POWER OUTAGE PREPAREDNESS
No matter which part of the world you live in, the weather has become quite unpredictable. Hot has become hotter, and cold has become colder. Additionally, we now have extreme wildfires, tsunamis, hurricanes, extreme amounts of rain causing floods and landslides, other storms, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions out of nowhere, and extended droughts drying out water sources. Anyone or a combination of these conditions can lead to abrupt power outages.
Of course, a power outage can have different consequences dictated by usage, and the climate one lives in at any given moment in time. While many power companies are excellent at providing electricity to residents and industries, if the supply is extensively interrupted by weather and other unforeseen factors, the power companies may become unable to timely restore power supply. In such situations, the resident/ homeowner/ renter must rely on his/ her emergency plan for such outages. Let’s look at a couple of ways you can be prepared.
1. EXTERNAL POWER CONNECTION: Set up an external power connection to your home/ residence so that when the electric power grid is off, you simply turn on your power generator, connect it to your house/ residence to power up the essential appliances (the furnace, refrigerator, freezer, portable air conditioner, a few lights, and charging your cellphone). Here are some supplies:
2. GENERATORS: You may be wondering which size and type of generator to use. First, let’s determine the generator size. Choose three to five appliances you consider your most essential in the home? How about the furnace (650 watts), space air conditioner (900 watts), refrigerator (780 watts), freezer (500 watts), laptop (60 watts), television (300 watts), microwave (1200 watts), Wi-Fi router + modem (50 watts), a few lights (120 watts) and phone charger (6 watts)? You wouldn’t run the space air conditioner and furnace simultaneously, and you would turn off the television and furnace to run the microwave for a few minutes.
Assuming that your essential items are the furnace or space air conditioner (900 watts), refrigerator (780 watts), freezer (500 watts), laptop (60 watts), television (300 watts), Wi-Fi router + modem (50 watts), a few lights (120 watts) and phone charger (6 watts), your total electricity needs per hour equal to 2,750 watts. To account for the electricity losses for transferring the electricity and for some additional miscellaneous necessary items, consider it 3,500 running watts. The dual fuel (gasoline and propane) generator is perhaps the best, as it runs longer by automatically switching from one fuel to the other. Plus, you can decide to use just the fuel you find cheaper. Here are some 3,500 running watts generators:
3. EXTRA APPLIANCES/ ACCESSORIES: Consider not using a space heater as it consumes more than twice the electricity of a gas furnace Here are some extra appliances to consider:
4. FOOD AND WATER: It is essential to have some excess dry and/ other food reserves and water to get you and your family through about 7 days in the event of power outages and/ road inaccessibility related to weather and/ other factors. Furthermore, your local stores/ shops may simultaneously be facing the same outages, and therefore unable to provide the goods and services until further notice.
I hope this information offered you some great ideas on how to prepare yourself for electricity outage emergencies. Please, seek advice from a licensed and proficient electrician for any electrical adjustments to your home/ residence. Until next time.
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