Well, here we go again

[Alan Rutherford]

Hurricane passed, we cleared the tree that fell right across the driveway, retrieved the car from where I had hidden it behind a neighbor's more substantial garage. The generator, which worked fine when I tested it Tuesday, refused to start post-hurricane after I topped it off with what was apparently bad gas. I drained the tank, replaced the fuel filter and filled it up with the 6 gallons I had left, which is not much facing a few days of power outages. The old window AC which we keep on the porch for days like this and has not been used for 3-4 years was apparently colonized by something we don't want to blow around the house, so no AC. Tonight we might move to the guest bedroom and use the AC unit I rigged to install in a casement window in case of needing to isolate someone during the pandemic - never been used so far. Our elecric co-op's website shows overall less than 10% power outages at this time, but about 50% in our area.

Really not so bad. Been here before. The freezer, refrigerator and propane grill are working. I was able to buy more ethanol-free gas for the generator this morning. Using the PC on its UPS battery which says it still has 20 minutes left unless I run another extension cord in here. I'm sure this has gone very badly for some people but local news seemed to be trying hard to find something dramatic to talk about (trees fell on cars, etc.) Could have been worse here. I hope everyone else can say the same.

[Alan Lightstone]

Glad to hear you've done relatively well, Alan. There was a big mess the day before the storm in Tampa where the Port of Tampa, which receives the gasoline that is distributed to gas stations had a mix-up and delivered diesel fuel to 21 gas stations labelled as regular fuel. So all the people who filled up in those stations essentially had inoperative vehicles and damage.

Having lived through many hurricanes hitting the state, we have developed a system for preparedness. And every few years, a new gadget comes out that helps more. Many have been with lighting. We picked up this Ego battery powered tripod light last year:
https://www.lowes.com/pd/EGO-EGO-100...OOL/5005390569
Since we already have Ego batteries for chainsaw, leaf blower, etc... it just allows that large 56V battery to light up a large room for up to 36 hours. Considering that you wouldn't have it on in daytime, that's a big deal. And since I have multiple batteries, really for a week. Pricey, and heavy, but really a nice device. Lots of other battery powered lights stationed around the house, plus a few plug in nightlights that come on if the power fails. Those won't last very long, but if the power fails at night, it helps you navigate to the better stuff. I went into great detail, and got lots of help from everyone here with the battery backup for our medication fridge. That concept would work for others too to get a fridge to keep at least a few things cold for an extended power outage.

We stock our freezer with multiple blue ice packs before a storm, with the thought to transfer some to the fridge when the power fails. This time, I took a few plastic bottles from lemonade and filled them with water and froze them before the storm. When our power was turned off for 2 hours, I put them in the fridge. If anything, the temperature in there was colder than normal at the end of the power outage. And when I took them out to thaw, they have taken over a day to thaw just sitting on the counter, so some serious thermal mass there, and that cost nothing. Gonna keep two empty bottles on a shelf for the future. Having the SensorPush sensors in both fridges allowed me to see if the food was safe in them. Those were great. Only worked on Bluetooth, so with power out they read just fine.

In my last home we had a portable generator. Our mantra was that if you lose power after a storm, you need one cool room to sleep/stay in, lights in that room, and a working fridge. Not a whole house. Our portable generator couldn't power the kitchen fridge, so a small portable fridge it was, with a large cooler and ice packs. Had plenty of gas, a transfer switch, and a safe location to run the generator. For the one room we had a portable AC unit. Very efficient, although a tad inconvenient. The house had central air, so no powering that off a small generator.

My friend has a natural gas whole-house generator. $15K. Thinking that if my house lost power and I lost all of the food, there's no way it would add up to much more than $1K, so I never saw the economic rationale for doing that. I really wanted to put battery backup on my large solar array, but Duke Energy down here gives only pays you back about 1/4 the cost of electricity for surplus, so spending $30K or more to supply half a house with electricity after a storm also made no economic sense. And the solar arrays stop working when the power fails, so that's no use to me either.

While we have some candles, they've sat unused for 27 years. I don't imagine we'll ever use them after a storm.

Propane grill outdoors, to heat food. In 1985 we lived North of Boston. Hurricane Gloria went through, and we didn't have power for a week. Of all places, not in hurricane country, that's my longest power outage. I had some lamb chops that were going to go bad, and was a poor intern, so I fired up the BBQ grill on the deck and cooked them. Note to self, don't cook outdoors during a hurricane. The flames shot up so high that I had to take a fire extinguisher to the grill. Grill destroyed (never could get that taste/smell out of it), food destroyed. Ah, to be young and stupid. Sigh...

For this storm, being really worried about storm surge, I set an alarm for 2:00am (high tide during the storm), and looked out the window with a flashlight and looked at the security cameras to see if I needed to go out in the storm to move the cars to higher ground. Fortunately, didn't have to. That's our real issue here. And a Tesla sitting in salt water isn't a good recipe for avoiding a fire. Tesla interestingly sent me two notifications before the storm. One to charge the car to 100%, and the other to take standing water - especially standing salt water seriously and get the car away from any buildings if that occurred.

Anyway, a few lessons learned. Tons more. The people who have lived through these natural disasters (hurricanes, tornados, forest fires) learn the lessons and are better prepared for the future. We worry, and not in a condescending way, about the huge influx of people that have moved into the state and have never been through one. After Hurricane Charlie went through Florida, I drove with the kids through Arcadia to go across the state. The kids saw the insane number of uprooted trees with 15ft high root balls sticking out of the ground. Neither kid has forgotten that memory, so they take these storms seriously. Never been a joke / lets have a hurricane party mentality for them. Really glad I did that.

[Bill Dufour]

For camping we fill two liter bottles with tap water and freeze. One gallon milk jugs also work. It also provide drinking water as it melts.
If the fridge or freezer is empty having empty or full jugs of water prevent losing cold air every timer the door is opened. Saves energy year round and is a cushion during a power outage.
bill D