Power out safety tips:

- no fire indoors
- no candles indoors
- no camping stoves or charcoal indoors
No generators indoors ...or even nearish to buildings, windows, etc

Darn good cautions, although I think a fire in a properly drawing fireplace would be acceptable - probably not a burning issue in Florida or Texas right now.

- Make sure you have good lighting; it's stupid things like tripping that causes lots of injuries.

Nothing wrong with candles or oil lamps indoors, they have been around for centuries. Just be mindful of them. My kids have no idea on how to properly trim a oil lamp wick, but I do and I am only 49.

We so often rush to discard "old" technology for new just because it takes practice/experience/diligence. Maybe we should just practice more.

Propane camping stove indoors, treat it like your gas range built into your kitchen.

My only caveat to all of this is that a battery powered CO monitor is a wise investment now that they are available.

No generator indoors, or near doors and windows--------agree
No candles indoors------------------disagree, safe IMHO WITH CARE.
No camping stove indoors-------depends on the fuel IMHO, Coleman Fuel or gasoline not safe IMO, but kerosene or LPG acceptable with care.
No charcoal indoors------burning it indoors, no way, storage is fine.
No fire indoors-----no IMPROVISED fire, agree, but a properly installed stove or fire place should be fine.

And I would add, avoid "suicide leads" for generators, they are so called for a good reason.

get a good LED headlamp with a center top strap... get a good single AA LED task light and keep it in your pocket... buy good equipment...recharge when you run your generator... have a 12v charging option for your battery charger charger, and a USB cord if your car can support charging your cell phone... I standardized to AA Eneloop NiMH cells for my emergency lighting after 2004

I did not have to resort to lighting the citronella lamp oil this year, but did spend a lot of time in the shade of the garage

Why? Even removed the top strap from mine big princeton tec Apex for running. Most headlights now are much lighter and smaller and i never had any issues even while running.



I'm starting to think that within a few years, standardizing on USB power can be more useful. You can run higher currents on lithium-ion batteries and USB cables/ports. Pretty much everything has a USB version of it available.

Do you isolate the house from the grid until the grid comes back up to protect from surges and/or dirty supply?

How do you decide when to reconnect if you do?

How do you know the grid is up?

I would probably unplug sensitive equipment and leave lights on with regard to the grid issues. We've had widespread power outages where I live and none of my gear has been damaged by grid restoration transients yet. But my computers and similar are protected by good surge protectors.

Ian... I disconnected the main service breaker when the power went off... on when I noticed street light across from the house

Tjin... my headlamp is a Black Diamond with a rear battery pack, running on 3 AAs... for me, it is more comfortable than the headband elastic AAA lights for prolonged wear... YMMV

in 2004, AA made the most sense to standardize with... NiMH Eneloops were pretty much king of the mountain at that time..they work in my bicycle tail lights, TV controller... Fenix E21...Fenix E12... SolarForce Z2...Midland weather radio... Reecom weather radio.. Grundig F200 radio...Coleman Hi Tech, and small Coleman LED area lights

Haha, hikermor!

When we had a multi-day (6 days I think) power outage a few years back our biggest issue was getting water for our horses, in the volume that they need (we have a well). We could buy sufficient water, but the horses drink a LOT of water. Luckily the township responded to our call and trailered in drinking water for them.

At the time we had an above ground pool, and I swam in that to clean up a bit, but after three days or so the pool water started turning bad, so I had to turn to minimal sponge bathing. We'd go to bed when it got dark, and it was summer in the upper midwest, so home heat wasn't an issue. We had to toss a lot of refrigerated food!!

Ken