SANDY

[Penn]

I made a bad call on the intensity of Sandy, but thanks to TR and the invaluable "Be Prepared" thread, we did ok, out of power for days, but we were well prepared with solar powered lighting, food, water, batteries, Sterno (cooking & heat) etc., etc. everything that thread is about came into play in some form, or another. There is great security in knowing you can protect and care for your family. A knock on the door late at night with someone looking for directions, lost due the many road closures sending people all over state, gives you a moment of pause, but the friend or foe judgment call is another example of how important it is to be secure, and trust the information and prior training the site speaks to. I am deeply grateful to TR and everyone who took the time to suggest what essentials are needed in everything from your go bag, to how best to clean and preserve water. Thank you for helping us put our house in order long before the event occurred!!!
Lambertville is still without power. We have shared and helped where we could every day without jeopardizing our supply; we were careful in doing so, did not want to become the go to people.
A generator attracts a lot of attention. Also, it is only as good as its fuel source is available.
Interesting observation, we are so spoiled with our ability to instantly reach out and communicate, but with limited access to electricity to charge phones, or recharge batteries - solar power charges are worth their weight...Facebook is also very important commo source to locate family etc... Phones die quick, at one point I was trying to remember dah dit, I made myself a promise to get on that ASAP.

[The Reaper]

D:

Glad to be of assistance.

I found a great deal on some rollable 5w. solar panels. They can be daisy chained and work great for AA battery chargers.

Eventually, we would like to have a couple of the larger roof mounted panels installed and ready to charge a deep cycle battery bank should we need them.

The generator fuel isue is easily fixed if you have an LP model or an LP conversion and a large LP source available. And the bucks to refill it. No need to run it 24/7, IMHO. Just an hour or two in the morning and another couple of hours at night. Use the runs to keep cold things cold, catch some entertainment, and to recharge the batteries.

All the best.

TR

[Badger52]

Originally Posted by Penn

Interesting observation, we are so spoiled with our ability to instantly reach out and communicate, but with limited access to electricity to charge phones, or recharge batteries - solar power charges are worth their weight...Facebook is also very important commo source to locate family etc...

Glad you applied what you could & came out the other side.

As TR has mentioned before, a rudimentary HF radio setup and the basic knowledge (which should come from at least the General licensing procedure) can be used. This isn't a ham thread, but I had several reports from folks using WINMOR over their HF to get information out to family that ends up traversing standard email relays but outside the affected area. If you can run your laptop and a basic HF setup on emerg power you're in business when local connections (wireless & otherwise) are down. Allows comm with those who may need to hear from you but may have no comm skills. Basically the free version of what sailors have been using for a long time. Your radio, to an HF gateway, which then dumps your traffic onto commercial internet connection for routing to family, etc. You can then let them further populate FB etc. There is an initial learning curve, but it works slick.

[BOfH]

I second Penn's post. I am in the Rockaways, which took a very hard hit. Having watched the storm since it was over the Carribean, much of the invaluable preparation/survival advice imparted on this BB came to mind. Water was frozen, food and drinking water were stockpiled, along with firewood, propane and gasoline. My wife initially questioned my generator purchase, but has since changed her mind after she was able to take a hot shower after we lost power(hot water heater has an electronic ignition and my sewage drains to the sump pit, so I can't even flush without power ). Still without commercial power(and heat), but otherwise thankful that we came out unscathed, others in my area weren't so lucky, I assisted several friends with pumping 4+ ft. of water out of their respective basements(having a generator and spare submersible pump can make you popular quite quickly ). Lessons learned: natural gas generator with transfer switch, stockpile more gasoline, and consider installing a fireplace.

My (frustrated with LIPA) .02

[The Reaper]

Originally Posted by BOfH

I second Penn's post. I am in the Rockaways, which took a very hard hit. Having watched the storm since it was over the Carribean, much of the invaluable preparation/survival advice imparted on this BB came to mind. Water was frozen, food and drinking water were stockpiled, along with firewood, propane and gasoline. My wife initially questioned my generator purchase, but has since changed her mind after she was able to take a hot shower after we lost power(hot water heater has an electronic ignition and my sewage drains to the sump pit, so I can't even flush without power ). Still without commercial power(and heat), but otherwise thankful that we came out unscathed, others in my area weren't so lucky, I assisted several friends with pumping 4+ ft. of water out of their respective basements(having a generator and spare submersible pump can make you popular quite quickly ). Lessons learned: natural gas generator with transfer switch, stockpile more gasoline, and consider installing a fireplace.

My (frustrated with LIPA) .02

Natural gas supplies are subject to the same disruption as other utilities, and will fail after a few days without power when the pump failure causes the lines to lose pressure.

LP is on site and is not subject to outside problems, till you run out. It is more expensive, and you can only get about 70% of the fuel from a full (80%) tank. Underground tanks are the way to go.

If not stored underground, gasoline is best stored in vehicle tanks. Untreated gas has a 3-6 month shelf life, BTW, so you have to rotate stocks. Treated gas is good for 1-2 years, though at that point, I probably would not put it in an expensive car. Add Sta-Bil or the like to your supplies as a fuel preservative. Some homeowners policies limit the amount of gasoline you can store in/around your home. It is usually 20 gallons or less.

Fire places are good, as long as you have wood. If you don't, and you want it to be available for several days on end, LP is the way to go.

No, I am not Hank Hill, BTW.

TR

[ZonieDiver]

No, I am not Hank Hill, BTW.

Now that's a program I'd watch. TR as "Hank Hill"! Arlen, TX would never be the same, I tell you what.

[BOfH]

Originally Posted by The Reaper

Natural gas supplies are subject to the same disruption as other utilities, and will fail after a few days without power when the pump failure causes the lines to lose pressure.

LP is on site and is not subject to outside problems, till you run out. It is more expensive, and you can only get about 70% of the fuel from a full (80%) tank. Underground tanks are the way to go.

If not stored underground, gasoline is best stored in vehicle tanks. Untreated gas has a 3-6 month shelf life, BTW, so you have to rotate stocks. Treated gas is good for 1-2 years, though at that point, I probably would not put it in an expensive car. Add Sta-Bil or the like to your supplies as a fuel preservative. Some homeowners policies limit the amount of gasoline you can store in/around your home. It is usually 20 gallons or less.

Fire places are good, as long as you have wood. If you don't, and you want it to be available for several days on end, LP is the way to go.

No, I am not Hank Hill, BTW.

TR

QP TR,
Thank you for the invaluable advice. The good news is that we finally got power back on Sunday, we have been in and out, alternating staying by relatives and home as well as assisting with the recovery effort.

I have been a Sta-bil user for some time now, and I usually cycle through my gasoline cache roughly every six months, usually at the beginning of the summer and winter, though, I only keep about 5 gallons on hand at any given time. I looked into my homeowners policy limit, which is as you accurately pointed out 20 gallons, I may start keeping the limit on hand. As far as NG is concerned, pump power is definitely a concern, though I have it on good information that National Grid's pumps did not lose commercial power during Sandy. In the end, I went with a tri-fuel(gas, NG, LP) conversion kit for my portable Generac, which should cover me in almost any event. As for firewood, I am fortunate enough to have a neighbor that keeps a 3-4(I am not kidding) month supply on hand, and is more than willing to share, so I am still considering the fireplace, though I got the heat working off of the generator in the end.

All in all, we made it out in better shape than most, some prepared, many unfortunately did not. The Rockaways are still a mess, and will take some considerable time to rebuild, unfortunately, city/state/fed are only making it worse, not better, and failed to implement storm water management recommendations in the first place. Looting was/is rampant, it's not like the Rockaways are a good area to begin with, and little emperor Bloomberg refuses to let the National Guard do what they do best(and no, thats not giving out bottled water).

Primary lesson learned is that NYC is not and probably will never be prepared for another storm like this, so it is time for my family to find elsewhere to call home; currently looking into Texas.

My jaded .02

[The Reaper]

Several areas lost NG because of leaks elsewhere in the area requiring a shutdown. Your own LP tank, no issue. Great idea with the tri-fuel conversion kit, as long as you have adequate NG piping to allow the flow a generator requires. Normally, it requires more column inches of pressure than the routine appliances do.

Still not sure how your heat worked, if it was LP or NG, all you needed was electricity to the burner and fan. If it was electric heat, it is very inefficient to use gasoline to make electricity to them reconvert it to heat via heat strips. Much more efficient to get a few cans of kerosene and a kerosene heater for emergencies. My brother runs his regularly for heat and has used it to heat soup and other food on. I watched a Korean fry fish on top of one. Plus the kerosene will work well in lanterns. Kero also is much more stable than gas and will last longer. I am using Diesel Sta-Bil and it seems to be working well. I would estimate several years of shelf life, if preserved and stored properly. Comes down to it, and an electric fuel pump with a long hose could score you plenty of heating oil, which is very similar to kerosene. With the owner's permission, if it is not your tank, of course.

We have looters down here, too, just not as many repeating ones.

All the best.

TR

[BOfH]

Originally Posted by The Reaper

Several areas lost NG because of leaks elsewhere in the area requiring a shutdown. Your own LP tank, no issue.

Still not sure how your heat worked, if it was LP or NG, all you needed was electricity to the burner and fan. If it was electric heat, it is very inefficient to use gasoline to make electricity to them reconvert it to heat via heat strips. Much more efficient to get a few cans of kerosene and a kerosene heater for emergencies. My brother runs his regularly for heat and has used it to heat soup and other food on. I watched a Korean fry fish on top of one. Plus the kerosene will work well in lanterns. Kero also is much more stable than gas and will last longer. I am using Diesel Sta-Bil and it seems to be working well. I would estimate several years of shelf life, if preserved and stored properly. Comes down to it, and an electric fuel pump with a long hose could score you plenty of heating oil, which is very similar to kerosene. With the owner's permission, if it is not your tank, of course.

All the best.

TR

Indeed, Breezy Point was practically incinerated because they failed to shut off the gas in time. Thankfully, there was no NG system damage in my area, and the gas kept flowing. And yes, I discovered that filament space heaters are incredibly inefficient.

My heating unit is NG fired, forced hot air, 3/4HP blower and a small 5amp vent fan/pump(no chimney), so around 1600 watts in total, about 2800(the vent fan starts first) starting. My neighbor has some old kerosene hurricane lamps and a kero heater which he was using alongside the fireplace, I will definitely look into that. I also keep 1-2 LP tanks for the grill, which has a side burner, and some WetFire or triox in my BOB with a fold-able stove, which gives me cooking/heating backup, and last but not least, some chafing fuel, which we used to heat and re-heat food.

v/r
BOfH

[PSM]

Originally Posted by BOfH

As for firewood, I am fortunate enough to have a neighbor that keeps a 3-4(I am not kidding) month supply on hand, and is more than willing to share,

Just curious, is this a positive or negative statement?

ETA: To be clear, I mean your parenthetical comment.

Pat

[BOfH]

Originally Posted by PSM

Just curious, is this a positive or negative statement?

ETA: T be clear, I mean your parenthetical comment.

Pat

Very positive Could not have asked for better neighbors(on one side at least, the other is a whole 'nother story ). Aside from a fireplace, he also has a wood fired oven(long story short, unleavened bread(Matzah) for Passover), so he keeps a rather large supply of firewood on hand. I should also note that he helped me track down the tri-fuel kit for my generator.