tbhas6
Senior Member
Posts: 1,146
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Post by tbhas6 on Oct 12, 2012 15:45:19 GMT -5
This year will be our 2nd eastern Montana winter. Last winter was VERY mild for this area. Everyone has warned me that this coming winter will probably be MUCH more severe.
The locals have told us to prepare for at least a 1 week power outage w/ temps as low as 30 below. (living in the country this means no power to operate the water well pump). I've also been told to prepare for at least 2 weeks of being snow bound (not able to get in or out of our property).
There are several things we are doing to prepare BUT being from the south, I'm SURE I'm missing quite a few things. Do any of you ladies from the north have any suggestions for me?
Thanks, tb
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jen
Charitable Lady
Posts: 229
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Post by jen on Oct 12, 2012 19:13:12 GMT -5
What things have you planned already? I used to live in a fairly remote area and although the winters weren't nearly as severe as what you'll get in Montana (we're on the east coast of Canada) we used to have a lot of power outages when I was a girl. A good wood stove was always must-have number one, and an oil lamp was must-have number two!
Friends of ours had a propane stove in their kitchen instead of an electric one, so they were always able to cook pretty much as usual when the power was out. I envied them that!
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tbhas6
Senior Member
Posts: 1,146
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Post by tbhas6 on Oct 15, 2012 13:22:42 GMT -5
Hi Jen, Thanks for the inquiry. Our range and fireplace w/ battery back-up, located on the main floor, run off propane (1,000 gal tank - filled last month), we have 2 portable INDOOR propane heaters (1 for upstairs & 1 for the basement near the plumbing) w/ 5 gal. tanks, between our freezers and summer canning we have plenty of food stores, we have a generator that will power the fridge & freezers (we used this for hurricanes while down south), 3 oil lamps & 5 quarts of oil, 1 battery powered lantern, various candles.
I'm most concerned about a lack of water - no electricity = no power for the water pump. There is a nice area in our basement where we could set up a water storage system. Unfortunately, we do not have any experience with water storage. Down home we'd get plenty of notice before a hurricane & would draw up 150-200 gal of water just in case we lost power. However, up here we won't have any forward notice of a winter power outage and would most likely be snowed in. Do you have any experience with, or knowledge about, storing water?
Thanks for sharing your experience and wisdom,
tb
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jen
Charitable Lady
Posts: 229
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Post by jen on Oct 16, 2012 5:20:28 GMT -5
It sounds like you're quite well prepared. I don't have any experience with water storage, but we've always kept bottled water on hand for drinking water. It's overpriced, but it keeps safely long-term. If it's in the budget, an emergency stock of disposable dishware cuts down on the amount of water needed in an outage. (It's nice not to have a stack of dishes to deal with in addition to all the household chores that need to be caught up when the power comes back.) Also baby wipes. We always have them around at this stage of life anyway, but in an outage they're really handy! I suppose if you get caught by a surprise snowstorm and worse comes to worst, you could always melt snow for flushing toilets. We've always had plenty of water for outages here by filling the bathtub if it looked like a bad storm, but power has never been out for more than a couple of days. Nothing long-term like you might have there! When I was little, we had a dug well and could lower a bucket for water if necessary. The down side was that it dried up for a time almost every August.
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tbhas6
Senior Member
Posts: 1,146
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Post by tbhas6 on Nov 11, 2012 12:29:45 GMT -5
Hi Jen,
Thanks for the tips about disposable dinnerware, baby wipes, and melted snow for toilets - GREAT suggestions. I plan to go into town (60 miles one-way) next week and have these items on my supply list. This will most likely be mine & the children's last trip into town until March, as our weather is beginning to turn.
We voiced our water concerns w/ my dad who has lived off-grid for 35 years, BUT has always been blessed with a spring fed creek to feed his gravitational water system. He told us that large water barrels will keep water safe for months at a time. He also suggested a non-electric water filtering system (available through Lehman's Non-Electric catalog) if we wanted additional safe-guards.
Thus, we've purchased four 55 gal. water drums w/ hose spigots on the bottom. Mr.B built stands for them so they will be high enough off the ground to easily fill buckets. The hose spigot allows us to attach a garden hose to drain them through our sump pump so they can be sanitized and refilled twice per year.
We also have 20 gal. of bottled & filtered drinking water.
tb
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jen
Charitable Lady
Posts: 229
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Post by jen on Nov 12, 2012 14:48:45 GMT -5
Wow, you are really organized! I haven't gotten my act together for outages yet, though we're not likely to be snowed in here for another eight weeks if at all. You have inspired me, though!
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jalynn
Senior Member
Posts: 512
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Post by jalynn on Nov 14, 2012 13:39:55 GMT -5
I live in NE Oklahoma where we get very cold (31 below zero) & lots of snow & sleet....& we've had mild winters w/no snow & tolerable weather....you just never know! A few yrs. ago I decided to purchase some of the styrofoam insulation used in construction & I cut pieces enough to fit my windows & patio door when it got really cold...it cut our heating costs by 40% & we stayed toasty warm. I fixed them where I could remove them easily & I really don't care what it looks like from the outside. Our street isn't well traveled anyway. We have a generator for the lights & appliances w/ several gallons of gas stored & my stove is gas. I have about a 6 month pantry & a couple of oil lamps & several flashlights w/a stock of batteries. We drink filtered water & will replinish our stock when we go to Sams later this month. Hopefully it won't be so bad this year. DH has to commute 110 round trip daily for work.
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