Large parts of our town are without power. We were without power off and on Monday. Everything is back up now for us but there are still 1000s of people without power in our town and still more in surrounding areas.
What does power out mean for us? Not much. We are prepared for power outages.
A few years ago an ice storm came through and took out the power over large parts of the state. The outage was so bad people were being forced from their homes. The cost was so high to the power company that they created a new policy of proactively trimming back trees that overhang power lines.
Many years ago my father called the local power company because a tree on our property was overhanging the power lines and he was afraid it would fall and take out the power lines. The power company’s answer? “When it falls and takes out the power, let us know and we’ll come restore power.”
This was the state of preventive care for power lines for many many years.
So we know that long term power outages are possible. What does it mean to us? Again, not much, we are prepared for power outages.
The thing to know is that electricity is required for many things within your house that are fueled by other means. For example, your oil burning furnace has a pump, an igniter and fans that move hot air around your home. Without electricity, your oil/gas furnace doesn’t work.
At the fram, we had a dual fuel furnace. It used both wood and oil. While we were there I think we went through about 10 gallons of fuel oil. The house was heated with wood. With electric fans to move the heat around the house.
There was a time when gas stoves were the norm. Only the fancy/rich people got electric stoves. Today electric stoves are the cheaper option and most people have electric stoves. It is also safer to provide an electric stove to a renter than to allow them to use a gas stove.
Some idiot leaves the electric on, it makes for a very hot burner. It might even destroy a burner. But that’s a $10 part replacement.
Some idiot turns on the gas but doesn’t light it and you can easily get gas concentrations high enough to ignite and burn down the building.
When we purchased the house we had an oil furnace, electric water heater, electric appliances. Over time we’ve replaced the electric stove and electric dryer with gas versions.
Having a gas stove means that we can cook, even if the power is out. The electric start doesn’t work, but we can light a gas burner with a match or lighter. No big deal. We actually have an out of gas bic long reach lighter next to the stove. The spark still works and the spark is at the end of the long neck. Turn on the gas, reach in with the lighter, pull the trigger and get sparks that light the stove.
Even before we had the gas stove, we had the ability to cook with gas. Our outdoor grill is gas powered and has a side burner. We can cook on the side burner or bake in the grill side.
Without power, our gas oven doesn’t work, which isn’t a huge issue for us.
Our primary source of heat is a wood stove in the living room. There are a couple of the cheap thermo-electric fans that sit on top and move the heat around. No power? No problem. That stove heats up most of the house.
We have Coleman gas lanterns, we have oil lamps, we have long burning candles. Long burning? Try two or three weeks. I’ve never been able to completely use up one of the candles mom makes.
For auxiliary heating I have a kerosene heater that is rated for indoor use. We also have a multi-fuel military heater that runs on fuel oil, gas, or kerosene. I would have to plumb the smoke stack, but it is certainly powerful enough to heat most of the house.
Our gas system was designed by me and installed by a professional. You do not want to mess around with gas lines.
We use two 100# propane bottles as our feed. Only one bottle is open at a time. It feeds up through a valve into a cross connect that then feeds into the regulator. The regulator then feeds the supply line to the stove and drier. If we want to upgrade the hot water, then we are prepared to do that in the future.
If the feed tank runs empty we just walk outside, shut the tank valve, shut the cross connect valve on the empty tank and turn on the valves on the full tank.
Later that week I’ll disconnect the empty tank, load it into the truck, drive to the local propane provider and get the tank filled.
Because of the price of propane and gas going up we also have a spare.
And if it gets bad, i.e both tanks run dry, I can hook up one of the little 20# tanks.
Those gas appliances give us a level of independence that electric never will.
On, we also have a generator. If power was out for an extended period of time we can pull the disconnect and power our home from the generator. That would allow us to keep the fridge and freezers at temperature. Without running the genset constantly.
The genset is powerful enough to actually drive the machine shop, but is portable as well.
There is always more to “bans” that first meets the eye. Banning gas stoves is a step towards government control of more of our lives.
Comments
7 responses to “Gas it up!”
Rural living promotes self sufficiency… I have a small solar/ battery back up that will run my Rinhi propane heater. A generator is next. I had originally set my house up with gas appliances and over time some were replaced with electric such as the cook stove. Gas made my wife uncomfortable and it wasn’t a big deal to me so I switched. A propane powered whole house gen will make it worry free… now if we could just get reliable internet service.. Up here the dems are pushing for state control of electricity…. Ya THATS a good idea…
Here in the great state of Florida, we have a champion for the people; a government official who fights for real Americans — Floridians fly the Gadsen Flag under the state flag, ready to defend both if threatened — https://floridapolitics.com/archives/580748-ron-desantis-stove/
There are few things as comforting as a fire under your control. Be it a stove with a cup of coffee and slices of spam on some aluminum foil ontop or a nice crackling hearth.
Is there a reason you don’t use solar out of all your systems listed?
I have a gas boiler in the home. And, the control system is an older one that I can force to ignite without a thermostat. Put the zone valves into bypass and the water circulates via gravity. Hot water goes up, colder water returns to the boiler for reheating. And, no, I am not going to upgrade to a “more efficient” boiler with that new fancy control box. As long as the gas keeps flowing, the house remains heated.
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Just need to get a backup for the gas company… Working on it.
Maybe upstate is different but the Seacost region is run by retards. I’ll take pictures of tree limbs touching powerlines in my neighborhood and post them.
Yes, the seacast is run by retards. *grin* It is where to many people running from blue states ended up. Prices are through the roof out there. And they have a much stronger “government should do for me.”
Let’s see… I do a ton of camping in warmer weather (defined as: warmer than freezing overnight). All of my camping preps are the preps I use at home as well. So I have a solar lantern that works extremely well. It’ll charge to full in a couple of hours of full sun, and has a fun “disco setting” with colored lights for those nights I know I can power up the next day. It also has a battery saving “low light” option for when I’m not sure when the next top up will be. It’s enough light to cook by, to read by, to sew by.
I have two fire pits that I can use to cook on. One is a more permanent structure and one is a portable type that I can take to campsites. I don’t currently have a bbq, but when I did, I could use it any time of year for cooking. I have a gas stove, because gas keeps working even when the power goes out. I also have a “backpack emergency stove”, which is made out of an old tin with a lid, some rolled up cardboard, and leftover wax from dead candle ends. It’ll boil a cup of water in 2 minutes. I can cook a meal or two before it runs out, and it’s not difficult to replenish, if I need to. Best, I can use it indoors, provided I’m in a large room or I crack a window. I also have a single burner butane stove and many cans of butane, because again, I camp. Butane stoves, unlike propane stoves, are safe to use indoors. 🙂
For heat, I have a wood stove, and I have camp “tent” heaters that run on LP. Honestly, I just heat up the main area of the house, where I cook and watch tv. The rest of the house can be cold. I have blankets on my bed, and if it gets REALLY cold in here, I’ll pull out my military sleep system and put it under the blankets. The system is rated down to -20F, so with piles of quilts and woolen blankets on top, I doubt I’d get too cold.
I have enough food socked away to keep me going for a long time. Some of it is long-term prep like wheat berries and such, but a little of it is easy “just add water” type of meals, because generally when we lose power, I’m out shoveling or snow blowing for hours. I don’t want to come in and spend another hour making food. Also, “just add water” meals are much easier to cook over a backpacking stove or on a butane burner.
And of course I live in NH. That means there’s water all around me. I have the means to turn it from its solid state to its liquid state, easily. I also have the means to filter it.
I think that just leaves “hope” from our Rule of Threes, and I have tons of that. There are literally thousands of books in my home. I have cards and books full of card game rules. I have board games, puzzles, and adult coloring books. I have sewing I can work on, or I can knit, crochet, spin, or weave. It’s all power free fun. 🙂