Water!!

[clv101]

A major crash is one thing, but I envisage over the next few years a whole series of ever-escalating "inconveniences" such as power-cuts, water supply cuts, fuel supply interruptions, shortages of certain supermarket items, etc...

Agree. I consider a fast crash to be possible, but that a slow slide such as you describe to be more likely.

Yep, that's what I think is the most likely outcome for the next ~2-4 years.

[adam2]

[quote="Tarrel[/quote]

There has got to be a whole new market here in "classy survival aids"!...diamond-encrusted jerry cans...back-up refrigeration system for the wine cellar...human waste methane-digester conversion kit for the Rolls, etc..

Any more ideas? Investing in these has to be a safer bet than the stock market right now.[/quote]

I have installed at least 2 backup systems for wine cellars !

[RenewableCandy]

Might be a daft question, but what does a wine cellar actually need?

[ujoni08]

Very wise words. I am currently trying to gently persuade SWMBO to reduce her showering time, which averages 23 minutes! Then comes the hair-dryer for 15 minutes, the hair-straightening tongs for 10 minutes, etc.

I spend about 3 minutes in the shower...

[adam2]

Might be a daft question, but what does a wine cellar actually need?

Opinions differ, but most consider cooler than normal room temperature and warmer than a fridge to be best.
about 14 to 16 degrees is often suggested. This may need cooling in the summer and heating in the winter.
A steady temperature is important, as is a fairly high humidity to prevent the corks from drying out.
A tradditional cellar is not bad, but can be improved with a little cooling in hot weather.
Only modest lighting should be available and this should be used sparingly as light spoils wine.

[Keela]

Our wine is in cardboard boxes under the stairs in the hall.... Never stays around long enough to degrade!

[katie]

My wine cellar is in the chaise lounge - with the water.

Katie

[Tarrel]

Very wise words. I am currently trying to gently persuade SWMBO to reduce her showering time, which averages 23 minutes! Then comes the hair-dryer for 15 minutes, the hair-straightening tongs for 10 minutes, etc.

I spend about 3 minutes in the shower...

J

My eldest son was the same until he moved out in the summer. We're with EON for our power, and they provide a rather handy month by month and year on year consumption tracker. Since oldest son moved out, our electricity consumption has dropped 25%!

regarding electric showers, I only discovered recently that, when you adjust the temperature, you are actually adjusting the water flow rate. The higher the flow rate the cooler the shower. The electrical load remains the same, unless you change the setting to the "number one"position. During the summer, when the ambient temperature of the water is higher, we found we were turning the temperature right down (i.e. pushing the flow rate right up) in order to get the shower cool enough. Of course, this was wasting unncesessary electricity AND water. We now turn the shower down to number one in the summer.

[Tarrel]

Might be a daft question, but what does a wine cellar actually need?

Opinions differ, but most consider cooler than normal room temperature and warmer than a fridge to be best.
about 14 to 16 degrees is often suggested. This may need cooling in the summer and heating in the winter.
A steady temperature is important, as is a fairly high humidity to prevent the corks from drying out.
A tradditional cellar is not bad, but can be improved with a little cooling in hot weather.
Only modest lighting should be available and this should be used sparingly as light spoils wine.

I have an acquaintance in Germany who is a real wine enthusiast. I remember him once proudly showing us his thermostatically controlled dedicated wine basement, with the comment, "Immer Zehn Grad!" (A constant 10 degrees).

[Tarrel]

Most problems with water can be dealt with by boiling. This removes the need for purifiers, etc, but of course requires fuel. The only exception is chemical contamination (from, say, heavy metals, pesticides, etc). This requires distillation to fix.

I do a lot of backpacking, during which finding sources of safe water is an ongoing challenge. One trick I picked up is to make a cup of tea with the (suspect) water that you have put your boil-in-the-bag food pouch in to cook. You could use the same logic in a survival situation where you would be using primarily tinned food. Stand the can of food in a pan of water from, say, your garden water butt. Boil it, then t,ransfer the water into a "safe" labelled container. You'd gradually build up a supply of drinking water.

Any water treatment (even boiling) benefits from some filtering first, even if it's through a sock or something (it's been done!). By removing particulates, you are reducing the things that contaminants have to cling to, making any subsequent purification process more efficient. In the case of using something like a Katadyne, pre-filtering avoids the Katadyne ceramic filter getting clogged up too quickly.

[Tarrel]

Just going to contRadict myself, but sometimes boiling is not the ideal solution for ongoing water purification. The WHO is concerned about the water treatment issue in many rural parts of developing nations. Boiling is a coomonly used approach, but has the drawback of requiring large amounts of wood fuel.

An alternative is Solar Disinfection (SODIS) (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_water_disinfection ). This involves putting contaminated water into empty 2 litre plastic drinks bottles and putting them out in the sun for a period from 6 hours to several days. The bottles have to be made of PET, as this lets the UV rays from the sun through to the water. In addition to being irradiated by the UV! The water heats up if left in the sun. Even temperatures around 45 degrees will reduce the amount of pathogens in the water.

Wouldn't work over a few days of rain, but then, if it's raining you don't have a water problem!

[mobbsey]

Alternately, cut the bottom off a 2-litre plastic container; turn upside down, plug the hole at the bottom with a later of cotton wool/cotton material; then put a 2" layer of well crushed/small lumps of charcoal (e.g. from UNTREATED wood fire) on top of the cotton; then put another filter layer of cotton; then a 2" layer of sand.

Pour water slowly in the top, and after letting it initially wash through/settle and the the water has cleared, what comes out will be fairly clean. The sand takes out the big lumps, the cotton the smaller lumps, and the charcoal soaks up some of the nitrates/chemicals in the water.

That's the home-brew equivalent of the jug filters people put their tap water through. For other ideas I teach on the 'Great Outdoors' weekends see Free Range Sheet O4.

[Tarrel]

True, I'd forgotten about carbon.

[DominicJ]

Am I the only one with a mixer shower?
Something like .....
http://www.google.co.uk/products/catalo ... coring=tps

Runs direct off the boiler at a constant 30* (I think), was a £10 upgrade when I bought my bathroom, and is fine for, well, showering.

[JohnB]

Am I the only one with a mixer shower?

At my place that would doom everyone to cold showers for over half of the year, as we only have hot water when the Rayburn is on (I must light it soon!). Things will change one day!