I just had a power cut , its realy windy outside only lasted 15 mins I lit a candle in the living room went to check the net signal [out] so went in the kitchen to find my lidle wind up radio found it but no instructions I only tried it once when I payed for it anyway soon found them lit some more candels found my specks and bingo lights back on again.
so how would you do if your power went right now
two maglites in junk bowl on the kitchen worktop , couple of candles ready to go dotted around the living room and out in the hall closet a small box marked black out with small gas stove/2Xcv470 cartridges/camping kettle/matches a cheap multipack of bic type lighters a selection of batteries/grundig world band radio/wind up torch/and a uco candle lantern with plenty of spare candles.......feurhand lanterns/oil and spare wicks out in the shed.
(17 November 2015, 22:33)Sunna Wrote: [ -> ]so how would you do if your power went right now
Quote:Yesterday, 21:33
I'd go to bed and sleep.
Torches in various draws in the house depending which room you're in, candles with lighter and matches in the box on the shelf under the stairs, torch in EDC belt pouch, dynamo radio in the camping box along with 2 battery powered lanterns in the shed.
Spare AA and AAA in the draw in the kitchen.
Light sticks are strategically placed around the house to give immediate safe illumination, then we can put the stored candles and candle lanterns into use and put batteries in the stored flashlights if needed.
CH wont work if power is off cos its electrically ignited, so light woodburner, put kettle on
Turn on radio to see if any reports
Fill a few water containers as a precaution
Check fuses to make sure its not just my house
Check house phone to see if dialing tone, no dialing tone can signify a larger event over a much bigger area
Check to see if cell system is working.
Torches in each room.
Wind-up radio for any news
Check neighbours to see if its not just me.
Wind Up lanterns
Yes check phone and cell phones
Logs and coal for fireplace
If itrs longer than a few hours -- wire up the car batteries for a possible 12v lighting system and/or use my inverter to provide a little leccy for the pump for the gas
scream 'I'M BLIND! I'm sorry I ever laughed at Stevie Wonder dancing.'
Stumble round in the dark in a state of sheer panic, crying with fear. Make my way out of the house and into the car, turn on interior light, try to stop sobbing.
matches and lighter in the hall, candles strategically placed all around, torches everywhere, lanterns in the sun room, we've done this before!! piece of p###.
Hmmm, what is that rumbling sound?
Ah, the ATS and the genny just kicked on!
No worries until the 1000 gallons of LPG burns out. Plenty of time to lay in wood for the stove, fuel the lamps, etc.
Time to brew up a proper cuppa...
A strange thing happened this morning - we had a power cut. As we did not have much going on at the time it was not noticed until my otherhalf announced that the bulb in the fridge was not lighting up when she opened the door. Tried turning on a room light - nothing.
After a few minutes everything suddenly burst into life and we were back to normal.
Nothing unusual in that.
About ten minutes later the phone rang and I found myself on the receiving end of a roboticised message apologising for the interruption in supply - that was strange, someone or something actually apologising for poor service.
We had a power cut lasting many hours last winter. It taught me an important lesson about our heating system.
We have a solid fuel Rayburn which feeds a thermal store, which provides hot water and central heating via radiators. The circulation pump for the radiators operates on a time clock but there is an override thermostat that kicks the pump on if the thermal store starts to get too hot (85+ deg C). The Rayburn is great in a power cut. We have space-heating, hot water and cooking facilities - all on wood and coal, with no need for electricity. BUT - without power the central heating pump couldn't kick in and the store started to get very hot. I had to run a bath to cool it down.
Needless to say, the central heating pump now has a back up power supply based on a 12V leisure battery and small inverter, trickle-charged off the mains.