Blizzard approaching, what to do if power goes out?

[Bogertophis]

Ever hear of a "three dog night"? (Dang! And me with only two dogs...)

It's frightfully cold here too, & they're warning us to minimize unessential power use immediately. I hope we all get through this mess...

[Trinityblood]

Ever hear of a "three dog night"? (Dang! And me with only two dogs...)

It's frightfully cold here too, & they're warning us to minimize unessential power use immediately. I hope we all get through this mess...

I've never heard the phrase! At least with two you can make a sandwich. They'll be your own heatpacks.

I hope everyone is staying warm.

[Bogertophis]

I've never heard the phrase! ...

Oh, you "young'uns"! Um, the rock band? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5261s3Z3RU

And they got the name from: (to quote Dr. Google)
"The phrase "three dog night", meaning it is so cold you would need three dogs in bed with you to keep warm, originated with the Chukchi people of Siberia, who kept the Siberian Husky landrace dog that became the modern purebred breed of Siberian Husky."

[bcr229]

If you're heating with gas then keeping your BP warm during the day is also easy, just pour hot water into a bottle, wrap it in a towel, put it in the enclosure. May need a few depending on the enclosure size but it's doable.

[Trinityblood]

Oh, you "young'uns"!

Um, the rock band? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5261s3Z3RU

And they got the name from: (to quote Dr. Google)
"The phrase "three dog night", meaning it is so cold you would need three dogs in bed with you to keep warm, originated with the Chukchi people of Siberia, who kept the Siberian Husky landrace dog that became the modern purebred breed of Siberian Husky."

Not a bad song at all. Definitely before my time lol.

Makes perfect sense. I have two huskies so I'm all set. At least they are loving this weather.

[303_enfield]

Heat without a genset or wood stove or gas stove. Hand an foot warmers from Walmart an the like in the camping section. Little Buddy heaters that run on one pound propane or 20lb with attachments. K1 heaters at TSC, Farm Store an Hardware stores. Harbor Freight store has Gensets cheap an inverters. With an inverter you use your car battery (in car) or a deep cycle one in the living room . With the inverter hook to your car battery you have power an just run the car for twenty minutes every five/six hours or so, depending on battery. Hot water is easy without power. Open the Hot Water Heater, you have a drain use it. Shut the breaker off to it if electric (on a well). You should drain it(on a well) if it looks like the heater is going to freeze!

Now, I know people that live where this type of storm hasn't hit in thirty years don't think about them. But if your without power over 24 hours in sub freezing temps it's time to bugout. Take the family an go to somebody that has heat an power.
BUT before you leave do this:

1) Protect the pipes from freezing. On a well this means draining the lines an pouring RV anti-freeze in the traps, toilets bowl an tank. Leave the taps open an throw the breaker to the HW tank (if gas set at vacation an don't drain, if empty turn gas off).
1a)On City water you turn all the taps on to a 1/4" stream (or more). If it just drips it will freeze. On the toilet it's remove the flapper or put a butter knife across under it so it runs. Yes, the water bill will be higher but the pipes are safe.

2)Turn most (all) breakers off. You don't want to burn everything up when the power comes back on.

Yes, I've been that dumb guy staying for a month in a frozen house. But I sent the wife, kids, reptiles an horse to another State. I had 100+ Herefords that needed to be fed an not enough time or money to move them.


Good luck!

[Snagrio]

After some discussion, there's an extra failsafe. One of my siblings lives in another neighborhood about 10 minutes away, so if her place still has power and we don't that can be a temporary solution, and even if her power also goes out she'll at least have water as she isn't on a well. Even that aside, at our house we do have a grill to heat things in a pinch plus a gas fireplace to heat one room with.

[nikkubus]

Temp wise, I would insulate the fish tank as much as possible and it can hold its heat enough that they will be okay (keep in mind fish survive shipping several days at sub optimal temps). The real worry is the filtration not being on and not exchanging oxygen any more than standing water. I'd definitely try and get some kind of battery bank to run the filter if you can afford it.

[Caitlin]

In addition to Shipyourreptiles, you can get the UniHeat reptile shipping warmer packs from the Reptile Basics website and on Amazon.

I have also ordered cold packs from Reptile Basics, as I live in wildfire country and the power is likely to go out during the hottest time of the year.

[Trinityblood]

Temp wise, I would insulate the fish tank as much as possible and it can hold its heat enough that they will be okay (keep in mind fish survive shipping several days at sub optimal temps). The real worry is the filtration not being on and not exchanging oxygen any more than standing water. I'd definitely try and get some kind of battery bank to run the filter if you can afford it.

I will be wrapping it up. I am 100% more concerned about keeping the water moving. I have a battery bubbler but I'll have to jerry rig some AA batteries to act like D batteries. Never thought much about how they're shipped. I always get them at my LFS. I would guess it's not much different than reptiles. It looks like a 4th storm is going to hit before I can get out of the house. No power outage yet *knocks on wood*.