Have you planned for:

[woodyz]

Have you planned for:

Off-grid Water

If you haven’t located water sources near your home, it’s time to break out the topographical maps of your area and find them! A low-tech water plan might include some or all of the following:
• A manual pump for your well
www.theprepperjournal.com/2014/07/17/hand-water-pumps-making-comeback/

• Buckets and wheelbarrows for hauling water from a nearby source
• Rain barrels for water harvesting (THIS is an inexpensive option with mixed reviews)
• A gravity-fed water filtration system (we have THIS ONE)
• A water dispenser for convenient access to filtered water (Be sure to get one with the bottle on top so that it can be operated without electricity, and not one that uses an electric pump to pull the water up from the bottom)
• Storage units for water such as cisterns or tanks
• Portable water filter bottles for safe water when you are away from home (we have THIS ONE)

www.directive21.com/products/sport-berkey-water-bottle/

Off-grid Shelter and Warmth

Homes these days aren’t built to function without a connection to the power grid. If you aren’t fortunate enough to live in an older home that was designed for off-grid living, look at some ways to take your home back a century or so. A secondary heating system is vital in most climates.
• An antique oil heater can use lots of different oils and requires little effort for installation (THIS SITE is loaded with information about Perfection oil heaters)
• Have a woodstove installed
• Clean your chimney and get your fireplace working
• Set up an outdoor fireplace with large rocks to bring inside for radiant heat (this won’t get you super warm but it’s better than nothing)
• Have a good supply of blankets, warm clothes, and cold-rated sleeping bags
• Learn techniques to stay warm with less heat

Off-grid Food

Not only do you need access to food, but you also need a way to cook it and a way to keep your refrigerated and frozen items from spoiling.
• Grow a garden and save your seeds
• Have a greenhouse or extend your growing season with cold frames and hoop houses
• Have a well-stocked pantry
• Have supplies for off-grid canning (Jars, lids, outdoor burner) - and learn how to can without a kitchen
• Learn ways to get by without refrigeration
• Outdoor cooking methods – THIS STOVE can be used with 3 different types of fuel
• If you’re anything like me, have a French Press for off-grid coffee!
• Make a solar cooker – learn how HERE

Off-grid Sanitation and Hygiene

How will you keep clean and deal with human waste in the event of a long-term emergency?
• If you are on a septic system, store water for flushing and have a collection system to save your used water in the future
• If you are not on a septic system, devise a plan and get supplies for an outhouse or cathole
• Learn how to do your laundry off-grid (I use a janitor’s bucket LIKE THISfor wringing out clothes – get the best quality you can afford – the cheap plastic ones will break when you use them for laundry)
• Learn how to make your own cleaning products

Off-grid Lighting

The world is a scary place when it’s dark, and most of us have forgotten how dark TRUE dark really is, due to light pollution and the proximity of neighbors. Here are some lighting solutions for an off grid world:
• Solar garden lights – store them outside to be charged during the day and bring them in and put them in vases where they’re needed at night
• Oil lamps – you can recycle used cooking oil or use rendered fat to power these – they give a brighter light and can be used for reading and close-work (Learn more HERE)
• Candles – stock them and learn to make them
• Solar powered flashlights

Renewable power is practical power.
One exception to my no-generators rule is renewable power. If you can afford a solar set up for your home, then very little would change about your day-to-day life, aside from you being one of the few people with power. You don’t have to go totally solar to have power for a few important items. Assuming you have electronics in working order, they can be powered with solar, wind, or water
.
Most of us can’t afford an entire set up but these are some options to consider:
• Build a DIY portable solar recharging station – learn how to make it HERE
• Solar-powered systems for specific items – learn more HERE
• Use wind power – learn more HERE
• Use water power – learn more HERE

Recommended Resources:
The Prepper’s Blueprint: Prepare Yourself For Any Disaster
52 Weeks to Preparedness (Free Online Web Series)
Related posts:
1. DHS: 100 Million Americans Could Lose Power in Major Sun Storm
2. Strong solar storm could disrupt flights and power grids, Nasa warns
3. Report: Chance of a Catastrophic Solar Storm Is 1 in 8; Would Take Down Power Grid, Food Transportation, Water Utilities, Financial Systems
4. Report: Chance of a Catastrophic Solar Storm Is 1 in 8
5. Biggest solar storm since 2005 underway, will peak Tuesday

www.prisonplanet.com/secret-homeland-report-warns-solar-storm-could-leave-100-million-without-power-we-are-running-out-of-time-to-prepare.html

[ColcordMama]

Where we live, our main concern in a SHTF scenario is not so much how to keep warm during the winter (although yes, it does get down to freezing during the winter, and ours happened on a Wednesday night last month) but how to keep from dying from the heat during summertime. Don't scoff, it hit 122 degrees here before so it's a very real danger. The only good thing about it is, most of the summer we have very low humidity. But when the humidity does go up, it is dangerously hot. If we didn't have electricity I don't know what we'd do other than leave for cooler climes.

[thywar]

You could always call that flake you have for a US senator, Jeff Flake. Or for that matter that other senile penile piece of crap McCain and ask them to install solar panels in your neighborhood. Good luck with them answering your call though.

[woodyz]

Desert Survival: 8 Simple Tips That Could Save Your Life

news.discovery.com/adventure/survival/desert-survival-8-simple-tips-that-could-save-your-life.htm

How to Survive in the Desert

www.desertusa.com/desert-activity/desert-survival-skills.html

Twenty Six Tips for Surviving in the Desert

www.desertusa.com/desert-activity/desert-survival-tips.html

[woodyz]

www.yucca-valley.org/departments/survival.html

www.secretsofsurvival.com/survival/How-to-Survive-in-the-Desert.html

www.essortment.com/finding-drinking-water-desert-40942.html

[ColcordMama]

David, I totally agree with you about those two. If it weren't for McCain's ineptitude we wouldn't have O in the White House now. I hate both of them. Z Man, those are great tips for surviving in the desert long enough to make it back to civilization and air conditioning, but I'm talking long term living in a house in Central Arizona during summer without electricity.

[angelhelp]

I had no idea that you had humid times there in AZ. My very limited experience occurred during a very pleasant (extremely low) humidity level.

[woodyz]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passive_cooling

www.builditsolar.com/Projects/Cooling/passive_cooling.htm

www.zeroenergydesign.com/Passive%20Solar%20Cooling.html

No body had air conditioning in the US southwest until 1930, what did they do before then?

However this idea used in the Middle East and Rome before there was a United States, makes a lot of sense if one has to live in the desert, or if one was planning for an increase in temps and lack of rain in any area of the US.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windcatcher

The bottom right is a good simple picture of how it works, but an improvement to the hot air intake would increase the effectiveness.

I have placed circulation piping through a dam so that the hot air coming in forced the cooler air inside the pipe in the deepest area of the water source and kept food "refrigerated" in the hottest months without electricity.

Bush Jr's home in TX is cooled with a combination of passive and Ground-coupled heat exchangers, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground-coupled_heat_exchanger

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prairie_Chapel_Ranch

using the fact that the ground at a set depth will maintain a constant temperature, allowing the warmer air from the house to "push" the cooler air upward.

[woodyz]

www.builditsolar.com/Projects/Cooling/EarthTemperatures.htm

Additionally burying the house and planning the circulation of air from the deepest to the shallow by intakes being low and outflow being high and maintain a very comfortable inside temperature without pumps, even in a desert.

It doesn't have to be the temps that drive you out

However as the past civilizations found out, the lack of water will.

Clovis, Mogollon, Anasazi, Sinagua, and Salado civilization. www.uapress.arizona.edu/Books/bid1013.htm

Perhaps in a hundred years future archaeologist will wander through your homes and collect you discards as artifacts, and wonder why you choose to try and live in such a hostile environment.

[marc]

Feb 5, 2015 19:29:55 GMT -7 angelhelp said:

I had no idea that you had humid times there in AZ. My very limited experience occurred during a very pleasant (extremely low) humidity level.

I have personally measured an 82 degree wet bulb there during the August Monsoon season. We had to design our commercial/industrial cooling systems for the same humidity as Mobile, AL.

Most of the year, the weather in the valley is the best kept secret in the country: Beautiful!

[thywar]

What? You mean there's humidity in Mobile? I'm shocked, I tell you. Shocked.
I'd ask Missasip if that was true but he said he hates Alabama so bad he drives around it just to get to Florida.

[ColcordMama]

You guys made me smile. Thanks. ((((Group hug))))
Oh, and Z Man, to answer your question, before coolers were invented Phoenix women and children (those who could afford to, obviously) went north for the summers, to Flagstaff or most especially Prescott. Now for a little historical tidbit: My father-in-law used to tell how he and a buddy were present when Barry Goldwater (yep, the very same one) invented the evaporative cooler. One summer night a very long time ago my FIL and one of his pals were fooling around down in an industrial district in South Phoenix. They came across a man on the loading dock of a company that was shut down for the night. They struck up a conversation with him and found out his idea: get hold of a wooden crate (which was why the man was there on the loading dock, where a bunch of such crates were stacked) and hang burlap bags on three sides. Put an ordinary rotary table fan inside the crate facing the non-bagged side, wet the bags, turn on the fan, and Voila! Instant cool air! Barry Goldwater went his way with his purloined crate, and thus was the evaporative cooler born, known for decades to Arizonans as a swamp cooler. True story, because my dear deceased father-in-law was never known to lie, being a stern and trustworthy undertaker all his adult life.

[woodyz]

All due respect to your Father-In-Law but I am afraid Mr. Goldwater was only using a much older technology

The basic concept behind air conditioning is said to have been applied in ancient Egypt, where reeds were hung in windows and were moistened with trickling water. The evaporation of water cooled the air blowing through the window. This process also made the air more humid, which can be beneficial in a dry desert climate. In Ancient Rome, water from aqueducts was circulated through the walls of certain houses to cool them. Other techniques in medieval Persia involved the use of cisterns and wind towers to cool buildings during the hot season.[3]

Modern air conditioning emerged from advances in chemistry during the 19th century, and the first large-scale electrical air conditioning was invented and used in 1902 by American inventor Willis Carrier. The introduction of residential air conditioning in the 1920s helped enable the great migration to the Sun Belt in the United States.

However, the important lesson here is to not dismiss what has worked in the past. Staying up to date on new technologies is important, but learning about and how to use old technologies may save your life one day.

[woodyz]

Here in the deep Southeast we look at the old houses with their 12 foot ceilings and floor to wall windows and wrap around porches and think "what a waste of space.

Because we do have air conditioning (meaning altering the heat and the cold) we now build our houses accordingly.

The older houses were built when air conditioning didn't exist or wasn't used extensively. Those wrap around porches shaded the lower rooms, those floor to ceiling windows open at the top or bottom, depending on the season and the direction they faced. Open the top on one side to let warmer air out and the bottom on the other to create a breeze.

Hanging a wet sheet in front of an open window on a hot night was the only way I could sleep growing up. We didn't have central air or heat. We had a swamp cooler or water cooler in the living room but nothing in the bedrooms but a fan.

I'm just saying people can/have get/gotten "technology disabled"

I am not turning off my central air and heat, but I am learning the old ways just in case I stay around long enough to need them