Winter blackout contingency planning

facade

Eldi_Dos said:

Saga said:

QrizB said:

Saga said:

Recommendations for a decent 1.5L thermos flask pls?

If you don't want to take pot luck with random unknown brands, Stanley flasks have a good reputation (although not especially cheap).

I'm not sure if they do a 1.5 litre size, but there's a 1.4 or a 1.9 litre of either of those would work for you?

Thanks will look for them

If you opt for stainless steel be careful what you clean it with. Was surprised to learn that the smallest amount of chlorine stops them working as a thermos.

Bit of a problem that, as tap water is full of it

Seriously though, you are quite right.

The 18-8 stainless used for flasks is attacked by free chlorine, (due to the chromium content) and will develop microscopic holes, so no Milton or bleach as you say. It is supposed to be ok with up to 100ppm chloride ions, so tap water should be ok, but not salt water.

The holes will let air into the vacuum space and it stops working.

You'd think they would be prominently labelled as a teaspoon of milton and a top up with water to soak for a couple of hours is the first thing you'd do with a new thermos flask.

EDIT: I found the destructions to my latest stainless flask, and it does say (in 6 point type right at the bottom) "Do not use bleach or abrasive cleaners on your new flask", so that is fine then

EssexHebridean

Someone with a kettle which won't simply accept a single cup of water to boil could pour the over-fill into it for use next time they make a drink.
Someone on E7 electric might choose to boil a full kettle first thing before the rate switches and then use the contents of the flask to make their subsequent cups of coffee. 

Eldi_Dos

@facade,  Mine had it stamped on the bottom of the flask but who reads the bottom of a flask before they use it.I do not even look at a map till I am lost.

TheBanker

wittynamegoeshere said:

How would a flask help with energy bills?

They keep things hot, you've still got to pay to get them hot, plus you lose all the heat that warms up the flask itself.

This thread is about potential blackouts, which are likely to be pre-planned. If you know your power is going to go off for a few hours, you boil the kettle and fill a flask. Then you still have hot water for tea, the baby's bottle or even making a pot noodle if you get desperate. Nothing at all to do with reducing energy bills. 

ariarnia

EssexHebridean said:

Someone with a kettle which won't simply accept a single cup of water to boil could pour the over-fill into it for use next time they make a drink.
Someone on E7 electric might choose to boil a full kettle first thing before the rate switches and then use the contents of the flask to make their subsequent cups of coffee. 

and this thread is about blackouts. being able to make a hot cup of tea half way through seems like worth a small expense to me. 

Sea_Shell

As we're talking blackouts, not necessarily money/energy saving.

You could always drive out of area to somewhere not blacked out!!

Relative's, friend's, other hospitality venue?

How localised/regional would they be, possibly??

Town/county/ region etc?

Mstty

Have a spare BBQ gas cylinder ready for blackout cooking.

Generator for lights and the 300w electric heater and any other appliances we want to run.

Log burner for the lounge

Gas camping stove with 4 full cannisters

We went 30 hours in the last storm so 3 hours will be easy peasey.

Trust the media will hype this all up into a frenzy in no time.

mumf

Exactly the above: We have multi fuel burners anyway - that IS our heating. We have several alternatives for cooking too.No problem. Lighting? Plenty of LED emergency lighting,and batteries ( rechargeable and disposable) aplenty! Power banks  to charge phones etc. ( although I suspect mobile phones may not work in an extended powercut) and we have areal old fashioned one: battery powered AM/FM radios to stay in touch with the world! 

If this happens over three-ish hours during Winter,then fridge and freezer will hold fine. No internet? Well we will read books and put the radio on. 

facade

I ordered a pack of those LED lamps that plug into a USB powerbank, I have a few powerbanks around that can now become small lamps for 3 hours.

I must remember to light the gas fire tomorrow and burn off a few years of dust before it gets too cold to open a window if it smells.

catnap53

I have an oil lamp my mother-in-law bought during the 1970s power cuts. I wouldn't know how to use it though