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Long enough to where if power hasn't come back by then, it's not coming back at all. And at that point, power isn't going to be the biggest problem.
Water heater holds ~40 gallons and that's easily drainable. Worse comes to worst, there's a creek at the back of my property.
You could probably get a couple of Life straws for that Creek and buy yourself several weeks of drinkable water.
Not worth IMO. There's already a couple weeks of water in the water heater. If I end up needing the straws, water is only gonna be the first of many problems and most of them I won't have solutions for.
I was always told that the thing to keep track of is 3 minutes 3 days 3 weeks.
3 minutes without air, 3 days without water, 3 weeks without food.
It is less than a day until my home becomes unusable. I need the heating every day because it is winter. The heating runs on gas, but it also needs electricity.
This cannot kill me because the car is still working and the next town is only 10 minutes away.
Power outages around here are very rare, and usually shorter than 6 hours.
Tons of food in the fridge that would do fine outside with current temps. House is gas heated. I'd say we'd be good until we ran out of food. Probably a month or two including stuff from the pantry. Stove top and oven is also gas.
Very little electricity though, but you dont need that to survive. I'll play with my tools if I get bored. Would suck without much light
My house has a gas-fired boiler. In theory, I should keep heat during a power outage, right?
In practice, the circulation pump needs electricity, so the house gets kinda chilly during power outages.
Hmm, I should see about getting a backup battery for the boiler.
If one likes to think about this kind of questions then [email protected] might be a place you enjoy as well.
my 800 gallon propane tank is more than half full. Since I switched everything but the generator to natural gas last year I can probably go several months if I can get food.
We have 2 cars so could load up everyone human, dog, and cat and go somewhere else, so I guess theoretically a lifetime.
Longest blackout I've experienced was 2 weeks and my WHOLE house was electric, well pump included. It was getting sketchy by the end, so I guess at least a couple of weeks here, longer if there is safe water.
It's not really possible in a tiny apartment building where we have virtually no control over utilities (besides paying for them). I have a bunch of candles and some canned food but that's it. Maybe 2-3 days
Gas heaters work during an outage, but they use electric fans to distribute the heat.
We have solar panels, so we'd be good during the day, not so much at night.
Mine doesn't have a pilot light, and instead uses electric arcs to light the gas. So I would be even more out of luck.
I recently moved, so not as well as at my old house which had solar and a whole house battery. We had several times where we lost grid power for a few days and it was annoying but basically fine. I had to turn off most electronics but we could keep the fridge and other important things going. The oven was gas so and I had a propane grill so cooking was sorted.
Now Iβm in a five plex where everything except the water heater is electric and I donβt have my grill. I do have a small camp stove and a few fuel canisters. Mostly importantly I have a big camping battery and solar setup to run our CPAPs and keep the phones charged, plus a weeks worth of camp foods in our emergency bin. So, weβd be ok enough for a week.
EDIT: Water isn't big of an issue as you might think. In most places, municipal water will continue to work for several days from gravity alone, and often has its own backup power systems or is on a different supply from the city. At the old house we also had a backup 55 gallons in a long term storage drum with treatment tablets and a calendar reminder to swap it out on schedule. I never ended up using the water in an emergency but it's cheap insurance.
our heat is electric. building was built in the 70's during the energy crisis. wed be fucked. it needs massive renevation but if I could ever get the economic ducks in a row and do that I would like to have a batter system.
I have a small 2kw military surplus generator that's big enough to power my fridge, oil fired heating system and my computers. If I need to power a microwave or toaster oven, I can unplug the fridge or turn off the heating for a few minutes without an issues. The generator only uses about 3 gallons a day and with the heating oil tank, I have enough fuel for around 100 days. For those that don't know, diesel fuel and home heating oil are the same thing. Heating oil and offroad diesel have a dye added to indicate that it has no onroad tax applied.
A bunch of macho men gave me shit for only getting a 2kw generator when they had 10 to 15kw generators, but I know what I need and will enjoy not having to wait in line for fuel at the gas stations when there's a wide area blackout.
My fiancΓ©e will be dead within two days
I could go up to six weeks without power or if there was some event that caused significant social unrest, provided I'm not murdered. I made it a habit during the first Trump admin to have an emergency food and water supply, largely because he really isn't a terribly competent leader, and then when COVID hit and people bought out everything everywhere, it just reinforced the importance of having supplies on-hand.
It stays above freezing during the day here.
So, considering the house is dead, I'd probably pile into my car, grab a second car battery and tie it in parallel to my current one and just get some heated blankets and run them and the car when it gets too bad at night, then let the voltage rise back up while the car is running on occasion.
It's not ideal, but I'm poor and I wouldn't freeze. As for cooking, etc, I can get inventive with a propane tank.
I can probably survive as long as water is available. I assume, heating (gas) will fail, but then the house temperature will only drop slowly and a sleeping bag with some blankets should keep us alive. Food? Tough, I don't keep much food and most of what i have is refrigerated. But then things don't spoil instantly. I would first eat what's in the fridge, then from the freezer, then whatever is kept at room temperature.
I guess two weeks. The real problem is all the other people and no functioning police, fire brigade, ambulance. I don't grow my own food or hunt, so this will be practical problem, but I'm more afraid of all the other people who are also desperate.
checks camping and hunting gear in closet
Yeah I'm good.
Sucks. 2 charged laptops, one almost charged 10 Ah power bank, although it's old. My phone shows 58%, which under normal use with internet can be 2 days, far longer if left offline in standby of course, not... (checks, with a hard swallow) 8 hours of screen time. I also have a hand-crank radio + power bank, but I am not sure how much that can generate.
OK-ish, not ideal. Depends how long it'll take.
In theory pretty good. I have solar that does about 80% of my daily use. Battery backup islanded to the solar for the fridge and freezer and the electronics in the gas water heater. Plus a few outlets in each room. I've got a gas range and induction burner so I can cook two ways.
Pretty much comes down to water and food. I've got about 4 days of water and maybe a month of food. If the water keeps flowing I can boil it as needed.
