To get prepared for a power outage, you should know the risks specific to your community and your region to help you better prepare. Home generators are handy for backup electricity in case of an outage, but must only be used in accordance with the manufacturer's guidelines. A back-up generator may only be connected to your home's electrical system through an approved transfer panel and switch that has been installed by a qualified electrician. Never plug a generator into a wall outlet as serious injury can result when the current produced by the home generator is fed back into the electrical lines, and transformed to a higher voltage.
This can endanger the lives of utility employees working to restore the power. Evacuation is more likely during winter months, when plummeting temperatures can make a house uninhabitable. Although a house can be damaged by low temperatures, the major threat is to the plumbing system.
If a standby heating system is used, check to see that no part of the plumbing system can freeze. Every Canadian household needs an emergency plan.
It will help you and your family to know what to do in case of an emergency. Remember, your family may not be together when the power goes out. Start by discussing what could happen and what you should do at home, at school or at work if an emergency happens.
To be prepared, make a list of what needs to be done ahead of time. Store important family documents, such as birth certificates, passports, wills, financial documents, insurance policies, etc. It is likely they already know about the problem and are working to fix it. Cordless phones or extension phones that require connection to an electric outlet will not work during power outages. Models that only need to be plugged into the phone jack will work.
Cell phones will be a lifeline as long as their batteries don't run down, and the antennas don't get damaged in the storm. A battery radio lets you keep up with the news from the outside world. Make sure you have extra batteries. You could also use your car radio in an emergency, but remember the dangers of running a vehicle in an enclosed garage.
There are several good reasons to turn off any appliances you were using when the power went out:. Indoor temperatures can soar during prolonged summertime power outages. This can be uncomfortable for anyone, but it can be dangerous for infants, toddlers, the elderly, and those with certain medical conditions.
Families with at-risk members should know of multiple climate controlled safe spaces where they can wait for power restoration. While it may be tempting, do not create a fire hazard by running extension cords to the home of a neighbor who still has power, whether for air conditioning or other electric needs.
The choice to install a standby generator is yours. They can be useful during a power outage if you have the correct one for your home and if it is safely connected. If you choose to use a backup generator for your home, call a licensed electrician to help you properly connect it. Never operate a generator inside your home, garage or basement. If you choose a portable generator, don't connect it to your home electrical system, but instead, connect it directly to the devices and appliances you want to power or charge.
Keep your home and family prepared for anything that comes your way. When you sign up with an energy plan from Direct Energy, you'll get tips and tools to stay informed about your energy usage and save on your bill. Tell us when you're current service will end, and we will email you a reminder two weeks ahead of your service end date.
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What to Do When the Power Goes Out From summer storms to winter blizzards, many areas of the country are prone to severe weather throughout the year. To make sure your household is prepared, consider these tips and plan ahead. Be Prepared for an Outage Before you encounter another power outage, make sure you are ready to handle the challenges that come with a loss of electricity: Yes, of course you have a flashlight. But do you know where it is? Could you find it in the dark? Do you have extra batteries?
Or a rechargeable and fully charged flashlight? The dark can be scary for young children. Prepare them by playing a "lights-out" game to find the flashlight. Keep candles and matches on hand. The old phones however run on DC and eventually the phone company backup batteries will be dead. In those days, the power was never off long enough to find out.
Where you say "If you put your candle or lantern in front of a mirror, you can almost double the amount of light you get from it". That would be getting extra free light and you know you dont get something for nothing.
What you are doing is trading the extra light from going behind the mirror, and focusing it forward like a light house. Is there any sure fire way for any communications in a disaster? Survival communications yes, but only for those who prepare. And you probably wont be able to call your out of state relatives. We started this discourse mentioning CB radio - That would work. One or all would work for your purpose AKA local or long distance.
We'll explain the differences. Our first priority in a disastrous event will probably be communications. We will want to contact loved ones elsewhere, which will probably be impossible unless by prearrangement. Again that's only if they have planned ahead for such an eventuality.
The easiest is CB and it doesn't require household power. It simply plugs in your car's cigarette lighter socket while the car battery is still charged.
A magnetic antenna easily affixes to the roof with wire running through your window. There are 40 AM channels to use in the 27 MHz spectrum and it's range is about 10 miles. It's limited to 4 watts and prone to static. When atmospheric conditions are right, this service can go thousands of miles but nothing you can count on or plan for. Now we come to Marine VHF. The units are readily available at any marine supply store. This service has its own protocol and use for marine applications only in normal times.
Each FM channel of the 80 available are assigned for specific use. A walkie talkie model has a power of 5 watts and a line of sight range of miles. Console models for boats are 25 watts and have a line of sight range of 25 miles. They too can be easily operated in your car and powered by it's 12 volt system.
And some use charge-up batteries unique to that model - stay away from that type. You can always barter for batteries. Lastly Ham Amateur Radio. Add to this some frequencies allow watts of power so transmission's world wide are common.
The Big However is, you have to be a bit technically minded to use this service. Although morse code is no linger needed you would still need a license in normal times. As for power, on the long distance frequencies a large antenna is requires and a lot of power so a generator would be necessary. Their high bands - 2 Meter MHz are very however popular in portable applications.
In other words you don't have the identifying number associated with an internet connection. A broadcaster is anonymous. But if you are always transmitting from a fixed antenna, your location could be triangulated. I don't know where you live, but that has not been my experience. Usually, when the power is out I have not been able to get gas. Each gas station have an emergency power generator, so it will be capable to pump gas for it and for clients.
Lots of good points there. Being out of the US , I imagine the only problem will be getting my money transfered through internet. Other than that, I am cool not having any power in the mountains. I will not miss the phone cable and electricity which I trained myself to do without for 2 months. I think people need to have a power outage drills and training that will prepare them for the real black out. Just like a fire drill or a flooding emergency.
And dont forget, people can live without electricity if they have a plan and a brain to execute it! I'd say that this Hub of yours is a good campaign to keep landline telephones in existence. I've read about phone companies wanting to do away with landline telephones, but doing so would be the biggest mistake that any of them could make.
Additionally, I'd have to say that your article is a good campaign to bring back all the payphones that have disappeared from public places through the years.
I remember having to use one up the street after I came home to my apartment in New York City to found out that my landline telephone service was out so many years ago.
I didn't have a cell phone back then. It was my only way of contacting the phone company to report the problem, because I didn't really know any of my neighbors; and in New York City, you just can't go knocking on a neighbor's front door to ask them if you can use their telephone. Nowadays if someone's portable landline phone goes out because of an outage and the cell phone system is overwhelmed, going to the nearest payphone to make an important phone call may be the only option they have.
We just had a major power outage in Memphis, people without electricity for multiple days. I was out for 4 days. This lantern uses 4 D-Cells or 8 D-Cells. With 8, it will give you hours of illumination if operated on low.
You could actually get 8 hours a day for 50 days. Low is plenty of light to read by. Its made in China but this is a terrific product.
However, if the entire USA power grid goes down for 10 days, we are back to the stone age. DzyMsLizzy - Dry ice is great for keeping things frozen, as long as the store is open! It sounds like you are pretty prepared with your generator. Your tips are spot-on, though. But I was annoyed the couple of times such an event happened while I was shopping; everyone got booted from the store.
I thought to myself, "What? No one knows how to use a pencil and paper anymore to tott up items?! It has only gotten worse since then! We have a generator, but it is small, and would probably power only the main refrigerator, and not the large freezer.
However, the fuller the freezer, and the less it is opened, the longer things will stay frozen, or at least at a safe temperature. Dry ice is another option; it does not snow where we live. The cabin sounds heavenly. It's a lot different living without electricity when you are set up for it. When it suddenly goes out it sends a lot of people into a tailspin. I'm happy to share my idea about the solar lights. We actually bought ours for a party, to use as little tables lights outside after dusk.
Some of the best days of my life were when I worked during the summer months for Kimberly Clark in Longlac, Ontario. I and a few others stayed at a cabin on a lake outside of the town. The cabin was off the grid; there was no electricity. We adapted to it seamlessly even though we were teenagers or early 20 somethings.
My family and I have survived week long power outages on rare occasion in Florida. It never crossed my mind to bring some of them in to help elluminate our house Thank you for that most brilliant idea! Thanks for your comment Saba You remind us of how lucky we are in the US to take things like electricity for granted.
I hope things get better in Pakistan. I would love it if you would write a hub about your experiences. I'm sure lots of people here would be interested. Power failures Power failures were part of normal life in India, in our small town.
It was the fun hour or two we had as children, playing darkroom or giving our homework a miss. I don't remember if we ever panicked or planned ahead, mom was always prepared for it. We could sit outside and gaze at stars or share ghost stories, in summer times.
In winters, we huddled around grandma and listened to stories from Indian mythology. Your topic made me wee bit nostalgic I miss those days , when life was simple, friends were many and stress was unheard of. Now I know you are a real foothill dweller. I've written a couple of hubs on the same subject with similar experiences. I'd like to put in link to this. Yes we are but I moved to Jacksonville so not to many storms come our way.
However if they did I would know how to survive very well with no lights. Thanks for commenting Author Cheryl, it's a real wake up call when you have a long power outage like that. I'm so glad you got through it, I bet you're prepared now!
I lived without electric for 3 weeks when Hurricane Wilma hit Fort Lauderdale. You become very creative for sure. Thank God for our gas grill so at least we could cook.
Thanks for the comment whatmattersmost, In a survival situation I'm sure I would give up on the fish. Never thought about the candle in the fish tank idea. I like it. I don't know how it would work for a long term power outage say massive solar flare , but I think after a few months saving your fish would be the least of your worries! Still, very creative I'm sure you have a whole different perspective on things. We Americans are so spoiled and take things like electricity for granted. The national power grid is dotted with concerns for "life expectancy" issues and the promised energy changes haven't scratched the surface of this immediate concern.
Another source of jobs for the unemployed ignored by those who make politics rather than leadership their life's "work. Yeah, useful hub there; great work. But I think erratic power supply or outright outage is no new thing to us in Nigeria Africa ; it's been here before I can call "Papa", we have most of these measures in your article in place and we're coping.
But truly a community without power is liken to lifeless. Maybe I'll come up with a hub to help and fit into my own environment and situation too someday. Wow landscapeartist, that is quite a story. What an amazing experience. Thank you so much for sharing it here. Thankfully, we heat with wood, but my outside unit has a blower, so I got a power inverter and hooked it up to the pickup to get us by, and we didn't freeze.
We, on the other could not go because that very morning our dog had her first litter of puppies. We could not move them that soon and especially to a crowded auditorium. So, we grabbed as many quilts as we could and covered the windows. We brought in our kerosene heater and camping equipment. We used emergency candles for light.
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