Your Ideal Doomsday Survival Situation/Prepper Thread

[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.

[mapuc]

If I understand from what I read in this thread, You are not expecting things like
Nuclear holocaust
Earth killer meteor/Asteroid/Planetoid

I guess you are planning on a total breakdown of the society and other disaster where you are able to live in your basement or in the woods/montains.

Markus

[Catfish]

^@Mapuc
"If we destroy the earth it will kill us"

The redneck approach: "Not when we kill it first!"

[Onkel Neal]

Originally Posted by mapuc

If I understand from what I read in this thread, You are not expecting things like
Nuclear holocaust
Earth killer meteor/Asteroid/Planetoid

I guess you are planning on a total breakdown of the society and other disaster where you are able to live in your basement or in the woods/montains.

Markus

I'm a realistic person, there's not much I can do in those cases. My goal is to be able to ride out 3 weeks without power and services, and not be forced to stand in those mile long chump lines for water, gas, or something to eat.

Originally Posted by Catfish

Thank you, yes this seems like an affordable solution!
Good to hear you made without major problems

re shooting TVs:

They are smeaky bastards, spoiling your attitude for nature and the world, effectively poisoning your mind. And you cannot even eat them (toxic waste)

Lol, yeah. The cost of the generator isn't too bad. I swear you'll be thankful when you need it and it's there.

[Skybird]

3 weeks is still short. Realistically, aim for 3-4 months. That timeframe can be prepared for if you invest a low 4-digit budget, and have the space, one room, to store it.

The reason is simply that if ther eis a nationw ide power blackoput lasting for lets say 3-5 days, it will take weeks and months to bring the poiwergrid back online (assuming that option still exists), a longer power grid is nothign that can be easily turned on again after it was off for that long. Consider sweet water from pipes not comign back before after weeks. Consider that supply line shad failed for mlogn time, and logistics will be seriousl interrupted therefore for longer time than just the power blackout lasted.

I aimed at mixing emergency ratios (NRG-5), canned food (fish, MREs) , cereals plus "atste-givers" (conserved sauces or whatever) at eqaul ammounts (measured in days). Plus a variety of different ioptions to heat water or a meal, I made sure that wahtever sort of fuel I can get when reserves are off - I can make use if it, no matter what kind of fuel it is, (including wood).

We talk not about havign a healthy meal every day. We talk emergency: we talk about calories, some variation in tastes (proven tastes that you like, dpo not buy cans you do not like), and water (exlsuively for drinkling).

We also talk medical items, batteries, light both electric and candle. All in big quantities.

Also, passive warming options if heating is off. Texans learned it the hard way these days. By passive I mean clothes, sleeping bags, all of according type and quality. Ask you granparents, if they still live. They still remember easy tricks.

Finally, weapons to defend what you have, and a quarter where you löivbe or where you quickly could move to, that is above average secured, can be defended against plunderers.

A power blackput of lasting quality is somethignt at causes disruptions for severla times as long time as the blackout lasted. One night, a few hours, is one thing.

I am not aiming at wanting to survive the apocalypse - why would anyone want that...? But I want to be bale to comfortbaly sit out sudden shop hord8ng ewars like the toilet aper thing in the early days of corona. and serious desaster for a time of up to 3 months - and I want that reserve beign there every day of the year, with no further preparation needed.

I have integrated parts of the food and household item reserves into my ordinary daily and weekly consume-and-resupply scheme. This kind of rotating stock-keeping is somethign that just 2-3 generations ago was very common and every household, especially if not living in big cities, practiced it. Modern delivery-on-demand is for stupids. Modern, but stupid. Our granparents thought rotating stock-keeping was clever. And it was, and is!



P.S. Stockpile drinking water not in palastic bags, but glas bags. Buy sparkling water, it provides additional desonfecting protection. Have empty storage tools like water bags and canisters and so forth ready, to fill them with usage water if you have time left to get prepared. People often overlook what effect it will be when the toilet flushing is off in a city and for longer time.



And the most important rule: ration form beginning on, since you do not know what is coming and how long it will last.



Have sweets, chocolate,cookies: and lots of them. They chemically boost morale, whcih is reölevant if you are not alone, and have maybe even chilkdren around. Emergencies are the wrong time to think of healthy diets.



I recommend also coconut oil/fat (depends on the temperature only). Easy to store, extrenely versatile, keeps fresh for long wothout needing cooling, and is an excellent energy supplier - AND is more uncritical for health concerns of any kind. Also, it tastes great, I even do it into my coffee sometimes.

[ET2SN]

I've been talking about "practical disasters" in this thread. Things like floods, tornados, blizzards and heavy snow fall that result in a disaster area.

If you're in a situation where you're looking at long-term hardship (loss of power for more than 4-5 days), bug out. As long as the roads are passable all you need to do is drive 100-400 miles until you see houses with the lights on.

Staying in a disaster area for a prolonged period only opens you up to a greater risk of infections, dysentery, parasites, and bullet wounds. Leave the fighting to the cave men and get out.

Keep your important papers (titles, mortgages, birth certificates, policies, bank records, passports, ID) in a zip-type plastic bag and take it with you.

[Onkel Neal]

Originally Posted by Skybird

3 weeks is still short. Realistically, aim for 3-4 months. That timeframe can be prepared for if you invest a low 4-digit budget, and have the space, one room, to store it.

The reason is simply that if ther eis a nationw ide power blackoput lasting for lets say 3-5 days, it will take weeks and months to bring the poiwergrid back online (assuming that option still exists), a longer power grid is nothign that can be easily turned on again after it was off for that long. Consider sweet water from pipes not comign back before after weeks. Consider that supply line shad failed for mlogn time, and logistics will be seriousl interrupted therefore for longer time than just the power blackout lasted.


Also, passive warming options if heating is off. Texans learned it the hard way these days. By passive I mean clothes, sleeping bags, all of according type and quality. Ask you granparents, if they still live. They still remember easy tricks.

Finally, weapons to defend what you have, and a quarter where you löivbe or where you quickly could move to, that is above average secured, can be defended against plunderers.

A power blackput of lasting quality is somethignt at causes disruptions for severla times as long time as the blackout lasted. One night, a few hours, is one thing.

I am not aiming at wanting to survive the apocalypse - why would anyone want that...? But I want to be bale to comfortbaly sit out sudden shop hord8ng ewars like the toilet aper thing in the early days of corona. and serious desaster for a time of up to 3 months - and I want that reserve beign there every day of the year, with no further preparation needed.


And the most important rule: ration form beginning on, since you do not know what is coming and how long it will last.

True. Three weeks is my target, though I'm sure there's enough food for a couple months. I just don't expect any hurricane or freeze to shut down the trucks to the store for more than that. And you are right, rationing should take effect immediately, as you said, you just don't know how long a disaster will last.

Now, for the collapse of society or something that means stores are empty, power is out, no one has a job for months; that could happen but it would be unprecedented. I really don't have a plan for that, other than return to the ranch and dig in. The neighbors and my family would form a group and I would be guarding cattle from starving Houstonians. I can see it now, I'm engrossed in a book and a desperate band of urbanites overwhelms me. Let's hope it doesn't come to that!

Originally Posted by ET2SN

I've been talking about "practical disasters" in this thread. Things like floods, tornados, blizzards and heavy snow fall that result in a disaster area.

If you're in a situation where you're looking at long-term hardship (loss of power for more than 4-5 days), bug out. As long as the roads are passable all you need to do is drive 100-400 miles until you see houses with the lights on.

Staying in a disaster area for a prolonged period only opens you up to a greater risk of infections, dysentery, parasites, and bullet wounds. Leave the fighting to the cave men and get out.

Keep your important papers (titles, mortgages, birth certificates, policies, bank records, passports, ID) in a zip-type plastic bag and take it with you.

Bug out to where? Hotel in another area? Relatives? Country estate? That could be a problem if the disaster is widespread, lot of people, no place to go. Plus you would need to leave before the disaster, in many cases, to be able to travel. If you can get out and you have a place to go, that would be smart.

[Mr Quatro]

Learn from your mistakes
these are not my mistakes, but could very easily be

Old cars if allowed hold treated gasoline (gas gets old)
Old vans with inflatable water tanks inside
Garden supplies include seeds and fertilizer

Wind generators that are laying down on the ground ready to be raised up in an emergency (they make noise)

Male and female animals

Chicken coop

Make sure your septic tank is cleaned every year

Heck with solar panel for power

Get solar panels that circulate water for hot water

[skidman]

Matthew 6:26

[ET2SN]

Originally Posted by Onkel Neal

Bug out to where? Hotel in another area? Relatives? Country estate?

Third cousins twice removed, old college roommates, shoot, if you could have made it to south-central Iowa you could have put me on the spot and asked and you didn't even serve on a submarine.

The point being, in an emergency its very hard to be a "Richard" to people you know.

Even with the power down, they tend to get the main roads passable for EMS and emergency services early-on.

[Onkel Neal]

Originally Posted by ET2SN

Third cousins twice removed, old college roommates, shoot, if you could have made it to south-central Iowa you could have put me on the spot and asked and you didn't even serve on a submarine.

The point being, in an emergency its very hard to be a "Richard" to people you know.

Even with the power down, they tend to get the main roads passable for EMS and emergency services early-on.

Ok, so you have some destination in mind. I always wonder what people intend when they mention "bugging out".

[Catfish]

Originally Posted by Onkel Neal

I have a Champion duel fuel, small generator, cheap, made in China. I run it once a month [...]
https://www.championpowerequipment.c...fuel-inverter/
[...]

Thank you, yes this seems like an affordable solution!
Good to hear you made without major problems

re shooting TVs:

Are they good eatin'?

They are smeaky bastards, spoiling your attitude for nature and the world, effectively poisoning your mind. And you cannot even eat them (toxic waste)