An experiment just to see.....

GrammaBarb · #1 02/13/13, 02:59 PM

Hi Folks,

I heat with wood, cook with wood, and have a dozen oil lamps round the place for when the power goes out. Now I'm wondering about the next step, and also wondering whether or not I'm fooling myself.

So I'm thinking about (insofar as is possible) shutting down the electricity for a day or two and seeing how I do.

The problems/challenges: First, turning off the hot water heater is complicated. So I will just not use it. The water to the house is spring water and gravity fed, so that's no problem. Second, the freezers and fridge. Hmmm. A day or two wouldn't make a difference to the items inside, so I will simply not use frozen food, but I will need to get into the fridge. OK, I can treat it like an ice-box, right? Third, the computer and TV. Probably easiest of all---I have literally hundreds of books still to be read, and many more I want to read again.

I'm going to try it. I feel a bit smug when the power goes off and I can cook dinner and have light and not need to frantically head for a barn to fire up a generator which will only work for the life of the gasoline in it's tank, so now is a good time to give myself a little test, and see if I am really ready to bid farewell to electricity, or if I am fooling myself.

So. Thoughts? Has anyone "gotten their feet wet" doing this? (If nothing else it sounds like fun.....)

Thanks for any in-put,

Barb

simi-steading · #2 02/13/13, 03:02 PM

Where I live, the power company is so nice to help us practice living without power for 3 or 4 days at a time about once a year or so...

It's really not as hard as you think... especially if you have a generator to at least keep your food in the fridge and freezer from spoiling... Don't run the generator constant, but maybe for a couple hours every 12 hours or so. Depending on your fridge, I wouldn't go more than 24 hours with our food.. Most modern fridges aren't as well insulated as you would think... I have an old 1920's monitor top that will keep stuff really cold for around 36 hours if I don't open it... after that I'm not too fond of using food from it...

For lights we use candles, small LED flashlights when needed, and a coleman lantern...The stove is gas, but you have to light it with a lighter... hot water is gas so we're good for hot water...

jwal10 · #3 02/13/13, 03:37 PM

We turn it all off in the summer, cook outside, go to bed right after dark or after looking at the stars. We have a tiny solar powered refer and use a few solar yard lights and a firepit. Cold showers feel good after a hot day....James

haypoint · #4 02/13/13, 04:12 PM

In 1978, I was living in a small travel trailer. I had an outside hand water pump and 12 volt lights. So when the storm of the century put out the lights, my life didn’t change. Neighbor with 200 cows to milk was in a pickle for a week.
Then for the next 30 years, I lived in a big farmhouse, cooked and heated with wood. The woodstove had a water tank attached that gave us hot water at all the faucets. I also had a hand water pump just outside the back door. I also rigged up a hand pump in the basement for water. At one time this house had a6 volt wind generator and a bank of batteries. They also had a hand pump that would put water in a tank in the attic, but it was unhooked.

Your biggest challenge is that refrigerator…. Err.. ice box. You don’t have a ready source of ice. Sort of like the guys that bought a generator to use when the power went off, but only kept a few gallons of gas on hand. The gas station down the street isn’t going to be able to pump it when the power is off.
So, depending how serious you want to get, you may need to build an icehouse and learn to cut blocks of ice from the nearby lake.
It is a good preparedness plan. Everyone should try it.

DAVID In Wisconsin · #5 02/13/13, 04:18 PM

I happily lived with no electricity or runniung water for about 2 years. It took me about a month to get into a routine. It's easier than you might think. Good luck.

sisterpine · #6 02/13/13, 04:34 PM

I do not know what part of Washington you live in however many years ago when I was young and frisky and in the Army I lived in Olympia without power for a year. I found that the large number of dark gray days and the limited light from oil lamps really wore on me after a while. Almost like I got down in the dumps with the darkness? I don't know if that might be a problem for you or not.

"SPIKE" · #7 02/13/13, 04:41 PM

YOU GO BARB!!!!!

How cold is your spring water. Could that not act like emergency frig? Short term cooling of food.

SPIKE

alpacaspinner · #8 02/13/13, 05:29 PM

Re: the fridge - most, or at least many of the things kept in a fridge really don't need to be, especially at this time of year. Most condiments, pickles, butter and cheese do not need to be refrigerated, especially in Washington in late winter. Thinking about my refrigerator right now (in SW Oregon) the only things in there that I might question after a couple of days of not being in the cold would be the milk, some bacon, and some liverwurst. Faced with no electricity for a couple of days I would drink the milk, have liverwurst sandwiches, and cook up the bacon, after which I wouldn't feel too bad about keeping it at outside temps for a day or two. If I had warning for this outage I would freeze some jugs of water, and use a large picnic cooler, outside, as an icebox, and then the milk and liverwurst would last for a bit longer.

unregistered65598 · #9 02/13/13, 06:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GrammaBarb

Hi Folks,

I heat with wood, cook with wood, and have a dozen oil lamps round the place for when the power goes out. Now I'm wondering about the next step, and also wondering whether or not I'm fooling myself.

So I'm thinking about (insofar as is possible) shutting down the electricity for a day or two and seeing how I do.

The problems/challenges: First, turning off the hot water heater is complicated. So I will just not use it. The water to the house is spring water and gravity fed, so that's no problem. Second, the freezers and fridge. Hmmm. A day or two wouldn't make a difference to the items inside, so I will simply not use frozen food, but I will need to get into the fridge. OK, I can treat it like an ice-box, right? Third, the computer and TV. Probably easiest of all---I have literally hundreds of books still to be read, and many more I want to read again.

I'm going to try it. I feel a bit smug when the power goes off and I can cook dinner and have light and not need to frantically head for a barn to fire up a generator which will only work for the life of the gasoline in it's tank, so now is a good time to give myself a little test, and see if I am really ready to bid farewell to electricity, or if I am fooling myself.

So. Thoughts? Has anyone "gotten their feet wet" doing this? (If nothing else it sounds like fun.....)

Thanks for any in-put,

Barb

I would love to do that, but not sure hubby would be on board. Come down to the Survival & Prep section, theres lots to learn there.

Old Vet · #10 02/13/13, 07:05 PM

It wouldn't make any deference to me because the generator will kick in and I will have electricity so long as the fuel holed out.

bja105 · #11 02/13/13, 07:12 PM

We have friends who must not have paid their bill, they have no electricity at all!
They use oil lamps that they pump up with air. These lamps are a bit noisy, sometimes give an odor, and are hot, but they are brighter than my electric light. They have a Tap Light for the bathroom, and use LED flashlights.
Heat and hot water are by wood heat.
Water pressure is from a gasoline powered jet pump bringing water from a buried cistern at the spring.
They have an indoor ice box. It looks like a chest freezer with no refrigeration apparatus, and it has a drain.
Ice is blocks from the ice house next to the barn. It has one foot thick Styrofoam walls and is filled in winter.
Ice is made from a man-made pond, really a wood frame with a plastic pool type liner set up in the yard. It also doubles as an ice rink for the kids.
These folks cook with either a wood cookstove or a Coleman campstove.
They have a salvage grocery store with no lights at all, just several skylight and daytime only store hours.
These neighbors do just fine reading, visiting like minded friends, playing board games, and beating me at Ping Pong.
Of course they also have funny beards, but no mustaches, no car, no phone, no buttons, and like straw hats and suspenders.

My wife and I have talked about having a technology free night. We would put down the Ipod, Ipad, Nook, laptops, and smartphones one night a week. So far it has only been talk, but we need to make a change.

GrammaBarb · #12 02/13/13, 07:22 PM

Hi Folks,

Thanks for the comments! About the fridge---I don't keep much in there, since I use evaporated (canned) milk, for example. Most of the "cold" weather here is low 40's/mid-30's, so it's not too cold to use an outdoor cold-box, right on the porch, I guess. I had a chance to get one of those water heaters for the cook stove and didn't, and now and then I kick myself, just for being silly....

I don't have a generator, and that would be an issue in the pole barn, because for cash money I build and restore British bikes---singles and twins. Power tools require power, and I'm not strong enough to just muscle through some of those things. Thus the need for power in the shed.

I really like the idea of having a spring-house for storage of butter, cheese, etc. The spring is half a mile up on a hill, with a pipe down to the original houses here. (It was once a logging camp.)

Something else---washing clothes might be an issue. I dry them on racks by the heater stove or outside, but so far I haven't been able to find one of the old gas-powered wringer washers. Any ideas?

Wow. Facing the reality of shedding non-essential money pits is a bit daunting. One wonders why we let ourselves be lead down such a foolish path in the first place, but I suppose we aren't called "consumers" by accident, huh?

Thanks again for all the comments! Very helpful!

Barb

DAVID In Wisconsin · #13 02/13/13, 07:32 PM

You can wash clothes with an old fashioned wash board, an expensive but effective James washer or a few other ways. Try Lehman's for great ideas! I love Alladin kerosene lamps. They put out so much more light than a typical kerosene lamp. There is a certain peacefullness with not having electricity.

Awnry Abe · #14 02/13/13, 08:56 PM

I think practice makes perfect. I would go for it, and uncover what you are taking for granted. On Superbowl Sunday (a high religous holiday), the electric company gave us a chance to practice with the lights out from about 9AM to 1PM. We weren't home most of the time, but it still exposed some weak areas.

KrisD · #15 02/13/13, 09:42 PM

Heat water on the stove and wash them in the bathtub. Then hand on a rack by the wood stove.

Yvonne's hubby · #16 02/14/13, 05:47 AM

The easy way to see how you do without power is to just flip the main breaker in your panel box. Refrigeration is the biggy, especially if you have a good deal of food stored in your freezer. Not knowing if your workshop is wired separately from the house I dont know if you can just flip the house main and keep your power in the shop. I could do that at my place as they are separated at the panel box just below the meter. You may have to leave the main on, and shut down the individual circuits in the house. For this experiment I would sort out which circuit the freezer and shop are on, leave those on and shut down everything else.

Fae · #17 02/14/13, 06:16 AM

Where I live the only problem I would have is keeping food cold. Even in winter the is a big difference in temperatures day to day. It may be cold as a well-diggers behind today and 65 degrees tomorrow. I have a well and a hand pump I can put on it. I have oil lamps and flashlights as well as a wood heater and a gas stove. That gas stove is only good as long as propane is available. We would learn to live without all the things we think we cannot live without.

soulsurvivor · #18 02/14/13, 07:09 AM

It's not that we're scared to lose electric, it's because we dread it. It's why we have power backups to the power backups. House is all electric with a generator backup and a woodstove. New building is propane with a generator backup. All our neighbors have woodstoves and generators. Here in rural Ky we get to practice being without electric at least once a year. The longest outage was 17 days. We don't want a repeat of that. We didn't have generators and roughed it by cooking on the outdoor grill, going to bed with the chickens, and generally developing a bad attitude along the way. We're not going to be happy campers inside our own home, but we'll do it if we have to.

grandma12703 · #19 02/14/13, 07:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by simi-steading

Where I live, the power company is so nice to help us practice living without power for 3 or 4 days at a time about once a year or so...

It's really not as hard as you think... especially if you have a generator to at least keep your food in the fridge and freezer from spoiling... Don't run the generator constant, but maybe for a couple hours every 12 hours or so. Depending on your fridge, I wouldn't go more than 24 hours with our food.. Most modern fridges aren't as well insulated as you would think... I have an old 1920's monitor top that will keep stuff really cold for around 36 hours if I don't open it... after that I'm not too fond of using food from it...

For lights we use candles, small LED flashlights when needed, and a coleman lantern...The stove is gas, but you have to light it with a lighter... hot water is gas so we're good for hot water...

That made me laugh.

We live this way 24/7. Solar and wind (only 3 125-watt panels and a small wind generator about $1,000.00 for everything we needed-$1,300.00 with the 4 batteries in our battery bank)electricity, oil lamps, wood stove. We have saved well over what we spent in the first year. We are going on two years and haven't missed a thing. We still have our television and small fridge that will run on the solar and wind power.

motdaugrnds · #20 02/14/13, 08:14 AM

Grandma how I envy you!

We've been wanting to either get off the grid of, at least, keep from using so much power off it for some time now. Everything here is run off an electric power company. Bills only run an average of $200 each month; but that is money I would like to save.

David has mentioned setting up solar and wind; but everywhere we look it seems to be so expensive and complicated to set up. Your saying you only use three 125-watt panels and a small wind generator with 4 batteries...all for around $1,300 has given me hope. Can you send me a pm with some explicit, step-by-step instructions as to how you set your up? It just might be we can do that too.