America's Power Grid Could Go Down!

[EverCurious]

Yea, smoke is an issue with fireplaces, especially if it's windy outside. Even with a wood stove you have to be careful to keep the flu adjusted so the wind doesn't blow a spark into the room and start a fire. Our wood stove has the doors you can close so that doesn't happen, but it does use up a lot of wood. It's not very efficient in those terms, but then again up here ya know everyone has a stack of wood ready to go... We've got three different areas piled one story high around the shop just for the wood stove, and of course we've got a crap ton of trees , even just in our yard, if things got /real/ bad and we used up all our cords.

There's also some generators that run on Nat gas though, and that might be a better option for folks who don't have access to wood (nat gas doesn't stop flowing just because the powers out and all).

 

[Care4all]

Yea, smoke is an issue with fireplaces, especially if it's windy outside. Even with a wood stove you have to be careful to keep the flu adjusted so the wind doesn't blow a spark into the room and start a fire. Our wood stove has the doors you can close so that doesn't happen, but it does use up a lot of wood. It's not very efficient in those terms, but then again up here ya know everyone has a stack of wood ready to go... We've got three different areas piled one story high around the shop just for the wood stove, and of course we've got a crap ton of trees , even just in our yard, if things got /real/ bad and we used up all our cords.

There's also some generators that run on Nat gas though, and that might be a better option for folks who don't have access to wood (nat gas doesn't stop flowing just because the powers out and all).

we don't have natural gas up here, if you use gas for your stove or whatnot, it is propane.... we have 3 cords of wood at the end of the driveway, but haven't touched it this year and probably won't, oil is actually cheaper this year, to heat the home....I think it was only $1.88 a gallon, thank goodness....we may use wood to get even toastier, the great room area...but oil, will be the primary heat ty.

Yes, we have lots of our own trees we could cut and use if push comes to shove....they are dead ones too....a few still upright, but have been dead over 5 years so the wood will be dry.... if we need them for emergency....plus, we are surrounded, nearly completely, by woods....dead dry wood everywhere....problem is finding it, if it is buried under snow...

 

[Book of Jeremiah]

I am electricity compromised-------I can calculate on the BASIS of Ohm's law----
but I really do not UNDERSTAND why little electrons running around can do
stuff------as to POWER GRID------I had the impression that there are LOTS AND LOTS of them grids-------all over the country------not just ONE BIG GIANT UNIVERSAL "grid"

An electromagnetic pulse would shut down everything including cars with computers - Rosie. We'd be living back in the 18th century overnight. If you have a vehicle made prior to 94 you could still drive it. Otherwise no. Cash for clunkers took most of those off the road.

 

[Book of Jeremiah]

Yea, smoke is an issue with fireplaces, especially if it's windy outside. Even with a wood stove you have to be careful to keep the flu adjusted so the wind doesn't blow a spark into the room and start a fire. Our wood stove has the doors you can close so that doesn't happen, but it does use up a lot of wood. It's not very efficient in those terms, but then again up here ya know everyone has a stack of wood ready to go... We've got three different areas piled one story high around the shop just for the wood stove, and of course we've got a crap ton of trees , even just in our yard, if things got /real/ bad and we used up all our cords.

There's also some generators that run on Nat gas though, and that might be a better option for folks who don't have access to wood (nat gas doesn't stop flowing just because the powers out and all).

we don't have natural gas up here, if you use gas for your stove or whatnot, it is propane.... we have 3 cords of wood at the end of the driveway, but haven't touched it this year and probably won't, oil is actually cheaper this year, to heat the home....I think it was only $1.88 a gallon, thank goodness....we may use wood to get even toastier, the great room area...but oil, will be the primary heat ty.

Yes, we have lots of our own trees we could cut and use if push comes to shove....they are dead ones too....a few still upright, but have been dead over 5 years so the wood will be dry.... if we need them for emergency....plus, we are surrounded, nearly completely, by woods....dead dry wood everywhere....problem is finding it, if it is buried under snow...

Prolonged, meaning like 3+ weeks, and depending upon the road system of the area and what not.

I'm not sure how it is in the lower 48, but up here almost all the stores have a generator for outages that last more than like 5 hours that they can flip on to ensure their freezers stay on and they don't lose all the food (it's a good business decision.) Back in the day, like 10, maybe 15 years ago, it was not unusual for my entire town to lose power for a week or so - it had very little impact upon us as far as perishable's and stuff because the stores were still taking in stock with their generators keeping everything on. The state also used to have a bunch of commercial generators on hand to give out to various cities' stores in the event of a prolonged outage. (We have a lot of little towns that only have one store up here.) So you might suggest to your reps, if one is seriously concerned, to keep some generators on hand in case of such an occurrence (if they don't already have some and you didn't know heh)


Wood stoves are probably the best defense to a prolonged outage as Care4All mentioned, a wood stove not only provides heat but you can use it to cook meals and sanitize water and such. We've gone for weeks sans power without much more than a minor inconvenience (like having to bring in rain water or snow to flush the toilets and the milk spoiled kind of thing) because of our wood stove. Ours is from the late 70's and it heats the main 2,400 sqft house quite easily, if not a bit unevenly heh

We've got two. One we installed into our wall above ground so we cannot cook on it, logs are in opening underneath. The other one, in our great room, can heat the entire house. It is has a surface to cook on. You can find wood burning stoves used, try to find a Fischer. Very old, very reliable.