7 Equipment Ideas For Home Without Power
November 29, 2011, Submitted by: Ken Tweet
Guest post: by Ted K.
Long ago and far away, I lived without electricity for several years. Water quality was also questionable at times so I had to be aware of my treatment system at all times. Since this was many years ago, much has changed in way of equipment. Here are my ideas regarding equipment and upgrades for a home without power and water supply of questionable quality:
(1) All portable lights should share a common battery type. such as AA or AAA and hopefully they will be mostly LED lighting. I like to provision out one LED headlamp per responsible adult and a back-up LED flashlight on their person. LED lamps will shine for so long, it is a huge improvement over the flashlights of yore. A headlamp makes it easier to wash dishes at night. About the only time a headlamp might be a bad idea is if you are hunting a critter that shoots back at night. (think tactical) Anyway, it is nice to be able to use BOTH hands sometimes. An LED lantern would be good too.
(2) In a well ventilated home, I have opted for propane over the years. If a white gas stove and lantern is purchased, It has to be used and serviced periodically in order to maintain the integrity of the seals. The years I lived off grid found me purchasing either a repair kit annually or a new stove/lantern. When you use it everyday, the liquid fuel just seems to wear things out faster. Those years saw me switch almost exclusively to using propane and propane appliances. Be sure to keep plenty of lantern mantles on hand as well.
(3) My sierra cups have been replaced by insulated mugs over 20 years ago. This former woodsman got sick and tired of burning his lips on hot metal long ago. They do make insulated mugs out of metal, you just have to look. I found a good one at Eddy Baur travel section the other day.
(4) Whether you burn wood, charcoal, propane or white gas, keep a set of work gloves on hand to protect your hands from heat, slivers the occasional nasty bug the might be hiding in the firewood.
(5) Diamond sharpening stones to sharpen your knives. They are lighter, they work well and they seem to last a long time. Over the years, I believe I lost more of these to theft than to wearing out.
(6) A good supply of metal cookwear including metal pails in which to haul away hot ashes, embers. The Ultimate water treatment almost always involves boiling it for a full minute at sea level. (longer at high altitude) I boiled my water for several months until my paychecks started rolling in. I survived. Just remember that filters can clog, filters can break and the filter element must be protected from freezing. (frozen and thawed filters do not work very well if at all) The funnel with a coffee filter works well to prefilter your water. Ultrafine sediments must be allowed to settle out.
(7) A gallon of plain bleach (clorox) can be a wonderful thing to have in the off grid home. Especially if your water supply is questionable. You may have noticed that many of the items I just mentioned can be found at your local hardware store, grocery store or kitchen shop. Camping stores are like an adult version of Toys R Us for recreational campers. The items are expensive and frequently do not work well. Before you go to the sporting goods outlets, go to the local farm supply, hardware store or grocery store to see what is available. It is not very sexy but the stuff will work.
Ken adds: Here are a few items that Ted spoke about above, which may give you ideas or coax you to be better prepared.
LED Flashlights: Headband – Headlamp style
Coleman 2-Burner Propane Stove
Stainless Steel double wall insulated mug
Don’t forget about a portable winter heat source:
Mr. Heater Buddy 4,000-9,000-BTU Indoor-Safe Portable Radiant Heater
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Great post by a guy that has “been there, done that.” Really liked this one. MSB does a good job (thanks Ken) of presenting low cost solutions that stand the test of time, in addition to some of the more expensive ones. Albeit the low cost may require a little bit of elbow grease.
If you read some of the other blogs out there, you end up thinking you need to sell your house along with your firstborn in order to have enough cash to be prepared…i.e. you are directed to the highest tech, highest cost solutions regardless of low cost alternatives.
I prefer the simple, low tech, low cost solution nearly every time (paracord, duct tape, chlorox)…they allow you to be prepared in more areas (low cost) with a higher percentage of success (low tech typically [not always - e.g. LED lighting] leaves less parts to fail/malfunction). Ted K. gave a great example of water filtering with a funnel, coffee filter and boiling as opposed to the latest and greatest $400 Stainless Steel Water Filter System. Also good to know how much bleach to add per quart/gallon of water, too much won’t kill the bugs, too much will give you other problems.
I agree with US Citizen, what a cool post. Many of us may be forced soon to live off the grid because of the circumstances of the world. People have lived off the modern world for thousands of years, and many still do and make it just fine. In fact they often appreciate life a lot more so to be grateful for the little things in life. Nice post Ted, very informative and should help to get people prepared for what is likely coming.
On a blog I read to use a ceramic coffee cup to sharpen your knives–it works; not all knives adhere to this, but the two I use in the kitchen for paring sharpened beautifically.
Every fall Walmart sells off their cheapo path lights. These are solar charged with a rechargeable AA battery and a single LED. Here is what you can do: First cut the connection to the sensor that turns the light on when it gets dark so the light doesn’t drain your battery. Then get a better quality AA battery, the one sold with the light is less then half the capacity of a good one. Now you have a solar charger for about $3.
Second buy a LED camp lantern or flashlight that uses AA batteries and now you have a complete system: a solar charger and a light source for cheap bucks.
I use this when I go camping with my motorhome. Obviously I have batteries and lights in the motor home but I prefer to use them to power my laptop. In a grid down situation it would give you light at home to work, read, prepare meals, etc.
nice idea! I’m gonna try this- thanks!
@Ted K…Great article!!! I am a flashlight freak and agree with you whole heartedly on the battery issue. I particularly like the AAA batteries because a lot of headlights use 1,2, or 3 batteries and a lot of handhelds use the AAA carrier that holds 3 batts and slides into the light as a unit. I have some of the high tech flashlights that use peculiar batteries and very expensive lamps and only burn for 30-45 minutes at best, so why bother? LED lights are the way to go and it lets you standardize your batteries. I have 3 light sources in every BOB and they all use AAA batts. Also kudos to CountryGirl on the path lights idea. If nothing else you can put a bunch of lights out to charge during the day and use them at night if outside. I have 8-10 that sit out on the garden table and are handy “torches” for little quikie trips out in the yard at night. I also have a couple of PV rechargeable flashlights and several “shake” flashlights. Also I have found that the “recreational” items don’t stand up well to the rigors of real life. I go to the surplus store, Tractor Supply store or Atwell’s to look for better quality items for survival prepping. I have used propane for years. It works much more efficiently than NG and for the duration of the supply on hand you are independent of the energy grid. Again, great article. Enjoy.
Wow, I never knew that my original blog would draw interest. Howdy all you out there.
This was written to your blog after reading about the difficulties to restore power to the people living back east after a major storm moved through their state (I believe it was CT.) It was sad to read about. It was sad because if one is prepared, these instances can be turned into a minor inconvenience rather than an emergency.
To: US Citizen: I believe the ratio of clorox bleach to water was one teaspoon to one gallon of water to obtain a drinkable solution. It still tasted mildly like bleach but it is the solution I used to rinse my salad in prior to ingestion everyday for several years. I am still here though one could argue whether or not I am “normal”.
My wife is a survivor of a large earthquake that hit the San Francisco Bay Area. (Loma Prieta back in 1980s) She still gets a little freaked out when the power goes out. Her coping mechanism was to grab every flashlight and radio she could get and pile it on the kitchen table. My own reaction is only slightly less neurotic in that I grab a can of something for dinner, a weapon of some type, a wind-up radio and a headlamp. During my last earthquake, (San Simeon mid 2000s) I walked my dog around our block and we checked in on our neighbors prior to sunset to make sure everybody was alright.
Years later we laugh about these times. We are able to because we had enough of what we needed to get by. Our neighbors also remember us reaching out to them and we reciprocate with each other over the years. Now that I have “settled down”, It would be tough for me and my wife to “bug out” rather now I think I am part of the “Bug in crowd”.