Household Generators and Hurricane Preps

[ziactrice]

A good friend is asking about home generators - I know someone on my Friends list has one. Would you speak up so he can pick your brain about the details for installation, care, and feeding

Comments

[silkensteel]

I've seen those forehead headband cooler things, where you soak it in water and wear it, and evaporative cooling does the job. I have my doubts as to whether it works well enough in high humidity. (Spent enough time in Phila/NJ that I've experienced High Humidity

[fearsclave]

+1 on the axes recc. A Leatherman multitool is also insanely handy

Reply to fearsclave

[ziactrice]

I have a Leatherman - and yes, insanely useful. Now gets carried on my belt, despite the fact it tends to dig in whenever I sit. I need to get a drape-holster for it

Reply to silkensteel

[ziactrice]

1) the humidity we experienced after Rita and Ike was about 96-98%, so any evap cooling - including the body's own sweat, doesn't work so well. That is a good part of what makes the after-heat so unbearable, I think. Although if you don't have it, you can't use it. I will get a few of those headband things just in CASE the humidity is low enough they can help

[kengr]

Just general power outage stuff here. I find that having stuff like canned chili or beef stew that can be eaten straight from the can if necessary is a good thing to have.

Reply to kengr

[ziactrice]

For me it's ravioli, pork'n beans, and chili. :) I need to get some #10s, though, the tiny ones just aren't enough when I'm stressed.

Re: Reply to kengr

[kengr]

#10 cans are way too big for me to use before they spoil.

Not much for pork & beans. Besides, since one of my staples is beans & rice, I often (but not always) have a pot of that (and a *large* container of cooked beans in the fridge as I make double-sized batches = 10 cups cooked beans)

Cannred ravioli is ok, even spaghetti-Os are tolerable. But the chili tends to be cheap and taste better to me.

Re: Reply to kengr

[ziactrice]

Drat, I didn't mean those cafeteria-sized mega-cans. I mean the pantry sized 14 ounces volume. The kind you can cook hobo style on the grill. Open the top and heat 'em up.

[fatfred]

I have my own small portopotty with blue liquid fills from when I used to do Pensic.
But I'm just picky that way.

[fearsclave]

Each of us goes through 54 rolls of toilet paper a year. This is a good numebr to keep in mind for planning purposes. Feminine hygiene supplies are also worth stockpiling.

[ziactrice]

And some of those "feminine hygiene supplies" also will make very good, large bandages if push comes to shove.

[kengr]

I'm told tampons work for large puncture wounds...

[jhetley]

Hand pump water filter? The one we have claims to deal with anything organic. (Dissolved poisons, not so much.)

You may already have a tent. If not, sometimes people have to evacuate to places that don't have shelter.

Spare 5-gallon jerrycan of gas.

reply to jhetley

[ziactrice]

I don't have a water filter yet. I think I need to look into one. There is a SODIS method of solarizing drinking water described in Wiki and approved by the United Nations I could easily use, given the sun heat around here I could do it on the dash of my car.

Dissolved poisons shouldn't really be a problem from the municipal systems, just bacteria from the non-flow and low pressure leak-in. Ground water here is likely contaminated, though, and I wouldn't trust my rain water without a wash-collection and dump device. Arsenic ain't no fun. And who knows what the pollution contains.

Got two 5 gallon spares for gasoline, and 3 5 gallons for water (above and beyond the storage of water in tubs in the baths for flushing water, that is, this is pure drinking water). Plus I started brewing to be able to have lots of mead and such sitting stable in bottles for emergency use for drinking; those can be diluted somewhat to prevent over-dosing, if need be and the water holds out.

[saoba]

Small things that have come in useful after Big Uncomfortable Events:

* Those silver mylar space/survival blankets pack down to smaller than a pack of cards & are wicked cheap. I used to keep a couple of them rolled up in the foot of each sleeping bag.

* Ziplocks! Keeping water of dubious cleanliness out of stuff is a good idea.

* Wet wipes and hand sanitizer.