National Grid Preparing for the Risk of Blackouts this Winter

[Devonian]

(28 October 2014, 15:01)bigpaul Wrote: here's the latest on the Electricity supply(or lack of it): "Blackout Britain , power cuts if winter is long and cold": http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/528506/...res-winter

That articles just needs to be tied in with their "annual" worst winter ever forecasts ......

http://www.express.co.uk/news/nature/520...w-November

[bigpaul]

forget a white Christmas, traditionally its January and February which are the coldest months in the UK.

[Tarrel]

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?

[Scythe13]

As usual, I'm hyped by the prospect of arctic living! Snowboard for transport, I can finally open up my box of snow/arctic clothing too.

[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?

[Straight Shooter]

Talking of generators.....have you checked yours....spare spark plug, oil, filter, air and oil...oil all linkages, give them a run .

[NorthernRaider]

Can I just pick up on one small point about power supplies either now of after a collapse or event, I don't think we have considered the impact of OPPORTUNISTIC VANDALISM on power and other utilities. Eg we have a brand new electrical sub station here, its less than 2 years old, already its had to have its doors replaced with much heavier duty doors after the local scum broke in to the sub station wrecking the doors in the process in order to try and steal cable. The fact that children play around the sub station every day doesn't phase these scum. Today I'm walking the Were Terrier and I note the local pond life has attacked the rain water guttering on the sub station, not only did they rip the guttering from the building they spent enough time to try and redirect the gutterings components to let rain water pour through the louvres and into the sub station itself. It made me think about the massive amounts of vandalism that occurred in Tottenham in 2010 and how power cuts up here often lead to increased vandalism. JIt just makes me wonder what sorts of stupid acts we would have to contend with in a crisis.

[bigpaul]

with a bit of luck they'll all electrocute themselves long before the power goes off.

[NorthernRaider]

We get the offspring of our sink estate dwellers who think its fun to do stuff like tie wire across cycle routes at neck height, lift up manhole covers in footpaths and roads, set fire to sheds etc indeed only last week some of these poor deprived innocent darlings who are victims of tory oppression displayed their frustration by visiting a local school farm and ripping off the heads of all the chickens and ducks. Some more of these poor misunderstood children have taken to slashing the local ponies throats with knives because the ponies are semi tame and think people calling them are going to give them carrots and apples. So with this in mind I wonder how the proletariat will respond if a power cut is prolonged even if its caused by their dads going on strike ?

[bigpaul]

probably be the first to complain when they cant get on Farcebook or Twatter and talk to their little chav mates down the road.