A few thoughts on living without electricity for a week

The remnants of hurricane Ike whipped through KY last Sunday and knocked out the electricity to over 300,000 customers in my metropolitan area alone. We were out the whole week.

The first day, it was almost fun being without electricity. An excuse to play with my flashlights. And Mrs. Powernoodle and the Powernoodle Progeny figured out that popcorn the old fashion way on the gas stove (which is the only way we could do it) is way better than the air popped stuff.

By the start of day 2, its not so fun. Kids out of school all week. But I did have a generator to keep the fridge, freezer, battery chargers and small tv going. Watched a few dvd's on the small travel dvd player. Had it much better than many. And we all had it better than many folks in Texas and elsewhere, so I'm not complaining. Had candles in every room, and the weather was just about perfect for keeping the windows open 24/7.

The 4200 watt Sears generator used 10 gallons of gas in 24 hours. The fridge and freezer were not placing much of a load on it, so I was getting good "mpg". I figured out later in the week that I might as well shut it off from midnight to 6am as the fridge and freezer would stay cold that long if left closed. Had it chained to a column on the porch.

My light of choice was a Fenix L0D CE feeding on an Eneloop. Had it around my neck on a lanyard, so it was always easily accessible and it also gave me hands free operation. Could walk around with it shining on the floor in front of me. In total darkness, its more than enough light.

Also carried a Fenix L1D Q5 on my belt, when more light was required. Eneloop there too.

Mrs. Powernoodle became quite fond of the Zebralight H30-Q5 headlamp, which makes a ton of light. I have all kinds of toys like that that she's never seen.

I also found that - because I had the generator - rechargeable batteries were the way to go. I do have a stash of primaries, but being able to switch out the rechargeables for fresh ones from time to time was nice. When the lights are out, you don't want to be rationing batteries.

Mac's Osram magmod (link) was the primary room light when used in candle mode. Even on low it lit up the room and never required charging all week.

Ordered an Olight Warrior Q5 and received it the day the lights came back on.

There is no moral to this story, except that its great to own a generator before 300,000 households decide they want one too.

powernoodle said:

...Mrs. Powernoodle became quite fond of the Zebralight H30-Q5 headlamp, which makes a ton of light. I have all kinds of toys like that that she's never seen...

Click to expand...

Ditto to the toys & generator! Thanks for the commentary, never hurts to add to the practical information databank! :thumbsup:

And you had an HDS ready to go in case you needed to be located I've done five days in 30 degree weather with no gas appliances or generator, you're very fortunate, hope at least a few can learn that preparation and a good generator can make all the difference..

Very interesting thread here.


Thank you to all who contribute.



And, best of luck to all CPF'ers who endured Ike's wrath.

_

Very interesting post Powernoodle. It's interesting that a couple of my most used lights are the LOD Q4 and the Zebralight H30. I like the info about the generator also.

Thanks for sharing.

We were hit here in the greater Cincinnati area too. We only lost power for 3 days though and also had a generator. I only ran it for a few hours at a time, just to keep the fridge cool and to charge batteries and things. We have a few oil lamps that we burn when the power goes out and they last a long time on the oil. The light that turned out to be really nice was one of the cheap collapsible Coleman battery powered lanterns. You can get it at wally for about $20 but you have to feed it D's. Box claims 390 lumens on high, and its a CFL lamp (redundant, I know).

I have the supplies to hook the generator into the dryer outlet to run more items, but didn't want to go the quick/easy/dangerous route. Going to get a transfer switch for it one of these days. Funny thing is, we've had the generator for about 8 years, and this is about the 3rd time its been used!

Roger

I haven't used a clothes dryer in a year or so (they charge $1.75 for it at the coin-op, so I just hang up my stuff to dry unless I'm in a hurry). The idea of using scarce gasoline to run a clothes dryer in a power outage just seems amazing to me. Certainly, if I were that dependent on a dryer, I'd have a gas dryer rather than electric.

paulr said:

...The idea of using scarce gasoline to run a clothes dryer in a power outage just seems amazing to me. Certainly, if I were that dependent on a dryer, I'd have a gas dryer rather than electric.

Click to expand...

I think my comment about the dryer must have confused you. I'm not talking about running the dryer with the generator. If you have a generator with 220VAC out and a dryer that runs on 220VAC, you can make a "cheater cord" and hook the generator to the dryer outlet. You can then power up different circuits in your house. You have to throw the main disconnect or you can backfeed power into the grid and kill or injure someone. Many people do this, but it is still dangerous. That's why I want to get the transfer switch.

Roger