Blackout Prep - no water, gas, electricity.....

[Namechangedforthisoct2]

Hi,
Is there a thread anywhere for prepping for no mains grid such as electricity, gas and water?

I’ve been:
Googling recipes such as no bread baking and writing down the recipes
Checking batteries are full
Buying extra battery fairy lights
Candles, matches, fire lighters, extra wood
Gas propane heater
Portable camping stove and gas
Full bbq gas bottle
Rain water barrels
And then all the extra food as normal prepping
Solar powered battery bank
Downloading movies and music to devices

I want to find a way to use a battery powered boom box, with a USB plugged in to play music.... still trying to figure that one out without spending money on a brand new device. It would be great to know if we have no electricity I could still listen to my favourite music!

Please feel free to suggest anything!

@Imsayingnothing

Can anyone recommend a solar charger that would charge a phone or laptop? All the ones I've read reviews on seem to say great when charged from mains but solar charging is useless.

TIA.

Phone is easy as it will charge from a USB connection, so the largest capacity solar panel you can get charging a large capacity USB power bank, then charge the phone from the power bank as required.

Laptops can awkward. Some modern ones can charge via a USB port but most need 12-20V. The best system will be a solar panel charging a 12V battery through a solar charge controller. Charge the laptop from the battery via a 12V travel charge adapter. You'll need a large panel for this type of setup. Look at systems sold for motorhomes and campervans.

The reason for using a battery as an intermediate step in both these set-ups is to capture and store solar energy when it's available, and not be limited weather-limited with the charging rate.

If you want to be prepared and need a laptop type device, consider a cheap Windows tablet that can be charged by USB.

In Texas many people were also saying their water pipes had burst. They were advising to let the taps leak water whenever possible I assume so pressure does not build up in the pipes? It’s shocking how much can happen and we have no clue how we’d function.

Thanks @DogInATent so if I get a solar panel and charge up a power bank or two to store the energy could this be used to charge up lanterns, phone etc?

Yes @Snowstorming I've heard of the leaving the tap dripping thing as well. We have had frozen pipes before and I always remember the plumber telling us if it gets to about -7°c leave your heating on overnight even if it's on low as this will stop your pipes in your house freezing. Where I am it got to -12°c a few weeks ago overnight and I left the heating on with radiators on low and had no pipe issues. Obviously this is only able to happen if you still have a gas supply and can afford to run it. Also if the pipes are in poorly insulated walls there is more risk of them freezing so best to check that if there's anything extra that can be done to insulate them better.

so if I get a solar panel and charge up a power bank or two to store the energy could this be used to charge up lanterns, phone etc?

Yes, if the lanterns, etc can accept a USB charge.

Powercuts generally start in the evening. Solar isn't much good after dark. What you're likely to need are immediately are charged batteries/powerbanks, and being able to postpone charging the batteries until later (or when the sun comes up).

For motorhoming/camping I've just about got everything (phones, tablets, radios, cameras, etc) to the point that it can be charged either directly from 12v or via USB. This is also convenient for powercuts - keep a powerbank or two sitting on the charger next to your phone ready for use.

I can tell you one that broke. Will post a picture tomorrow, @ me if I forget. They have the same design still under a different name on Amazon.

You can get solar lamps. Charge initially via grid but will keep topped up with sunlight. I keep mine on the windowsill.

(still charges by solar but no longer charges a phone but it has a torch on it so keep it for that)

I have wind up torches. I had a Radio but dropped it and it no longer tunes in. Arse. Got good use out of it though.

@Snowstorming

In Texas many people were also saying their water pipes had burst. They were advising to let the taps leak water whenever possible I assume so pressure does not build up in the pipes? It’s shocking how much can happen and we have no clue how we’d function.

I'm in Houston and many of my friends around the city did this and their pipes still froze!

Quite a few of my family now have electricity after 50+ hours off but there's no water. There's a county-wide "boil water" notice until Monday.

I do appreciate this entire thread though. I had a basic "prep" checklist but after several floods, hurricanes, power outages, etc... the list is growing ever longer!

Thanks for the replies about chargers. Very helpful. I have now discovered you can get a laptop power bank that you can plug an actual laptop plug into as well as other devices. I'm thinking if I can get something like this with a solar panel that should be good. As for heaters does anyone use a portable calor gas heater? I remember them from years ago, just wondered if they are any good.

@BlackeyedSusan yes I had one of those radios too and also dropped mine. Maybe one day I will take it apart and see if I can fix it somehow. I've not got a xhdata shortwave radio instead.

@elp30 there are some great YouTube channels that have good advice on prepping that have covered Texas a bit in the past few days, lots of ideas on them, might be of help, the first is the modern survivalist and the next one is fss survival.
Hope you're doing ok out there.

Sorry should say I've now got an xhdata shortwave radio.

This is the one that broke. Maybe we were just unlucky.

@Imsayingnothing

Sorry should say I've now got an xhdata shortwave radio.

Do you know what you're going to listen to on it?

(you probably do, but I've stopped being surprised at the number of people that include a radio in their emergency kit but don't know any frequencies to tune to!)

I have one of these which I keep in my car as it is really there in case I need to jump start or run a light from it eg for changing a tyre at night.

It is a fab jack of all trades though. I use it to top up the tyres, blow up lilos etc and it has a standard 3 pin plug and a USB. It also holds its charge like mad. I only top it up every six months or so and it is clearly almost full when I do. 5 minutes and it is fully topped up.

If we have a prolonged power cut I'll be placing my faith in this. Not cheap but worth it to me for peace of mind.

@BlackeyedSusan thank you will be having a look around for one.

@DogInATent I've been going through all the shortwave channels and writing the frequencies down when I get peace at night. I found a Romanian channel, and one from what sounded like Iraq and a Scottish one so far. It takes a bit of fiddling around to get a signal. I might get a signal booster.

Sorry posted too soon. That looks fab @JoannaDory apparently there are inverters you can get for cars that can charge things. But I don't know I'd need to read more about that.

I have an inverter to run the kids device chargers in the car. I also have a car battery spare which I top up once I a while. I may get a solar panel one day. It's a 300w version which is also enough to run the boiler and pump if we still have gas. I'd wire this in at the fused spur if I had to.

[quote Imsayingnothing]@BlackeyedSusan thank you will be having a look around for one.

@DogInATent I've been going through all the shortwave channels and writing the frequencies down when I get peace at night. I found a Romanian channel, and one from what sounded like Iraq and a Scottish one so far. It takes a bit of fiddling around to get a signal. I might get a signal booster.[/quote]
Don't bother with a booster/preamp. A better antenna will improve reception, and for receiving a long length of cheap wire (actual length not important, but the longer the better) is all you need.

It's also worth noting the amateur radio bands (rsgb.org/main/operating/band-plans/hf/) where you'll be able to hear ham operators. Expect the 40m and 80m bands to be active at night in a UK emergency, and 20m and 40m during the day.

Incidentally, an amateur radio licence is free. The exam (26 multiple choice questions) costs less then £30 and there are free online courses (www.essexham.co.uk/train/) that only need a couple of hours a week for three weeks to cover the syllabus. Children as young as ten pass the exam regularly.

Log burning stove for heat and nightlights/ candles for light (and some extra heat). Also a solar powered lamp and a couple of dynamo powered torches for other light. Our house is well insulated and we have closed off rooms and used lots of layers and blankets when sitting, hot water bottles etc when we've had issues in the past (Beast from the East, 2 blown boilers 14 years apart).

I have 1 small solar panel to charge a phone, we have some power banks so I would charge up the power banks once phones were charged to be able to use an iPad for entertainment - but mostly that is cards and board games or reading when we have no power. (I keep the power banks charged generally as they are incredibly useful when travelling).

I have a single ring gas camping stove that I keep in the shed (the rest of my camping gear is in a storage unit a couple of miles away) and we have a gas powered bbq as well. Ans I have a Kelly kettle and access the sticks for more solid fuel powered cooking.

We have a water butt out the back which is generally for the garden but was used for toilet flushing in the "Beast from the East" when the water system spouted so many leaks that the local authority turned off our water for most of the day for about 4 weeks running to preserve supplies while they fixed the leaks.

We had gas outages (cut off the wrong house for non-payment of bill and took 24 hours to restore!). So no heating or hob for cooking (luckily oven is electric so I changed plans for food).

We've had a few power outages here in the city for a good few hours a few times, but I grew up with regular power cuts for up to 2 days.

I already mentioned we've had 2 boilers fail in our 17 years here so had no central heating (for 3.5 months the first time as we were literally about to knock out the back wall for an extension starting in Sept and and boiler was getting replaced as part of that work - builders left on 23rd December, and a full week just before Christmas 2020 which was pretty cold).

And I mentioned the water failure from the Beast front the East. And there have been floods relatively local to us which have caused serious issues a couple of years ago.

So while they haven't all happened together as Texas has had this past week, we've suffered them all in this house.

@DogInATent thank you so much for this info. I am going to try and do this in between home schooling and other things.

@BiddyPop you've been tested a few times then. Same as us, we had -20°c one winter when I was a teenager and no heating as the pipes froze. We had quite a few power cuts last year as companies working nearby knocked out the main supply a few times. Have been flooded before too. No wonder we are on the preppers board!

Watch 'blackout' Docudrama that was on channel 4 but can be found on YouTube