As we seem to be entering another period when things may become difficult, - last evening was possibly the first of many power cuts for us (hope not) I managed to do a bit of knitting by candlelight, and worried about the freezers, and Zigs sat by his computer until the battery failed. A game of ''I spy'' soon fizzled out and we listened to a story on radio 4. This morning all is hunky dory again, but it made me think of finding alternatives if we have to suffer many repeat performances. Candles went straight on the list for starters, and then we discussed ways of making home made cooking gadgets...... Any thoughts anyone?
Hopefully we won't be getting any power cuts, we've not had them since the "real winter of discontent," back in the early seventies. I was managing a deparmental store back then, with a big food section on the ground floor. When the cuts came, we carried on trading, first by candle light then by the light of Camping gas lanterns when I was able to buy some. The escalators stopped working and so did the lift, so after rescuing a couple of customers during the first cut, by winding it to a floor by hand, I put it out of order. Back then computer technology hadn't reached checkouts. All items were priced with labels and the electric cash registers could be operated by handle in such an emergency. This was a very labourious job, so I'd get the staff to take turns in either operating the buttons or turning the handles. We had an emergency generator that kept the freezers going but not much else. This was powered by WW2 tank engine on the roof. These days stores have UPS systems that provide power to all essential services. It had its amusing moments. Of course when the power went off that supplied the BBC's TV service, there was no TV. An Irish girl who worked for me when she came in to work one morning after there being no TV the previous evening said, "I bet that Mr Heath was watching television on a portable TV!" We had three floors, all with different colour schemes, she couldn't work out how the lift doors when she used it, "changed colour" on each floor. We've a couple of back-up freezers in the garage, so in the event of a power cut they'd be OK. But the one in the kitchen wouldn't, but cuts are usually ever long enough to ruin food in freezers. We're "all electric" 'cept for heating. But the boiler wouldn't work without it. We do have a "new" gas fire in the lounge, but in twenty years have never used it. Though I do have it checked out at the same time as the boiler service. I've not really thought about any other form of cooking. I guess we could have a BBQ.
Lithium ion batteries of a large vehicle scale will be a component of any serious off grid power structure. LED lighting and power inverters to feed sensitive electronics can be used from them to certain circuits. A rectifier can be used between a cheap generator and the batteries. This conversion of generator power to DC via rectifier, and reconversion back to AC via inverter will correct the Hertz shifts and remove unwanted magnetic pulses from a accelerating or deccelrating motor that causes voltage waves or spikes that come from unregulated generators. The problem is called "Total Harmonic Distortion". I always thought it a term related to music amplifiers. A generator is an electromagnet machine too it turns out, and that magnet being spun by the motor inside a small coil of wire produces a surge of electricity that has a magnetic field used then in a second and larger coil to produce the big AC power. Evidently, if I have this correct, the two fields of magnetism can get out of sync as the motor reacts to loads placed upon it or taken off, thus the wave forms of high an low (north and south magnetic poles? positive or negative poles?) get out of whack causing a disturbance in the force. There are specifications on this in the electrical code. One can also purchase a small 2 function device containing both a rectifier and inverter and simply plug it in. Not cheap, the higher amperage rectifiers and inverters for whole house level amperage get pricey.
That is one monster of a generator - I've only seen the ones the campers used to use here. I understand that those generators (or at least some of them) cannot use the new petrol, which has caused some of the campers a few problems. Trouble is, there's a problem with getting petrol (gasoline) and propane is getting pricey and also not so easy to find these days. I was thinking more along the lines of a homemade ''bushcraft'' type job like this.... a nice little project to keep Ziggy out of trouble , or maybe the metal hub of an old car wheel with a dustbin lid on top. I hope North sea gas doesn't run out. Incidentally, it might be worth checking if your generator will be ok on the new petrol (which is hard to come by) it doesn't suit every application!
I got this machine specifically because it runs on either propane or gasoline. Whether it has some alcohol in the fuel or not (E85) is not really relevant to its digestion. The 250 gallon propane tank I had plumbed over to run it should keep at least 4 days to a week, running both the whole house and the propane furnace. Most of our storms come with heat and humidity, and it is actually the AC that I intend to run with it. Plus we have a fireplace, which I plan to have fitted with a fireplace insert. A proper modern wood stove is a very efficient thing.
I tried to Google it and I came up with Maidstone Kent had a cable fault and some houses are still affected.
What sort of UPS system do you use? Where can I get one please? I don't think the power cut here was due to anything that happened in Maidstone. We noticed this morning that a great big branch had fallen on the power lines along our lane. There was a rather shoddy team of young blokes out there only two or three weeks ago with all the equipment who were supposed to clear all the overhanging branches - they didn't make a very good job of it - we said so at the time - you just can't get the staff these days!
Still got the Kelly kettle from when I was a woodland gnome When I'd boiled the kettle I used to cook my breakfast on the ashpan afterwards....
Sorry, no UPS. Just that as the freezers are in an unheated garage, they'd probably be OK for a power outage of a few hours.
Freezers will last for 12 hours with out power. I've got a lot of blankets and duvet covers to put over mine if we have a power cut. We wouldn't buy any candles because hubby thinks that they're dangerous we've got a lot of torches and a lot of batteries.
There's a substation around the side of the house and a few years ago they had to shut it down to do maintenance. They brought a mobile generater so we didn't go without power, it went on for a few days.
That is probably the smartest answer, but maybe not so much fun as a few sticks and a dustbin lid (it's my second childhood ya know) This has prompted me to reorganise the freezers and stack stuff better as it's best to keep them topped up. Good tip @Logan, we do have some spare duvets ready as well
