What Would You Do If..........?

energysavingexp

lemontart wrote: »

Only if major one, still make calls on mobiles in power cut. I get calls daily from mobiles saying there is a power cut, but given I work at gas emergency service I can merely advise people to call their electricity distribution company, Land lines and home internet will not work

Telecommunications industry and land lines included will still work in a power outage as they are backed up by batterys and generators just like hospitals

lemontart

Had some folk saying their land lines were not working during power cuts but who knows why that was.

lemontart

found this site with some useful info and tips in the event of a power cut

http://www.powercuts.info/faq

And this for vulnerable customers

http://www.ukpowernetworks.co.uk/products-services/networks/pdf/Priority_Services_A5.pdf

will update for other areas as this for southeast
http://www.central-networks.co.uk/


http://www.sppowersystems.co.uk/PowerLossandEmergencies/priorityservices.asp

tim9966

I have a portable gas heater which also gives out a bit of light.

It came in very useful one night last winter when the power did go off for a few hours.

My parents house which is out in the Countryside has also had power cuts every few months, normally lasting a few hours, but I do remember it being off for 3 days about 20 years ago. They have candles, 2 fires, one which has a flat bit over over to be able to heat food and water.

Poosmate

Thanks for your replies all.

I was thinking worse case scenario and for some reason the electric and gas goes off I have a camping gas stove and a meths burner stove thingy which I was thinking I could use in the garage to cook on but then I may as well use them in the house because the garage is carpeted too! Not that I am posh! lol It's an old carpet but makes it comfortable to nip out to the freezer in bare feet.

Maybe it's time to see about fitting a wood burning stove, least then I'd have heat and cooking facilities and a bit of light. I also wonder about those small wind power generators - I mean the ones you see on some narrow boats which are used to top up the battery on the boats? One of them mounted on the roof of my garage should generate something, maybe enough to charge a mobile phone or I have one of those car battery thingies in a yellow case with a plug socket and jump leads which you can charge from your car through the cigarette lighter socket or mains - would be handy to keep that charged up.

I think travelling gadgets and camping gear is the stuff to invest in! lol

Anyway, if there was an iminent power cut and a call to the nation to reduce their usage, I would hope that people would start turning off their lights (outdoor lights, indoor lights in unused rooms (the ones the kids left on), appliances not in use, freezers, fridges, etc) <--- and probably in that order. Could the iminent power cut be averted?

Poo

lemontart

Avert a power cut? properly not they happen for so many reasons, check who your distributor is as they will have details of planned work that may lead to an outage but acts of god and accidents are another matter - again your distributor will have a contact number with a recorded message that they will update with news.

As for the original scenario I truly cannot see that happening unless something serious happens but even then there are contingency plans in force for such it is part and parcel the licenses that all parties involved in the generation and transmission of electricity and likewise for gas distribution. Whilst having options and being prepared is great there really is no need to worry on an national level .

energysavingexp

lemontart wrote: »

Had some folk saying their land lines were not working during power cuts but who knows why that was.

maybe that they had a cordless phone which requires the mains

Pincher

grahamc2003 wrote: »

Did you miss the bit where I said the problem is generating capacity, and not (mainly) demand?

20% of our reliable capacity is being decommissioned.

The billions being invested is almost all in unreliable capacity.

I'm please that doesn't worry you (and to be fair, the government and most other people).

But it worries those with the relevent expertise.

David Kelly was so worried about the weapons of mass destruction that he went behind a tree and shot himself.

I worked on a system where the Technical Policy was to run at 60% capacity, with peak load at 75%. If peak usage exceeds 75%, we need to increase capacity ASAP. The last time I was involved, we were running at 98% capacity on one of the criteria, DAILY.

I hear Stalin executed team A (scientists) of his Cosmonaut program because they were behind schedule.

This is why you should all make me supreme dictator, so an engineer can run this country properly.