Following this thread Power outages and black-outs and the World Economic Forums discussions for 'preparing for cyber attacks' I thought I'd pick up a few things that don't appear to have been discussed elsewhere.
That of surviving a power outage of several days/a week - which is what I'm guessing they have in mind soon.
Given the Great Reset seems to be about herding the population into finer and finer control, and removing personal autonomy through laws and man made disasters I think we can make a few predictions.
What would a power outage look like? Presumably they couldn't go too long without having people plugged into the TV to get their regular dose of propaganda - unless they feel we've reached the point where it's no longer needed. So as long as we haven't passed that point short duration blackouts of a week may be on the cards.
Things that can/will stop in a power outage. Water, fuel pumps (no refilling cars), shopping tills (no food purchasing), heating, lighting, fridges/freezers, communication/telephones/internet, natural gas supplies.
1) Water.
This is the one most people should be concerned about. In some areas the water may fail either instantly or after a few days, so having a gravity fed water filter (Berkey) or Life Straw would be useful - if you have a water source within walking distance.
2) Frozen food.
This has been my main focus, as I assume most people hear have a freezer full of meat (as well as tins) they would prefer didn't spoil. Supermarket/farm shop freezers may fail too, so the knock on effect would be a shortage of fresh meat, followed by a shortage of all food after shops opened again.
So I've been attempting to find something that would work and not be too expansive. The simplest/cheapest solution appears to be using your car (if you have one) as a power generator.
You may decide the solution below is not worth the effort.
Here's a short overview video:
Specifics:
According to the internet, most car alternators put out about 200amps max. This means that theoretically you could provide up to 2400watts of power from a small/average sized car.
An inverter is a device that typically converts a 12v DC power supply (usually a battery) to 110v/240v A/C for mains appliances (fridges/freezers etc). As the car continually charges the battery, connecting an inverter to the car batter whilst its running turns the car into a power generator!
Fuel consumption is estimated as follows https://ecomobile.gouv.qc.ca/en/ecomobilite/tips/idling_engine.php
Do not let your car run out of fuel! It can damage the fuel pump and clog the pipes.
How long does a freezer stay frozen? Food and Water Safety During Power Outages and Floods
If you ran the car an hour, that would mean needing to run it 6 times a day. With the example car above, that would give you 5 days of power to your fridge.
You may be able to extend the gaps between powering it on to once a day if you are only concerned about the frozen food, but this would be an experiment. It's likely you'd need to run the car for at least an hour (turn the fridges thermostat to low/off if its a combined fridge/freezer), maybe several hours.
Best guess is that running the car twice a day for 2 hours could mean the food is kept fresh (although perhaps not fully frozen) for 8 days.
Having an external (so you don't have to open the doors) battery powered thermometer will be rather important here.
As the car will need to be running with an inverter attached to the battery, some things to consider here are:
a) don't run the car inside a garage due to carbon monoxide buildup. Also consider where the fumes may be drifting (see strategic enclosure below).
b) as the car needs to be running you'll need to consider security, weather, positioning of the inverter in the engine bay and strategic enclosure.
i) the car should either be attended (which may not put off a robber, so lock the doors anyway), or locked with a second key AND a steering lock to prevent a smash and grab.
ii) the inverter, battery and mains electrical connectors need to stay dry! So rain could be an issue. The extension cable can get wet, as long as the ends of it are raised up and kept dry.
iii) parts of the engine (turbo, exhaust manifold, exhaust pipe etc) get super hot. The inverter and all cables should avoid these areas.
iv) if running your car with wires going into your house might get neighbors talking negatively, do consider strategic enclosure. Angering neighbors is not a good idea, so be prepared to help them out with power too if necessary. Setting up a 'mobile phone charging station' being run by the car could also be decent cover for strategic enclosure in busy urban areas, as well as just sitting in the car using your phone as it's plugged in and charging.
Not all inverters will run a fridge, so do check that they will in any product listings. If it can run an electric drill, it should be able to handle a fridge/freezer.
Makes that seem to be recommended - Cobra, Whistler, maybe Bestek (their are a lot of Chinese brands, so be cautious here) or anything that says Pure Sine-wave.
1500w is probably going to be ok for most cases. 1000w for smaller fridge freezers/just fridges.
It will be a good idea to test all this whilst you still have power.
Additionally, as a small car can provide 200amps/2400watts in theory, and fridge/freezers only draw 600watts (probably closer to 300watts), you could probably run 2 to 3 off of one car safely for a short period of time if you have more than one inverter (keeping an eye on temperatures of cables connected to the battery). You would have to make sure you only turned each inverter on one at a time with a few seconds gap, as it's the sudden/startup power spike that's the issue.
I'll post more later, but hopefully that's some food for thought and not too much speculation.
A VERY expensive version of the inverter is available here (not recommended when you can do it cheaper) - but it does have some rather interesting information on the topic CarGenerator
Further references Emergency Power & Light after a major earthquake
That of surviving a power outage of several days/a week - which is what I'm guessing they have in mind soon.
Given the Great Reset seems to be about herding the population into finer and finer control, and removing personal autonomy through laws and man made disasters I think we can make a few predictions.
What would a power outage look like? Presumably they couldn't go too long without having people plugged into the TV to get their regular dose of propaganda - unless they feel we've reached the point where it's no longer needed. So as long as we haven't passed that point short duration blackouts of a week may be on the cards.
Things that can/will stop in a power outage. Water, fuel pumps (no refilling cars), shopping tills (no food purchasing), heating, lighting, fridges/freezers, communication/telephones/internet, natural gas supplies.
1) Water.
This is the one most people should be concerned about. In some areas the water may fail either instantly or after a few days, so having a gravity fed water filter (Berkey) or Life Straw would be useful - if you have a water source within walking distance.
2) Frozen food.
This has been my main focus, as I assume most people hear have a freezer full of meat (as well as tins) they would prefer didn't spoil. Supermarket/farm shop freezers may fail too, so the knock on effect would be a shortage of fresh meat, followed by a shortage of all food after shops opened again.
So I've been attempting to find something that would work and not be too expansive. The simplest/cheapest solution appears to be using your car (if you have one) as a power generator.
You may decide the solution below is not worth the effort.
Here's a short overview video:
Specifics:
According to the internet, most car alternators put out about 200amps max. This means that theoretically you could provide up to 2400watts of power from a small/average sized car.
An inverter is a device that typically converts a 12v DC power supply (usually a battery) to 110v/240v A/C for mains appliances (fridges/freezers etc). As the car continually charges the battery, connecting an inverter to the car batter whilst its running turns the car into a power generator!
How to Run a Refrigerator on an Inverter
Before you run out to buy an inverter, you need to figure out how big an inverter you need and how much battery capacity it will require.
homeguides.sfgate.com
How to Run a Refrigerator on an Inverter
An inverter is an electrical device that converts DC battery power into 120-volt AC household power to run appliances such as a refrigerator. Inverters are available in different power capacities and some are powerful enough to operate refrigerators. But before you run out to buy an inverter, you need to figure out how big an inverter you need and how much battery capacity it will require.
Power Draw
Before shopping for an inverter, you need to know the power draw of your refrigerator in watts. This information is found on the manufacturer nameplate, expressed as amps or watts. If the plate gives the watts, you are home free. If amps are given, convert amps to watts by multiplying the amps times the voltage. For instance, if your typical 16 cu. ft. fridge draws 6 amps, you multiply 6 by 120 volts to get 600 watts. That is your running wattage. A fridge motor also needs a jolt of about three times its running wattage to start up, but this surge is needed for only a fraction of a second. To run this refrigerator, you will need an inverter that can handle 600 watts for long periods and a surge of 1,800 watts for a split second.
Inverter Ratings
The manufacturer’s label on most inverters gives two capacity values. The “continuous wattage” is the AC power output the inverter can supply 24/7 for as long as the DC input lasts. The “peak surge wattage” is the AC power output the inverter can supply for a split second. A typical inverter offered at discount stores or home centers provides 1,500 watts continuous AC power and 3,000 watts of surge power. This unit should run a typical 16 cu. ft. refrigerator with no problem.
Fuel consumption is estimated as follows https://ecomobile.gouv.qc.ca/en/ecomobilite/tips/idling_engine.php
So a 1.4 liter car engine would would use about 0.84 liters per hour, or run on a 40 liter tank of fuel for 33 hours.The estimated fuel consumption of an idling engine is 0.6 litres / hr per litre of engine displacement. This means that an idling 3.5 litre engine consumes more than 2 litres of gas per hour.
Do not let your car run out of fuel! It can damage the fuel pump and clog the pipes.
How long does a freezer stay frozen? Food and Water Safety During Power Outages and Floods
So if you need to keep the fridge cold, you'll need to run the car ever 4 hours for 1 hour or until the fridge turns off by itself. An external temperature gauge would help here, so you can see the temperature of the inside of the fridge without opening the door. You should only ever open the door when it's being powered by the car, and probably only once very quickly at the beginning.When the Power Goes Out . . .
Here are basic tips for keeping food safe:
- Keep the refrigerator and freezer doors closedas much as possible to maintain the cold temperature.
- The refrigerator will keep food cold for about 4 hours if it is unopened.
- A full freezer will keep the temperature for approximately 48 hours (24 hours if it is half full) if the door remains closed.
- Buy dry or block ice to keep the refrigerator as cold as possible if the power is going to be out for a prolonged period of time. Fifty pounds of dry ice should keep an 18 cubic foot, fully stocked freezer cold for two days.
- If you plan to eat refrigerated or frozen meat, poultry, fish, or eggs while they are still at safe temperatures, it is important that each item is thoroughly cooked to a safe minimum internal temperature to ensure that any foodborne bacteria that may be present are destroyed. However, if at any point the food was above 40º F for 2 hours or more (or 1 hour if temperatures are above 90 º F) — discard it.
If you ran the car an hour, that would mean needing to run it 6 times a day. With the example car above, that would give you 5 days of power to your fridge.
You may be able to extend the gaps between powering it on to once a day if you are only concerned about the frozen food, but this would be an experiment. It's likely you'd need to run the car for at least an hour (turn the fridges thermostat to low/off if its a combined fridge/freezer), maybe several hours.
Best guess is that running the car twice a day for 2 hours could mean the food is kept fresh (although perhaps not fully frozen) for 8 days.
Having an external (so you don't have to open the doors) battery powered thermometer will be rather important here.
As the car will need to be running with an inverter attached to the battery, some things to consider here are:
a) don't run the car inside a garage due to carbon monoxide buildup. Also consider where the fumes may be drifting (see strategic enclosure below).
b) as the car needs to be running you'll need to consider security, weather, positioning of the inverter in the engine bay and strategic enclosure.
i) the car should either be attended (which may not put off a robber, so lock the doors anyway), or locked with a second key AND a steering lock to prevent a smash and grab.
ii) the inverter, battery and mains electrical connectors need to stay dry! So rain could be an issue. The extension cable can get wet, as long as the ends of it are raised up and kept dry.
iii) parts of the engine (turbo, exhaust manifold, exhaust pipe etc) get super hot. The inverter and all cables should avoid these areas.
iv) if running your car with wires going into your house might get neighbors talking negatively, do consider strategic enclosure. Angering neighbors is not a good idea, so be prepared to help them out with power too if necessary. Setting up a 'mobile phone charging station' being run by the car could also be decent cover for strategic enclosure in busy urban areas, as well as just sitting in the car using your phone as it's plugged in and charging.
Not all inverters will run a fridge, so do check that they will in any product listings. If it can run an electric drill, it should be able to handle a fridge/freezer.
Makes that seem to be recommended - Cobra, Whistler, maybe Bestek (their are a lot of Chinese brands, so be cautious here) or anything that says Pure Sine-wave.
1500w is probably going to be ok for most cases. 1000w for smaller fridge freezers/just fridges.
It will be a good idea to test all this whilst you still have power.
Additionally, as a small car can provide 200amps/2400watts in theory, and fridge/freezers only draw 600watts (probably closer to 300watts), you could probably run 2 to 3 off of one car safely for a short period of time if you have more than one inverter (keeping an eye on temperatures of cables connected to the battery). You would have to make sure you only turned each inverter on one at a time with a few seconds gap, as it's the sudden/startup power spike that's the issue.
I'll post more later, but hopefully that's some food for thought and not too much speculation.
A VERY expensive version of the inverter is available here (not recommended when you can do it cheaper) - but it does have some rather interesting information on the topic CarGenerator
Further references Emergency Power & Light after a major earthquake