In the event of a power outage like Spain.......

Silvertabby

WibbleBaaaaaa said:

Anyone old enough to remember the 3 day week in the early 70s and the lekky being turned off off daily to ration it for over 2 months duing the winter, will be wondering what all the fuss is about. lol

I'd just left school, and was working in a Co-op supermarket.  Unlike offices, etc, which had to close for at least 2 days a week, food shops remained open.  When the power went off, we would block off the freezers with sheets of cardboard, and hang tilly lamps in the aisles.  The tills obviously weren't anything like the scanners we have now, but they were electric - so when the customers came to pay we would have to jot down the price of everything on a paper pad and then add it up using brain and pencil power.  

And then the telly went off at 10pm.  Wasn't there a baby boom 9 months later?

silverwhistle

chris1973 said:

 Those reliable old Genny's which (when kept topped up with fuel) could plough through power cuts of any duration have probably al now been replaced by Solar Panels and Battery banks....

You say that as if you think it's a bad thing? Old gennys often aren't reliable, especially if they haven't recently been tested and also don't react as quickly as batteries and UPS. In a hospital context the exhaust fumes are also a pain to deal with.

Spoonie Turtle makes a good point so perhaps knowing someone with an electric car with V2L might be a good idea. I've got an electric kettle and portable induction hob which I've tested, as well as a woodburner, but I'm sure I could spare some kWhs to recharge a wheelchair or what have you. Perhaps a local register might be handy, but I can't help feeling this is where informal contacts would work better.

WibbleBaaaaaa

Silvertabby said:

WibbleBaaaaaa said:

Anyone old enough to remember the 3 day week in the early 70s and the lekky being turned off off daily to ration it for over 2 months duing the winter, will be wondering what all the fuss is about. lol

I'd just left school, and was working in a Co-op supermarket.  Unlike offices, etc, which had to close for at least 2 days a week, food shops remained open.  When the power went off, we would block off the freezers with sheets of cardboard, and hang tilly lamps in the aisles.  The tills obviously weren't anything like the scanners we have now, but they were electric - so when the customers came to pay we would have to jot down the price of everything on a paper pad and then add it up using brain and pencil power.  

And then the telly went off at 10pm.  Wasn't there a baby boom 9 months later?

What you have shown here is what people would call common sense back in the day, as they just got on with it, dealt with the situation as best as they could, and that was it, and as most of the population of Spain did, while here in the UK, what is classed as news media, had the sky is falling and the end is nigh as per usual.

I once thought the internet was going to help the human race evolve in leaps and bounds, with its ability to have the almost sum total of all human knowledge, at the fingertips of every human on the planet, when and where they wanted it............but i was wrong, it has actually made some people more stupid. ha

QrizB

I get the feeling some people on this thread have been watching too many Hollywood movies.

I was in Spain for the power cut.

• Trains and trams stopped, people got off them and walked. Buses still ran and were busy getting folk home. Taxis and Ubers were making good business. App-based bike hire depended on mobile network availability.
• The phone and data networks stayed operational for the duration. It got congested at times, but there was always 112 call availability, there was almost always a network I could roam onto for SMS, and more often than not there was 4G/5G data too. My (budget international chain) hotel's wifi remained conencted to the wider world.
• The airports kept power. The hospitals kept power. Traffic lights worked for a few hours after the power cut, solar powered road signs worked throughout. My hotel had power for essential services including the fire alarm system.
• People were friendly and helpful, drivers were polite and gave way to pedestrians, and retail staff worked hard to keep service businesses (shops, restaurants etc) open as best they could.

The only people saying "people could not access their mobile phones or the internet, so the end of the world was nigh lol" are those people on this thread, not anyone I encountered in Spain on Monday.

If you think things would be significantly worse in the UK, that looters would be burning shops and vigilantes would be stalking the streets, I'd suggest the problem is you.

Sea_Shell

This time...😉

littlemoney

mark_cycling00 said:

I created my 3-5 day emergency box a few weeks ago. There can be a "weakest link" in every aspect of infrastructure so I assume that everything might fail. 

Big black sealed box to keep daylight out, and in a cool location. Tape a windup torch to the top. This gives you enough light to open box, find batteries and insert into proper torch and then find candles and bagged matches and other essentials to take into house. 

@mark_cycling00

What is in your emergency box please and where do you keep it.

GingerTim

littlemoney said:

mark_cycling00 said:

I created my 3-5 day emergency box a few weeks ago. There can be a "weakest link" in every aspect of infrastructure so I assume that everything might fail. 

Big black sealed box to keep daylight out, and in a cool location. Tape a windup torch to the top. This gives you enough light to open box, find batteries and insert into proper torch and then find candles and bagged matches and other essentials to take into house. 

@mark_cycling00

What is in your emergency box please and where do you keep it.

Don't tell him, Pike!

MouldyOldDough

I am registered a priority customer with my supplier, mainly for warnings of planned outages, but do not have a medical reason to require a 24/7 supply – I was wondering what would happen if I was one of  those 100’s who DO rely on power for dialysis etc in the event of a power outage – would suppliers really deliver alternative power to my house (ie a Generator / 240v battery pack) ?

From experience – I doubt it

I asked them why they didn’t warn me of a planned outage  a few years ago and was told “SORRY -  NO EXCUSE WE FAILED YOU”

Eldi_Dos

Approximately 36 hours after power was restored Barcelona hosted a champions league semi final, all systems seemed to be working fine and the capicity crowd were treated to a six goal extravaganza, thats resilience for you.
I for one am looking forward to the return leg next week.

mmmmikey

pMouldyOldDough said:

I am registered a priority customer with my supplier, mainly for warnings of planned outages, but do not have a medical reason to require a 24/7 supply – I was wondering what would happen if I was one of  those 100’s who DO rely on power for dialysis etc in the event of a power outage – would suppliers really deliver alternative power to my house (ie a Generator / 240v battery pack) ?

From experience – I doubt it

I asked them why they didn’t warn me of a planned outage  a few years ago and was told “SORRY -  NO EXCUSE WE FAILED YOU”

Hi  

No, they have never guaranteed to deliver emergency power for emergency medical purposes, and no-one with medical equipment has been told to expect that.

Those unfortunate enough to rely on 24x7 supply for life critical medical purposes have other backups. For example, if you rely on an oxygen generator you can have a cylinder of oxygen as a backup. And battery backup for other equipment lasts plenty long enough to get you to hospital if needed. This is all worked out as part of the planning that sets you up to live safely at home if you need critical equipment. Even stairlifts have batteries so you don't get stuck half way up the stairs if the power goes off.

I can understand your anxiety but I honestly think you're building this up in your mind to be a much bigger problem than it really is. A lot of the potential issues that the Spanish blackout has got you thinking about have already been considered and there are plans in place to mitigate against them. I'm not sure if you're aware but local councils have statutory obligations in respect of civil contingency planning and there is a national network of LRFs (Local Resilience Forums) who co-ordinate planning mitigations for risks on national and local risk registers. And it's pretty much a condition of insurance that businesses undertake a level of risk management appropriate to their circumstances.

Hope this helps put your mind at rest