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What do you do for emergency preparedness?

OkieStubble

Dirty Donuts are so Good.
Good Post. My main worry is always the amount of gas we have on hand. I have a transfer switch installed and I bought a genny big enough that it can power or freezer, deep freeze, furnace, sump pump, and well. If we have to I can siphon gas from our cars. My biggest issue with gas storage is space. I really don’t want 40gal of flammable liquid anywhere in our house, but our HOA won’t allow me to build a storage building. In a perfect world any long power outages would be in the winter and I could just put all the food outside. The sump doesn’t worry me as much because I have a battery backup and a backup battery for that system. If I run out out gas and can no longer run the sump out comes the bucket brigade. Of course with the kind of rain y’all got with Irene I may not be able to keep up with just buckets.

Absolute worse case scenario we head to the in-laws.

We are in the same position of storing gasoline because of our HOA which I am a board member. I have seriously considered modifying our gas fireplace with a pellet stove insert and also installing a natural gas powered fixed generator and a transfer box. I think the secret of success is to have different options available along with a gasoline powered portable generator.
 

OkieStubble

Dirty Donuts are so Good.
I have a generator and plenty of gasoline on hand. I keep no less than 200 lbs of propane around for the grill and a couple of heaters. I have a kerosene heater and fuel. I also have a portable AC because we have lost power during heatwave. I always have a surplus of food. We can cook on the grill or use one of the Coleman liquid fuel stoves. Worst case I have a case of MRE's.

If something happens to the house, we can either move in the camper on site or move it to a more suitable location.

I also keep a stash of cash. I figure if the powers out, cash will be king.

I need some advice from someone with experience of running a portable AC unit. I had purchased a $700 portable unit many years ago before we sold the bigger house. It was quite a nice and big AC unit which had two huge hoses that are connected to the window for cool air intake and to blow the hot exhaust outside also.

We actually had to use it when a large tornado knocked out the power to our neighborhood for 10 days. The problem we ran into was the moisture and dirt that was sucked in from the outside air into the intake tube. While there was a mesh screen on the tube entrance, plenty of dust and humidity and moisture from the air still goes straight into the unit with no designed paper filter?

After that 10 days, that unit had so much black mold growing on the inside of it I had to throw it away. $700 unit for only 10 days!

Surely, it was just my lack of knowledge and I was missing something?
 

Whisky

ATF. I use all three.
Staff member
I need some advice from someone with experience of running a portable AC unit. I had purchased a $700 portable unit many years ago before we sold the bigger house. It was quite a nice and big AC unit which had two huge hoses that are connected to the window for cool air intake and to blow the hot exhaust outside also.

We actually had to use it when a large tornado knocked out the power to our neighborhood for 10 days. The problem we ran into was the moisture and dirt that was sucked in from the outside air into the intake tube. While there was a mesh screen on the tube entrance, plenty of dust and humidity and moisture from the air still goes straight into the unit with no designed paper filter?

After that 10 days, that unit had so much black mold growing on the inside of it I had to throw it away. $700 unit for only 10 days!

Surely, it was just my lack of knowledge and I was missing something?
Interesting. Could you put the intake hose inside the house, kind of like the return air built into your HVAC. I can’t see any reason why it would have to be outside. The exhaust makes sense. I would think that bringing already cool air into the AC from inside would also make it more efficient than trying to cool warm/humid outside air.

Edit: was it gas powered?
 
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OkieStubble

Dirty Donuts are so Good.
Interesting. Could you put the intake hose inside the house, kind of like the return air built into your HVAC. I can’t see any reason why it would have to be outside. The exhaust makes sense. I would think that bringing already cool air into the AC from inside would also make it more efficient than trying to cool warm/humid outside air.

Edit: was it gas powered?

You know, I probably had thought about that once, but I probably quickly put it out of mind because the directions said to put both in the window. I need to quit being so big on following the rules and start thinking outside of the box like you just so geniusouly suggested.

Is geniusouly a word? :)
 
Toronto is pretty stable as far as far as Mother Nature is concerned. We did have hurricane hazel in 1954. That is why Toronto is now known as the city of ravines. They are protected from development and can move massive amounts of water safely to the lake.
I have to admit there was a life threatening toilet paper shortage at the onset of the CoVid19 outbreak.
 
Good Post. My main worry is always the amount of gas we have on hand. I have a transfer switch installed and I bought a genny big enough that it can power or freezer, deep freeze, furnace, sump pump, and well. If we have to I can siphon gas from our cars. My biggest issue with gas storage is space. I really don’t want 40gal of flammable liquid anywhere in our house, but our HOA won’t allow me to build a storage building. In a perfect world any long power outages would be in the winter and I could just put all the food outside. The sump doesn’t worry me as much because I have a battery backup and a backup battery for that system. If I run out out gas and can no longer run the sump out comes the bucket brigade. Of course with the kind of rain y’all got with Irene I may not be able to keep up with just buckets.

Absolute worse case scenario we head to the in-laws.

We happen to be the in-laws in that worse case scenario. Fortunately when we sold our house late last year, my wife chose an apartment with a finished basement where we stored excess furniture, TVs & beds from the house. For going on 3 months now, after Ida flooded their place, our daughter, her husband, and their two cats have been living in our basement. They had been through flooded basements before, and recovered in a week or two, but Ida was the first storm to take out the first floor. Fortunately her husband, who works IT, had all his computers and servers on the second floor, so he's been able to work from their home and monitor repairs. Major repairs to floors and walls are done, appliances replaced, but I think my wife and daughter are taking their sweet time with furniture, curtains & that girly stuff. Fortunately, there's no shortage of London Dry Gin, so I've been able to cope.

I don't think you can siphon gas from newer cars. I thought the same thing until I needed some. I never liked keeping excess gas in the shed next to my house, or in my crawlspace. For most of the year, I just kept a 2 gal plastic can for 4 cycle, and another for 2 cycle. I only filled my multiple 5 gal metal cans for approaching storms that posed a serious threat. I also monitor local flood gauges. They seem to have a better handle than weather reports, although even they blew it with Ida. And if anyone is buying a house, they need to check out Find Your Home's Flood Risk | Flood Factor - https://www.floodfactor.com/ since flood insurance rates are due to increase.

My wife and I did the bucket brigade with the sump pump during Irene. It was easy at first, but as the water rose faster, lugging 5 gal buckets of water upstairs got old really quick. Our daughter and husband even came over to relieve us, but there was no way we'd have made it for 40 hours.
 
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Whisky

ATF. I use all three.
Staff member
We happen to be the in-laws in that worse case scenario. Fortunately when we sold our house late last year, my wife chose an apartment with a furnished basement where we stored excess furniture, TVs & beds from the house. For going on 3 months now, after Ida flooded their place, our daughter, her husband, and their two cats have been living in our basement. They had been through flooded basements before, and recovered in a week or two, but Ida was the first storm to take out the first floor. Fortunately her husband, who works IT, had all his computers and servers on the second floor, so he's been able to work from their home and monitor repairs. Major repairs to floors and walls are done, appliances replaced, but I think my wife and daughter are taking their sweet time with furniture, curtains & that girly stuff. Fortunately, there's no shortage of London Dry Gin, so I've been able to cope.

I don't think you can siphon gas from newer cars. I thought the same thing until I needed some. I never liked keeping excess gas in the shed next to my house, or in my crawlspace. For most of the year, I just kept a 2 gal plastic can for 4 cycle, and another for 2 cycle. I only filled my multiple 5 gal metal cans for approaching storms that posed a serious threat. I also monitor local flood gauges. They seem to have a better handle than weather reports, although even they blew it with Ida. And if anyone is buying a house, they need to check out Find Your Home's Flood Risk | Flood Factor - https://www.floodfactor.com/ since flood insurance rates are due to increase.

My wife and I did the bucket brigade with the sump pump during Irene. It was easy at first, but as the water rose faster, lugging 5 gal buckets of water upstairs got old really quick. Our daughter and husband even came over to relieve us, but there was no way we'd have made it for 40 hours.
I hadn’t thought of the newer car and being unable to siphon gas. I guess worse case I could always cut a fuel line. I’m lucky that I live on top of a hill. All the water runs away from my house (and towards the neighbors).
 
I need some advice from someone with experience of running a portable AC unit. I had purchased a $700 portable unit many years ago before we sold the bigger house. It was quite a nice and big AC unit which had two huge hoses that are connected to the window for cool air intake and to blow the hot exhaust outside also.

We actually had to use it when a large tornado knocked out the power to our neighborhood for 10 days. The problem we ran into was the moisture and dirt that was sucked in from the outside air into the intake tube. While there was a mesh screen on the tube entrance, plenty of dust and humidity and moisture from the air still goes straight into the unit with no designed paper filter?

After that 10 days, that unit had so much black mold growing on the inside of it I had to throw it away. $700 unit for only 10 days!

Surely, it was just my lack of knowledge and I was missing something?


Sorry, I don't have an answer. My unit only has an exhaust hose that is ran to a window. It draws air in to the unit through a grill on the front....I would think that drawing air in from inside the house would be better for cooling and dehumidfying.
 
We own a Chevy Volt (plug in hybrid) so I can use a 2kW inverter to keep my house going 24/7. I also have a solar system that can, in a pinch, if the car runs out of gas, keep the car's batteries charged. We keep the pantry full and as we live in Southern California don't really need heat. I keep cash on hand and have a shop full of tools and know how to use them if it comes down to bartering.
 
Our house is heated with propane, which also fuels a large stationary generator. The 1000 gallon tank is kept nearly full, and will last quite a long time. We also have two 500 gallon gasoline tanks, at least one of which is always full. We're out in a rural area, and can keep our neighbors out of trouble during ice storms or supply disruptions. Last winter was a real test in North Texas.
 
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