Your Ideal Doomsday Survival Situation/Prepper Thread

[Skybird]

Originally Posted by ET2SN

Sky; North American squirrels can (and often do) steal hub caps off cars.
Plus, Neal is (CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP) deep in the heart of Texas and you don't want to know what those beasts are capable of.
I hear they like to swim in the Gulf of Mexico to hunt sharks.

Der war gut!

[Catfish]

Originally Posted by Onkel Neal

[...] I've heard that a large part of the failure is due to wind turbines freezing up, and solar panels snowed over. Texas is one of the largest wind power producers. Certainly didn't help in this situation.

I don't think so.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/joewals...h=76a51f7e21b3

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...-b1803135.html

https://time.com/5939749/texas-storm...wind-turbines/

I read wind energy supply can be around 25 to 60 percent in summer and less than 10 in winter, in Texas. Wind turbines may shut down in storms and feather the blades, but have an own heating system and seldom freeze.
Looks more like grid problems (wasn't that Texas grid and maintenance deregulated in Texas?), and general gas production and distribution hampered by the cold.

[Onkel Neal]

Originally Posted by Skybird

The many electric cables. Rodents. Electric cables. Not good.

Oh lord. The electric cords aren't there all year long.

Besides, as a low-level survivalist, I use the cords as bait to shoot squirrels and trade their meat for water and firewood.

[Onkel Neal]

Originally Posted by Catfish

I read wind energy supply can be around 25 to 60 percent in summer and less than 10 in winter, in Texas. Wind turbines may shut down in storms and feather the blades, but have an own heating system and seldom freeze.
Looks more like grid problems (wasn't that Texas grid and maintenance deregulated in Texas?), and general gas production and distribution hampered by the cold.

Yeah, a lot of the problem is people wanting energy cheap, so the industry saves a buck or two every where they can. Still, if the wind farms cannot function, that's part of the problem.

It seems apparent that power generators haven’t done enough to winterize their plants, so shutdowns and failures kicked in just when the power was needed most. That extends to renewables, too, as wind turbines froze over. Natural gas transmission has been a problem as well.

https://www.star-telegram.com/opinio...249285685.html

[Mr Quatro]

Meanwhile on a hill far away

[Jeff-Groves]

I never got an answer on that couch.

[ET2SN]

Don't forget a pilgrimage to Mare Island and the original Horse And Cow.

[Mr Quatro]

Originally Posted by ET2SN

Don't forget a pilgrimage to Mare Island and the original Horse And Cow.

I don't think there is one left ... taken over by gay boys by now though if there is one.

The kind that look like girls that is

[Skybird]

Originally Posted by Onkel Neal

Oh lord. The electric cords aren't there all year long.

Besides, as a low-level survivalist, I use the cords as bait to shoot squirrels and trade their meat for water and firewood.

Eichhörnchen HATE you!

[August]

Originally Posted by Onkel Neal

Oh lord. The electric cords aren't there all year long.

Besides, as a low-level survivalist, I use the cords as bait to shoot squirrels and trade their meat for water and firewood.

Squirrel is good eating. Kinda tastes like dog.

[Onkel Neal]

Oh boy.

[Gorpet]

He's a Texan, Hell i think he posted a pic of a rattlesnake he shot. Southern folks can survive. I must apologize for that statement and the picture may have been from 1920

[Catfish]

Here we shoot TVs, much more dangerous.

[Jeff-Groves]

Don't the Squirrels in Texas hunt Rattle Snakes to use as bait to get alligators to eat?

[Onkel Neal]

Originally Posted by Catfish

Neal and all who live in this "special" weather area: Stay safe.
@ Neal: has the power returned? Which generator do you use?

If we get a power-out here we really have a problem. Chimney for the installed oven not ready yet, all pumps and ignition of the heater/boiler done by electricity. At -15 degrees celsius it may be the heater pipes might freeze, and this would be real fun ...

I wanted to convert the old canola Elsbett engine of the VW to a power generator, but it is way too much hazzle - the dynamo alone would cost as much as a whole Diesel generator. So i am thinking about a Diesel/fuel driven one. Should be 220 Volts and around 5 kilowatts for emergency, and last for at least three days
A combined heat and power unit would be better of course (exhaust gases heating the water via heat exchanger as a by-product while producing electricity), but those are really expensive, and i would have to integrate this into the house heating system.

I have a Champion duel fuel, small generator, cheap, made in China. I run it once a month and do preventive maintenance, swap out the fuel every 3 months. I've had it 5 years and this is the first time I got an opportunity to put it to the test. It's fairly quiet, and the online rep is that it's reliable. If you wanted true quality, I would go with a Yamaha or Honda, but they cost twice as much and I don't need a generator very often.
https://www.championpowerequipment.c...fuel-inverter/


It is big enough to run my heating furnace, fridge and freezer, and still have plenty left for the TV, PC, and a few lights and a fan for summer. I make coffee on the stove in blackouts. The only downside is it will not run the house AC, so an extended blackout in the summer will be brutal. But if my grandparents could survive, I guess I can too If I experienced frequent power outages, I might opt for a much larger generator to run the AC, but I just don't think it's necessary. This is good enough.

Originally Posted by ET2SN

Something I just remembered , if its significantly below freezing and that's REALLY novel to your location, as long as your have water pressure in the pipes its best to slightly crack open one or two faucets. Not a drip, more like a minimal stream of water. You want to do this for both hot and cold water.
The reason being, you want to maintain a minimal flow of water in your pipes if there's a chance your pipes could freeze. This is really important on the inlet side of your water system (this is why you also want to crack a hot water tap, even if you have power).
:

I was fortunate, so far as I can tell, no burst pipes or leaks! Which is good because all over Texas now, people are coping with scenes like this

Be careful when turning water back on. I turned mine on. I waited and listened for 10 minutes and left for 5 minutes. I came back to this.

Texas domiciles are not made for prolonged hard freezes in combination with 4 day power outages. It wouldn't cost much to build that in during construction but, you know, everyone has their eye on the bottom line.

Originally Posted by Catfish

Here we shoot TVs, much more dangerous.

Are they good eatin'?

Well, that's it for the Great Texas Blizzard and Ercot disaster, forecast shows no temps below 36 for the next week. Nothing left to do except prep the generator for storage, roll up the electric cords, and clean up.