Preparedness for when

nuatha

ragz wrote: »

My Dad got me this for my birthday this year, (updated version) I happily lost myself in it for a few days (really want a cow now!), but I did find a lot of the advice didn't seem to go in depth enough - I wondered whether it would actually be possible to do any of his ideas from the book alone, did you make the oil drum thing from that alone or using extra tutorials from somewhere?

I'm fairly sure the original version was straight from the book, though I was already aware of how the technologies worked, just hadn't thought of applying them that way. Once it was working, it got played with to try to improve its efficiency and that probably involved a chunk of library research as well as some guess work.
I tend to regard the book as a starting point or a refresher for things I should remember.

Also, thanks for the generator info, will pass it on to hubby. I always assume he knows what he's doing (he did mechanical engineering at college, his twin did electrical, so between them they get most stuff) but he may have missed a few bits.

They can fill in the bits I've missed as well. I've mates in both disciplines, they're useful people to know

nuatha

Perplexed_Pineapple wrote: »

Nuatha wow, what a lot of useful information! I can see it's going to take some thinking and tinkering to get this properly understood. I'm starting to suspect that from having an emergency power supply for freezers etc, if you want a properly reliable back-up, it's only a small step further to going fully "off-grid". Which would need a lot of time, energy and cash but might well be worth it in the longer term.

In my current location, off grid isn't really feasible, and health issues might mean this is never an option, but its fun stuff to play with (ok, I'm warped) But its good to keep our options as open as possible and we never know what's around the corner. Its easier to experiment when your wellbeing doesn't rely on it, and making your mistakes on a small scale is far cheaper than it might be otherwise.

RAS wrote: »

If you want a little inspiration read http://www.judyofthewoods.net/ - particularly the section on simple living which is anything but simple and as Judy says somewhere in her writings far from cheap.

http://scoraigwind.co.uk/ - Hugh Piggott's new home page (the old one is a goodie as well. Scoraig is off grid so wholly home generated.

CAT once had a display with several wind turbines including the oil drum and bicycle wheel versions (the latter used to trickle charge a battery). All gone as they tend to focus on more sophisticated technology these days.

This is one of my favourite stories http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8257153.stm

Thank you for the links.
Its a shame that CAT has gone down this route. Much of the more sophisticated tech isn't sustainable (yet) but in a major SHTF scenario, the sort of thing they've abandoned is still very doable - theirs still plenty of alternators sitting in scrapyards up and down the country.

grandma247

I just wanted to comment on canners. I used the link to look at that one and found @m@zon uk are now selling others from the us. This one is similar to the presto. I like that it has a few extras that I would have liked such as an extra tray for another layer of the smaller jars.

I have successfully used ordinary jars that cook in sauces come in with new lids. It enabled me to do a large quantity of canning before I could afford lots of kilner jars.I just asked everyone I knew to save me their jars.

I am pleased to see they are doing the ball canning jars too for a good price.

The all American is very strong and does not need any gaskets so you don't need to replace anything. It is an heirloom that can be passed on because it will last.

mardatha

I think if we were younger we would def go off-grid. It would be easier to start from scratch and go the whole hog, but you need energy and money to do it.

RAS

nuatha wrote: »

In my current location, off grid isn't really feasible, and health issues might mean this is never an option, but its fun stuff to play with (ok, I'm warped) But its good to keep our options as open as possible and we never know what's around the corner. Its easier to experiment when your wellbeing doesn't rely on it, and making your mistakes on a small scale is far cheaper than it might be otherwise.

I think that if on-grid is available, off-grid kit is for playing with, fun.

If the grid fails or become unreliable, then off grid make sense but until then the cost of off-grid as anything other then emergency cover is not good.

Having grown up in places where the grid failed several times a year for up to 5 days at a time, I would have far more back-up in a similar situation than I have in the city where one 2 day break-down would be unusual (has not happened in the last 20 years).

In the mean-time I check the load of kit to give me more options so I could use stuff off battery power if necessary.

homesteadchick

mardatha wrote: »

I think if we were younger we would def go off-grid. It would be easier to start from scratch and go the whole hog, but you need energy and money to do it.

and a young, strong, flexible body! It's been so long since I had me one of those, that I can barely remember it..

RAS

homesteadchick wrote: »

and a young, strong, flexible body! It's been so long since I had me one of those, that I can barely remember it..

I would be happy with a reliable body! Even though the current discomforts mean that I will be in a position to improve my strength when it calms down. Things seem to shift (towards a better alignment) just when I hope to have time to do something difficult.

pineapple

homesteadchick wrote: »

and a young, strong, flexible body! It's been so long since I had me one of those, that I can barely remember it..

One has considered renting one but one doesn't have the cash

ALIBOBSY

Bedsit_Bob wrote: »

ALIBOBSY, you've got the monthly "Threat-O-Grams", and the occasional visits from the commission salesmen, to look forward to.

I have read up on that BB lol. Lots of interesting info online about their lying threatening tactics, worse than debt collectors in a lot of ways. TBH it annoys me that the licence fee hasn't been forced into a cut, given the recent financial climate. The Beeb wastes so much money. I wonder if its an age thing though. Ev1 I know over the age of about 60 goes on about how great the BBC is and how they wouldn't want to get rid of the LF, ev1 I know my age or younger would be happy to get rid.

I admit to watching BBC2 and BBC3 on occasion, but would be just as happy for BBC2 to have ad's like BBC3 and I bet in a average week I rarely put BBC1 on. If I had to pick only 10 channels to keep BBC1 wouldn't make the list.

I do think by the time we will be looking to get rid the LF may not even exist-our youngest is only 3 and maybe even traditional schedules and watching tv live may have gone for a burton. Certainly our kids are used to downloading stuff and watching stuff when you want, not when its on.

Ali x

westcoastscot

Hi Guys,

Really busy week here at work - life is still getting harder and harder for a lot of folks despite the talk of "green shoots",and folks tend to come to us as a last resort when desperate.

When we lived on the island, electricity came to our bit in the late 70's (before my time) but the old diesel genny was there in the shed and well used during the frequent power cuts. We were always the last back on. It was smelly, noisy and messy!!!!!! I only prep for disruptions of any sort, since in an EOTWAWKI situation I'm stuffed anyway, and the only thing we really lack is lighting, although through habit I tend to go to bed and rise with daylight/nightfall. I mostly use candles for that period from 4pm to around 8.30/9 when I turn in. You just need to get into the habit of getting fine/close work done in the day, and leave the less detailed stuff to fill your evenings.

Anyway, to more mundane stuff we ran out of bread today - it cost £3.60 in my local shop for a dozen white rolls!!!! It's so expensive here!! So, just cleared out my current account doing an online "click and collect" shop in the city to replenish the shelves.

Notjustlaura got your pm - will respond fully later today

Hope Lyn is having a wonderful time,

edited to say: we didn't have a tv license for many years - no reception. I did offer to pay and black and white license to cover the radio but they advised it wouldn't be necessary. We had a letter confirming it once, and never had any trouble with them - I found the service efficient and courteous. We only got a tv when we moved here ten years ago

WCS