What is a "blackout"?

[Fiestyfish]

I keep seeing in the papers about possible "blackouts" this winter due to the energy issues but what will this entail? Short power cuts? Power cuts that last days? No heating?

Read all about it!
Read all about it!
Git your camping stove 'ere.

@FAQs. 😉

@Burnerphone21

I assume if they happen lots of us will adjust and cope and the vulnerable will struggle and it will be shit. My mum is 78 but she's got a log burner thank fuck.

My mum is 86 with dementia. She'll be fed up with no TV but chuffed that I'll be forced to let her live on sandwiches and cake instead of healthy meals! No veggies and spuds for her. She'll be cockahoop. 😏 😂

I live remotely and power cuts are the norm- last weekend it was out for about 5 hours. 4g also gone.

It forces you to slow down, enjoy the coffee made on a camping stove, crack open the wine and read a real book by candlelight.

There’s nothing wrong with a temporary cease to the endless scroll of doom.

I have a UPS for my laptop though, because they’re way too sensitive to handle power surges.

@Flup

In the 70s they were planned and you knew in advance which days and for how long. There was no Internet so you didn't feel too disconnected, just had to plan around it. It was only electricity so if you had a gas cooker or fire you could manage. Wherei live we have power cuts 3 or 4 times a year, used to be more. So I keep a box of wind up torches, a camping lamp and a plug in telephone (no mobile signal). Also have a few ready charged power packs and lots of rechargeable PIR lights around the house (not because of power cuts but they are handy).

They weren't always planned ( though they mostly were. We had an electric cooker and I remember a couple of times the power going out just as my mum started cooking

I also remember the water being cut at certain times and having to queue for water at a standpipe down the road from our house . I imagine this was in the 1976 heatwave
www.independent.co.uk/climate-change/news/drought-of-1976-brought-standpipes-and-shared-baths-478513.html

Annoyingly we've just been told that BT are switching our landline to digital calling so we'll no longer be able to plug in the old school phone if there's a power cut. It's currently one of the few benefits of having a landline.

Hardly worth getting in a pickle about.

Oh goodness no I didn't mean to start a camp stove rush thanks for all the informative answers! I don't have any important tech to protect so I'll just watch and wait and maybe buy a hot water bottle!

Keep calm. Panicking about this as a possibility will help no one. Have it parked at the back of your mind as a possibility, but keep on with daily living.

@Longdistance

My dh was born in 1972 at home. My mil gave birth in a blackout. That’s how it was for a good while. Tips: Candles, torches, battery operated lamp, board games, layer up and wine

Is that list for the power cut or for use during labour? 🤔

You need

A portable radio and spare batteries

Several thermos flasks for tea, coffee and soup

Several LED camping lanterns with batteries (unlike candles they will not start fires)

Your winter duvets, because with no heating and no electric blanket, you will be cold. And some woolly socks and jumpers. You may as well go go bed early.

A romantic partner

A fully charged phone and power bank

If you have a landline, a POT (plain ordinary telephone, not cordless, that plugs into the wall socket. Telephone exchanges have standby batteries and generators. Mobile phone networks may stop working. Your home wifi WILL stop working.

Aren't all landlines in the UK going to be removed in the next 3 years?

Landlines won't be removed but the underlying technology of the ones using older technology will be 'upgraded' to IP? based technology as the cost to Busby/Openreach of running different technologies is unwelcome. The last time I checked, the latter technology won't always work in case of power cuts, unlike the old exchange-powered connections.

Stupid question (maybe)- but what are LED lights? Presumably needing batteries? That will go flat and leak?

Oh really? Hadn’t heard any of this. Why would there be blackouts? I’m now worried about insulin that has to be kept at fridge temp.

So there goes working from home!

@EvilRingahBitch

Annoyingly we've just been told that BT are switching our landline to digital calling so we'll no longer be able to plug in the old school phone if there's a power cut. It's currently one of the few benefits of having a landline.

I've been in an on going battle with BT over this. No mobile signal and we get frequent power cuts. They eventually agreed to pay for a UPS. Not that that lasts long.

keeping an open fire going all the time is quite labour intensive
Yes, I always post about this on " shall we get a pretty light burner" threads.
When you have to keep it going 24/7 it's hard work. Thankfully ours has a back boiler so gives hot water and we have a very complicated set up that overrides the pumps when power is off.

Log burners are hard work, but a multi fuel stove will burn smokeless solid fuel which burns for hours. We don't bother with the central heating because the stove puts out enough heat for the house (small, well insulated new build).

@Tuliprain

Oh really? Hadn’t heard any of this. Why would there be blackouts? I’m now worried about insulin that has to be kept at fridge temp.

No, the National Grid are saying no power cuts. You'll be fine.

I ordered some camping led lamps from blacks in the sale a few weeks ago. I dont leave the batteries in them. Hopefully I can fire up some candles to see how to set up the led ones.

We live rurally and used to have lots of blackouts with overhead power lines.

Just make sure you have a led camping light per person, wind up radio, power banks charged, bottled water and you will be ok.

Mind you I'm itching to get a camping stove and gas, hot water bottles and a new flask now!

If it's just a few hours at a time it's not so bad. Unless its Christmas day like it was I the floods about 7 years ago! We have a generator at work so that was a option too

@bubbletrumps. Yes ours is multifuel, it also heats radiators but not in a power cut. But it's a big old badly insulated house. We have kept it lit for weeks on end but I hate the thing so much I haven't used it for a couple of years now, just crank up the central heating. Except in power cuts.

@ Tuliprain Insulin should be ok if you keep fridge shut.
Or be prepared with those blocks you can freeze and have an insulated cooler ready to put the blocks and insulin in ( we in similar situation with our cat needing insulin, it's delivered in cool box with gel pack around it)

In the 1970s we had rolling power cuts, few hours at a time, they'd be announced in advance.
We had candles and a parrafin heater.
Gas cooker
No heating in bedrooms was standard then anyway.
I remember sitting in school with coats on as there was no heating.

@megletthesecond

Make sure your smoke alarms are working if you have candles.

Dad wired up our old TV to the car battery when we had power cuts. TV wasn't digital then.

My parents kept an old car battery and for the same reason!

I have very fond memories of dinner cooked on the old range (not normally used), followed by a tv programme watched on a tiny and ancient black and white tv hooked up to the car battery, followed by Monopoly then straining our eyes to read by candlelight.

Power cuts.

I think it will only happen if there's a fault, like a couple of the big power stations stop working or something.

Unless it's a fault specifically in your area (eg substation failure), the companies involved won't leave one area without power for ages, it would change.

Keep in mind most gas boilers for heating and hot water require electricity to work. A gas cooker or gas fire usually requires no electricity provided you have a lighter or matches for ignition.

If you're particularly worried, you could get a backup generator or battery for your home, it'll cost a few grand. A cheaper option is a portable generator or an inverter that runs off your car, enough to keep the fridge running and the gadgets charged and the more powerful ones could run a heater. Of course they might not help much if there's fuel shortages as well.

Your domestic gas supply would likely be the first thing to go at times of peak demand in order to divert to power generation. This would be after non essential industry usage had been suspended. The chance of this, again, is vanishingly small.

phlaps how would that work in practice from an operational point of view? How quickly can domestic supply pipes be depressurised and repressurised? What would the impact be on boilers? Question comes from a curious practical point of view.

I remember the blackouts of the 70s and 80s. It didn't effect us too much because we had a gas stove and a coal fire. Every appliance in my house is dependent on electricity now so blackouts are going to hit hard.