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Thursday, June 20th, 2013 |
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Six Things to Do to Prepare for Going Off-Grid
SurvivalWoman
Anyone who has gone camping overnight knows that there is a certain magic involved when sitting by a campfire or camp stove, sharing fish tales and roasting marshmallows over the flickering flames. The whole idea of being off-grid for a few days is embraced as a big adventure and something to look forward to as way to disconnect from our busy lives and the digital world. Alas, as fun as a camping trip can be, the adventure could get tiresome if not downright frightening if you were forced to camp due to either a short term power disruption or the longer term side effect of a major disaster of calamitous proportions. Think about it. We depend on power for the most mundane things. Lights, heat, cooking, laundry, basic hygiene and of course, let us not forget about computer and internet access, are all driven by the power grid. Unless you are lucky enough to own a generator (and even then you need fuel – lots and lots of fuel), when the grid goes down, so does life as you know it. So what is it like to go off-grid? A couple of weeks ago Todd, the prepper guru at the Prepper Website, got a taste of the off-grid lifestyle for himself. And no surprise, things did not quite go as planned. He shared the following with me.
Lessons Learned Off-Grid Last week, my dad and I spent three days at his property in East Texas to clean up and prepare for a future foundation for a structure that we would like to place on site. We’ve been wanting to go for a while now (when it was cooler), but we were waiting for the well to be finished up. The property is totally off-grid, with no electricity, propane and even the well needs the generator because the pump is so deep, so I knew that there would be some lessons learned as these city folk spent three days out roughin’ it! Lesson: I over estimated my physical ability to work out in the heat. I’m not a wuss. I work hard and I’m not afraid to get my hands dirty. But most of my day, nowadays, is spent inside in the AC. The heat just drains you and I was constantly thirsty! On the way up to the property, I was looking forward to stopping at Whataburger (only in TX I think) to have a big hamburger before getting to the property and eating “camp” food. Dad wasn’t hungry, so I told him not to bother stopping. As soon as we arrived, we started unloading the tractor, clearing a path for the truck and trailer and setting up the tent and shade cover. By the time I knew it, it was late and I had lost my appetite. I was thirsty though. It seemed like I couldn’t quench my thirst. I had water and Gatorade, but I was always thirsty. I did monitor myself and my dad. I made sure we were drinking, using the restroom, sweating, etc… So we weren’t in danger, but it was hot. I wasn’t as sore as I thought I would be afterwards, but the heat did take a lot out of me. I weighed myself at home, even after eating a hamburger on the way back home, and I lost 5 pounds! I’m sure it was all water and I’ll gain it all back! After the generator was started and hooked up to the well, I had all the cool water I wanted. But this situation did cause me to reflect on the fact of “what if” I had to bug-out and the water I had in my BOB ran out. You can only carry so much water. In hot climates, this needs to be really thought out! One of the items that we both thought were invaluable were those neckties that cool you when you soak them for five minutes. I have purchased one for each member of my family off of eBay, but the two that I had with us were from Walmart. I found them in the sporting section for under $4. We used them constantly. Lesson: I forgot some important items. I feel like I’m a pretty organized person. I also have a pretty good memory. But there was so much that I was trying to remember that I forgot some important items. I don’t usually have to make lists, but I can see how they insure that you don’t forget important items. I forgot my camp stove, sun screen and table. The table wasn’t a big deal. Dad had one that we could take up there, although it was a lot smaller than what we needed. For the rest of the items, we stopped at Walmart. I hated to buy another camp stove, but that’s what we were using to heat up water, etc… I could have made a fire, but I’m glad that I didn’t go that route. When you’re tired and hot, spending the extra time and effort to build a fire isn’t what you want to do unless you absolutely have to. There is always going to be items that you forget, making an effort to minimize your forgetfulness is very important. Side note – the Sporting Goods section in small town Wal-Mart’s suck compared to those found in the “big city.” The Sporting Goods section was about 1/3 the size of the one that I’m used to. Lesson: Things broke and didn’t work. My sunglasses, bic lighter and generator broke or didn’t work as I thought. I’m bad with sunglasses. Actually, I never take my sunglasses out of my truck. They stay clipped to my visor when I’m not driving. But the sun was so bright that I thought I should wear them. I don’t know how it happened, but somewhere along the line they broke. I can still wear them, but nevertheless, sunglasses are important for eye protection and eventually, the small crack that developed will give way and I won’t be able to use them. The thing that freaked me out was the lighter that was fairly brand new, didn’t work. The wheel was bent and wouldn’t strike the flint. Thank goodness I had backups. I lit the stove with my Primus Fire Steel. If that didn’t work, I had the fire steel on my Gerber fixed blade sheath and also the fire steel on my paracord bracelet. I could have ultimately used the flint in the lighter and the car lighter too. Lastly, the generator didn’t work just as I thought. This is my first generator. We need it to run the pump on the well. I don’t like this, so I’m working on a way to make sure we can have water, even if we don’t have gasoline. But I digress… I purchased the generator the week before and left it in the box. I assembled it on site (wheels and handles) and started it. It wouldn’t stay on! I pulled the string, checked all that I knew, but it still wouldn’t stay on. I breezed through the manual, looked at the troubleshooting section and still no luck. After about an hour, I figured it out. Basically, it was not enough oil. The automatic shut-off was not allowing the generator to get going due to the lack of it. At the store, the salesman sold me a bottle with enough oil for two changes. So, with that information, I put in half of the bottle, right? It wasn’t enough! After putting in more, it was fine. I should have assembled the generator at home and gave it a test run first before I really needed it. If the generator wouldn’t have run, we would have had a rough time. The equipment not working didn’t lead us to tragedies or anything, but it still speaks to the need for redundancy and to the fact of making sure your equipment is in working order BEFORE you need it! Lesson: The items that I counted on the most. I had multiple knives with me. However, my Kershaw Shallot knife was the only one that I used…and did I use it. I love that knife. The other thing that we used a lot and could have used more was rope. We used a lot to put up our big shade cover. Because we only had a limited supply, we couldn’t string the cover all the way to the next tree like we wanted to. It still worked for us. But the lesson is that you can never have enough cordage! In conclusion, I love it out in the country! We are already planning to go back up there again in the next week or two. I will take all these lessons into consideration as I start planning the next trip. But I’m sure that the next trip will have more lessons to learn. And that’s the beauty of it all, learning and growing and making adjustments as we move forward. Never say never when it comes to being prepared Delivered by The Daily Sheeple Contributed by SurvivalWoman of Backdoor Survival. Please share: Spread the word to sheeple far and wide
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WOW…hope you practice more…=) Try going camping and NOT being able to go to Walmart!
@prepared soccer mom, HAHAHAHA I and i’m sure your husband do it all the time here in Afghanistan. Also might want to add doing all that NOT in the heat (which here gets above 110 every day now) but doing it up in elevation and at -30c, a WHOLE NOTHER GAME! and NOT all that pleasant.
@SKIP, Yea, I can’t complain about the weather to him!!! He’s so happy that he actually gets a day off today, thank you general….haha. Hope you’re having a good 4th, as good as we can with everything going on…=)
A solar panel for the pump. We just did this at our place for our well. Primary runs off electricity. Solar as a back up. works great so far.
@Vango,
Vango,
How deep is your well? Do you have any experience with a solar pump for a deep well (400 feet)? I would love to hear your advice/experience.
Todd
@Prepper Website, Ny advice is “it’s not gonna work on a well that deep” Solar cells are a joke for real power people, good for charging radio batteries and such but for real electricity, generators ate the only choice and those will not work long for lack of fuel. Of course, if you know anyone that can make shine, the shit can be made into low grade fuel of various sorts AND it can be sold as barter because drunks will STILL want to be drunk as often as possible.
@SKIP, I seem to be having some trouble spelling today:)
They have little nuclear powered boxes, no maintenance for 50 years. Guess we will not be able to buy them, no one to support utility ceos. The elite is concerned that africa can benefit from the technology.
@Evie, Africans never even invented, discovered or stole the wheel until European Whites got there, what possible use could they have for anything nuclear? LOL No offense meant Evie, just funny thinking of nuclear anything in a hunter, gatherer, looter, robber, murderer, rapist society:)
“AND it can be sold as barter because drunks will STILL want to be drunk as often as possible.”
Yeah. Now, if only those drunks have jack-all that anyone actually wants! lol
@Ed_B, Will obviously have to give that some consideration, thanks. Something else for people that are prepared, but have no experience with “urban” dwellers, is the potential for those ruthless thugs leaving the urban areas and spreading into the rural areas bringing their looting, burning, murderous ways and rape with them which brutality is something that most non city dwellers have never experienced, could not know to prepare for and will be victims before they recognize the danger. I feel that most people will be hesitant to pull the trigger on another person despite the percieved danger and will tell the intruder to go away, or stop, I’ll shoot! Just shoot, chamber another round and be prepared to shoot again because your life will be worth exactly what you have and that will include any women in your family or houshold under your protection so be prepared to PROTECT THEM with violence because “urban thugs” will be prepared to take them with violence. I know!
My Family has been making “shine” since the Civil War. that’s how we made it thru the depression. we trade it for things all the time, it’s amazing what drunks have to trade. hahahahaha
@Sabel, HAHAHA good to know, add naptha to some of that shine and get a low level but totally functional fuel! smells sort of like an old closet but who GAF when the generator is working LOL and yeah, amazing what drunks can come up with and they are always good for information since nobody pays them any attention!