If power went out in the brutality of Winter... (house, water, chickens)
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On a day like today, when the high will be around 9 degrees, and the high of the next 7 days here in the Twin Cities will be +4, I am reminded of how fragile my existence is.
This is for those of you who live in particularly harsh climates.
Would you be able to survive, if our power went out for weeks or months in the brutal cold of the middle of Winter?
I am a moderate "prepper", but even I don't know if an EMP went off and our electricity and everything went out in a time like right now (the high for the next week will be 4 degrees above zero) that I would be able to make it.
It's never good to be too dependent on the "system" and these brutally cold days and weeks in Winter always remind me of that.
We have a propane fireplace that will keep the house warm enough in a power outage.
I do wish we had both the propane and wood fireplace too.
We have a large propane tank and appreciate how easy and clean the gas fireplace is, but we have a constant supply of free wood on the property, so it would be good to have more options!
Off grid solar with generator backups.
1 wood heating stove, 1 wood cookstove. Propane furnace, heater and cook stove with a 500 gallon tank, and 2 small catalytic propane heaters that run on 100 lb tanks.
Well and septic are private on my place as well. Besides stored food, I have a few tons of grass raised premium beef in the pasture and a small flock of chickens that have been laying really well.
Are there places (on grid) in the US where "power goes out for months" at a time?
No, it's just a "what if". In some small Alaskan communities if the diesel generator powering the "grid" were to die then they may have to wait a few days for repairs. So, I'd imagine everyone in that situation is prepared for this scenario.
Here in Juneau, AK it's hardly within the realm of possibilities. Our power is supplied by a small local company for this town only. It's hydro with diesel generator backup. If a line goes out they're quick to repair.
Several decades ago outages could last hours. Now they're less common and it's rare for one to last even 1 hour.
I live in NC, so we don't have weeks of super cold temps. I also have a propane fireplace. If the power were to go out for months, it would be quite comfortable here since our temps start warming up by the end of March/beginning of April. My bigger issue would be water since we are on a well and don't have a generator.
No, it's just a "what if".
Several decades ago outages could last hours. Now they're less common and it's rare for one to last even 1 hour.
That what I thought.
Here in Houston we know disasters and still when the power is out, then at the most just for few hours. And so is just about everywhere in the US.
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