Finally a power failure in my house

I had posted the following on another forum. Posting here to share my experience.

For the past few days, I noticed a smell of something burning. I had went around my house several times but just could not locate the source of the smell.

Last night, while I was reading my papers. Suddenly, the light went off and all airconditioner, electronics devices stopped working. I immediately deploy my E2D which was my regular EDC to check the circuit breaker and grab my mobile phone to call for an electrican.

While waiting for the electrican to arrive, I intended to deploy Osram lanterns and Dot-It as my area lights. 1 Osram lantern in common living area and another in the kitchen. One Dot-It for each bathrooms.

The Osram lantern is my emergency area lights, hence both lantern has fresh Energizer e2 Lithium AA. I had tested them before putting away for long term storage. Hence, I was very surprise when 1 of them has a weak beam & nearly flat batteries.

I am fully aware that my son had been playing with the 2 Osram Dot-It, so I would need to replace their batteries as well.

Finding out your light need a battery change in the dark is no fun and worse, I do not have enough spare for the change. Each Osram lantern requires 4 AA battery while each Dot-It requires 3 AAA.

I only had 2 primary AA and 1 or 2 dozen rechargable AA/AAA that not holding a charge. I was left staring at the battery charger and rechargeable batteries. I am a little disappointed with my rechargeable batteries because I had actually recharge the entire lot less than 7 days ago. The self discharge rate was so high that none had enough charges to light up the Osram lantern. Had no choice but to make a trip to the nearest 24hrs convenience store to buy additional primary AA & AAA batteries.

Inova 24x7 was also put into service for a while, for navigating from room to room and it was really useful when I change battery for other lights.

I also put in fresh battery for the Old version of Inova T1 and Pelican M6 LED. Then give the T1 to my wife while I carried the Pelican M6 LED.

The electrican took 3 hours to reach my house from the time I called. He had one of those big 6V Everready flashlight with a weak beam that he was about to use to check my circuit breaker. To assist him, I switch on my modded Mag 2C with 3x CR123. His immediate comment was my light was very bright and switch off his EVerready. He found loose electrical cables which cause 2 circuit breaker to melt a little. It took him close to an hour to replace both burnt circuit breakers and ensure all cables are correctly wired and tighten.

Lesson learnt, I need to get more LED based lights for the extended runtime. My choice will be Inova 24/7 for the handfree convenience and Osram lanterns for the soothing cool white light.

I may have to keep some primary AA/AAA on hand, seem that rechargeable batteries is not so useful in a power failure situation. The inconvenience of having to do reqular recharge, just seem too much of a hassle.

Except for my E2D which seem some action, there was no need for me to deploy the rest of my Surefires or dipped into my supply of 200~300 CR123A. If the power failures had been longer, I will have to deploy my Surefire L1 & A2.

I am very thankful the damaged was limited to 2 circuit breaker and no open flames. In fact, 1 of the thing that I had purchased in the past year is a fireproof rating safe to store some of my important documents. While the rest of important stuff are in off site storage.

The issue with rechargeable batteries has been fixed (there have been a few threads on this recently). You need some of the new Low Self Discharge batteries, brands are Sanyo Eneloop, RayOVac Hybrid, etc. These do not have the self discharge issue that previous rechargeables have had. You can charge them in any NiMH charger though some chargers are better than others, if your charger charges too fast, or charges in pairs then replae it with something better.

A few days? Maybe I'm over-reacting to this story, but that's a long time to notice the smell of something burning in your house without figuring out the source. I think lesson #1 would be to not ignore a burning smell inside your house. I can't imagine going to sleep knowing that something could be burning in my house and not knowing where, especially with a child. The burning smell could've been something far more dangerous than loose breakers. If I couldn't find an obvious source of the smell, I think that I would have then tried cutting the power myself and seeing if the burning smell goes away. I still may not know the source simply by cutting the power, but at least the threat has been minimized or eliminated at that point if the smell stops.

It's good that you've taken some steps to protect your documents, but what about the people? Do you have smoke detectors and regularly check those batteries? Do you have an evacuation plan and does your son know it? Have you ever done a fire drill at night? There was that TV segment not that long ago that showed children would just sleep right through your typical beeping smoke detector even though it was beeping loudly in the same room with them! That was frightening to watch.

I agree.

The rechargeable batteries are for everyday use DD's cd player, clocks, remotes,etc.

I keep a stash of alkaline batteries for emergency use.

Your post sounds like a commercial!





I immediately deploy my E2D

While waiting for the electrician to arrive, I intended to deploy Osram lanterns and Dot-It as my area lights. 1 Osram lantern in common living area and another in the kitchen. One Dot-It for each bathrooms.


He had one of those big 6V Everready flashlight with a weak beam that he was about to use to check my circuit breaker. To assist him, I switch on my modded Mag 2C with 3x CR123.

My choice will be Inova 24/7 for the hand free convenience and Osram lanterns for the soothing cool white light.







Your post is more about the name brands and model of flashlights then anything else.


How about my rechargeable batteries didn’t work and I need to have alkaline on hand for emergencies and use LED lights because they run a lot longer on a set of batteries.

Everyone has their own way of telling their story and I see nothing at all wrong with including as much detail as someone choses to share. Actually, I like to know what folks are using in such situations. It's useful information. A generic description may appeal to you, but may not to others who prefer details. Let's not discourage folks from sharing in whatever way they want. He doesn't appear to be selling these flashlights, so it's a reasonable way to tell his story.

Firefly's post was originally written as a post over at Candlepower Forums, so that's why all the specific details about flashlights. I'm curious to see how the responses from the CPF crowd differs from the ETS crowd to the same post. I'm a little surprised that we're mostly just commenting on the batteries angle so far rather than the fire danger angle.

At the risk of being tortured with extra bright LEDs, I think you ought to get back to the basics of home preparedness.





Like, pick up a first aid kit at the local pharmacy.





A crow bar at the hardware store.




A diffuser tip from Fenix.



P.S. Film canisters and pill bottles work, too...




credit for above rig goes to NKB from multitool.org

I don't think you're overreacting Arney. I couldn't agree more. Wow! 2 days with some unknown thing burning in the house. I couldn't do it.

Read the other threads, there are decent rechargeable batteries. a test of my own was to fill two battery packs for a radio, one with rechargeables and one with lithium that had both sat for a year and I measured the run time and they were equal. Good rechargeables like eneloops are better than alkaline.

It would probably be a good idea to have the rest of your domestic electrical wiring checked out as well. Shoddy workmanship at the circuit breaker probably indicates other safety issues for your domestic wiring. The US domestic wiring will be different to the UK standards but a socket tester such as this one at

http://www.martindale-electric.co.uk/sockets.htm

will test for the correct socket polarity and earth leakage problems. There should be a US equivalent tester to test for wall socket wiring problems.

Having a Residual Current Circuit Breaker RCCB installed is highly desirable as well.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Residual-current_device

They are known life savers protecting against lethal electrocution.

Sorry, it seem that I had given the impression that there is a continuous burning smell for a few days. What I meant was my family members and myself noticed a very faint smell of burning in the evening for the past few days. Each time we would go around searching for the smell. But the smell would disappear within 10 minutes. During day time, none of us can detect any burning smell.

I had triple checked that there is no more burning smell or open flame in / around my house before going to sleep.


I will get some smoke detectors installed and properly have to try out the existing fire extinguishers and topup too.

Yes, I do have those stuff you mentioned and a plan to handle the potential risks impacting my house or region. There was no need to deploy those items so I did not mentioned them.

This incident show the differences between what I imagine is need for a power failure situation and what is actually needed.

I had the same view too. My rechargeable batteries are solely for my kid's toys. For emergency kits, I would prefer primary battery. It just happen that I had spend the time & effort to recharge all the batteries and it fail me less than 7 days later when I need them.

most small fireextinguishers can not be "tryed". You can buy another one to train with, since the small domestic models tend to be single use. Check the pressure and when i doubt, buy a new one. Generally not worth to service them.

Thanks for the information. This is new to me. Anyway, my current fire extinguishers had been with me for several years. Guess it is time to replace them.

Yes, it is an excellent idea. But I did strip out all cablings including the circuit breakers, switches and recable the whole house when I move in 10 years ago. It would be a nightmare to recable the whole house now.

I post over Candlepower forum to share what flashlights that I had used in this incident and found useful. So that other folks will not be struck in an extended power failure with a super bright flashlight that last less than half an hour and having to sit in the dark for the rest of the duration.

My objective of repeating the post here is for discussion on the emergency preparedness aspect. I had always believe that I am quite well prepare to handle crisis such as a power failure. I had imagine what the need for a power failure will be and prepare accordingly. But was a little surprise to realise there is some shortcoming on my preparedness.

I had always assume that the cause of power failure will be external to my house, such as grid issue, tree fell on transmission line, etc. Never realise a circuit breaker melted down, will cause a power failure as well as the threat of fire.

I wish I can foresee what is my family first aid requirements are? For I would hate to break the seal on my first aid kit then realise that I had insufficient quantity of cotton wool or lack certain lotion, etc.

If you plan to replace your extinguishers, the old ones might still be suitable for training your family on proper use and to get an idea of their effectiveness. I think many people place too much faith in small extinguishers which are suitable only for small fires that are detected almost immediately after ignition.

I would certainly agree that a store of alkaline cells is prudent in case of power failure, in this case the probem was only in the OPs home and batteries could be readily purchased. in the event of a general blackout it is probable that the store would either close or run out.

As regards the cause of the problem, in addition to installing smoke detectors in the recomended places in your home, I would suggest an additional smoke detector close above the electrical panel, this could give valuable early warning of any overheating.

In the UK the use of RCDs is to be recomended, in the USA these are known as GFCIs and are already in widespread use.
Such devices protect against leakage of current to earth/ground which can kill or start fires, they do not in general protect against overheating caused by loose connections or overloading.

Yes, I intend to use the old ones for training purposes. But I am more curious to find out their lifespan, whether it would still work after 5 years in storage.

Good idea.

According to DIY Network, "Most extinguishers have a shelf life of five to seven years."

I would check the manufacturer's literature or web site to get specific information for the selected equipment and then err on the side of caution.

I'm glad that no serious damage happened. Even if the burning smell was brief, I think if it were me, I would still be pretty worried about finding the source. Actually, once I smelled it the second time, then I think I would really be interested in finding the source because then it wasn't just some one-time freak event.

I think maybe I'm a little more paranoid about fires lately, but more about fires outside my house. We had those terrible wildfires in Southern California last fall and I had to breathe smoke for a week, and then we had a small wildfire just a stone's throw from my own house not long ago (some kids had been smoking dope in the bushes) so whenever I smell smoke inside, I definitely go outside to see if the smell is out there.

I had an experience that has made me sensitive to burning smells as well. When I was about 13, there was an extension cord that was running under my bed that shorted out while I was asleep. I woke up to a burning, copper odor (like a hand full of pennies). I got up to check it out but the light wouldn't turn on in my room. My dad reset the tripped breaker and I saw sparks spew out from under the bed, bouncing off the blanket that had been covering me just a minute before. I'm certain that the circuit breaker saved me. The odor plus the sight of those sparks left a huge impression on me.

Decades later, I'm still hyper-sensitive to burning odors.

As I reflect on it, I'm not big on extension cords, either.

Yeah, or gang adapters that allow receptacles/circuits to be overloaded beyond one's wildest imagination.

What happened there? Do you think someone used the lantern as well as the Dot-It? If so, and if your son put it away knowing it was now dim, I'd have a word with him about it.

Or did the Lithium AA's under-perform? Or does the lantern draw a tiny amount of current even when off? I agree with the comments on rechargables (other than Li-Ion or Eneloops etc), but if Lithiums are failing we need to query Energizer.

I've been in the situation where I've prepared for power failure, finally got one, only to find my preparations didn't work. That's how I discovered tea-lights aren't as bright as proper candles. (This was back before LEDs.) It's galling, but educational. In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they are different.

"...rechargeable batteries is not so useful in a power failure situation. The inconvenience of having to do reqular recharge, just seem too much of a hassle..."

Yup...

Rechargeables with a small solar recharger can be a nice thing.

John E

As others have said, the low-discharge type (eg Eneloops) seem to give the best of both worlds. You can stock-pile them fully-charged and they'll retain a usable charge for years (they lose about 15% in the first year, less there-after). And if the power cut extends indefinitely, you can recharge them by whatever means you can. Eg solar panels or car charger. Where-as with primary cells when you've used your stockpile, you're stuck.

Glad to hear that you survived OK and that it made you careful.
Good reason to allways keep a flashlight beside the bed.
Good reason to avoid extension cords (and if they cant be avoided, to use only reputable brands of heavy duty cord, #14 AWG)
And also a good reason to favour wool bed blankets over other materials, wool is naturaly non flammable unlike many other materials from which blankets are made.