps and ignition for the hydronic system need power, the space heaters are all electric and the water needs a well pump which is electric). So long story short I just didn't trust the power company to keep the power on so I vacated last night before things got too bad and am now at a relative's house in another state a few hours away. It's not nearly as bad here and there's certainly not as much risk of losing power (and they have fireplaces if we ever DID lose power). So we're good I think. Cats are fine lounging near one of the fireplaces, coffee is decent, couch is comfortable. Life's okay. I'll go back and check on my place later this week when the dust settles. Today I'm just going to kick back, get caught up on some work and not stress.

I actually bought a wood stove with a hot water heat exchanger in it earlier this winter but haven't had time to hook it up unfortunately (I've got it set in the pad I poured but still need to run the flue outside - moving that 1,000 pound beast in by myself was fun...). If I'd been able to get that going is have just stayed in my place since it wouldn't require electricity to operate in simple "wood stove" mode (obviously there'd still be no HW to the hydronic heating loop with no circulator pump but it'd be enough to keep the house warm). Oh well - the joys of being perpetually too busy...

If things really got bad I'd go to my office in Boston; the building has emergency power, showers, etc. It'd kinda suck but I'd be fine there for a few days. Not a big deal. I really feel for the homeless folks. A lot of them will end up dead from this storm. It's pretty bad and the cold is unbearable (single digits with 30-50 mph winds).

Big giant inconvenience for me but whatever - it is what it is. One more reason I think I'm done with New England after this year. I'm making my plans to relocate now. I'm just sick of dealing with all the BS here.

Stay safe everyone!

20 gallons of fuel, a 30 ft camper on battery backup (functional toilet), a hot tub with 600 gallons of water with another 60 in the hot water heater. Large woodstove and 6 cords of split wood that is currently our only heat source, lots of cast iron pots for cooking, 3 weeks supply of food, 6-7 guns and a couple thousand rounds for good measure. A flowing creek next to the house for horse water and flushing toilets into the septic tank. Hurricane lamps with a couple gallons of fuel, and Coleman kerosene lanterns........bring it !

Backup sump battery and I'm all set. Just need to replace the battery every 2 years.

That looks like a good idea. Where'd you get it?

We have a ton of ramen and bottled water. Not great, but probably better than average. There's also a river no more than 150 yards from here. It's brackish, but has plenty of crabs, oyster and fish.

For those that can not afford ready made ration packs they can make their own.
If your hungry macaroni is better then a bowl of nothing.
Boxed potatoes taste pretty good too!
Most people for get to get stuff they use every day and take for granted.
Here i store some salt and dish soap and other seasonings.
H20 is whats needed for everything...

Main source of heat are two propane fireplaces, no fan assist but they both fire up with no power.
Gas stove and matches, my tanks are never below 50%. Enough rations and water for a few months.

Sandy left me without power for 15 days, but my gererator ran the house just fine. So I had water, heat and enuf power to run a line to my unprepared neighbors house. But I have made a change, I keep enough fuel on hand so if it happens again I can get into the truck and get the heck outa here until all is well!!!

For those of you in the concrete jungle, I would have a stocked bug out bag and not rely on the charity of neighbors, or the preparedness of the city to take care of it's citizens. There are some really neat heaters/cookers made out of ordinary household items, like the one that you use a quart paint can and a roll of tiolet paper inside of it. You then pour isopropal alcohol over the top of the TP roll until it's covered and then light it. It will burn for hours with good clean heat, and can be re-used after the alcohol is gone, but before the TP burns up. Just put the lid on it to extinguish. It's always a good idea to have several gallon jugs of water on hand, and ramen noodles store easily and damn near forever without going bad.

Since electrically we are for all intents at the end of a footpath, off a trail cut from a spur of the the local electric grid, we generally lose power first and get it back last, often without power for in excess of a week after large storms.

So, yes, we are prepared, perhaps overly so to run the house: Two gas powered gens that can each run house essentials, a PTO powered gen that can run the whole house (and is powered by any one of three tractors), and enough gas for a month at full throttle.

We have our own well so as long as I have stand-by power, I have water. I am also on satellite for TV and Internet so that is available as well.

I also have food stores and at least three cords of wood in dry storage in an old tobacco barn.

Although all my spoons were lost in a tragic boating accident, I have enough spoon food to feed, hypothetically, a lot of tableware.

We are working on getting wind and solar powered back-up systems as well for the real long haul.

I am not prepper, just prepared.

I do have some candles somewhere, I think.

Yep.

Ancient hand-pump well still works. No electricity required.

Have a 5k watt generator/fuel. Still need to procure/install a secondary switch panel to run dedicated circuits in the house off of the generator when the house is offline.

HS Tarm biomass auxiliary boiler so baseboard heat runs off coal/wood.
3 cords of wood on hand and a half ton of coal to feed the HS Tarm.

Food supply is ~45 days. 90 in extreme cases but don't tell the dog.

Spoon supply is classified. ;)

"...but don't tell the dog."

Priceless!

Matt

I'm putting in a generator this summer. I have well water (no water without electricity) and forced air heating (no heat without electricity). We do have natural gas for generator fuel. I used to scoff at the idea, but we went through 10 days of no power after Ike and it got me thinking.

my son works for lapolicegear.com he can get a sizable discount for me (you).

ScubaSteve,

The company is Wisefoodstorage.com.
They advertise on the cable networks also.
Hugh's son works for an outdoor/hunting etc. company.
He may be able to help you also.

Matt

This was not intended to be a troll for my business, just wondering if people here were ahead of the game.

We have multiple designs in place for a new product called MiGrid.

It is a combination system with multiple power sources. Solar, Generator, Battery Bank and hot water. The design is so that it relies mostly on the solar, but will kick the generator on when you need extra power or if it is cloudy/night. The main focus now is to get the price down as much as possible.

enough food, firewood and ammo to last six months.

I thought you were working on "Mr. Fusion"?

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1422379194.jpg

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