I don’t pretend to know all there is to know or even all we need to know about how to survive without power but I will share a few things with you that I do know either from personal experience or from experiences of friends.
When the power was out in Texas a couple of winters ago, Vince would wait in line for quite a while to get fuel at ONE station in town that still had fuel. There were people in line had drive 50 miles to get fuel because that was the closest place to get it. It ran out and they didn’t get more for two days. By the way, we had several gas cans of fuel and went through that quickly. We had three freezers, the house fridge and the well pump that Vince would alternate running.
Our friends in southwest Louisiana had no power for three weeks. With a propane whole house generator, they ran out of fuel, as did the propane company.
Natural gas whole house generators are the least likely to run out of fuel but we had a tremendously expensive gas bill when we ran one of those after a January tornado many years ago. A whole house generator is great for a few days, a week or so without power . . not so much for long term power.
Our hope with generators is to keep the freezers going til we can get everything canned or given to folks who can cook it.
It is nice to have generators, whether portable or whole house, but for us, it’s much nicer to know we can survive without power and not have to be standing in line with desperate people to get fuel to run generators. With a basement that’s going to be cold but not cold to the point of us freezing to death, we’d rather count on blankets, sleeping bags, layers of clothing to stay warm than be at the mercy of finding fuel to run a generator.
Of course everyone can have their own opinion and we all must decide what’s right for our own situation/family. I feel that we’re facing unprecedented times. I will be happy if the power stays on and if the fuel for generators stays readily available but that is not what I’m counting on.
The way I look at it . . if we can run a generator for a few days and then the power comes back on, we’re good. If the power stays out longer and we need to find a way to stay warm, we’re still good. Please don’t count on something that may or may not be there when you need it most.
Susan says
We bought a generator in 1999-after 4 days without power after a hurricane. We live pretty rural so areas with more population get their electric back on sooner. We can deal without heat and appliances but we need power to get water. Trying to live without water is tough. We have been out of power for as much as 10 days. We do not run our generator continuously but it’s wonderful to be able to shower and flush the toilet. Just saying…..
judy.blog@gmail.com says
Yes! We had a well in Texas and that’s exactly what we used a generator for when power was out for days. Also, used them to keep the freezers frozen but, like you, we can stay warm and cook/eat without power. I’d much rather do without a few conveniences than to spend thousands of dollars on fuel for a generator. But, like you said – water and medical devices/equipment make it a totally different story.