3 Hour Blackouts

[pyjamafashionista]

If they happen, they are saying they'll be planned between 4-7pm. Surely this is the most ridiculous time, when most people will still be at work/ travelling home/making tea etc.
Any genius thoughts to get through a 3 hour blackout besides blankets and 🕯
I feel really sad for vulnerable people on their own if it happens 😪

@Jennybeans401

I've bought this

www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0816KBFJC/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1sw e325rttvb

I'm not sure how long it will work for but at least I will have some power.

No matter what time it is, it won't suit some for different reasons. The 4-7pm window is peak time, which on one hand makes sense, but everyone will go crazy at 7pm putting heating on, cooking, children's bathtimes, rather than it being staggered.

Any time will affect people, schools can't open without power, shops can't have customers, machinery, computers won't work.

I was under ten in the 70s but I remember the candles and the dark. I don't remember it being that cold but maybe I just went to bed early.

In those days we all had school dinners so we just had a sandwich and snacky bits for tea.

One thing tho is we didn't suffer. We all found it quite exciting. I think our kids will too. It's the adults that will moan.

For those in V, F and O
Website is national grid eso but can't link

We had a lot of work done on our house with baby no 2 and the electricity would be off for a few hours occasionally. We kept two or three thermos flasks of freshly boiled water, bought extra bottles so that some were being sterilised at all times. Also stocked up plenty of wood for the fire, rechargeable lanterns, used the slow cooker and made sure there were plenty of throws.

These are planned. So know when they are going to happen heat up water before hand.

Get over to.the preppers board and either post a thread or read the threads on there. We will help.you plan.

I've also been reading the thread fairly bewildered. But I think the difference is I, like you, live rurally and expect to lose power every winter. So I've put a fair bit of time and thought into making my house as power-cut resilient as I can. Two wood burners, on which I can (and have) cooked, heated water, and bathed in a tin bath in front of. Backup lighting. Three hours is nothing if you're used to and prepared for it going off for three days.

I guess if you're not rural, your power is normally reliable, and your house isn't set up to run without it, then it feels very different.

I’m being totally clueless and can’t find the letter at all. I’m apparently zone K but can’t find the schedule??

All boilers run via mains electricity. The gas or oil may provide the heat but electricity powers it

Yes, we'll have suicides and accidental deaths. Wearing a head torch doesn't cut it for frail people at risk of falls. Frail people often don't survive falls etc.with the lack of ambulances, hospital care and then social care, there will be deaths. In the 70's (which I lived through) we were set up differently. Likewise during the war opening up the air raid shelters not only protected people from bombing, but meant that collectively, those at risk were looked after. As said, disabled people wasn't a concern, they were in institutions. I was a community volunteer during Covid, I witnessed the aging of pensioners because of isolation. Take away their 'company' television etc, people who are already struggling won't survive. Do you think that the lock down suicide rates were fabricated?

The irony is that it's this obsessive reliance on electric devices that has created the need for blackouts.

@Pleasebeafleabite , also explain how we keep the air warm (necessary for vulnerable people). In the good old 70's and rural places, people still had coal fires and wood burners etc and welcomed neighbours in.

I come from a country where rolling black outs are normal, sometimes for up to 12 hours a day. They cope. So will we.

The only thing i am worrying about, is how i can make baby's bottle up if no hot water. As even in thermos flasks, the water won't stay hot hot for 3 hours.

Also my grid shows 2 black sqaures in sane day, so 6 hours in total back to back, as 3 hours apart... how do i keep hot water for 6 hours for baby??? 😳

The proposed schedule is on page 18 of the BEIS Electricity Supply Emergency Code. It's also been published by various newspapers, but this is the source.

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/995049/esec-guidance.pdf

A thermos should keep water hot for longer than 3 hours.

I'm quite fussy about coffee so I used to take my own to work in a flask, it was hot enough to drink mid afternoon.

Get a bigger thermos and it will stay hot longer.

Anyone who says this won't massively impact their lives is being a bit deluded. We are all reliant on energy for most of our needs, driving in the dark with no traffic lights or street lights concerns me especially with my dcs in the back. I also am reliant on other people for childcare and I see this being really difficult in a blackout.

Thanks @MorganSeventh

@Ponoka7 You do realise we’re talking about three hour cuts a couple of times a week don’t you. Similar to what we get when we have severely bad weather.

I am sure that pensioners can manage just fine without three hours of television. Yes it will be a cold three hours and not ideal for them or for anyone vulnerable.

One wonders how the human race survived before central heating and electric lights

It's not - nationally, it's the UK's high reliance on gas for domestic space and water heating, as a result the dash for gas in the 80s, in the rush to exploit the North Sea Continental shelf. The issue is compounded by the UK having some of the oldest and most poorly insulated housing stock in Europe.

Electrical devices use of gas generated electricity is miniscule compared to the the burning of gas for domestic heat.

If anyone is interested in where and how gas is used in the UK, the statistics are here:

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1094421/DUKES_2022_Chapter_4.pdf

Do a bit of poking around on the location website and find the nearest place to you that isn’t in the same code - because of the way networks are set up you may even find it’s closer than you think (might even be able to walk there). Find a cafe or other public building where you could sit and get hot water.

Think about friends and family in different areas you could decamp to (and return the favour when their blackout is).

Buy a better thermos.

Yes it’ll be crap if it happens but think about how when lockdown started it was an absolute shitshow but you made it work because you had to - at least this is in shorter bursts and you can plan ahead!

Jetsil, for peace of mind you could get a one burner gas camping stove and a few of the little gas cannisters.

www.halfords.com/camping/cooking-equipment/halfords-portable-gas-stove-532534.html

@Wafty ni it didn’t have to be said. It is a shitty thing to say. There are a lot of very valid concerns raised in this thread.

Even with a gas boiler hard wired you wouldn’t have heat or hot water. Gas boilers need electricity to work.

Those that at risk can let their companies know so that there is still power provided to them. Something like that I’ve understood to another poster.