The Prepping Thread - A Newer Beginning ;)

Thriftygifty

@Deleted_User this was my thought process I'll give the stove people a call tomorrow and arrange for a home visit. We had the option 6 years ago when we were sorting the heating but ended up going with an overly complicated boiler due to the cost of the chimney urghh. 

Tink_04

Started my prep box of longer life items again after finishing it during the pandemic (Anything with a BB date of 2024 (was 23) gets put in the box as the future is uncertain) This was a huge help when homeschooling kids, having less wages due to furlough and needing to make the pennies stretch. 

…… Such a sad day today for Ukraine, my heart breaks for the families fleeing.

Guineapigsqueaks

I would say read up on the health risks of open fires/log burners before you decide whether to go ahead.  They release harmful PM2.5 not only into the local area, but also directly into your home.

Happy_Sloth

morning ladies and gents... felling a little lost this morning.   I sort of feel like we are the kids in the playground watching the bully's beat up the little guys. Sure we asked nicely for them to not do it and we've told them we won't be friends anymore but sometimes bully's need to be made to back the $^%£ up.  

I know the situation is complex and its isn't as simple as all that... i get it, but my heart is breaking,  i'm desperately wracking my brain to work out what a mid 40's woman can do to help  

Not to mention my anxiety is though the roof! what do i have, what don't i have... do i have enough ... kinda having a meltdown this morning    

grace68

Happy_Sloth said:

morning ladies and gents... felling a little lost this morning.   I sort of feel like we are the kids in the playground watching the bully's beat up the little guys. Sure we asked nicely for them to not do it and we've told them we won't be friends anymore but sometimes bully's need to be made to back the $^%£ up.  

I know the situation is complex and its isn't as simple as all that... i get it, but my heart is breaking,  i'm desperately wracking my brain to work out what a mid 40's woman can do to help  

Not to mention my anxiety is though the roof! what do i have, what don't i have... do i have enough ... kinda having a meltdown this morning    

I know how you feel, its like we have let our friends down. I don't know if there is anything we can really do at the moment, just pray the Western Governments get their act together before Putin decides, or accidently, infringes into a NATO country. I think we have to accept things will be more painful for us, whether that means more expense or power cuts, its going to be no where near what those in Ukraine are going through.
I have been watching camping stoves on ebay, for several months, was planning to buy one end of this month, but the cheaper ones have sold out over night! So will reassess what i can afford. I don't drive but hearing people starting to panic buy again, would hope as preppers we don't have to panic, and most of us could see this building up for weeks, but think we have to take stock and then fill in gaps where we can.

elaine241

Thriftygifty said:

Is now the time for us to be getting a log burner installed? 

I would look at Facebook market place there are plenty of second hand wood burners available (at the moment) and they are a lot less expensive than new. Any good plumber can install one safely, often you can get flues second hand too. You have to ensure that the flue and wood burner are correctly fitted and sealed. We have a CO2 alarm next to our wood burner as a precaution. We always ensure we burn well seasoned wood that is split and left in IBO container crates to totally dry. Burning fresh or poor quality wood can lead to problems with emissions and "tarring" up the chimney. We are lucky in that we have easy access to plenty of wood. In the summer I go round collecting dead  oak branches/twigs to build up my kindling pile as I find this time of year I am scratching about having used it all.

CCW007

Thriftygifty said:

@Deleted_User this was my thought process I'll give the stove people a call tomorrow and arrange for a home visit. We had the option 6 years ago when we were sorting the heating but ended up going with an overly complicated boiler due to the cost of the chimney urghh. 

You say you considered it when you sorted heating so at the time were you considering a stove with a back boiler to run the heating as well? They need electricity to run; we considered it when we had our stove installed but opted for a stand-alone stove with no back boiler so we could have heating and cooking in the event of a power cut.

elaine241

CCW007 said:

Thriftygifty said:

@Deleted_User this was my thought process I'll give the stove people a call tomorrow and arrange for a home visit. We had the option 6 years ago when we were sorting the heating but ended up going with an overly complicated boiler due to the cost of the chimney urghh. 

You say you considered it when you sorted heating so at the time were you considering a stove with a back boiler to run the heating as well? They need electricity to run; we considered it when we had our stove installed but opted for a stand-alone stove with no back boiler so we could have heating and cooking in the event of a power cut.

At our old house we installed a Dursley interchanger, sounds complicated but isn't. It basically allowed us to put the boiler on and light the wood burner. Once the woodturner was up to temperature it would take over the heating from the boiler. When there was a power cut , the interchanger did need electricity to run regarding the switch over but would allow hot water to circulate without power. 

CCW007

That's interesting, thanks Elaine.  Hadn't heard of that and wasn't something we were made aware of when we looked into it.

maryb

Definite queues today at the petrol station and one pump was empty.  Now that one of the tabloids has run a story on it, there probably will be a run on petrol, it's a self fulfilling prophecy.  All our cars are topped up anyway because an offshoot of Extinction Rebellion is planning to blockade refineries and forecourts in March so that will add to the general joy if they go ahead.  Maybe, just maybe they might think now is not the time