New Prepper Questions
How might one's region dictate prepping for an extended blackout?
I remember an old Art Bell interview with Cody Lundine. Art asks Cody which item is best for survival, and Cody (rather smugly and sarcastically, but truthfully) says that it depends on the setting. City vs. country is a vast difference, and he's right.
With recent news on potential blackouts for certain states, one in which I reside, I remembered the interview and started wondering if a blackout might make a difference. Obviously temperature makes a difference during a winter or a heat wave, so but I mean in regards to long term prepping.
To clarify for anyone who doesn't read the article, the article is about a company providing specific grid support from Oct. 13 to 16 so other generators can be taken offline for scheduled maintenance in that period. There are no blackouts being predicted. The linked article, from a news outlet in India, is unfortunately less detailed than US coverage and may inadvertently give the wrong impression.
Here in the Midwest almost every house has a fireplace/woodburner that almost nobody under 50 has ever used. I advise people to lay in some wood and burn a few times every year. That way they are used to it and won't run into any suprises; If it is ever needed in an emergency.
Recently bought a house with two fireplaces that sits on a large wooded lot. Didn’t buy the house for that reason but it did occur to me after the fact what a good backup it will be for winter power outages.
How anyone living north of the state of Florida that claims to be remotely interested in survival doesn't have a wood stove in their house I really don't understand.
We are in the "Deep South" and have three and heat solely with wood.
While we can and have used the wood stoves for cooking and baking (one is a VT Bunbaker with a small oven), they are principally for heating. We use LP for our range stove. The 500 gallon tank lasts us two years on average if we stretch out fills- and that is with hot water and a dryer also running LP. If something serious happened we would cut the water heater except in dead of winter, and have hung out clothes to dry for about a decade. This would greatly extend our LP for cooking only.
Yep have cooked a ton of food including for fairly large groups (15+ people) on campfires before. Actually pretty fun truth be told, but definitely would be stupid to have that as your go to in a bad situation- smoke, light, smells all outside when food is scarce?? Not too smart... Different here with 1/2 mile between houses but still, we would definitely not use OUTSIDE wood fires as go to cooking until most other resources are expended.
Low country boil in a skillet over a campfire. It's definitely a good skill to know and have the tools to utilize properly.
Outside wood cooking is a backup to the backup to the backup, but crazy to consider as your main due to security issues- especially if your in an area with high population.
I like cooking over a wood fire. When done right you can also mitigate SOME of the smoke and scent by cooking underground. Have baked bread in a dutch oven buried under about 6 inches of dirt before, roasts, etc. Not totally getting around the smoke however as you have to get a good bed of coals up and going in the hole then I do a small second fire for more coals to put on top of the dutch oven after it's placed in the hole. To "bake" like this you really need even heat- or AS even as you can make it, top and bottom.
This is why a proper dutch oven with have legs and a lid with a raised rim for holding coals. Cheaper ones marketed as "dutch ovens" will have a domed lid and while useful, don't operate as efficiently for Baking.
A 12" or 14" dutch oven and similar sized skillet should be in everyone's supplies.
Light, smells and light (edit: I mean smoke) isn't a problem in most situations.
Lots of people cook up what was in the freezer after a storm knocks out power without serious problems from the neighbors but doing it on day 5 after an EBT shutdown could be risky for some.
I think the time of year and your climate is more important than your geographical region. Make sure you have a way to be comfortable at the highest temperatures your area gets and the lowest temperatures your area gets.
And then there are issues with your specific property - for example, if you rely on a sump pump to keep water out of your basement, you'll want that running during a blackout. If you have a well, you'll want the well pump to work during a blackout. If you have a medical condition that requires medication that must be refrigerated, you'll definitely want that refrigerator running.
If you have an electric stove, you'll want an alternative method for cooking because stoves use an insane amount of power.
Just imagine having now power during the worst weather you have to deal with, and go around your house figuring out which things are important to have working. That will tell you what your power needs are and you can size a power station and generator to get you through extended blackouts.
But the geographical region doesn't really matter. Two people right next door to each other in the same region might have completely different needs.
Is anyone else reading that article and thinking blackouts are coming? To me, it sounds like they anticipate slightly than higher usage while things are down for maintenance. An emergency declaration I assume, is necessary to spin up the dirtier, more emissions producing backup equipment. I'd love to get the perspective of someone who really knows about grid operations
They do use the term "emergency" in a somewhat different sense than common usage. The regional grid is tight for resources but so far it's only a serious situation that needs to be properly managed, not a crisis. Similar to an aircraft "declaring an emergency" doesn't necessarily mean "we're going to crash," it can mean "we need priority handling to ensure that we can land safely."
You make a great point. I didn't link the article to claim a blackout is coming. I put it in for context, in case some such thing happens. With all the energy being used and rerouted today, it's conceivable that something might occur. It got me thinking about the Cody Lundine interview. Most people just think of survival as being a food shortage or temporary storm or maybe even an EMP, etc. A blackout to me does seem much more likely than any of those other issues, which could lead to a food shortage, etc.
The article / headline is a bit misleading. A lot of generators go routinely offline (offgrid) for maintenance during the fall months as weather cools. Rather than cooling, though, we've had a seriously hot weather (80s dF) for October. Fewer generators are online and it's been hot so there has been a possibility of blackouts.
I have NERC and PJM TSO certifications, the article doesn't make me think that, it's just the general vibe of the industry. Had a conversation 3-4 years ago with a shift supervisor where he said "it's not going to be a matter of if there is going to be another blackout but when" and since that time I've only seen more evidence that he's likely correct.
Considering all the generation that was early retired due to economics in PJM market which was mostly coal and nuclear in the last 5 years where now they a predicting massive data center loads well above any amount of new/replacement generation capacity.
Microsoft is even having Three Mile Island returned to service after it was retired years ago to provide power to its data centers in another state.
Then there is also the fact since COVID supply chain hasn't recovered and all the infrastructure upgrades can barely keep up with increasingly longer lead times on major equipment.
Waiting for the inevitable slew of "oh da noes it's getting cold and the power is out how can I heat my home?" posts that start up not long from this each year.
I would love to follow up with each of them and say "well it's been a year (or whatever), what have you actually DONE to negate this problem?" Let me guess, still "researching"? No your power boombox is not the answer...
The region you are located or where you intend to be during SHTF is probably the 3rd largest factor in determining what preps you will need.
There are massive environmental differences between prepping in NYC, Anchorage, Tucson, Orlando, Cleveland, Calgary. Heating, cooling, water table level, septic, sewer, potable water, etc will change between these locations and you will need to plan accordingly.
Why third? I would consider it number 1. If you live in an area that gets 45 imches or more rain a year then water storage isn't a huge priority. If you live near large ranches then food, Pacific Coast then heating and cooling and so on.
Individual, local and regional circumstances should probably be THE main influence in preparedness strategy.
Because no matter where you live, you are going to need water and food to survive. Depending on the region and season, shelter would be #3 (but it could be #1 in extreme weather conditions like Anchorage or Calgary in winter or Tucson in August). Everything else falls below those in my opinion.
Individual, local, and regional circumstances influences how you prep, and to a certain extent what you prep, but every human needs water, food, and shelter to survive and thrive.
I don't disagree that region is a primary factor, just stating that for me water and food are going to be the top 2 priorities because no matter where you are, you need water and food to survive. Everyone has a different situation and YMMV.
Obviously temperature makes a difference during a winter or a heat wave, so but I mean in regards to long term prepping.
How long is "long term" for you? A week, a month, a year? It helps to draw a line in the sand there, or you will get a terminal case of moving goalposts.
I would look up the FEMA declared disasters in your State, and see how long they usually take to resolve. Also look up your area's power outage history. If you live in the middle of nowhere, maybe add a few days to the timeline to account for rural power shenanigans. It is very rare (but not unheard of) for power to be out region-wide for longer than a few days.
Anything that uses heating coils, is a power hog- think A/C and electric heat. Often the sanest alternative is fossil-fuel generators, whether propane or gasoline.
Regional location matters, but your personal situation is local. If you lose power or any other service, what do you need for your own comfort and safety? Your plan won't look like someone else's, whether it's a short or a long term situation, whether they're your nearest neighbor or someone 1,000 miles away.
Looking at the problem at a regional or state level misses all but the most general aspects and offers little in the way of actionable information. It's like being in Sacramento and knowing that if you want to get to Denver, you have to go east. While correct, that's not enough information to get you where you want to go.
Biggest difference is that most people in the country depend on a well for water. When power goes out, so does the water. So figuring out a way to get water out of the well becomes a prep that city folk don't deal with.
In the city there is a real problem of dealing with the unruly masses. Not so much in the country.
Winter heat and frozen pipes. Do you have a means of heating that doesn't require electricity? If you have oil heat and assuming you have enough oil, you'll have to get power to the burner 24/7 or have an on/off duty cycle that risks cold spots.
Do you live in a decent area? Is someone going to steal your generator? Would it be better to have a battery/inverter backfed for night use in the event you want to turn a light on and remain silent?
Heating and cooling are the two biggest issues. If you live in Florida, you need air conditioning. You need it because it is a survival issue if there is a wet bulb event. On the other end of things if you live somewhere like Wyoming or Montana you need heating or else you will freeze to death during a bad storm.
A third item is water availability. If you live in the desert and rely on delivered water or water from the tap, you will die of dehydration if you do not have an alternate water source along with the means to purify and store it in modest quantities.
Fourth is power generation and storage. If you live in an area with a lot of year round water courses you could consider a small hydro setup if you have the resources and have one or more springs or streams on your property but those can be finicky if water flow fluctuates too much. Still, 24/7 power generation rain or shine is quite nice and no power storage needed. If you live in an area with a lot of sunshine year round you could do solar power with a decent battery bank. If you live in a cloudy area without any springs or streams on your property then you need to look at options like an absolutely massive battery bank with very large solar array or a generator with large fuel storage, probably propane as that will last the longest.
I moved from the upper Midwest to the Gulf Coast a few years ago and my whole blackout plan flipped on its head. Up north it was all about surviving the cold: knowing where the water shutoff was so pipes wouldn't burst, and keeping sleeping bags within arm's reach. Down here the killer is heat and humidity, so the plan is shade, extra water, and keeping the fridge shut. The one thing that didn't change is friends on well water being the ones in real trouble in both places, since no power means no pump.
The biggest regional variable after climate is density, since rural outages often last longer because fewer crews cover more miles, while urban ones get fixed faster but hit way more people at once. Your water source matters too; city water usually keeps flowing on gravity or backup generators for a while, but a well on a pump dies the second the grid does. Where are you located, roughly, and is your place on municipal water or a well?
I'm in the upper midwest, very rural. All I'm concerned about is gas for the genny. I have a well, septic system and 1000 gal of propane. 3 Gallons of gas gets me 8 hrs on the generator. Depending on the time of year, running that for 2-4 hrs per day would get me through a fairly long blackout. We have an outdoor wood boiler, but I think if we lost power in the winter, we'd switch to using the propane furnace and just run it occasionally. The boiler needs constant power to keep water flowing.
Maybe a region's power more likely to drop out or would be expected to be out for longer. I suppose with climate change or data center construction maybe the likelyhood changes. Some areas might be in more need of repair.
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u/preppers-ModTeam 4d ago
To clarify for anyone who doesn't read the article, the article is about a company providing specific grid support from Oct. 13 to 16 so other generators can be taken offline for scheduled maintenance in that period. There are no blackouts being predicted. The linked article, from a news outlet in India, is unfortunately less detailed than US coverage and may inadvertently give the wrong impression.