Nobody likes a power failure, but what happens when a simple blackout turns into days or even weeks of inadvertent off-the-grid living? Sure, no power means you can’t watch TV or charge your iPhone, but we take for granted all the other things that run on the grid like sewage pumping stations and communications towers.
Necessities like sewage pumping and water purification have backup generators, but they only last as long as the diesel in their tanks. When the tanks run dry they become as useful as a flyswatter in a major league baseball game. As the backup supply of diesel fuel runs out, these pieces of infrastructure will start to die off, leaving you disconnected and without what we consider the basic necessities of life.
Whether we’re talking about a solar storm, hurricane, or terrorist attack; a major power failure can cripple an area if the people in it aren’t prepared. Check out the key areas listed below to get yourself prepped for a major blackout.
Power & Lighting
First things first, without power coming from the walls, you’ll need a secondary source of power. What you choose to use as backup power really is determined by what you’re willing to spend. In a perfect world you should have a generator that’s capable of being run by diesel or propane and at least a week’s supply of the appropriate fuel. If a whole-house generator is out of your budget, a single solar panel that can charge up some batteries is great. While you won’t get as much power as you would from a generator, you’ll still be able to charge all your electronics.
If you’re on a budget, then a handheld solar charger and a stockpile of assorted batteries will get you along just fine, too. It all depends on what you have in the way of finances and what you need powered.
For lighting, you should really have two flashlights for each person: a head lamp and a powerful handheld. The usefulness of a headlamp can’t be stressed enough. They allow for full use of your hands while illuminating what you need. Along with these, a few gas-powered lamps and backup fuel for them will get you along for quite a while with the power off.
Cooking
For those of us with electric stoves, the need for electricity to cook is very real. Unless you have a hefty genny out back, your stove or oven probably isn’t going to be cooking much when the power’s out. This is about the time that people with natural gas start to smile, as they talk about how they don’t need power for gas. The truth is, however, that the gas you use has to get into the line and to your house somehow, and with prolonged power outages that delivery can easily be interrupted.
A great way to protect yourself against this is to run your stove off of propane. Having your own large propane tank means you basically always have a supply handy. While this isn’t possible for many of us, it’s a great way to handle off-grid preparedness if you can. A good standby is a camping stove with a few tanks of propane sitting filled and ready. This will take care of everything from boiling water for cleaning it to cooking a nice hot supper.
If you want to get really off-grid you can go with a rocket stove. These amazing little furnaces are small, easy to use, and get pretty damn hot for just running off of small sticks. You can get them as small as a coffee can or as large as a standard charcoal grill. Heck, you can even make them out of cinder blocks!
Water & Sanitation
Water is a serous issue when talking about long-term power failures. Not only do water sanitation plants go off-line at a certain point, but the stations pumping your sewage away stop as well. This means clean water can start mixing with dirty water, and once that happens, your choices for clean water get pretty slim.
If the power goes out the first thing you should do is fill your bathtub with water. Once this is done shut the water line to your house off. This will stop any backflow into your house if it happens (newer sewage systems make this impossible, but older infrastructure abounds). Now you have a bathtub full of water to use while you figure out what to do next. While this is good, the best method is to have something like a Water Bob that you place in your tub and fill to keep the water clean for an extended period of time.
In a perfect world you need one gallon of water per person per day. That means if you’re by yourself and want to prep for a month of no water, you’ll need 30 gallons. This is for drinking and sanitation.
Speaking of sanitation, you’ll want to stop using that toilet pretty quickly after the power goes out. After about a day the pumping stations near you could be out of fuel and things can get bad quickly. Here are some great ideas for outhouse creation that range from holes in the ground to full-out buildings.
Along with where to go when you’ve got to go, you should get into the habit of boiling all of your water that’s not from a sealed source. Even if it looks OK when it comes from the faucet, if the power’s out, you need to boil.
Wrap-Up
As you can see, things start to get pretty tough when the power goes out. The trick is to prepare yourself now before things get too bad. Want to get your family ready for a long-term power failure? Have a no-power weekend where nothing powered is used. Electronics are OK if they’re running off of batteries that are sourced from in the house, and items can only be recharged if they’re not done so from the grid.
This means no food from the fridge and no water from the faucet, either. Trial runs like this can really help you see what you need and how you’ll have to act when the power goes out.