Are you all prepping for power cuts?

[User112]

BBC reported the other day about possible power cuts this winter due to gas shortage. Other than having a few torch light and candles, are you all prepping with anything else?

What happens when Europes stored gas runs out by the spring? Europe will want all of Norway's gas, so thats 40% of our supply gone

Not if we make the highest bid. Contractual obligations permitting.

Friends lived in Germany for 20 years our winters are much milder they say. We'll have to ration and share I guess.

Very apt

We had an unplanned cut last night, and it was a really handy reminder of what we do and don't have.

I'd recently collected up and charged all of our batteries, and put them back in the battery box, so that was handy! Large power bank, easy to locate. Emergency lanterns stored with the right batteries one upstairs, one down. Plenty of candles and appropriate large, heavy, lanterns to use them safely, but no need to use them last night. Matches for gas hob and candles. Lots of blankets/fake oodies. Battery and wind up radios.

I realised I miss having a laptop with enough storage to download things from Iplayer! But we do have dvd drives.

We haven't used our log burner for a few years, so it needs sweeping and servicing (we do have a stock of fuel so could have lit it, but won't until it is serviced). We may now get around to that...

I keep meaning to buy some battery motion led lights for the stairs.

We have some smaller power banks, that have disappeared into the house somewhere. They need finding and charging so we aren't reliant on one big bank.

The biggest reminder was that DH has literally no planning ability himself, and has no idea what we have and where it is. On the plus side, I think he may now stop thinking I am silly for planning for things that aren't likely to happen (but are actually). I think he thinks he is a tough it out person... But he was definitely at a loss last night and had he lived alone he'd have been sat still in the cold, dark, and silence trying not to walk into the cats .

Also, I think I will buy us a torch each to live in our work bags, as our walks home from work unlit by street lights would not be safe.

Already have some bike lights I attach to my rucksack front and back for the walk in winter. But they aren't really bright enough to light the way rather than show that I'm there.

I am in London and have made some plans. I've wanted to prep for years but not really had enough of a reason.

I've got us

• Sturdy candle lantern
• Plenty of candles
• Camping stove - a Kelly Kettle so we can forage for small amounts of fuel. Despite being in London we are on the edge of a wooded area. Will get a stock of twigs ready and put them somewhere dry.
• A solar rechargeable radio powerbank thing.
• I bought a cheap and simple landline phone. We don't use our landline atm.
• Food that we can cook on the camp stove.
• Fuel for the open fire.

I think that is enough to see us through a period of power cuts.

Does anyone think that it will really happen?

I think the govt is making plans to mitigate it happening but who knows?

Does anyone know if water supplies will still function (ie do they need electric to arrive at our homes?)

Also if I bought a portable battery/leisure battery could I run the router?

Does anyone know if it is likely they would exceed 3 hours - all press seems to be referring to peak evening power cut rather than peak morning power cut.

This thread is so helpful

Ive just remembered I have a rechargeable desk lamp, like this link below

If cuts are eg 4-7 I’d probably just try to finish up my WFH day if I could to at least be sitting somewhere safely and using the time: these give a pretty decent light

:www.amazon.co.uk/Nestling-Eye-Caring-Dimmable-Charging-Brightness/dp/B087M3KSL1/ref=asc_df_B087M3KSL1/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=431043953489&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=3579932845378937207&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9046082&hvtargid=pla-930512421583&psc=1&tag=&ref=&adgrpid=97419447022&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvadid=431043953489&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=3579932845378937207&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9046082&hvtargid=pla-930512421583

@snowballupahill leisure battery plus an inverter yes

If it's like the 70's yeah I was there. It will be planned. We got notice in advance from newspapers no internet. We had in Tesco candles on counters, tills etc. Unfortunately tills are now electronic so kaput. My advice, get cash if you're not a prepper. Our power cuts were rolling very organized. Three hours at a time. So you cooked before or after. If you've a slow cooker it'll cool down slowly.

Download Netflix, prime etc programs. Watch when power goes off. Keep kindle charged.

OH working in laundry knew exactly when power went on and off. They adjusted.

Industry work was prioritised back then.

I'm concerned about surges so unplug everything when power goes off bar a lamp. That's your signal. That's the government worry. So if your washing machine is going switch off, ditto computers etc, anything intelligent really

We'll survive. We did last time

Watch this and see

@reallyworriedjobhunter - yes, I think it will.

"Winters of discontent: 6 of the worst winters in British history | Sky HISTORY TV Channel" www.history.co.uk/articles/winters-of-discontent-6-of-the-worst-winters-in-british-history

We survived the strikes appalling weather, it's doable if bloody awful. Don't forget mortgage rates rose etc it was nuts at this time

I'm starting to build up our stash of light sources. Tealights turned out to be a bit crap in the last unexpected power cut. The led lamp uptrend looks amazing. I bought some £3 headtorches on ebay for £3 and they do seem quite good. I also bought a few usb chargeable torches.

I found prepping in January 2020 quite comforting to deal with stress of the incoming pandemic. So without a big one off outlay this too stops me stressing about winter power cuts.

Just got to remember to buy batteries as well now to go in my prep box

Our main water supply is not affected, so that should not be an issue. Some people here have their own water source which does gets disrupted as the pumps are electric powered.

I am not sure what a leisure battery is, but to run a router you will need a UPS as a minimum.

I think this is wrong. Mains water requires electric. However on the emergency plan it would be classified as priority industry and so wouldn’t be on the rolling blackout rota.

Sorry I didn't explain that very well. Yes they do use eletric power for pumps, but they either have their own power supply for the duration of the outage, or they are exempted.

Surely it isn't this bad?

Anyway, I have a holiday booked for Lanzarote in November. Do you think air ports will be effected?

Thank you :)

Can anyone recommend a decent small and large powerbank and torches as well?

If we are onto rolling blackouts by then, yes potentially (although I think it is more likely to be December January February). Airports are likely to be exempted but I suspect they will be operating reduced services not package holidays.

petrol stations etc will also be out during the blackout times and won’t be exempted.

the we first couple of stages of the rota are short duration outages. Once you get to level 3 it’s fairly disruptive. The scale goes up to 18 which is total blackout.

Thank you for help re running a router. Would a portable battery do the same job as a ups? Something like the one from Anker or the smallest Jackery? Thinking that dd1 is in an exam year and don’t want her getting behind on stuff (ds2 would also benefit from having WiFi as well!)

Also good point re road safety imagine that street lights and pedestrian crossings could be out as well?

Can someone tell me what the difference is please with a UPS battery and a leisure battery ? Also what do people mean on here when they say a power bank, I’ve got these small things to run mobiles in an emergency but is this something different ? I’m looking for a power source that would run an oil filled electric radiator in power cut, or can anyone advise me of a better heat source ? I have an open fire but the rest of the (detached older house) gets cold very quickly.

Sorry for more questions but just re reading some of the replies on here, it seems there is a problem with using camping stoves indoors, I’ve got one with little gas canisters you slit in, is this unsafe to use even in well ventilated area ?

I am not sure what a leisure battery is (we might have another name for it here) but a UPS is an Uninterrupted Power Source. It's a box which holds batteries (mine is a 2000va) and it has a kettle type plug which stays permanently connected to the mains. It has sockets in the back so that you can plug your wifi router (or other items) into the UPS. I have my router connected permanently. The UPS keeps fully charged due to being permanently plugged in. When the mains power goes out, the UPS kicks in automatically so you will not lose power to the items connected to the UPS. I had my laptop connected as well, but since I bought a new battery for it, I only connect that up if the laptop battery is going as that discharges faster. Obviously the more you have plugged in, the less the UPS will last whilst in use. The benefit is that is easy to use so you don't need to go about hooking items up to it once the mains go out.

I don't think it is powerful enough to run a heater. They can power a TV though. Think of a UPS as a temp option for power, so you could finish working on something on a pc and shut it down properly. Mine runs about 2 hours with a laptop and wifi, maybe 4 hours with just wifi. If you add in a TV it will be less.

Whether the connection to your ISP is up, is a whole other issue. They have back up battery banks, but at times when their batteries didn't have sufficient time to recharge, then we could lose signal.

A power bank is a smaller device that you charge using a USB cable. These will recharge phones and rechargeable lights and smaller items like this.

Leisure batteries are often found in campervans.

A leisure battery is like a car a battery, but designed for a long, slow load draw, not a quick, deep charge (like starting a car). It can run things that are 12v, but doesn’t have any plugs, so it need to be wired up to things, such as in a campervan, both to recharge and to charge other things. It WILL NOT heat anything. Not enough oomph. It will charge phones and low wattage appliances. (If it or heats it cools, it’s a nope!). You can power 240v (ie normal plug) if you use an inverter to concentrate the power, but you will use is very fast. Sure, you can power a radiator. For four minutes! But you can charge a laptop, and possibly a router. (I’m not sure how hungry they are. I can’t imagine that much)

a ‘power station’ ie jackery, power oak or eco flow. Is a bigger, better battery with all the plugs and inverter thingummies inside. Its basically a big power bank. It’s plug and play, up to a point. You plug it into a power source to charge up (don’t need an electrician or crocodile clips) and it has (usually) all kinds of usb, 12v abd 3 pin sockets so you just plug stuff in. THERE ARE DIFFERENT MODELS AND THEY POWER DIFFERENT THINGS AT DIFFERENT PRICE POINTS.

The Ecoflow delta mac is around £2000. It’s ‘top of the middle’ of the range. Will power pretty much anything. Not for long, but most things will work. (I reckon an American ff or tumble dryer would struggle, but would drain it in minutes anyway). Again, forget heating, except maybe a heated throw (get something safe and gas powered. It’ll be cheaper). A microwave, induction hob, hairdryer. All fine, but only for maybe 30 minutes (and not at the same time). The router will be good. It might do a ff for a few hours. The Rivers are a bit smaller and cheaper and great for CPAP, coffee makers, laptops etc. probably a router (I need to check) but no induction, microwave or hairdryer for sure.

I don’t know anything about UPS, but I think they are just versions of the power bank wired into your home, or part of your home that kick in automatically if your power goes out. Happy to be corrected. Bet they don’t heat anything either. Broadly speaking, you can’t heat or cool on a battery in any practical way.