How long can you (and your family) survive if the grid went down for an extended period?

[Q-Dog]

What is missing from most of your thoughts is how long can you survive if the most critical piece of equipment in your project goes BOOM when the grid is down, and you cannot get it replaced.

What happens then? We are all vulnerable to a certain extent.

Most critical piece of my setup is me.

My battery backup replaced a gasoline generator. I still have the generator. I like redundancy. I have a few extra solar panels. I have 2 solar charge controllers. I we lose all solar we will charge from the generator. If the inverter dies we'll just use the generator. If that fails I have a small inverter I can hook up to one of our vehicles to get some power into the house.

If we have to live off the generator and things get desperate we can get by on about a gallon of gas a day. I did it for 6 days ... not fun but not difficult either. Between my gas cans and the vehicles we have about 75 gallons of gas (actually more but we won't use it all) if it comes down to that.

Oh, and we have an RV too.

 

[Solarcabin Channel]

Most critical piece of my setup is me.

My battery backup replaced a gasoline generator. I still have the generator. I like redundancy. I have a few extra solar panels. I have 2 solar charge controllers. I we lose all solar we will charge from the generator. If the inverter dies we'll just use the generator. If that fails I have a small inverter I can hook up to one of our vehicles to get some power into the house.

If we have to live off the generator and things get desperate we can get by on about a gallon of gas a day. I did it for 6 days ... not fun but not difficult either. Between my gas cans and the vehicles we have about 75 gallons of gas (actually more but we won't use it all) if it comes down to that.

Oh, and we have an RV too.

You talk like someone that has been off grid awhile!

 

[OffGridForGood]

For me the most critical piece is the whole property:
If a hail storm rolls in this winter with 3" diameter hail stones I am pretty sure the only panels that will be left are the ones I mounted vertical on a wall tied to my 24v portable system.
Or if next summer the stars all align in the right way that leads to massive forest fires in my area (instead of British Columbia) then I am also basically SOL, since there is likely no way to protect everything even with aerial sprinklers, if a wind driven intensive fire comes my way.

 

[Q-Dog]

You talk like someone that has been off grid awhile!

Nope, fully on grid. I've just been through a few storms and the ensuing power outages. When you have eaten melted ice cream and cereal for breakfast, and cooked a freezer full of groceries and brought the food to neighbors (whose houses are all electric) instead of throwing it out, you start to think about making things easier.

 

[Solarcabin Channel]

For me the most critical piece is the whole property:
If a hail storm rolls in this winter with 3" diameter hail stones I am pretty sure the only panels that will be left are the ones I mounted vertical on a wall tied to my 24v portable system.
Or if next summer the stars all align in the right way that leads to massive forest fires in my area (instead of British Columbia) then I am also basically SOL, since there is likely no way to protect everything even with aerial sprinklers, if a wind driven intensive fire comes my way.

Hope that doesn't happen!

I had a brush fire almost take out my cabin not long after I built it. I learned to mow a fire break and keep all high weeds and flammables away from the cabin.

It would be a hardship but nothing I own is valuable except my dogs and I could rebuild another cabin like mine in a few months. I also have a vardo camper all set up for off grid living I can bug out with and live in if necessary.

 

[OffGridForGood]

yeah, it is super unlikely, but not impossible to have a fire come through. I can't bug out with 22 440W panles with me.
But rebuilding I can do. If we must. I suppose I should have a pallet of spare PV panels, Inverters wire, disconnects and fuses in an underground bunker ready, but I don't.
not yet.

 

[Browse]

We have never lost water or natural gas. I have a tri-fuel Honda generator and an inverter/battery backup system, so assuming power is out for a long time, we'd be running the house on battery for 20 hours/day & we'd recharge with the generator for 4 hours/day. Assuming nothing broke, we could run this setup for months. If we lost municipal water, we have a 33k gal pool to draw water from and we also have a distiller for purification. Enough food for about 4-6 months with the means to protect it.

Now if there was a widespread radiological event, we're screwed. Not sure I'd want to survive in that world anyway.

 

[Solarcabin Channel]

We have never lost water or natural gas. I have a tri-fuel Honda generator and an inverter/battery backup system, so assuming power is out for a long time, we'd be running the house on battery for 20 hours/day & we'd recharge with the generator for 4 hours/day. Assuming nothing broke, we could run this setup for months. If we lost municipal water, we have a 33k gal pool to draw water from and we also have a distiller for purification. Enough food for about 4-6 months with the means to protect it.

Now if there was a widespread radiological event, we're screwed. Not sure I'd want to survive in that world anyway.

No solar?

 

[Browse]

No solar?

No solar. System is for emergency backup only at the moment. We're in a poor solar environment where we are currently, but we plan to move to a better place in retirement in the next couple years.

 

[Crowz]

Most of you have your solar power systems installed so just running the basic necessities for your home how long can you run your system if the grid was to go down for an extended period and you can't get gas, propane, or resupply?

You all probably remember the Texas blackout of winter 2021: "At the peak, over 5 million people in Texas were without power, with 11 million experiencing an outage at some point, some for more than 3 days."

Share your experience with blackouts and your backup systems you have in place or want to get and maybe it will help other people.

Not interested in political views and this is just a "what if" thought experiment to stimulate ideas.

Consider the following:

Water system and heating water for cooking and bathing
Fresh and frozen food storage and preparation
Emergency health devices like a CPAP or oxygen machine
communications systems like phone, internet, or short wave radio
Heating or cooling your home without gas, propane or a generator.
Transportation if you need to leave your home
security to keep your family safe like alarms, cameras etc,
Taking care of special needs people that live with you
Entertainment to pass the time
sanitation and waste disposal if septic and water is cut off

Forever.

City water and natural gas for heat and generator.

Also enough solar to get by if need be too.

Also if it got bad enough my other older house has full solar still and it runs the well pump there too.

 

[pvdude]

No long (over 1 day) outages here since I put in the Solar in 2021.

But many years ago a hurricane took down the neighborhood power for 2 weeks,
we only had the generator at that time, used it carefully and did not run out of fuel.

We are on a well, no electricity-no water.
Solar runs the well pump.
In the event of solar failing or batteries can't be charged,
the Diesel genset will be used.
I store 6 - 55 gallon drums of Diesel for hurricane season.

The water is only about 50 ft. down the 4” well casing.
Thought about buying a manual hand pump to replace the electric pump motor
in cases of no electricity available under the worst case.
But there is no way to get the well pump out w/o a crane.
Don’t have a crane.
Need 6-8 tons to drag the pump up through the pipe rust & crap.

Swimming pool w/ 16,000 gallons, could be used if treated and filtered.
Have a couple of the MSR Guardian Purifier systems. Slow, but effective.
Have 6-55 gallon drums of water stored in a spare room in the house.
Lake within walking distance, would need some lakefront owner's permission to obtain water.
Not sure what else I can do to prep for water.
Very hot here most of the time, hydration is critical.

Water heater is on solar power.
Range is not on solar (grid only), so we would have to use the BBQ LP or
RV to heat water for cooking.

Refrigerators are all on solar.

Heat pump is on solar, batteries will run the AC overnight.
Can't run the heat part of the heat pump, the electric heat strips use too much power
for the solar to run.
Could switch the heat pump to generator power, but that is noisy and Diesel is expensive, not available in a disaster.
Have hats and jackets for the couple of cold days here per year.

Have gas & Diesel vehicles, and a bicycle for transportation.

Have an alarm system, but it is not on solar, and the battery would only last a little while.
Cameras on a separate system that is powered by solar.
Tripwires can be set up in the yard to alert us of trespassers.

Septic tank takes care of sewage.

The RV duplicates many living conditions if the house becomes uninhabitable.

Solar has redundant inverters and charge controllers.

We are hoping that all this redundancy is never needed!

 

[OffGridForGood]

Forever.

City water and natural gas for heat and generator.

Also enough solar to get by if need be too.

Also if it got bad enough my other older house has full solar still and it runs the well pump there too.

I think you missed that part about Texas 2021 - remember the natural gas failed. no gas
and without gas soon after some places had no water either, others had service lines freeze due to loss of the gas.

 

[OffGridForGood]

No long (over 1 day) outages here since I put in the Solar in 2021.

But many years ago a hurricane took down the neighborhood power for 2 weeks,
we only had the generator at that time, used it carefully and did not run out of fuel.

We are on a well, no electricity-no water.
Solar runs the well pump.
In the event of solar failing or batteries can't be charged,
the Diesel genset will be used.
I store 6 - 55 gallon drums of Diesel for hurricane season.

The water is only about 50 ft. down the 4” well casing.
Thought about buying a manual hand pump to replace the electric pump motor
in cases of no electricity available under the worst case.
But there is no way to get the well pump out w/o a crane.
Don’t have a crane.
Need 6-8 tons to drag the pump up through the pipe rust & crap.

Swimming pool w/ 16,000 gallons, could be used if treated and filtered.
Have a couple of the MSR Guardian Purifier systems. Slow, but effective.
Have 6-55 gallon drums of water stored in a spare room in the house.
Lake within walking distance, would need some lakefront owner's permission to obtain water.
Not sure what else I can do to prep for water.
Very hot here most of the time, hydration is critical.

Water heater is on solar power.
Range is not on solar (grid only), so we would have to use the BBQ LP or
RV to heat water for cooking.

Refrigerators are all on solar.

Heat pump is on solar, batteries will run the AC overnight.
Can't run the heat part of the heat pump, the electric heat strips use too much power
for the solar to run.
Could switch the heat pump to generator power, but that is noisy and Diesel is expensive, not available in a disaster.
Have hats and jackets for the couple of cold days here per year.

Have gas & Diesel vehicles, and a bicycle for transportation.

Have an alarm system, but it is not on solar, and the battery would only last a little while.
Cameras on a separate system that is powered by solar.
Tripwires can be set up in the yard to alert us of trespassers.

Septic tank takes care of sewage.

The RV duplicates many living conditions of the house becomes uninhabitable.

Solar has redundant inverters and charge controllers.

We are hoping that all this redundancy is never needed!

Florida - brings to mind...hurricanes...and no basement.

 

[Crowz]

I think you missed that part about Texas 2021 - remember the natural gas failed. no gas
and without gas soon after some places had no water either, others had service lines freeze due to loss of the gas.

In alabama the only hard freezing stuff is in the freezer section at the grocery store

 

[Solarcabin Channel]

I think you missed that part about Texas 2021 - remember the natural gas failed. no gas
and without gas soon after some places had no water either, others had service lines freeze due to loss of the gas.

And with no NG water pipes froze and burst and people died in the cold.

 

[OffGridForGood]

And with no NG water pipes froze and burst and people died in the cold.

Very sad that anyone would die from the weather in modern times - in Quebec in the ice storm 1998 too this happend.
I hope we all put some things in place to be ready for the extreams, and when S#@#$ happens, hopefully pool resources together with our neighbours and get through it together.

 

[Solarcabin Channel]

Very sad that anyone would die from the weather in modern times - in Quebec in the ice storm 1998 too this happend.
I hope we all put some things in place to be ready for the extreams, and when S#@#$ happens, hopefully pool resources together with our neighbours and get through it together.

That is the main reason I still do off grid vids and promote small affordable emergency power systems.

Most people can't afford a big system or don't own the house or are renting but anyone can do a small system and have enough power for a few days.

 

[trad]

After 20 years off grid through many hard winters I have learned to always have backups on hand because Murphy's law of anything that can go wrong will go wrong is a fact especially living off grid.

Yeah, thanks all for the comments (I can't quote them all) but what got me thinking, was that most of us are vulnerable to the quality of our Chinese all in one inverters. Thank goodness they never fail.....

 

[Solarcabin Channel]

Yeah, thanks all for the comments (I can't quote them all) but what got me thinking, was that most of us are vulnerable to the quality of our Chinese all in one inverters. Thank goodness they never fail.....

Some of the best inverters I have had are under 500 watt mod sine wave with no fan. I have had 2 that lasted over 10 years running 24/7 and one is still working.

 

[pvdude]

Florida - brings to mind...hurricanes...and no basement.

Around the time of the Cuban missile crisis, neighbors had underground survival shelters built.

Cuban Missile Crisis - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Florida being a giant tropical swamp, the decades turned these underground shelters into science experiments, mold, mildew, things w/ tentacles.......

Not sure how they were powered, I was a kid back then, did not think to ask, just seemed to be fun places to explore.