National Grid Preparing for the Risk of Blackouts this Winter

[Mortblanc]

(2 November 2014, 22:15)Tarrel Wrote: The only critical items for us are the freezer (it's full of venison) and lighting. A basic battery / inverter backup will take care of those and, failing that, I'll hook them up to the Land Rover. Otherwise, it's candle-lit dinners in front of the Rayburn. What's not to like?

Just a thought;

Are you sure the inverter is capable of handling the power surge of the freezer?

If the rolling blackouts are due to the demands of extreme winter weather your freezer should be good without any extra help. If the temps are below freezing the contents can not thaw.

If you get one-two hours of power each day the freezer is safe indefinitely.

I once kept a full freezer solidly frozen for 5 days during a summer power outage with temps up to 35C. We sealed the freezer with duct tape and ran the generator for one hour twice each day. We saved our freezer and two in the adjacent homes by running extension cords. Just the two hour energy use sustained the contents.

Lighting, well isn't that optional?

Or is it?