Thoughts on home preparations

My brothers house uses a heat pump but it had a wood fireplace in the living room and they aren't very efficient so he had it bricked up and put in a wood stove. He got tired of cutting wood and the mess so he installed a gas propane stove that looks like a wood stove. He has an upright propane tank on the outside that the gas co. keeps filled. When the power goes out that stove will put a bunch of heat and no mess or fuss. Larry
 
CO detectors are not expensive and every home should have one or more.

A regular smoke alarm is $6-12, with a Emergency light, up to $20. A combo smoke, fire, & Co detector is about $35. You can get them that are direct wire with 9V back-up, 9V only or plug in the wall!

My condo has a Smoke/CO detector on lowest level, regular smoke alarms on 1st and second floor bedrooms, and an smoke alarm with Emergency light in the second floor hallway and stairs. (a total of 5 alarms) but it takes seven 9V batteries to do a change out, WELL WORTH THE EXPENSE!

If your alarm is over 10 years old, throw it away (or recycle) and replace it! When I bought the condo it was 12 to 14 years old, so I replaced them all, I have 4 years to go before the next change out. Most people do battery or alarm replacement around daylight savings time change, so neither alarms or batteries are marked down then (regardless of what the add flier says!) so look for them to be really on sale in mid summer, when nobody thinks about them! As in all things, THINK AHEAD!

Note on CO detectors: If you sleep on the same floor as your gas furnace or gas water heater. CO is heavier than the breathing air, so get a detector that plugs into a wall outlet, and have it plugged in between your bed and the furnace! In this case, by the time the ceiling mounted CO detector goes off, you will already be dead (or brain dead, which some think may be worse!)

Ivan
 
When we moved from the farm to the condo (6 years ago September), my wife heard a radio program that talked about not having control over our water supply. The solution is/was to buy 2 gallons of distilled water every time she went to the grocery store (69 cents each). So after we were here 2 1/2 years, a water line exploded in mid summer (right under a ground level electric transformer!), so were were without power for 8 hours and water for 3 days! We had 8 gallons of drinking/cooking water. AND I had taken 8 one gallon milk jugs and filled them with tap water for flushing the toilets. The complex brought every unit a case of 16 ounce bottled water, but most people didn't own a bucket to get water from the swimming pool or the 4 ponds to flush their toilets! (not to bright on their part!) The couple next door flushed with bottled water! Well duh!

We have a guest bedroom with a tub. I thought about a water bladder for the tub. They are 35ish gallons, $10-15, but single use. Too expensive, so I have four 5 gallon buckets I can prefill and leave in the tub if I wish, but we always have the 8 gallon milk jugs of tap water on hand!

Ivan
 
I bought a house with a heat pump as the main source of heat back in the 1980's.
We also had a wood stove that sat un-used in the basement.
Co-workers in Roanoke VA using natural gas as their heat source laughed at me,,
if the electricity went out, I would be cold, they would be warm,,,

WELL,, the electricity went out a couple winters later,, I chopped some wood, and fed my wood stove, we stayed warm..

The natural gas guys? Well,, they found out the natural gas was pumped by electric pumps.
When the electricity stopped so did the natural gas pumps.
The "natural gas" heated homes went cold, there was no gas pressure.
There was a LOT of frozen pipes in natural gas heated homes that winter,,
oops,,,,,,,
 
We had 8 gallons of drinking/cooking water. AND I had taken 8 one gallon milk jugs and filled them with tap water for flushing the toilets.

In 2015 I was an advisor in Afghanistan and was living in a barracks with all manners and ranks of U.S. military. We would lose electricity and water in the barracks just about every afternoon. I placed 5 gallon jerry cans in every stall for flushing. One can would usually provide three flushes.

After a couple of weeks finding toilets filled to the brim on a regular basis, I came to the realization that our military is filled with men who have no idea how a toilet flushes. I had to explained how to use the jerry cans to fill the tank. Several young men had assumed I just wanted them to pour water in the bowl.

I finally got people flushing the toilets and found out no one was re-filling the jerry cans once the power was back on.

Edited to add:
I also had to teach them that courtesy dictates you fill the tank AFTER you flush.
 
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In 2015 I was an advisor in Afghanistan and was living in a barracks with all manners and ranks of U.S. military. We would lose electricity and water in the barracks just about every afternoon. I placed 5 gallon jerry cans in every stall for flushing. One can would usually provide three flushes.

After a couple of weeks finding toilets filled to the brim on a regular basis, I came to the realization that our military is filled with men who have no idea how a toilet flushes. I had to explained how to use the jerry cans to fill the tank. Several young men had assumed I just wanted them to pour water in the bowl.

I finally got people flushing the toilets and found out no one was re-filling the jerry cans once the power was back on.

Edited to add:
I also had to teach them that courtesy dictates you fill the tank AFTER you flush.

A gallon or so of water, poured directly into the bowl, WILL flush it. I have a 5000w gas generator, but I don't have a line to the well pump yet. The power was off for a week back in the summer of 2011. I would drive my truck down to my creek and fill two 5 gallon buckets, then haul them back to the house.

BTW, where were you in the sandbox? I spent 3 years in Kunduz, in the northeast, as a police advisor, 2004-2007. I was at a RTC and we had two large diesel generators, so we didn't have to depend on the local grid.
 
Note on CO detectors: If you sleep on the same floor as your gas furnace or gas water heater. CO is heavier than the breathing air, so get a detector that plugs into a wall outlet, and have it plugged in between your bed and the furnace! In this case, by the time the ceiling mounted CO detector goes off, you will already be dead (or brain dead, which some think may be worse!)

Ivan


Carbon monoxide is slightly lighter than air, that's why it was used in some gas balloons long ago.
 
A gallon or so of water, poured directly into the bowl, WILL flush it.

While this is true when pouring from a bucket, you will likely be left with change if pouring from a jerry can.

I spent 22 months in Afghanistan from 2014-2017. That covered a couple of different locations all supporting NATO Special Operations Command. I did spend some time in Kunduz and recall the night sky really had some stars visible.

Prior to that, I did two deployments flying over Afghanistan from the USS Eisenhower.
 
Carbon monoxide is slightly lighter than air, that's why it was used in some gas balloons long ago.

Google says exactly that also.

However, building codes require (in Ohio) that in a garage connected to a dwelling, the garage floor must be 4" lower at any doorway into the dwelling (some cities require 12"). It may be associated water vapor, but something make the combustion fumes heavier than air at our altitude. That may be because Air is 79% nitrogen and only 20.9 % oxygen. The real world isn't composed of pure anything. Fire fumes are hot so they rise (which is why smoke detectors are on the ceiling) and most fumes from hot water tanks and furnaces are too. But fumes from pilot lights will sink to floor level due to less heat. 95% efficacy furnaces don't have enough heat left in the fumes to make them rise, so there is an exhaust fan to move those fumes outside. Why because they will fall to the lower areas and that will kill you.

Ivan
 
CO detectors are not expensive and every home should have one or more. I even have one in my cook box for my camp for the cook tent as I use a big propane stove.

I have one in the open part of night stand. If that CO gas is coming into my bedroom I want something near me that is going to wake me up.

I wanted to add something to this thread that I haven't seen addressed yet. I wanted to mention some "soft" home preparation issues that I've been involved with for over the last 5 years. If you live alone, is there someone you are in contact with each day? I have an aunt and uncle who live in the same town as I do. Literally the day I retired, my uncle said to me that we needed to call or text each other each day. And we've been doing it each day for over five years. There have been a couple days where my uncle thought I was late in contacting him and he sent me a text asking me if I was out of bed and OK. Since my aunt had her stroke two years ago, it's reassuring to have the texts from my uncle so that I know they are both OK.

I've learned that some people in town get concerned when I'm not seen for awhile. So part of the reason I go to the VFW, American Legion and/or Eagles, or at least stand in the driveway and wave to people is so that people see me and know that I'm OK.
 
Living in the country we are somewhat more prepared than cityfolk. Last year I became a active prepper although I have a bunch of holes left to fill in my preps. FEMA recommends having enough supplies on hand for two weeks. Real life events show it is more likely to be a month or more.

One item I want to replace is my generator. My current one is gas operated. With the power out I will not be a le to get more gasoline so I want get a dual fuel generator. My plan is to put the generator, 40# propane tank and long extension cord in a garden type wagon. The wagon has pneumatic tires, floor and sides are metal mesh and the sides can be lowered. Think of a mini fire wagon. Everything I need is on the wagon and all I will have to do is pull it out of the shed, roll it to wherever I need use it, connect the extension cords and start the motor.

Propane never breaks down chemically like gasoline. The only problem with long term storage is with the valve becoming inoperable. We have a propane grill so I will simply rotate the tanks and keep a third tank in reserve.

I probably should get a chemical toilet to help conserve water.

Extreme weather teaches us what we have overlooked.
 
BSA1, are you anticipating needing to use the genny elsewhere than your house? I can see the portability being ussful in that case. But if you're just hunkering down at home, I'd think a stationary setup would be more practical and easier.

You'd want to keep the genny and tank protected if you live in an area that gets extremely cold. (Article here)

If you're anticipating an extended outage, as you suggest, I'd get a transfer switch installed in the house and avoid the hassle of running extension cords hither and yon. A couple of weeks running stuff from extension cords would get tedious really fast.
 
Carbon monoxide is slightly lighter than air, that's why it was used in some gas balloons long ago.

It also has the property of mixing almost 100 % with air. That means no stratifying or separation layers if there is a circulation fan moving air around. I was taught it was 97% the weight of dry air.
 
Google says exactly that also.

However, building codes require (in Ohio) that in a garage connected to a dwelling, the garage floor must be 4" lower at any doorway into the dwelling (some cities require 12"). It may be associated water vapor, but something make the combustion fumes heavier than air at our altitude. That may be because Air is 79% nitrogen and only 20.9 % oxygen. The real world isn't composed of pure anything. Fire fumes are hot so they rise (which is why smoke detectors are on the ceiling) and most fumes from hot water tanks and furnaces are too. But fumes from pilot lights will sink to floor level due to less heat. 95% efficacy furnaces don't have enough heat left in the fumes to make them rise, so there is an exhaust fan to move those fumes outside. Why because they will fall to the lower areas and that will kill you.

Ivan

The reason for the garage rule as I understand it is to prevent idling car fumes from entering the house. Most properly adjusted gas appliances produce little or no CO and a lot of CO2. After doing a lot of testing we recommended that appliances be cleaned if vent CO was over 8 parts per million [PPM]. This figure came from the fact that CO in the blood becomes fatal at 9 PPM. OSHA has changed their rules varying between 35 PPM and 50 PPM for the average person to work in during an 8 hour work day. [I had the misfortune to be qualified as an expert witness in CO creation from gas appliances before the other attorney advised their clients to settle]

The high efficient appliances have the gasses cooled to the point of condensation and the water heavy gasses need to be pushed out. Pilot lights will vent in an old style furnace as they did for nearly a century if the chimney is properly sized. Too big and if it gets cold and they will not, yet they remain no more deadly than the pilots from a stove and oven used from the 1920's to the 2000's.
 
BSA1, are you anticipating needing to use the genny elsewhere than your house? I can see the portability being ussful in that case.

Yes. We live in the country so it could be a long ways from a electrical outlet if running fence, thawing a stock tank or fixing a outbuilding that doesn’t have electricity.

But if you're just hunkering down at home, I'd think a stationary setup would be more practical and easier.

Short answer is $,$$$ or maybe $$,$$$

You'd want to keep the genny and tank protected if you live in an area that gets extremely cold.

That is what my garage and outbuildings are for.

If you're anticipating an extended outage, as you suggest, I'd get a transfer switch installed in the house and avoid the hassle of running extension cords hither and yon. A couple of weeks running stuff from extension cords would get tedious really fast.

Again more $,$$$ or $$,$$$. Transfer switch, whole house generator is a lot of money. Electricians are not cheap. A lot of money for a rarely used item. Plus whole house system needs to be started and have a load test once a month.

Only need two or three extension cords. In summer it would be mainly for the freezer and fridge. In the winter the fan on the propane furnace.

In reality it is like camping only not going to the lake.
 
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Living in the country we are somewhat more prepared than cityfolk. Last year I became a active prepper although I have a bunch of holes left to fill in my preps. FEMA recommends having enough supplies on hand for two weeks. Real life events show it is more likely to be a month or more.

One item I want to replace is my generator. My current one is gas operated. With the power out I will not be a le to get more gasoline so I want get a dual fuel generator. My plan is to put the generator, 40# propane tank and long extension cord in a garden type wagon. The wagon has pneumatic tires, floor and sides are metal mesh and the sides can be lowered. Think of a mini fire wagon. Everything I need is on the wagon and all I will have to do is pull it out of the shed, roll it to wherever I need use it, connect the extension cords and start the motor.

Propane never breaks down chemically like gasoline. The only problem with long term storage is with the valve becoming inoperable. We have a propane grill so I will simply rotate the tanks and keep a third tank in reserve.

I probably should get a chemical toilet to help conserve water.

Extreme weather teaches us what we have overlooked.

There are companies the make kits to convert a gas generator to Two and Three fuel capability. My source for extra 20# cylinders, was to find them with thrown out grills along the road (translated to mean: FREE) Note; just before and just after Father's day is the prime time that people throw away old grills!

I took them to a "Tank exchange" rather than just fill them, because they get recertified before returning to public circulation. In about 3 years time I had 18 tanks. When I decided I only needed 6, I gave empty tanks to friends.

A small propane heater hooked up to a 20# cylinder will run nonstop 20 to 40 hours (depending on BTU output). My "Big Buddy" will last 26 hours at 30,000 BTU's. I have to use an adapter hose similar to one on a grill. I also have Coleman stoves that have the propane adapter and propane camp lanterns that screw into or onto a "Propane Tank Tree". If necessary, I can cook, light and heat off of one tank.

Ivan
 
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