When the lights go out.

[Kentucky Fried Panda]

I spent last weekend with no electricity at home. Saturday morning I dug the 4x4 out of the snow and went out to run my usual shopping list of errands at about 8am. When I got home at 11am, everything was off and my house alarm was beeping low battery.

During the daylight hours it was no problem, open the curtains and blinds and it's bright enough inside to do most things, no heating though.

Come sun down and the rest of my street seemed to have gone out for the day/evening. It was blissfully quiet compared to the usual Saturday noises.

MP3 player and powered speaker kept me entertained as I worked. Back up 12V power supply and invertor kept my laptop on all day as I completed my reports for work. LED lanterns, chem lights and candles in the bathroom. I even had hot water as I have a heavily insulated tank in the loft, not enough for a bath, but plenty for a good wash.

The gas was still on so I was able to cook a meal and wash the dishes.

Sunday morning the power was resumed, so about 24 hours interruption in all. It's the longest power cut I've experienced in years.

What are your plans for extended power outrages?

[RenewableCandy]

We had a gas cooker put in for just this reason. We'd also have (some) heat from the woodburner, and a few stand-up lanterns and candles floating about. But no HW except what we could heat in pans on the woodburner's top.

That last w/e in the snow, frankly it wouldn't have been pretty.

[extractorfan]

We had a gas cooker put in for just this reason. We'd also have (some) heat from the woodburner, and a few stand-up lanterns and candles floating about. But no HW except what we could heat in pans on the woodburner's top.

That last w/e in the snow, frankly it wouldn't have been pretty.

I had no heating during the snow, wife and boy went to her mum and dads. We've become soft. It was miserable, but not unbearable. Washing me bits in a washing up bowl of warm water was, erm, primitive.

[RenewableCandy]

Sympathies! We lost our heating over that cold w/e a fortnight ago, but at least there was still hot water, and hot food. The woodburner kept the temp in double figures, but for any more than that we had to resort to the neighbours' electric heaters.

[mikepepler]

Since we installed our PV and batteries we've had no power cuts, so I've not had a proper test!

The woodburner will gravity feed the radiators and hot water cylinder without the pump, though if you make the fire big the pump is needed, but can run off the inverter from the batteries. Solar water runs from the PV/batteries all the time anyway.

We can also run some lighting and electronics off the inverters or 12V, and we should have enough power to keep the fridge going for a few days.

[Tarrel]

Rayburn will space-heat the open plan kitchen/hall and much of the upstairs, plus give plenty of hot water and allow us to cook. Radiators need a circulation pump, so some rooms would be cold. We'd just stay out of those. Oil lamps, candles and torches for lighting. Good stock of parrafin for the lamps in the shed.

Freezer and fridge would be a problem >24 hours. Solar PV off grid system going in during the Spring, which would deal with that problem. Meanwhile we have a three way camping fridge that will run on a gas cylinder.

It's amazing how many people I speak to don't realise their gas, oil or even some solid fuel heating systems won't function without electricity.

[featherstick]

We have limited preps for power cuts. Lots of candles, torches, light-sticks. We have a gas cooker and a back-up stove-top kettle. We could bake bread on it if necessary. We don't use a microwave. We also have a 2-ring camping stove, a smaller one-ring one, and 48 canisters of gas. For heating we have a small camping gas heater, and lots of clothes and blankets. The gas heater worked well in the old house where rooms were smaller.

We don't have a way of running the fridge or freezer, or recharging laptop batteries, or providing electrical light, which is a bit of a gap. I have an inverter kicking around somewhere and could rob the car battery but that's not really enough. No solar panels, parallel LED lighting, emergency generators, or battery banks. I'll really need to address this soon.

[boisdevie]

For a short cut of no more than two days I'm fine because the freezer will be OK. But no power after that and the stuff will be lost unless I can eat it all time or borrow a generator.
For the rest I'd be fine. Candles for light, woodburners for heat and hot water, gas cooker for cooking. But no internet!!! So I'd be unable to survive.

[adam2]

It well to plan for both short term failures, as noted by the O/P and for longer term outages.

Battery backup is often best for loads up to about 100 watts average
For more than about 400 watts a generator is likely to make more sense.

Between 100 watts and 400 watts, either is worth considering.

100 watts for 48 hours is about 5KWH, or say about 500 AH at 12 volts.

That size battery bank would run an efficient freezer, several low energy lamps, and a laptop for a couple of days, not continualy of course but presuming that the freezer cycles on/off and that the lamps and laptop are used for some hours, but not 24/7

Much bigger batteries are of course possible but may be uneconomic as compared to a generator.
Even with a generator, a small battery for lighting is advisable to save running the generator so much.

[Little John]

A gas cooker, a portable 2-ring multi-fuel stove cooker, a 2.8kw generator, enough jerry cans to stock up an a month's supply of fuel for the generator if needed, enough 3-core wire and cable-ties to lash up a supply for essential items in the house from the generator if necessary, a big freezer, loads of dried food, loads of canned food, sterilising tablets, water butts, the river Ouse.

[adam2]

A gas cooker, a portable 2-ring multi-fuel stove cooker, a 2.8kw generator, enough jerry cans to stock up an a month's supply of fuel for the generator if needed, enough 3-core wire and cable-ties to lash up a supply for essential items in the house from the generator if necessary, a big freezer, loads of dried food, loads of canned food, sterilising tablets, water butts, the river Ouse.

Sounds good, a small battery lighting system might be an idea to avoid running the generator when only a few lights are needed.
A 12 volt 70 AH battery and some low energy 12 volt lamps might be a useful addition.

[Little John]

A gas cooker, a portable 2-ring multi-fuel stove cooker, a 2.8kw generator, enough jerry cans to stock up an a month's supply of fuel for the generator if needed, enough 3-core wire and cable-ties to lash up a supply for essential items in the house from the generator if necessary, a big freezer, loads of dried food, loads of canned food, sterilising tablets, water butts, the river Ouse.

Sounds good, a small battery lighting system might be an idea to avoid running the generator when only a few lights are needed.
A 12 volt 70 AH battery and some low energy 12 volt lamps might be a useful addition.

I suppose a deep cycle connected that could b recharged form the generator when necessary might not be a bad idea. Thing is, I have no need for one in the absence of a power cut. I am guessing it could be kept stable without needing to be topped up with charge by taking the acid out and dry-storing separately until such time as I was expecting to use it. At which point, the acid could be put back in prior to charging up.

[clv101]

A gas cooker, a portable 2-ring multi-fuel stove cooker, a 2.8kw generator, enough jerry cans to stock up an a month's supply of fuel for the generator if needed, enough 3-core wire and cable-ties to lash up a supply for essential items in the house from the generator if necessary, a big freezer, loads of dried food, loads of canned food, sterilising tablets, water butts, the river Ouse.

Sounds good, a small battery lighting system might be an idea to avoid running the generator when only a few lights are needed.
A 12 volt 70 AH battery and some low energy 12 volt lamps might be a useful addition.

I suppose a deep cycle connected that could b recharged form the generator when necessary might not be a bad idea. Thing is, I have no need for one in the absence of a power cut. I am guessing it could be kept stable without needing to be topped up with charge by taking the acid out and dry-storing separately until such time as I was expecting to use it. At which point, the acid could be put back in prior to charging up.

Wouldn't it be better just to leave it on a few mA supply, then it would be ready for use when needed?

[adam2]

A lead acid battery may be kept in good condition by regular charging.
Constant voltage chargers are available which may in theory be left connected indefinatly.

If the battery is fully charged and only needs maintaining, I normally use a constant volt charger and a plug in timeswitch so as to only energise the charger for say an hour a week.
Apart from saving electricity, the use of a timeswitch for the battery charger should prolong the shelf life a bit as compared to continual charging.

I cant recomend keeping the acid seperatly and adding it when required.

[Little John]

A lead acid battery may be kept in good condition by regular charging.
Constant voltage chargers are available which may in theory be left connected indefinatly.

If the battery is fully charged and only needs maintaining, I normally use a constant volt charger and a plug in timeswitch so as to only energise the charger for say an hour a week.
Apart from saving electricity, the use of a timeswitch for the battery charger should prolong the shelf life a bit as compared to continual charging.

I cant recomend keeping the acid seperatly and adding it when required.

Why, what's the problem with storing seperately?