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Letter Re: Advice on Stocking Up on Batteries
Sir;
I was wondering: How many batteries should I store for all my radios, flashlights,
smoke detectors, and so forth? I'm also planning to get night vision goggles,
soon. I assume rechargeables, right? If so, what kind [of rechargeables], and
who has
the
best prices? - T.E.
in
Memphis.
JWR Replies: I recommend buying mainly nickel metal hydride
(NiMH) batteries. Stock up plenty of them, including some extras for
barter and charity. Unlike the older Nickel Cadmium (NiCd) technology, NiMHs
do not have
a "memory" effect.
(The diminished capacity because of the memory effect has always been one
of the greatest drawbacks to NiCds batteries.) The best of the breed are the latest Low Self Discharge (LSD) variants, such as the Sanyo Eneloop.
One discount supplier with a
very good selection that I can enthusiastically recommend is All-Battery.com.
They
also have great prices on "throw away" batteries, such a lithium CR-123s.
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Two Letters Re: Observations on a Tour of a Telephone Company Central Office
James:
The batteries are why the phone still works when the power goes out. That
is if you still have an old style (hard wire) phone and not all cordless
phones. The cordless phones need 120 VAC power to run the base station. You
should maintain at least one all wire somewhere in your house.
I believe the [common design for COs is that the] whole building is built in
such a way that it is a big Faraday
Cage. It would take a pretty close proximity
EMP to take one
out.
The
EMP
danger is in the above ground wiring [and antennas].
Most of this kind of engineering is done for lighting protection, but it is
something of an EMP protection as well. That is [on reason why they are continuing
to switch to underground wiring, even on expensive long[er] distance routes.
The switch to fiber optics helps here also, even though the main rationale
for its adoption was capacity and cost.
The phone companies are some of the most engineering conservative utilities
in this country. When I worked with them, everything was "double built". 100
percent redundancy.
And they are learning a lot fast about “hardening” their properties.
Some of the upgrades I have seen done inside those little brick buildings spread
around the country make them into pillboxes. - Keith S.
Hi Jim,
I saw the stuff about phone Central Offices (COs) and thought I would contribute
a bit as well since this is a part of my area of specialty. Many times
people have
these nearby and are unaware of them. They look like a generic office building
- most have few or no windows and are most often brick, concrete or concrete
block. They are generally unobtrusive and sometimes do not even have the
company logo on them. They are made this way because they house what is considered
critical communications infrastructure and because they are supposed to be
semi-secure
and protected against all but the very worst mother nature can dish out.
They
are also a desirable target for terrorists, etc. As far as I know it is a
Federal felony to disrupt the operations of one of these buildings so batteries,
generators,
and so forth would be strictly off limits in all but a true TEOTWAWKI situation.
This link has
pictures of COs. If you look at the Kansas page you can see the COs that might
exist in a small town - where they may serve at most a few hundred customers.
The one's
listed
under California (619) might serve a few thousand customers. These buildings
will generally not be more than about 3 to 5 miles apart in suburban areas
and even closer in urban areas so they are quite common, but most people
do not have
a clue where or what they are.
They do have large battery back-ups and larger one's have generators. The
larger one's will also have fuel reservoirs of either diesel, propane or
gasoline
depending on the location, company policy, etc. These are required to keep
the system up
if the grid goes down - however they are only meant for a few days operation
at best on generators. They do change the batteries our regularly because
they have to keep the grid operational. [Their surplus battery sales are] a decent way to get good, used
deep
cycle batteries. The best money can buy. Regards, - Tim P.
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Letter Re: Observations on a Tour of a Telephone Company Central Office
Hi Jim,
I just came back from a tour of one of our local phone company’s central
office (CO) and this is what I learned: Besides finding out how our phone
lines work, I found out that the hardware there runs on 48 volt DC power. There
is a large battery bank in the basement and the batteries are charged by the
grid. It is made up of large clear cylinders and you can see the acid level
and the plates inside. In the case of the grid going down it has a generator
back up. Many of these offices are unmanned. I also found out that there are
many small remote units around that run on a couple of deep cycle batteries
for back up power around town. In the case of a prolonged power outage the
technicians will cycle through the remote units with generators to charge up
the batteries.
I was also surprised at all the circuit boards. An electromagnetic pulse
(EMP) would easily take out [these microcircuit boards, and hence wipe out]
all the phone circuits.
I know that society would have to totally break down in order to make use
of these resources but I bet not too many people know about the battery banks.
Just something to keep in the back of your mind because every town will have
something like this. - Adam in Ohio
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Letter Re: Biodiesel, Retreat Vehicle Fuel Flexibility, and Power Generation
Hello Jim,
I am a prepper who is trying to do so on a very tight budget (wife, four
kids, and two jobs just to make ends meet-you get the idea). Here are some
random ideas that others might find useful.
1) Try drying your own fruits and vegetables for food storage. Whether homegrown
or bought. This can be done inexpensively and dried food takes up very little
storage space.
2) Consider making your own biodiesel. I am in the early stages of doing this
myself. It's not that hard. Just pay attention to detail and do it right. Besides
saving a lot of money now this will also allow you to build up a large amount
of fuel storage for vehicle and generator use inexpensively. This will become
much more critical as fuel prices skyrocket in the future.
3) You need a diesel vehicle to use the biodiesel in. In addition to a diesel
truck, think about getting an older Mercedes Benz diesel car for an everyday
driver
and
second BOV.
Don't laugh. The W123 chassis cars, specifically the 240D and 300D models made
from 1977 to 1985 are built like tanks, lots of space and they are fairly
simple
to
work
on. I am not mechanical at all and plan on doing all the work on mine. DieselGiant.com
has great pictorials and do-it-yourself DVDs
to help you. These cars have no computers
so they should be EMP-proof.
4) If you have a high quality roto-tiller such as a Troy-Bilt or BCS brand (and
you should if your serious about food production) it could be used to earn money/barter.
If things get really hard gardening will make a dramatic comeback. Most people
don't have tillers and there should be a good market tilling ground for people.
Assuming you have enough fuel/spare parts this could make you indispensable in
a small town.
5) A recent [SurvivalBlog] post talked about a vehicle as an improvised generator.
While
probably somewhat inefficient in terms of fuel consumption versus electricity
produced
it
sounds perfect for someone on a budget.
I have two questions: Will running
the inverter straight from the battery prematurely wear out the starter battery
in
the car or should the inverter be wired directly to the battery cables? Will
using this set up overwork the alternator and cause early failure?
Some Useful Web Sites:
UtahBiodieselSupply.com
B100Supply.com
MercedesShop.com
DieselGiant.com
Look at the eBay Motors listings
if you want to see what these Mercedes vehicles look
like.
This is just my little contribution to the blog and I hope others find it
useful., - Jeff S.
JWR Replies: I recommend having at least one diesel tractor,
one utility pickup or quad,
and one diesel car at every retreat. Although they are fairly scarce,
in my experience, a pre-1986 Mercedes
diesel
300D series station wagon (on the W123 chassis) is worth
looking for. These share a common drive train with the much more common 300D
series four-door
sedans,
so parts are
readily
available.
Ready
Made Resources (one of our most loyal advertisers) offers an affordable
small-scale biodiesel making
system. The recent spike in diesel prices will give you a big advantage in
bargaining for a price when buying any diesel vehicle.
In answer to your questions: As long as the engine is left running at low
to moderate
RPMs,
then using a vehicle's alternator as a power source--for either DC loads,
and/or to run a small 120 VAC inverter--will
not cause excessive wear and tear on your battery or alternator. You may have
to rig a manually-controlled set-throttle. Just keep in mind the usual safety
precautions, such as carbon monoxide venting, and making sure that the transmission
lever does not get bumped into "drive". To conserve your precious fuel, it
is probably best to buy a bank of deep cycle ("golf cart") type batteries
that you can charge whenever you run the engine.
Rather than using jumper cable clamps, for safety it is
best
to attached heavy gauge battery cable and terminal
lugs, Use a detachable high-amperage-rated 12 VDC polarity-protected "Pigtail" block
connector, in parallel with your vehicle battery
cables. That way you can quickly disconnect
and still be able drive
your vehicle without a time-consuming cable un-bolting procedure.
Ideally, your
battery
bank will
be the heart of
an
alternative
power system that will
also--as
your
budget eventually
allows--include
some
photovoltaic
panels. (This
online primer is a good starting point.) As previously mentioned, in SurvivalBlog,
for 12 VDC devices "downstream" from your battery bank that draw 30 amps or less,
I
recommend
standardizing
with Anderson
Power Pole connectors rather than flimsy cigarette lighter plugs and jacks.
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Letter Re: Alternative News Sources When The Grid Goes Down
James
In the early 1990s--before Internet was ubiquitous--I remember a well-connected
VHF packet
remailer network that was nearly on par with the old Fidonet dial up network.
Unfortunately while many hams played with packet 15 years ago, the complex
mailbox routing networks are now mostly replaced by the Internet. I don't expect
any data network resembling the Internet to evolve if the grid goes down. This
is not to say that local networks using sound card data modems on CB or FRS radio
or with Wi-Fi gear
might not spring up, but it would be a low priority in both electricity and
time.
HF amateur radio and shortwave radio will be the way to get your world news
if the grid goes down. Buy a radio that will receive upper and lower sideband
(USB/LSB) or you will be limited to megawatt commercial AM stations. (SSB is
used by the power poor.) Set up a proper antenna length for the band you are
listening
to, an antenna tuner is not good enough. Even if people do not want to obtain
their amateur licence it is advisable that they obtain PSK-31
sound card software and a connector cable to decode low power PSK data signals.
PSK-31is nearly
as good as Morse code for punching through noise, much better than voice mode.
For those operating out of a backpack look at this
PSK terminal device. No laptop needed!
Amateur satellite (AmSat)
is fun and a great way to talk worldwide without needing HF gear
but if the grid ever fully went down I would expect satellite tracking stations
to lose control of their satellites as the employees are
detained protecting their families. Most AmSat gear is piggybacked on commercial
satellites and is powered from the main buss, amateur controllers have no way
to maintain the main systems on the host satellite.
Look a few months back in the SurvivalBlog archives for the article on Earth
Moon Earth (EME or "moon
bounce") propagation for an exotic and often difficult
alternative to HF radio.
My plug for getting your license in the United State is: There is
no longer a Morse Code test requirement! Anyone can memorize the
question pool and easily pass the tech and general
exams now, what possible reason could any survivor not want to get licensed
and on the air.
Worried about expensive gear? while I put down the
tuna can transmitter for
use as a survival set, it is a great way for a family to build a first transmitter
But if you want an actual usable Morse-only radio transceiver with even minimal
long range survival utility, but easy and small enough for every member of
the family to build and hide
in a Tic-Tac breath mints box for under be $10 the Pixie
takes the prize. If you search the net there are several sources for
the pixie kit. - David in Israel
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Letter Re: Surplus Ambulances as BOVs
Dear Mr. Rawles,
Perhaps an overlooked, but wonderful option for a BOV is
an ambulance. You can often find used ambulances on eBay or at [fleet dispersal]
auctions. They
often have fairly low miles, have been well maintained and are most often
diesel.
They
come with
lots of storage compartments and equipment built in, as well most have propane
fuel systems, generators, inverters etc. There is usually at least one "bed" in
them as well. The outside storage compartments are often ready to go for the
prepper as they are often diamond plate on the interior and have webbing for
securing items in place. They are easily "hardened" and easy to drive.
It is easy to remove the outer lights and replace them with other more TEOTWAWKI appropriate
choices. You will of course want to have it painted....LOL.
We have taken our lovely BOV to the ATV park
here and put it through some serious tests. I personally love the looks I received
when driving a muddy ambulance
(pre-paint job)....but like most prepper wives I am not your average soccer
mom. It has some disadvantages as it is a pretty heavy beast, but I feel very
confident in its capabilities. We also have a 4x4 Durango that we are currently
working on for a second BOV. However, the ambulance is by far and away our
favorite. - Prepper Mom in Washington
JWR Replies: When shopping for a surplused vehicle such as
an ambulance at auction, look for one that is built on a pickup truck frame
rather than a cargo van frame. Not only are they more sturdy, but the chances
are much better that you will find one that came from the factory with
a front differential to provide four wheel drive (4WD).
(I am leery about buying a van that was converted to 4WD unless I know the
details about who did the conversion. There are a lot of unqualified "shade
tree mechanics" out there!
Needless to say, all of the usual caveats and disclaimers about buying at
auction apply.
If
you
aren't
familiar
with inspecting vehicles (checking for leaks, inspecting tires, hoses and
belts, checking for exhaust system leaks, examining dip stick colors, et cetera)
then
bring someone that is experienced along with
you for "advice and consent" before bidding.
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Letter Re: Observations on Chest Freezer Efficiency
Hi Jim,
I was reading Monday’s letter regarding “Sizing a Retreat AC Power
Generator”, and a thought came to mind when the author mentioned super-insulating
a freezer for extended cooling durations. There are basically 2 types of freezer;
the upright and the box, (what we call around here, the “coffin” freezer).
Given the same basic amount of insulation included with each type, to the point
where both manage the loss of cooling at the same rate, the “coffin” appears
to be more efficient during access.
Cold air sinks. When the door of an upright freezer is opened, the cold air
inside will pour out, much like you would expect water would pour out of it
in the same circumstances. The cold sinks and falls out the front, and is replaced
by warmer air from above. While the contents of the freezer chill the incoming
air immediately, and give the impression that things are staying cold due to
that same recently-chilled air passing over your face, in reality, heat is
being absorbed by everything inside the freezer.
When you open the door of a box freezer, the cold has nowhere to go. There
is disturbance of the upper layer of air as the door opens, and there is also
a heat exchange effect at the boundary of the two layers, the vast majority
of cold air remains in the box. A box freezer thus saves on the energy needed
to take the temp down to its set level after opening the door.
Here’s a tip for preserving low temps for those with upright freezers.
Keep as much food as possible inside the freezer. The more frozen stuffs you
have, the less space warm air has to occupy. Cold food loses temp much much
slower than displaced air does, and with this practice in place, the door may
remain open for longer periods as junior tries to decide on rocky road or vanilla
(the only real flavor on earth…) ice-cream. The remaining low volume
of air will chill much faster after the door has been closed, and the energy
required to do this will be less as well. This is good for post-TEOTWAWKI as
well as everyday living.
We prefer our “coffin” for bulk storage. It’s easier to keep
our prey “on ice”. - Randy in Central
California
JWR Replies: I agree wholeheartedly that it is important
to keep a chest freezer full. Not only will it mean less cold air spilling
out, but their thermal mass will also provide more of a time lag before defrosting,
in the event of a
power failure. Here at the ranch, we fill up any extra chest freezer space
with used one-gallon plastic milk jugs that have been 3/4ths-filled with water.
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Letter Re: Sizing a Retreat AC Power Generator
Hello Jim and SurvivalBlog Readers:
I have enjoyed reading the vast knowledge shared on this topic and the awakening
you have brought to us about our fragile economy! How can one put a price on
a wake up call?,… well, it’s easy, renew your 10
Cent Challenge! Admit it, your year is probably up, but the education is
still coming to you!
I have not seen any talk on your site about a "miniature" diesel
genset. My thought is that while the large Lister type genset's are proven
to last, ... their will be a time when running something with a much lower
noise signature, vibration signature, and fuel consumption will be necessary
to survive. It seems foolish to fire up 5KW,10KW,
25KW, etc... Watts of power, when you may only need enough to run your furnace
and the freezer. Fire up the big boy for pumping water and what not once a
week, and pump as much as you can into storage containers. Not to mention that
diesel engines last longer when left running, not starting and stopping all
the time. Whereas the gas unit would not know the difference.
My thought is this,. at today's price of diesel, one could afford to buy a
1,000 or 2,000 watt Honda portable unit with the savings of storing 200 stabilized
gallons of gasoline vs. diesel. The Honda units are totally amazing! Almost silent running,
easy to start, easy to throw into the vehicle, and the 1,000 watt unit will
easily run a freezer and furnace for a day on less than a gallon of gasoline.
Use your head and run the generator only as needed, (10 minutes or so several
times a day to keep the freezer going), and you just greatly extended the days
in which you will have portable power. Since the freezer is so important, it
will be worth considering super insulating your freezer when not running.
In a post-SHTF scenario
where we would be very vulnerable early on, and while gasoline is fresh, we
could consider using the little guy first, expend your gasoline fuel supply,
barter off the genset after that, then use caution and go with your primary
Lister type genset. At the rate of one gallon of gasoline per day, you would
have 200 days of run time before even really counting on your diesel genset.
Use your head and run the gasoline genset 6-10 times a day for shorter duration,
and you could have 400 days of gasoline portable power.
Given the cost of gasoline versus diesel, it appears that you would obtain
more kilowatt hours per dollar in this scenario. It seems like the big genset
could be very valuable in offering you the ability to weld, etc... at a time
when
most will have already been wearing out their big gensets and consuming their
fuel. Here you sit with everything fresh and ready to go. Might make a fine
job opportunity to be able to [arc] weld, run 220 VAC equipment,
etcetera, all many moons after the onset of TEOTWAWKI.
I know this thought defies what has been discussed, but a few hundred gallons
of gasoline stored almost pays for the Honda generator in savings over buying
diesel [fuel] at today's prices. Thought I would put it out there for thought,
of course, run the figures with an expert to make sure you are not starving
the electric motors which would prematurely burn out the appliance.
All the best! - The Wanderer
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A Flooded Basement - Friends You Can Count On, and Lessons Learned
Mr. Rawles,
Once again, thank you for your research and SurvivalBlog posts.
I have been a [10
Cent Challenge] contributor for a couple of years and have gotten more
than my money's worth. Thank you.
Last night my group and I met at my home. Here in New Hampshire we received
a record amount of snow fall this year. (Over 108 inches!) That is the fourth
largest
every
recorded.
Yesterday it was warmer then normal there for a lot of snow melt. Last night
it rained.
As the group was getting ready to head to the range for night shooting I went
to my basement to get my ammo. I found 18 to 24" of water down there.
All the water was running in off the roadway and into my basement.
Thank you for your writings. [Because of advice in SurvivalBlog] everything
was in Mylar bags in five gallon buckets, floating. I went to turn on my submersible
pump
that
I have not
had
to use
for years
and it did not work. I started bailing with buckets. We attempted to get a
siphon going with out success. My son went to Home Depot--one of the few stores
still
open--and was
able to rent a large 2" diameter pump. That emptied the basement in about two hours.
The hot water heater was damaged. I had sand bags that we used in the basement
to keep the water in one area once it started to rain again. It was like a
water fall coming in the basement at time. The sand bags worked great creating
a pool in that area for the pump to work. We dug a trench out side in the driveway
to get the water to go into the back yard. Using spades, shovels and axes that
we had on hand. We dug out the culvert that that the highway department should
have kept opened and that I should have kept checking. Once that was open it
stopped raining
but it should keep the water out with everything else we did.
One of the members of our group is a tech for a propane company and he was
able to get the hot water heater up and going with the tools and supplies we
had on hand. He was able to make sure the furnace was going well.
A couple of lessons: You need good people that you can trust.
We were going over our bug out plans and storage plans for the retreat prior
to heading to
the
range. You have to plan for the future but live in the here and now.
We have different people with different skills. Once is a propane tech, one
is a mechanic, one an administrator, one good in first aid and one security
- defensive
person. All of them have various skills that are needed. I had a stash of cash
on hand to purchase or rent the pump and anything else needed last night.
Having a good working pump would have been invaluable. I have a stream that
flows all year long in my yard and I could even use a good pump for fire control
if needed. That will be on the list now.
I once again thank the Lord for his providence. - New Hampshire Hillbilly
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Letter Re: Sizing a Retreat AC Power Generator
Jim -
Great blog! I wanted to point out an important calculation everyone missed
- internal combustion engines produce less power at higher elevation. Generators
are (of course) rated at sea level. It's important to de-rate generator capacity
by 3.5% per 1,000 feet of elevation or your generator will be undersized.
(A 5,000 "label watt" generator is [effectively] only a 4,000 watt
generator where I live at 6,000 feet.) Density altitude on a warm summer
day can
easily be
2,000 feet higher than that. My rule of thumb: after sizing for load, size
generously for elevation or you'll be buying twice. Hope this helps everyone...
Other food for thought: You don't need to run all your big loads simultaneously.
If the grid stays down, it'll be a blessing just to have refrigeration - it
doesn't need to be like today where we run everything at once while blow-drying
the dog! There's no reason you can't shut off the freezer if you need the well
pump. The simplest transfer switch allows you to control power to various loads,
and this allows you to use a smaller generator to accomplish everything. My
genset is home built using a Listeroid (Lister clone) diesel engine and generator
head purchased separately. This generator (significantly oversized to run a
MIG welder,
lathe, mill or compressor/plasma cutter combo) cost me less than $3,000 including
truck freight and welding up a stout steel frame (probably
$4,500 now, given the weak dollar, steel prices and current shipping rates).
Based on decades of British Empire experience with these beasts in third world
countries, I expect it will give 30,000-to-50,000 hours of service with minimal
maintenance. It gingerly sips fuel and is easily operated on biodiesel or waste
vegetable
oil without modification.
Regards, - Fred H.
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Four Letters Re: Sizing a Retreat AC Power Generator
Mr. Rawles:
I saw that you recently posted my question to the blog, so I thought I'd update
you. I ran the tests again and got what I believe to be a more accurate assessments.
My second test showed the refrigerator consuming right at 2.7 KWH (2,700 watts)
over a 24 hour period for an average of 112.5 watts-per-hour. Now mind you,
that includes all the hours we were asleep and so no one was opening the door,
using up ice, etc.. During hours of heavy usage it was using about 150 watts-per-hour.
Test #2 for the chest freezer yielded the following results: KWH usage for
the full 24 hours came to 1.02 KWH or 1,020 watts. This is an average of 42.5
watts-per-hour. Mind you, this freezer basically only gets opened once per
day when we take out whatever we're defrosting for dinner. All in all, I'm
pretty happy with those results.
The next step is to test our other refrigerator and our upright freezer and
to calculate the Amp Hours required (how many deep cycle batteries I'll need)
to build my
homemade UPS system.
FYI, I found a really good deal the other day on a 4 KW emergency gasoline
genset, and went ahead and bought it. My next big purchase will be a
tri-fuel conversion
kit from US Carburetion, so I can run her on propane. I know you guys usually
endorse diesel as a primary genset/retreat fuel, but I really like the stability
and shelf-life of propane - in my area, I can rent a 300-gallon tank (I own
two 100-gallon cylinder tanks) from the propane provider for around $50 per
year and fill it a little at a time as opposed to making an expensive all-at-once
fuel purchase. My logic there being that I can dump a little in each month,
so that it'll be full when I actually need it to be. - JSC in West Virginia
- A "10 Cent Challenge" Subscriber
Dear JWR:
I was catching up on SurvivalBlog this weekend and noted the article on generator
set sizing. The main issue here is that there is a significant difference
in the average electrical
energy consumption of an appliance and its peak usage. This issue is compounded
by electrical devices such as motors which are not purely resistive (i.e. inductive
load) and thus have up to 3 times the energy demand to start as opposed to
running. This is commonly referred to as “starting current” verses “running
current”. When sizing an electrical generator, one needs not only to
calculate the total energy consumption of all electrical appliances one anticipates
to be running simultaneously, but also to cover the starting current for the
item with the heaviest draw. Most electrical motors are labeled with their
electrical current needs, commonly listed as starting or peak current and continuous
current. In regard to an appliance which doesn’t list this information
(such as a refrigerator), the owner needs to use his Kill-A-Watt [meter] to
determine the current used while running (typically 3-5 amps) and multiply
this by 3
to get a good estimate of the starting current demands.
The process should be to add up the total draw for all the appliances, and
then double the highest one and add that also to the total. This will give
a rough estimate of the peak current draw, in Amps. To convert
Amps to Watts, one simply needs to multiply by the operating voltage (typically
120 or 240
Volts). This assumes that no more than one heavy draw appliance starts at the
same time, but to cover all the starting currents would require a much larger
generator.
Several years back, during an ice storm, we were living off of an emergency
generator rated at 5,000 Watts (6,200 peak Watts ). One should disregard the “peak” rating
of typical portable emergency generators since they are uniformly overrated
(I have noticed that recently, peak rating is what is listed, look for the “continuous
rating”). Our water heater (a purely resistive load, hence no “starting
current”) consumed 4,500 Watts. In order to take a hot shower, we needed
to turn off all other circuits and allow the water to heat up. After an hour,
the water heater was disconnected to allow the well pump to be operated to
provide water through the water heater to the shower. This constant switching
of loads was a real nightmare.
As a caveat, typical consumer portable electrical generators are not up the
rigors of continuous use. Their fuel economy is atrocious; our 5 KW unit uses
about 5 gallons of gas in an 8 hour period. They are also typically powered
by the equivalent of an air-cooled lawnmower engine. Consider taking your lawnmower
into heavy wet grass and mowing continuously for 200 hours. After a week of
trying to keep this loud and hungry beast fed, thankfully the power came back
on-line. We went with a diesel powered 15KW unit which would even cover the
arc welding unit and it uses about 1/4 gallon of fuel per hour during typical
household test uses. The gas generator seemed to use virtually the same amount
of fuel regardless of the load, but the diesel unit just sips fuel when it
is just loafing along, with consumption roughly linear with the load.
When choosing a generator for long term use, I would make several recommendations:
First, if you pump water or want to run a welder or air conditioning unit,
you will need at least 10 KW and 120/240VAC capability.
Second, get a unit with double windings so it can run at 1,800 rpm instead
of 3,600 rpm (to make up 60 Hz AC power). This vastly improves fuel economy
and
noise level as well as longevity.
Third, the unit needs to be water cooled. While some air cooled units are built
for longevity, they are the exception.
Fourth, think of fuel storage requiring long-term stability. This effectively
rules out gasoline, and leaves us with NG/LPG or diesel.
While electrical generators are very useful and highly recommended, their Achilles’ Heel
is fuel availability. We store adequate diesel fuel to run the generator full
time for approximately two months use, which would extend to one year or more
with limited part-time use, but it is still a finite resource. They can be
useful
as a bridge for short duration (till the power comes back on or we learn to
live without). Except in the hottest climates, running a refrigerator or freezer
a couple of hours twice a day is adequate with limited door opening. Once the
foodstuffs in the freezer and refrigerator are used up, you will still need
a manual pump for your water well in TEOTWAWKI.
Hope this helps, - NC BlueDog
Sir,
The Kill-A-Watt meter
is a great tool but [KSC] really didn’t give
it a chance to work. If you want to find out how much power your refrigerator uses
over
the course of the day leave it plugged into the meter for a few days at the
minimum.
Most watt meters have the option to see how much power is currently being used
by whatever is plugged into it. You’ll want to look at that while the
appliance is cycled on. The refrigerators and freezers that I’ve dealt with
generally don’t use more than about 150 – 200 watts while running,
figure they use about three times that during startup.
In your situation, figure 600 watts startup power, times four appliances would
be around 2,400 watts. I’m guessing that there will be other things that
you will want to run also (lights, grain mill, battery charger etc.) so you
may want
to go with a 3,500 watt generator but as long as you aren’t looking to
power your whole house from top to bottom with it you don’t really need
a huge generator. - MercCom
Jim-
Here's a helpful
site for figuring power requirements.
By the way, we all have useful generators sitting in our garages--in our car
and/or truck. An inverter will let you tap that power. COSTCO has a 1,000 watt
inverter for $65. If you use good sense in using power, and keep your vehicle
tank(s) full, you can ride through a temporary power failure. Not bad for $65.
But you also will have to buy or make up a pair of cables that will clip to
your battery. The provided cables have useless terminals (closed end type)
for the battery end of the cables. - Bob B.
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Letter Re: The "Invention Nation" Documentary Television Series
Jim,
I don't know if this has been posted here or not. I have finished watching
a series on the Science Channel called "Invention Nation".
The show primarily feature inventors who are inventing ways to "go green".
Many of these inventions and ideas fit in perfectly with being self-sufficient.
Some of the topics are; used cooking oil for diesel engines, solar power technology,
passive solar for heating homes and water, bicycle generators, etc... The series
will rerun starting in March and may be worth a look for the preparedness minded. See
the Invention Nation web site. Thanks to you and your family for all you
do. - Randy G.
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Letter Re: Sizing a Retreat AC Power Generator
Mr. Rawles:
In attempting to size an emergency generator for my home, I have run across
some interesting questions that I hope you and/or your other readers will be
able to help me with. I lived through the blizzards of the 1990s here in the
southern West Virginia coal camps, and I will never forget us and all of our
neighbors being without power and unable to get out of our own driveways for
23+ days in 1993.
It marked the very beginnings of my awakening to the necessity of being properly
prepared. With that in mind, I am attempting to set my home up with the ability
to keep a bare minimum level of electrical appliances running in the case of
a long-term outage; namely 2 refrigerators w/ freezers, a chest freezer, and
an upright freezer (all just a few years old, so fairly energy efficient).
I am gauging the power being used by these appliances using
a Kill-A-Watt.
And, honestly, I'm afraid that I am doing something wrong. My number seem awfully
low.
The first test I ran was on my chest freezer; after two hours of measurement,
the freezer had consumed just 0.05 KWH or 50 watts of power at 25 watts per
hour. I was surprised, but not terribly because the lid was not opened during
the span of the test.
Next, I tested the refrigerator in my kitchen. It is a an Energy Star compliant
Whirlpool brand 25.55 cu. ft. model with water and ice in the door. As a result
of the chest freezer coming in lower than I expected, I purposely skewed the
refrigerator experiment with the hopes of over-estimating the true usage. To
that end, I was sure to be a bad boy and do things such as holding the door
open and staring in like a goober for five minutes. I also refilled the dog's
water bowl from the door (forcing the pump into action) and virtually emptied
the ice bin as crushed ice through the door (a big cup of ice water is yum!)
to force the ice maker to have to run and make more. But, even with all that,
my two hour test yielded a cumulative KWH usage of just 0.13. A measly 130
watts at 65 watts per hour.
Researching this online, I'm finding sites that estimate the typical household
fridge uses between 150-250 watts per hour with peaks upward of 700+ watts.
Am I doing really well on efficiency or am I missing something? I'll wait to
hear back before I run the remaining tests. Thanks! - JSC
« Two Letters Re: My Preparedness Plans Just Took an Unexpected Turn |Main| Jim's Quote of the Day: »
The "Come as You Are" Collapse--Have the Right Tools and Skills
In the Second World War, the United States had nearly two full years to ramp
up military training and production before decisively confronting the Axis
powers. In the late 1970s, looking at the recent experience of the 1973 Arab-Israeli
War, the Pentagon's strategic planners came to the realization that the next
major war that the US military would wage would not be
like the Second World War. There would not be the luxury of time to train and
equip. They realized that we would have to fight with only what we had available
on Day One. They dubbed this the "Come as you are war" concept.
In my opinion, the same "come as you are" mindset should
be applied to family preparedness. We must recognize that in these
days of rapid news dissemination, it may take as little as 10 hours before
supermarket shelves are cleaned out. It make take just a few hours for queues
that are literally blocks-long to form at gas stations--or at bank branches
in the event of bank runs. Worse yet, it may take just a few hours before
the highways and freeways leading out of urban and suburban areas are clogged
with traffic--the dreaded "Golden
Horde" that I often write about. Do not make the false assumption
that you will have the chance to make "one last trip" to the big
box store, or even the chance to fill your Bug Out Vehicle's fuel tank. This
will be the "come as you are" collapse.
The concept also applies to your personal training. If you haven't learned
how to do things before the balloon goes, up, then don't expect to get anything
but marginal to mediocre on-the-job training after the fact. In essence, you
have the opportunity to take top quality training from the best trainers now,
but you won't once the Schumer hits
the fan. Take the time to get top-notch training! Train with the best--with
organizations like Medical
Corps, WEMSI, Front
Sight, the RWVA/Appleseed
Project, the WRSA,
and the ARRL.
Someday, you'll be very glad that you did.
The come as you are concept definitely applies to specialized manufactured
equipment.You are dreaming if you think that
you will have the chance to to purchase any items such as these, in a post-collapse
world:
razor
wire, body
armor, night
vision equipment,
advanced
first aid gear, tritium
scopes, dosimeters
and radiac meters, biological decontamination
equipment, Dakota
Alert or military surplus PEWS intrusion
detection sets, photovoltaics,
NBC
masks, and semi-auto
battle rifles.
Think about it: There
are very few if these items (per capita) presently in circulation. But the
demand for them during a societal collapse would be tremendous. How could
you compete in such a scant market? Anyone that conceivably has "spares" will
probably want to keep them for a member of their own family or group. So
even in the unlikely event that someone was even willing to sell
such scarce items, they would surely ask a king's ransom in barter
for them. I'm talking about quarter sections of land,
entire strings of
well-broken horses, or pounds of
gold. Offers of anything less would surely be scoffed at.
Don't overlook the "you" part of the "as
you are" premise.
Are you physically fit? Are you up to date on your dental work? Do you have
two pairs of sturdy eyeglasses with your current prescription? Do
you have at least a six month supply of vitamins and medications? Is your body
weight
reasonable?
If you answer to any of these is no, then get busy!
Even if you have a modest budget, you will have an advantage over the average
suburbanite. Your knowledge and training alone--what is between your ears--will
ensure that. And even with just a small budget for food storage, you will be
miles ahead of your neighbors. Odds are that they will have less than two week's
worth of food on hand. As I often say, you will need extra supplies on hand to
help out relatives, friends, and neighbors that were ill-prepared. I consider
charity my Christian duty!
I have repeatedly and strongly emphasized the importance of living
at your intended retreat year-round. But I realize that because
of personal finances, family obligations, and the constraints of making a
living at an hourly or
salaried job, that this is not realistic--except for a few of us, mainly retirees.
If you are stuck in the Big City and plan to Get Out of Dodge (G.O.O.D.)
at the eleventh hour, then by all means pre-position the vast majority of your
gear and supplies at your retreat. You will most likely only have one, I repeat, one G.O.O.D.
trip. If there is a major crisis there will probably be no chance to "go
back for a second load." So WTSHTF will
truly be a "come as you are" affair.
With all of this in mind, re-think your preparedness priorities. Stock
your retreat well. If there isn't someone living there year-round,
then hide what is there from burglars. (See the numerous SurvivalBlog posts
on caching and constructing hidden compartments and rooms.) Maintain balance
in your preparations. In a situation where you are truly hunkered-down at
your retreat in the midst of a societal collapse, there might not be any
opportunity to barter for any items that you overlooked. (At least not for
several months. ) What you have is what you got. You will have to make-do.
So be sure to develop your "lists
of lists" meticulously. If you have the funds available, construct
a combination storm shelter/fallout shelter/walk-in vault. It
would be virtually impossible to build something that elaborate in the aftermath
of a
societal collapse.
A closing thought that relates to your retreat logistics: The
original colonial Army Rangers, organized by Major Robert Rogers during
the French and Indian Wars of the 1750s had a
succinct list of operating rules. The version of the "Rules of Ranging" recounted
in the novel "Northwest Passage" by Kenneth Roberts started
with a strong proviso: "Don't forget nothing." That
is sage advice.
« Odds 'n Sods: |Main| Letter Re: My Preparedness Plans Just Took an Unexpected Turn »
Letter Re: AA Cells and Mobile Power
There was a discussion about batteries a few days back on SurvivalBlog. The
writer advocated using AA NiMH cells almost exclusively, with adapters for devices requiring C and D cells. While
I do agree that this is a good approach for some devices, there is certainly
some merit to having full size 10 Amp Hour (10,000 MAH) batteries in high [current]
draw or long term use devices. Not only is capacity
significantly higher on larger cells, but the maximum safe current draw is
higher too.
Good NiMH C cells have 2-to-3 times the capacity of AA cells, and NiMH D cells
have 4-to-5 times the capacity of AA cells. They can be charged in a reasonable
timeframe on a good quality charger like the MAHA MH-C801D. If you shop carefully
you can find 10AH NiMH low self discharge D cells for around $10 each (As an
example, see Overstock.com). Thanks, - BR
JWR Replies: I recommend that SurvivalBlog readers be very
careful when shopping for size C and D NiCD and NiMH batteries. Many of the
batteries on the market have no more capacity than a size AA. (With those,
essentially you are getting the same "guts" used in a size AA cell,
but just in a bigger "can.") Look carefully and the MaH ratings before
you buy! Also, be sure to buy only brands (such as Sanyo's
ENELOOP) that have "Low Self Discharge" (LSD) rates.
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Letter Re: Keeping a Low Profile is Crucial for Preparedness
Jim,
My missus and I have been into "prepping" for about 15 years. Our
house has a basement and it is practically wall-to-wall and floor-to-ceiling
with shelves--with just narrow aisles in between. The shelves are chockablock
with storage food (all labeled and organized "FIFO"-style),
medical supplies, assorted "field" type gear, tools, barter/charity
stuff, ammo cans, propane cylinders (that fit our camp stove and camping lantern),
reels of field phone wire, paper products, and so forth. Following the example
of Mr. Whiskey (from your "Profiles")
we have recently built up 27 sets of designated "charity duffles",
each packed in a cheap Made-in-Taiwan nylon duffle bag. Each of these contains
a Dutch Army surplus wool blanket, a Chinese knockoff of a Leatherman tool,
a pair of gloves, a pile ("watch") cap, a half dozen pairs of socks,
a thrift store man's jacket, room for four days worth of food (which we would
pack from our FIFO inventory, as needed), a collapsing plastic water container
(the type that Campmor sells), a waterproof match container, a tube tent, and
a hand line fishing kit. ("Teach a man to fish...")
When we moved back to California in 1998, we picked our house specially because
it was built in the 1940s. It is the oldest and sturdiest house on the block.
(The neighborhood built up around the house, when the property was subdivided
in the 1960s.) It has a basement and its own water well, which
is now "off the books"--since the house is now on "city" [metered]
water, but the well is still functional with a 24 VDC submersible
well pump. I have four flush roof-mounted Kyocera PV panels
(cannot be seen from the street) and six deep cycle batteries. The cables are
run series-parallel to provide both 12 VDC and 24 VDC outputs.
Even though we live in a standard suburban neighborhood, none of out
neighbors are any the wiser about our preps. At the core, I
consider my preparations my own business. When the time comes to
hand out the charity duffles, we will do so through an intermediary,
like our church. (We are Methodists.)
After seeing what
happened to that guy in Norco last year, I am glad that I keep a low
profile. The specific measures that we have taken to keep a low profile are:
1.) We take no UPS deliveries
at our house. Nearly all of our mail-ordered goods are sent to our private
mail box at the local UPS Store (it was formerly a "MailBoxes, Etc.")
From there, we take the boxes home in our minivan.We are always sure to unload
the van from inside my garage, with the garage door shut.
All of the empty boxes have the "to" and "from" address
labels cut out with a box cutter knife. I discard the flattened boxes in the
cardboard recycling dumpster behind the office where I work. (I'm a sales engineer
for a medium-size company.)
2.) We don't subscribe to any shooting or hunting magazines. We get all of
the gun information we need online. To "stay in the fight" politically,
I do make regular anonymous contributions to the GOA, JPFO and
CRPA [The California Rifle and Pistol Association, a firearms rights organization],
via Post Office Money Orders. (BTW, I do the same for the SurvivalBlog [10
Cent] Challenge. Shame on any of you that read this blog regularly but
don't pony up the 10 pennies a day!)
3.) We access all web pages via Anonymizer,
with no exceptions.
4.) Most of of our preps purchases are either made F2F,
with cash, or with Post Office Money Orders if ordering by mail. This eliminates
the "trail of paper" from writing checks or using a credit card.
We buy a lot from Nitro-Pak, Ready
Made Resources, Major
Surplus, and Lehman's.
5.) All of our guns, ammunition, gun gadgets, targets, and cleaning supplies
are bought "private party", mainly at SoCal [(Southern California)]
gun shows. Also, needless to mention, these are greenback transactions
only! In
California, we can still at least buy rifles and shotguns that are more than
50 years old
without having to buy through a [licensed] dealer. We have two [M1]
Garand rifles, and a FN.49, also [chambered] in .30-06. I'm still looking
for one or two more of those, but they are scarce, and even harder to find
private party. We also have three [Winchester] Model 12 pump[-action] 12 gauge
shotguns, two of which have had their barrels shortened to 18.5 inches. Handgun
buys in California all require paperwork, but by Divine Providence
I bought several Glocks
and [Colt Model] 1911s when
I was living in Arizona for a couple years, back in the late '90s. [JWR
Adds: That loophole was recently closed for Californians. Anyone moving
into the state must now register their handguns. Drat! But at least there was
a grandfather clause.] There is isn't much to do out in the desert except shoot,
so I bought a lot of guns when we were there.
6.) We signed up for an identity theft and credit report checking protection
plan three years ago. I noticed that SurvivalBlog just started running an ad
from Comprehensive Risk
Solutions. Their service has more bells and whistles and a lower subscription
cost that our current provider, so we will switch [to them] when our current
subscription lapses. [JWR Adds: I highly recommend this service.
It is cheap insurance to prevent what would otherwise be a very costly incident.]
7.) We use a TracFone
whenever
calling a mail order vendor. (No calling history paper trail.)
8. ) We don't mention our preps to anyone outside of our family.
We have coached our kids from an early age to keep their lips zipped.
9.) Whenever we have anybody visit our home, the basement door stays closed
and locked. (It is a keyed deadbolt lock.) The basement has
no windows. Most of our friends and relatives don't realize that we
even have a basement. (Basements are actually rare in California
tract neighborhoods.) To anybody that visits, the basement door just looks
like a locked closet.
10.) We don't leave anything "suspicious" out where it can be seen
in our house and garage.
These precautions might seem kinda "over the top", but put yourself
in my shoes. In the People's Republic of California it pays to be a bit of
a Secret Squirrel. I does cost me about $300 per year to get my mail and packages
at the UPS Store, but I consider that a small price to pay for my privacy.
I plan to retire to the mountains of central Nevada in nine years, but for
now, I am making do in my present circumstances. - F.L. in Southern California
« Letter Re: Best Items to Store for Barter and Charity? |Main| Note from JWR: »
From the SurvivalBlog Archives: Start With a "List of Lists"
Start your retreat stocking effort by first composing a List of Lists, then
draft prioritized lists for each subject, on separate sheets of paper. (Or
in a spreadsheet if you are a techno-nerd like me. Just be sure to print out
a hard copy for use when the power grid goes down!) It is important to tailor
your lists to suit your particular geography, climate, and population density
as well as your peculiar needs and likes/dislikes. Someone setting up a retreat
in a coastal area is likely to have a far different list than someone living
in the Rockies.
As I often mention in my lectures and radio interviews, a great way to create
truly commonsense preparedness lists is to take a three-day weekend TEOTWAWKI Weekend Experiment” with your family. When you come home from work on
Friday evening, turn off your main circuit breaker, turn off your gas main
(or propane tank), and shut your main water valve (or turn off your well pump.)
Spend that weekend in primitive conditions. Practice using only your storage
food, preparing it on a wood stove (or camping stove.)
A “TEOTWAWKI Weekend Experiment” will surprise you. Things that
you take for granted will suddenly become labor intensive. False assumptions
will be shattered. Your family will grow closer and more confident. Most importantly,
some of the most thorough lists that you will ever make will be those written
by candlelight.
Your List of Lists should include: (Sorry that this post
is in outline form, but it would take a full length book to discus all of
the following in great detail)
Water List
Food Storage List
Food Preparation List
Personal List
First Aid /Minor Surgery List
Nuke Defense List
Biological Warfare Defense List
Gardening List
Hygiene List/Sanitation List
Hunting/Fishing/Trapping List
Power/Lighting/Batteries List
Fuels List
Firefighting List
Tactical Living List
Security-General
Security-Firearms
Communications/Monitoring List
Tools List
Sundries List
Survival Bookshelf List
Barter and Charity List
JWR’s Specific Recommendations For Developing Your Lists:
Water List
House downspout conversion sheet metal work and barrels. (BTW, this is another
good reason to upgrade your retreat to a fireproof metal roof.)
Drawing water from open sources. Buy extra containers. Don’t buy big
barrels, since five gallon food grade buckets are the largest size that most
people can handle without back strain.
For transporting water if and when gas is too precious to waste, buy a couple
of heavy duty two wheel garden carts--convert the wheels to foam filled "no
flats" tires. (BTW, you will find lots of other uses for those carts around
your retreat, such as hauling hay, firewood, manure, fertilizer, et cetera.)
Treating water. Buy plain Clorox hypochlorite bleach. A little goes a long
way. Buy some extra half-gallon bottles for barter and charity. If you can
afford it, buy a “Big Berky” British Berkefeld ceramic water filter.
(Available from Ready
Made Resources and several other Internet vendors. Even if you have pure
spring water at your retreat, you never know where you may end up, and a good
filter could be a lifesaver.)
Food Storage List
See my post tomorrow which will be devoted to food storage. Also see the recent
letter from David in Israel on this subject.
Food Preparation List
Having more people under your roof will necessitate having an oversize skillet
and a huge stew pot. BTW, you will want to buy several huge kettles, because
odds are you will have to heat water on your wood stove for bathing, dish washing,
and clothes washing. You will also need even more kettles, barrels, and 5 or
6 gallon PVC buckets--for water hauling, rendering, soap making, and dying.
They will also make great barter or charity items. (To quote my mentor Dr.
Gary North: “Nails: buy a barrel of them. Barrels: Buy a barrel of them!”)
Don’t overlook skinning knives, gut-buckets, gambrels, and meat saws.
Personal List
(Make a separate personal list for each family member and individual expected
to arrive at your retreat.)
Spare glasses.
Prescription and nonprescription medications.
Birth control.
Keep dentistry up to date.
Any elective surgery that you've been postponing
Work off that gut.
Stay in shape.
Back strength and health—particularly important, given the heavy manual
tasks required for self-sufficiency.
Educate yourself on survival topics, and practice them. For example, even if
you don’t presently live at your retreat, you should plant a vegetable
garden every year. It is better to learn through experience and make mistakes
now, when the loss of crop is an annoyance rather than a crucial event.
“Comfort” items to help get through high stress times. (Books, games,
CDs, chocolates, etc.)
First Aid /Minor Surgery List
When tailoring this list, consider your neighborhood going for many months
without power, extensive use of open flames, and sentries standing picket
shifts exposed in the elements. Then consider axes, chainsaws and tractors
being wielded by newbies, and a greater likelihood of gunshot wounds. With
all of this, add the possibility of no access to doctors or high tech medical
diagnostic equipment. Put a strong emphasis on burn treatment first aid supplies.
Don’t overlook do-it-yourself dentistry! (Oil of cloves, temporary
filling kit, extraction tools, et cetera.) Buy a full minor surgery outfit
(inexpensive Pakistani stainless steel instruments), even if you don’t
know how to use them all yet. You may have to learn, or you will have the
opportunity to put them in the hands of someone experienced who needs them.)
This is going to be a big list!
Chem/Nuke Defense List
Dosimeter and rate meter, and charger, radiac meter (hand held Geiger counter),
rolls of sheet plastic (for isolating airflow to air filter inlets and for
covering window frames in the event that windows are broken due to blast effects),
duct tape, HEPA filters (ands spares) for your shelter. Potassium iodate (KI)
tablets to prevent thyroid damage.(See my recent post on that subject.) Outdoor
shower rig for just outside your shelter entrance.
Biological Warfare Defense List
Disinfectants
Hand Sanitizer
Sneeze masks
Colloidal silver generator and spare supplies (distilled water and .999 fine
silver rod.)
Natural antibiotics (Echinacea, Tea Tree oil, …)
Gardening List
One important item for your gardening list is the construction of a very tall
deer-proof and rabbit-proof fence. Under current circumstances, a raid by deer
on your garden is probably just an inconvenience. After the balloon goes up,
it could mean the difference between eating well, and starvation.
Top Soil/Amendments/Fertilizers.
Tools+ spares for barter/charity
Long-term storage non hybrid (open pollinated) seed. (Non-hybrid “heirloom” seed
assortments tailors to different climate zones are available from The
Ark Institute
Herbs: Get started with medicinal herbs such as aloe vera (for burns), echinacea
(purple cone flower), valerian, et cetera.
Hygiene/Sanitation List
Sacks of powdered lime for the outhouse. Buy plenty!
TP in quantity (Stores well if kept dry and away from vermin and it is lightweight,
but it is very bulky. This is a good item to store in the attic. See my novel
about stocking up on used phone books for use as TP.
Soap in quantity (hand soap, dish soap, laundry soap, cleansers, etc.)
Bottled lye for soap making.
Ladies’ supplies.
Toothpaste (or powder).
Floss.
Fluoride rinse. (Unless you have health objections to the use of fluoride.)
Sunscreen.
Livestock List:
Hoof rasp, hoof nippers, hoof pick, horse brushes, hand sheep shears, styptic,
carding combs, goat milking stand, teat dip, udder wash, Bag Balm, elastrator
and bands, SWOT fly repellent, nail clippers (various sizes), Copper-tox, leads,
leashes, collars, halters, hay hooks, hay fork, manure shovel, feed buckets,
bulk grain and C-O-B sweet feed (store in galvanized trash cans with tight
fitting lids to keep the mice out), various tack and saddles, tack repair tools,
et cetera. If your region has selenium deficient soil (ask your local Agricultural
extension office) then be sure to get selenium-fortified salt blocks rather
than plain white salt blocks--at least for those that you are going to set
aside strictly for your livestock.
Hunting/Fishing/Trapping List
“Buckshot” Bruce Hemming has produced an excellent series of videos
on trapping and making improvised traps. (He also sells traps and scents at very
reasonable prices.)
Night vision gear, spares, maintenance, and battery charging
Salt. Post-TEOTWAWKI, don’t “go hunting.” That would be a
waste of effort. Have the game come to you. Buy 20 or more salt blocks. They
will also make very valuable barter items.
Sell your fly fishing gear (all but perhaps a few flies) and buy practical
spin casting equipment.
Extra tackle may be useful for barter, but probably only in a very long term
Crunch.
Buy some frog gigs if you have bullfrogs in your area. Buy some crawfish traps
if you have crawfish in your area.
Learn how to rig trot lines and make fish traps for non-labor intensive fishing WTSHTF.
Power/Lighting/Batteries List
One proviso: In the event of a “grid
down” situation, if you are the only family in the area with power,
it could turn your house into a “come loot me” beacon at night.
At the same time, your house lighting will ruin the night vision of your LP/OP pickets.
Make plans and buy materials in advance for making blackout screens or fully
opaque curtains for your windows.
When possible, buy nickel metal hydride batteries. (Unlike the older nickel
cadmium technology, these have no adverse charge level “memory” effect.)
If your home has propane appliances, get a “tri-fuel” generator--with
a carburetor that is selectable between gasoline, propane, and natural gas.
If you heat your home with home heating oil, then get a diesel-burning generator.
(And plan on getting at least one diesel burning pickup and/or tractor). In
a pinch, you can run your diesel generator and diesel vehicles on home heating
oil.
Kerosene lamps; plenty of extra wicks, mantles, and chimneys. (These will also
make great barter items.)
Greater detail on do-it-yourself power will be included in my forthcoming blog
posts.
Fuels List
Buy the biggest propane, home heating oil, gas, or diesel tanks that your local
ordinances permit and that you can afford. Always keep them at least two-thirds
full. For privacy concerns, ballistic impact concerns, and fire concerns,
underground tanks are best if you local water table allows it. In any case,
do not buy an aboveground fuel tank that would visible from any public road
or navigable waterway. Buy plenty of extra fuel for barter. Don’t overlook
buying plenty of kerosene. (For barter, you will want some in one or two
gallon cans.) Stock up on firewood or coal. (See my previous blog posts.)
Get the best quality chainsaw you can afford. I prefer Stihls and Husqavarnas.
If you can afford it, buy two of the same model. Buy extra chains, critical
spare parts, and plenty of two-cycle oil. (Two-cycle oil will be great for
barter!) Get a pair of Kevlar chainsaw safety chaps. They are expensive but
they might save yourself a trip to the emergency room. Always wear gloves,
goggles, and ear-muffs. Wear a logger’s helmet when felling. Have someone
who is well experienced teach you how to re-sharpen chains. BTW, don’t
cut up your wood into rounds near any rocks or you will destroy a chain in
a hurry.
Firefighting List
Now that you have all of those flammables on hand (see the previous list) and
the prospect of looters shooting tracer ammo or throwing Molotov cocktails
at your house, think in terms of fire fighting from start to finish without
the aid of a fire department. Even without looters to consider, you should
be ready for uncontrolled brush or residential fires, as well as the greater
fire risk associated with greenhorns who have just arrived at your retreat
working with wood stoves and kerosene lamps!
Upgrade your retreat with a fireproof metal roof.
2” water line from your gravity-fed storage tank (to provide large water
volume for firefighting)
Fire fighting rig with an adjustable stream/mist head.
Smoke and CO detectors.
Tactical Living List
Adjust your wardrobe buying toward sturdy earth-tone clothing. (Frequent your
local thrift store and buy extras for retreat newcomers, charity, and barter.)
Dyes. Stock up on some boxes of green and brown cloth dye. Buy some extra for
barter. With dye, you can turn most light colored clothes into semi-tactical
clothing on short notice.
Two-inch wide burlap strip material in green and brown. This burlap is available
in large spools from Gun Parts Corp. Even if you don’t have time now,
stock up so that you can make camouflage ghillie
suits post-TEOTWAWKI.
Save those wine corks! (Burned cork makes quick and cheap face camouflage.)
Cold weather and foul weather gear—buy plenty, since you will be doing
more outdoor chores, hunting, and standing guard duty.
Don’t overlook ponchos and gaiters.
Mosquito repellent.
Synthetic double-bag (modular) sleeping bags for each person at the retreat,
plus a couple of spares. The Wiggy’s
brand Flexible Temperature Range Sleep System (FTRSS)
made by Wiggy's of Grand Junction, Colorado is highly recommended.
Night vision gear + IR floodlights for your retreat house
Subdued flashlights and penlights.
Noise, light, and litter discipline. (More on this in future posts--or perhaps
a reader would like to send a brief article on this subject)
Security-General: Locks, intrusion detection/alarm systems, exterior obstacles
(fences, gates, 5/8” diameter (or larger) locking road cables, rosebush
plantings, “decorative” ponds (moats), ballistic protection (personal
and residential), anti-vehicular ditches/berms, anti-vehicular concrete “planter
boxes”, razor wire, etc.)
Starlight electronic light amplification scopes are critical tools for retreat
security.
A Starlight scope (or goggles, or a monocular) literally amplifies low ambient
light by up to 100,000 times, turning nighttime darkness into daylight--albeit
a green and fuzzy view. Starlight light amplification technology was first
developed during the Vietnam War. Late issue Third Generation (also called
or “Third Gen” or “Gen 3”) starlight scopes can cost
up to $3,500 each. Rebuilt first gen (early 1970s technology scopes can often
be had for as little as $500. Russian-made monoculars (with lousy optics) can
be had for under $100. One Russian model that uses a piezoelectric generator
instead of batteries is the best of this low-cost breed. These are best used
as backups (in case your expensive American made scopes fail. They should not
be purchased for use as your primary night vision devices unless you are on
a very restrictive budget. (They are better than nothing.) Buy the best starlight
scopes, goggles, and monoculars you can afford. They may be life-savers! If
you can afford to buy only one, make it a weapon sight such as an AN/PVS-4,
with a Gen 2 (or better) tube. Make sure to specify that that the tube is new
or “low hours”, has a high “line pair” count, and minimal
scintillation. It is important to buy your Starlight gear from a reputable
dealer. The market is crowded with rip-off artists and scammers. One dealer
that I trust, is Al Glanze (spoken “Glan-zee”) who runs STANO
Components, Inc. in Silver City, Nevada. Note: In a subsequent
blog posts I will discuss the relationship and implications to IR illuminators
and tritium sights.
Range cards and sector sketches.
If you live in the boonies, piece together nine of the USGS 15-minute maps,
with your retreat property on the center map. Mount that map on an oversize
map board. Draw in the property lines and owner names of all of your surrounding
neighbor’s parcels (in pencil) in at least a five mile radius. (Get boundary
line and current owner name info from your County Recorder’s office.)
Study and memorize both the terrain and the neighbors’ names. Make a
phone number/e-mail list that corresponds to all of the names marked on the
map, plus city and county office contact numbers for quick reference and tack
it up right next to the map board. Cover the whole map sheet with a sheet of
heavy-duty acetate, so you can mark it up just like a military commander’s
map board. (This may sound a bit “over the top”, but remember,
you are planning for the worst case. It will also help you get to know your
neighbors: When you are introduced by name to one of them when in town, you
will be able to say, “Oh, don’t you live about two miles up the
road between the Jones place and the Smith’s ranch?” They will
be impressed, and you will seem like an instant “old timer.”
Security-Firearms List
Guns, ammunition, web gear, eye and ear protection, cleaning equipment,
carrying cases, scopes, magazines, spare parts, gunsmithing tools, targets
and target
frames, et cetera. Each rifle and pistol should have at least six top quality
(original military contract or original manufacturer) full capacity spare magazines.
Note: Considerable detail on firearms and optics selection, training, use,
and logistic support are covered in the SurvivalBlog archives and FAQs.
Communications/Monitoring List
When selecting radios buy only models that will run on 12 volt DC power or
rechargeable nickel metal hydride battery packs (that can be recharged from
your retreat’s 12 VDC power system without having to use an inverter.)
As a secondary purchasing goal, buy spare radios of each type if you can afford
them. Keep your spares in sealed metal boxes to protect them from EMP.
If you live in a far inland region, I recommend buying two or more 12 VDC marine
band radios. These frequencies will probably not be monitored in your region,
leaving you an essentially private band to use. (But never assume that any
two-way radio communications are secure!)
Note: More detail on survival communications gear selection, training, use,
security/cryptography measures, antennas, EMP protection, and logistical support
will be covered in forthcoming blog posts.
Tools List
Gardening tools.
Auto mechanics tools.
Welding.
Bolt cutters--the indispensable “universal key.”
Woodworking tools.
Gunsmithing tools.
Emphasis on hand powered tools.
Hand or treadle powered grinding wheel.
Don’t forget to buy plenty of extra work gloves (in earth tone colors).
Sundries List:
Systematically list the things that you use on a regular basis, or that you
might need if the local hardware store were to ever disappear: wire of various
gauges, duct tape, reinforced strapping tape, chain, nails, nuts and bolts,
weather stripping, abrasives, twine, white glue, cyanoacrylate glue, et cetera.
Book/Reference List
You should probably have nearly every book on my Bookshelf
page. For some, you will want to have two or three copies, such as Carla
Emery’s "Encyclopedia of Country Living". This is because these books
are so valuable and indispensable that you won’t want to risk lending
out your only copy.
Barter and Charity List
For your barter list, acquire primarily items that are durable, non-perishable,
and either in small packages or that are easily divisible. Concentrate on
the items that other people are likely to overlook or have in short supply.
Some of my favorites are ammunition. [The late] Jeff Cooper referred to it
as “ballistic
wampum.” WTSHTF, ammo will be worth nearly its weight in silver.
Store all of your ammo in military surplus ammo cans (with seals that are
still soft) and it will store for decades. Stick to common calibers, get
plenty of .22 LR (most
high velocity hollow points) plus at least ten boxes of the local favorite
deer hunting cartridge, even if you don’t own
a rifle chambered for this cartridge. (Ask your local sporting goods shop
about their top selling chamberings). Also buy at least ten boxes of the
local police department’s standard pistol cartridge, again even if
you don’t own a pistol chambered for this cartridge.
Ladies supplies.
Salt (Buy lots of cattle blocks and 1 pound canisters of iodized table salt.)
(Stores indefinitely if kept dry.)
Two cycle engine oil (for chain saw gas mixing. Gas may still be available
after a collapse, but two-cycle oil will probably be like liquid gold!)
Gas stabilizer.
Diesel antibacterial additive.
50-pound sacks of lime (for outhouses).
1 oz. bottles of military rifle bore cleaner and Break Free (or similar) lubricant.
Waterproof dufflebags in earth tone colors (whitewater rafting "dry bags").
Thermal socks.
Semi-waterproof matches (from military rations.)
Military web gear (lots of folks will suddenly need pistol belts, holsters,
magazine pouches, et cetera.)
Pre-1965 silver dimes.
1-gallon cans of kerosene.
Rolls of olive drab parachute cord.
Rolls of olive-drab duct tape.
Spools of monofilament fishing line.
Rolls of 10 mil "Visqueen", sheet plastic (for replacing windows,
isolating airspaces for nuke scenarios, etc.)
I also respect the opinion of one gentleman with whom I've corresponded, who
recommended the following:
Strike anywhere matches. (Dip the heads in paraffin to make them waterproof.)
Playing cards.
Cooking spices. (Do a web search for reasonably priced bulk spices.)
Rope & string.
Sewing supplies.
Candle wax and wicking.
Lastly, any supplies necessary for operating a home-based business. Some that
you might consider are: leather crafting, small appliance repair, gun repair,
locksmithing, et cetera. Every family should have at least one home-based business
(preferably two!) that they can depend on in the event of an economic collapse.
Stock up on additional items to dispense to refugees as charity.
Note: See the Barter Faire chapter in my novel "Patriots" for
lengthy lists of potential barter items.
« Letter Re: Frozen Livestock Water Tank Woes |Main| Notes from JWR: »
AA Cells and Mobile Power, by Brandon in Utah
The size AA battery is the ubiquitous form of mobile power that is presently
available. There is a large amount of off the shelf devices that use AA cells.
They
are available everywhere at low cost. They are cost effective and very safe
for lighting. The breadth and depth of equipment available in a portable
format is unparalleled by any other type of battery. I will cover the known
factors
on how to care for and use this resource to help end users get the most out
of their equipment.
To start, some general information that covers all types of cells. Cells
do not like heat. Heat increases the chemical reactions occurring inside
the cell,
and thus the self-discharge and other chemical reactions in cell. A cell will
lose it's charge and lower it's life span. Keep them cool.
Cells shouldn't get wet. Keep them away from moisture. You should avoid circumstances
that will result in condensation on the cell.
Do not drop or roughly handle them. Especially in the case of rechargeables,
you can break the separator inside the cell and you may end up with complete
cell failure. Inside of a device they're a little more durable, your device
will provide some impact protection and buffering.
Do not store your batteries inside of your device for long term readiness.
There is a good reason they never come this way from the manufacture in the
package.
It's not good for your battery and you run a much larger risk of cells leaking
or venting into your device. On a short term basis in a device that sees regular
use, leaving the battery in is fine.
Matched cells perform better. A battery will only perform as well as the weakest
cell. Avoid mixing brands, dates, and especially chemistries and you will get
the most out of your cells. The more cells a device has, the more matches cells
you need to provide. So it's easier to feed devices that use a smaller number
of cells.
In general, take care of them and they'll serve you well.
Primary (use once) cells are the most straight forward. They usually have expiration
dates printed on the cell or package. It's important to note that this date
is an average amount of time for a specified failure rate. "Fail" is
defined as having less than ~85% capacity (depends on manufacture), thought
it can also mean complete failure with 0% recoverable capacity. The closer
a battery is to it's expiration date, the less capacity it will have and the
more likely you are to encounter completely failed cells. Even with expired
cells though, they often work. I wouldn't choose to use them in really important
applications, but they are still useful.
"Heavy duty" cells generally are not worth messing with - they are
cheap, light weight, and low capacity. They seem to only be made to sell to the "lowest
possible price" consumers. I would never buy or store them.
Alkaline are the best bang for the buck primary cells. You can pick up a pack
of 48 cells for around $10 at COSTCO last I checked (Duracell is believed to
be the OEM for Kirkland brand cells). The price has gone up approximate 10-15%
in the last year, which seems likely to continue. Alkaline's are good performers
under "average" conditions. They do not like low temperatures, and
they do not like high current draw (cameras, some flashlights, and possibly
other devices). Once you place a battery into a device, I recommend you use
it up. Do not return [primary] cells into storage once you've started to
use them.
Lithium cells provide the widest temperature and current rating of all primary
cells, though you pay the most for the best performance. I do recommend having
a few for important gear, red dot sights, night vision,and so forth, [reserving
them] especially for emergency winter use.
Rechargeable cells are much more economical for the regular user. Unfortunately
they require better understanding to maximize their useful life. So I'll go
over NiMH extensively and also address NiCd.
In a quick overview of the current tech of AA cells. NiCd is the most durable
battery chemistry, it has capacities ranging from 600-1000 [mil-Amp Hours]
(mAH)
It has the best temperature performance envelope, endures heat and over charge
best, will
operate with more cycles. NiMH is the most common consumer cell these days,
mostly due to the capacity advantage which run in the 1800-2700 mAH range at
present. NiMH also has a new variant on the market I will dub low self discharge
(LSD) cells. LSD cells are in the range of 2000-2100 mAH as of this writing
and have many advantages over traditional NiMH that mostly come from an effort
to stabilize it. They are new, so some data points are not borne out over years,
but current evidence indicates that they perform as advertised. I recommend
LSD cells for most people over all other varieties, I'll go into more detail
why below. First, the brands and types currently on the market. The top brand
in my opinion is Eneloops (2000 mAH) from Sanyo, it simply does the low-self-discharge
thing better than the competition. The rest of the field
seems to originate from a single manufacture or the same licensed design, but
there are a bunch of competing cells. Rayovac Hybrids, Hybrios, Titanium Enduros,
and a bunch of others (2100 mAH). Given equivalent, or near equivalent prices,
I'd pick the eneloops.
In both types of chemistry, the higher capacity cells are more fragile than
the lower capacity cells. It's an engineering trade off. The 2700 mAH whiz
bang top-of-the-line cells are not your best bet for good durable cells, they
are
actually fairly fragile (chemically and physically) because of this trade off.
Around 2000 mAH is not only cheaper (usually) but yields a cell that will see
a longer service life, more cycles, and less likely to fail if dropped. Lower
than 2000 in NiMH does not appear to hold significant advantage in durability
in most respects. LSD cells appear to be at least as durable as their 2000
mAH NiMH counterparts.
Standard NiMH cells have an approximately life span of 3 years. Cheaper brands
may have less. NiCd cells have an estimated 5+ year life span. Much beyond
these points or even before them (especially with high capacity cells), increased
internal resistance, lowered capacities, and higher self discharge are the
norm. NiCd doesn't exhibit a large amount of this and usually fails with internal
shorts (complete failure) or excessively high resistance. These numbers are
very temperature dependant, colder storage conditions will lengthen the time,
warmer will lower it. LSD NiMH cells currently have no data in this regard,
they're advertised as having better longevity than NiMH cells, and I would
tend to believe them due to the engineering trade offs picked. However, they've
only been out for about 1.5-2 years now. To date, my oldest cells (1.5 years
old), lightly used, perform like new - so far so good.
Self discharge is one of the biggest inconvenient things about rechargeable
cell use. NiMH cells discharge by themselves very quickly. They discharge on
the order of a couple of months when new and the rate increases significantly
with age and use. NiCd cells have about half the self discharge rate and this
usually won't vary much up until cell death. LSD cells shine in this regard,
the self discharge slows down after a charge to almost a stand still in a little
over a months time. LSD cells will retain around 85% (Eneloops) to 80% (rest
of the field) charge after a year of storage at around 70 degrees.
Keeping the voltages up during use is important for many devices and one of
the principle reasons rechargeables deliver poor performance in some devices.
Standard NiMH suffers from voltage sag over time. It will start out at a nice
high 1.4 volts fresh off the charger. Soon it finds it's way to 1.3-to-1.2
v open voltage. If left on the shelf it will fall over time. Many devices require
a minimum voltage to operate correctly, if this minimum is above what your
battery can deliver under load your device will shut down (can be 1.2v per
cell, and NiMH will often fail to meet this under less than ideal circumstances!)
If you experience significant performance difference between primary cells
and rechargeable cells (especially older ones) this is likely the problem,
especially combined with self discharge "usable capacity" drops
very quickly. NiCd cells can suffer from a form of voltage sag, it is not as
pronounced as NiMH but it can also happen in mid-discharge and is related the
over marketed term cell "memory". This problem can usually be corrected
with a couple exercise cycles and a good top off charge. LSD cells retain their
voltage very well on the shelf, like their charge, and also deliver better
than average voltages in normal use anyway. You will usually see much better
performance from LSD cells in these voltage sensitive devices than NiMH or
even NiCd. If you've been frustrated with rechargeables in the past in some
of your devices give some LSD cells a try!
The most common method to kill cells is poor charging practices. I can't stress
this enough, especially with NiMH cells, buy a good ["smart"] charger.
Usually cells are allowed to "cook" on a standard charger for far,
far too long. Remember, heat is bad! It's normal for them to get warm at the
end
of
a charge cycle
(not burning hot!). If they continue to stay warm (or worse, hot) for several
hours later, you have a [traditional "dumb"] charger that is cooking your cells.
I recommend a Maha-C9000 as a good high end charger. On a lower budget I recommend
a Duracell
15 minute
charger. {To be ready for various circumstances,] I prefer to have both chargers
available. The C9000 is a slower charger (relatively) but it will not cook
your cells, you can leave them in the unit. The unit has options that allow
you
to easily
exercise
cells
and
see if they are
improving.
You can match cells to obtain the best performance from them and identify poor
performing cells quickly. It also charges individual cells rather than pairs,
which is better for them - especially a mismatched pair. The Duracell 15 minute
charger is a quality unit that also allows "busy you" to not walk away for
hours waiting for, and forgetting about, your batteries. You will be less likely
to forget about them and allow them to be cooked on the charger. Some good
charging technology goes into the 15 minute chargers, so while they are a little
rough compared to a good slower charge - they are actually very good at what
they do, especially compared to the cheap junk [chargers] on the market. Fast
charging is also fairly energy efficient, reducing the power required to get
a full
charge. Both of these chargers run on 12 volt DC input so they can plug directly
into 12 volt systems allowing for use in a car or directly off a battery based
[alternative energy] system (PV,
wind, etc).
Do not charge cells when they are below freezing (32
F/0 C). You will damage them. If you really need a charged cell, warm it up
in your pocket (preferably the charger too) and use the 15 minute charger.
The charge cycle should provide enough heat to keep it above freezing until
it's done. Avoid chargers that come with your cells, generally they are poor.
When brought out of long term storage, cells will usually need "exercise".
NiCds especially need fairly significant exercise before returning to full
capacity. 5+ full cycles may be required, rule of thumb is exercise until you
stop seeing capacity gains. This is easiest with a charger like the C9000 with
capacity readouts. NiCds should be stored discharged. NiMH cells should be
stored with a charge. LSD cells require significantly less maintenance and
may not need any exercise at all and will likely have a serviceable charge
intact after storage, depending on the length of time in storage and at what
temperature.
NiMH cells like to be treated gently. When you're done with your device, recharge
the cells. The more shallow the cycle the better. Full cycles will wear on
them the most. Keep NiMH cells topped off and they'll last the longest. Occasionally
you may need to perform a deep cycle to restore some performance if the cell
appears to be waning. The more advanced NiMH care systems like on the Toyota
Prius reportedly keep cells at 60-80% capacity and only use about 20% depth
in discharge cycles, which seems to be the most chemically repeatable and stable
region. NiCds stand up to abuse a lot better, in fact a regular full discharge
is good for them and will help you avoid issues with the cells. It's not required
for every charge, but once a month or so should keep it's performance high.
I suggest avoiding C and D size rechargeable cells. They are expensive, there
are no LSD variants at present, your charging options are more limited, they
take forever to charge, and there are adapter sleeves readily available
to make AA cells fit these sizes. D sized alkaline cells are reasonable for
storage
and use for the price. C size cells are usually overpriced and are often repackaged
AA cells anyway - use the adapters. COSTCO presently sells an excellent Eneloop
kit that includes 8 AAs, 4 AAAs, 2 AA->C adapters, 2 AA->D adapters,
and a cheap charger for $26.
Earlier generation NiMH cells had a very poor temperature envelope. There are
evidences that this has improved and the LSD introduction advertised even better
cold
temperature performance. Unfortunately, to date, I am unable to find information
or a datasheet to quantify this. I've done a bit of my own testing down to
0 F, the limit of my freezer, and have found no appreciable drop in capacity
(old NiMH tech struggled below freezing). I can't really quantify if LSD NiMH
is inferior or superior to NiCds at present, so suffice it to say they both
do reasonably well in the cold (just remember not to charge them when they
are below freezing).
In summary, I don't see any reason to buy any non-LSD NiMH cells these days.
LSD tech has dramatically improve the performance and user friendliness of
the cells, and hopefully longevity, durability, and cycle life too. However,
it is new and relatively unproven tech. NiCd is the old known workhorse and
there is good reason why power tools and similar equipment still ship with
NiCd cells. It's worth having a few NiCds around as a backup because of their
track record. For general use, the Sanyo Eneloops are the way to go.
« Odds 'n Sods: |Main| Note from JWR: »
Prepare or Die, by J. Britely
Throughout my life I have been
caught unprepared several times and while nothing seriously bad happened, it
easily could have. I have been
lost hiking. My car has broken
down in very bad
neighborhoods - twice. I have
been close enough to riots
that I feared they would spread to my neighborhood, been in earthquakes, been
too close to wildfires, been stuck in a blizzard,
and have been without power and water for several days after a hurricane. I managed to get myself out of
each situation, I thanked God, and tried to learn from my mistakes. I could have avoided these situations
or made them much less unsafe and worrisome if I had been more aware and
prepared. I have also tried to
learn from the mistakes of others
so as to not learn everything the hard way. One group I assisted was a two hour drive into the
mountains, out of gas, wearing tee shirts, and had empty water bottles (at
least they kept them) (I have made each of those mistakes but not all at the
same time).
I aspire to be more prepared the
next time. My preparedness
includes many different aspects.
In my opinion, the most important thing I have done is to learn as much
as possible about what to expect and how to deal with those situations. The other important thing that gives me
some piece of mind is that I carry
and stock away water, food, ammo, books, and other tools and equipment that
should help me survive a bad situation.
Be prepared!
The other inspiration for my
preparations is my family. Seeing
my family suffer from lack of water or food would be very hard for me,
especially if some easy and cheap preparations could have made a big
difference. Recently, a few
friends and family have asked me about my preparations and how they might
prepare. I didn't have a good
short answer because I have spent years learning and stocking away. I thought of myself as more of a
student than a teacher in this area, but now I think I do know enough to give
some basic advice and refer them to good sources for more. Hopefully, they (and you) can learn
from my mistakes without having to waste time, energy and money on things that
don't work. Of course, I haven't
been through every situation or disaster but I have made it through a few tough
spots without losing my head. My
advice is based upon what I know to work and also what sounds like it would
work with the minimum fuss. I
always prefer the cheap, easy, home-made solution, but
sometimes it is worth the cost to get a quality item that is just too hard to
improvise or where the manufactured solution is much better (such as a
knife). Keep it simple stupid
(KISS) when you can. With
persistence you can get a lot done $20 at a time.
The purpose of this document is
to give an overview of preparedness and the first steps to take. I focus more on the why than the what
so that you can tailor your preparedness to your own situation an
