Just in Case (26 page)

WOODSTOVE FROM A STEEL BARREL

Modern technology has brought us beyond traditional woodstoves to a host of good heating appliances powered by a variety of fuels, including propane, natural gas, kerosene, wood pellets, and even corn. Before investing in one of these, be sure it will run without electricity! Many of these heaters depend on electricity to power fans and blowers, fuel injectors, and thermostats. I had a friend who chose to invest in a pellet stove to provide an alternative source of heat for her family, only to realize when the power went out that the stove had an electric ignition. No power, no heat!

If you have the unfortunate opportunity to replace your furnace or boiler, you might consider investing in a multifuel one that can run on either a conventional fuel such as gas or oil or, depending on the model, wood, coal, corn, or some other fuel. Again, just be sure it can still operate when the power goes out.

Whatever stove or heater you decide on, install it properly and according to the highest codes. Shield it from your children and don’t allow clutter to build up around it. If you’re burning wood, be sure to have your chimney cleaned yearly.

DRESSING WARMLY

When it’s cold in the house, dress in layers to trap your body heat. Flannel, fleece, and wool are the best options for layering. Think about investing in flannel sheets, wool blankets, and down comforters or a good-quality sleeping bag to create the same warmth in beds.

If you can’t heat your whole house with your nonelectric heater, focus on heating a smaller section of it, even just one room. Isolate that space from the rest of the house by shutting the doors or covering openings with heavy blankets, space blankets, or quilts.

REFRIGERATION

I
F THE POWER FAILS
, one of your first worries may be for the preservation of the food in your freezer. How long the food in your freezer will stay frozen is impossible to predict; it depends on variables such as freezer size, how full you keep it, how low the temperature is set prior to the power going off, how often the door is opened, and the temperature of the room the freezer is in. In the best of circumstances, three days is probably the maximum you can hope for.

I have a number of friends who live off the grid and use propane refrigerators, freezers, and washing machines. They look like traditional appliances but use no electricity. As long as you have propane, you have power. The only criticism I have heard is that the refrigerators are small. If you have a big family, that could be a problem. The one large family I know bought two refrigerators and keeps one in the basement for the things they use less often.

Cold storage is the lowtech method of keeping cold foods cold. If outdoor temperatures stay below zero, you can store food from your freezer outdoors, so long as you’re sure that it will never end up in direct sun. But having subzero temperatures for an extended length of time is unlikely in most regions, so you probably are best off keeping the food in your freezer, not opening the door, and hoping the power comes back on soon.

Foods from your refrigerator also need to be kept cold, meaning less than 40°F. If temperatures outside are less than 40°F, you can keep such foods outdoors, again keeping them out of direct sun. Store any food you’re going to set outdoors in a cooler with a secure top to prevent animals from getting inside. Note that raccoons are perfectly capable of opening the latch on a cooler. Placing something heavy on the cover will keep out most pests, except for those with two legs.

FILL THE FREEZER TO SAVE FOOD

When the power goes out, a full freezer will keep food frozen a lot longer than a half-empty freezer. So if a storm is heading your way, or just as a general precautionary measure, fill any empty corners of your freezer with ice.

If you have a bulkhead with a door separating it from the rest of your cellar, you will find temperatures there cool enough to keep many foods fresh for a few days. In the winter, a cupboard on an exterior wall will get quite cold if it is shut off from the warmth of the rest of the house. In warm weather, any room below ground level will be cooler than the rest of the house; a thermometer will tell you whether your cellar is cool enough to substitute for refrigerator storage.

SANITATION

L
ACK OF WATER
becomes a real problem when the toilet won’t flush and you can’t wash your hands. Fortunately, in many homes water supply is not dependent on electricity (though hot water may be). But for those of us with water pumps, or in cases where pipes to or from the home have been damaged, such as by earthquake, knowing how to deal with a lack of water is essential.

TOILETS

If your water supply system is no longer working, the loss of water may be most sorely missed in the bathroom, specifically for the toilet. Fortunately, you don’t need potable water to flush a toilet. Even muddy water will work. Pour a bucket of water directly into the bowl, flush, and the contents will swirl away. You will have to manually fill the tank if you want more water in the toilet bowl. You might consider slipping a sock on the toilet handle to remind people not to flush every time they use the toilet, to minimize the amount of water you have to lug in.

You might also consider purchasing a backup toilet system. Bear in mind, unless you want to invest in a composting toilet system, you are likely to find the alternatives pretty primitive. Most are nothing more than a five-gallon receptacle with a liner, snap-on lid, and seat. Some add an enzyme pack that acts as a deodorant.

Composting toilets reduce human waste to an earthlike substance that can be easily emptied and disposed of outdoors. Some require electricity and others don’t. They require some maintenance, such as the addition of peat/hemp mix every day, agitation of the toilet contents on a regular basis, and removal of the composted waste. They cost a thousand dollars and up.

If you don’t want to invest this much money, you will need another option. A large bucket lined with a heavy-duty plastic bag will do. For the sake of odor control, locate your makeshift toilet away from your living quarters, perhaps in the garage or in a shed. You can mount a regular toilet seat on the top of the bucket for comfort and stability. A cover will help control odor and flies. You might consider one bucket for liquid waste and another for solids, which will make removing and carrying the contents easier.

Solid wastes should be buried as deeply as possible. Liquid wastes can be disposed of in a shallow trench. Just dig a trench about one foot deep by one foot wide and as long as you can manage. Heap a pile of sawdust, ashes, wood mulch, grass clippings, or even plain dirt nearby. Dump the contents of your liquid waste bucket into the trench twice a day and cover it well. A solid wood or metal sheeting cover will help keep animals out of the trench.

If frozen ground prevents you from digging a trench, or if you live in a city and don’t have access to open ground, you will need to dispose of the waste bags as they fill up, taking care to minimize the possibility of animals getting into the bags. I would suggest keeping a good supply of contractor’s trash bags on hand. Every time you change the liner of your makeshift toilet, place it in one of the contractor’s bags and fasten the top tightly with a twist tie. These bags are large and very heavy duty. They will hold a number of liners and are unlikely to split during transport.

BATHING

In addition to waste disposal, general hygiene is a problem if you have no running water and no way to heat the water you can acquire. In our affluent society, we are used to taking a shower (and sometimes two) every day. We have clothes to sleep in, clothes to work in, and clothes to play in. Many of us think nothing of changing clothes several times a day and tossing everything into the hamper after one use. If you are hauling water and heating it on an improvised stove, that kind of wasteful behavior will cease. Still, cleanliness is important. Under stress, we are more likely to become ill if we don’t take good care of ourselves.

For summer use, a solar shower works quite well. A solar shower is nothing more than a black receptacle with a hose and a clamp. Let the water heat in the sun for several hours and you have a hot, if time-limited, shower. In cold weather, a solar shower may still heat water if placed in direct sun. You can heat the water and then hang the bag over the faucet in your shower for use. Solar showers don’t offer as much water as most of us are used to; you should use the water to rinse off, then close the clamp while you lather up and wash, then open the clamp and rinse. Camping supply stores and catalogs offer a selection of solar showers as well as various other portable showers, any of which may be useful as a backup to your water heater.

If your hot water supply is limited, you may find it easiest to go back to the tin washtub, Saturday-night bath system, at least for children. Get a large tub — a storage bin works nicely since most of us don’t have an actual washtub anymore — and have ready two containers of water, one hot and one cold. Put in the hot first, then add cold until it is a comfortable temperature. You want kids, soap, washcloths, towels, and clean clothes assembled in the warmest room of the house for this. Then pop kids in, one after the other. It’s a good idea to go from cleanest to dirtiest. The water will stay cleaner if you wipe off the surface dirt first. Parents today would be horrified to know that when I was kid, back in the 1950s, baths were always done this way, with one tub of water per household of children. We survived quite nicely and without lasting psychological damage.

If bathing is just not possible, at least make sure to keep hands and faces clean. Waterless soap is mostly alcohol and very drying after a while, but you should have some on hand. Otherwise, have a small basin of water ready. Wet hands, lather up with liquid soap, then rinse in the same basin. You can brush your teeth with about a half cup of water if you wet the toothbrush, brush with a dollop of toothpaste or baking soda and salt, then swish and spit.

DISHWASHING

If your water supply is likely to be at risk, store disposable plates, cups, and utensils so you don’t have to waste that precious resource on washing up. Using disposables may go against everything you believe in, but it should only rarely be necessary. You can splurge on the biodegradable kind so they can go into the compost heap if it makes you feel better. Keep a few sets in your evacuation packs and car kits, too.

LAUNDRY

My mother had a house full of kids, a basic washing machine, and no dryer, and yet she spent a lot less time on laundry than I do. This was, in part, because we had far fewer clothes than most children do now. But it was also due to expectations. We were expected to keep school clothes clean and play clothes dirty and to wear our church clothes for an hour on Sunday. We used napkins on our laps and washed out underclothes and socks in the sink each night. We weren’t scarred by this either. If you can’t use your washing machine, you and your children will find you can adjust to this system as well.

W
HENEVER YOU ARE
making buying decisions for your home and family, think about its need for power. You will save more than money if you purchase things that do not require electricity or gas to be useful. Often, the so-called convenience of things is outweighed by the way they complicate your life. Take a can opener. A manual can opener is inexpensive, easy to clean, and portable, and takes up little storage space. I have a hand-me-down can opener from my mother that has been kicking around for the past thirty years and still works just fine. Now look at an electric can opener. It comes with all sorts of features that you will never use. You need an instruction manual just to figure out how to open a can of tuna. It’s ugly and impossible to keep clean. When it breaks down, and it will, you can’t get it repaired. It will be tossed in a landfill where it will sit for the next hundred years. When the lights go out, it is less than useless. It will sit on the counter, mocking you and taking up space better used for something useful, like a manual blender.

The landfills are full of fancy watches that need batteries you can’t find, appliances that no longer work, and the latest electronic gadgets that were obsolete before you got them home. If you really think you need an electric anything, wait a week before buying it. In that time the impulse may pass or you might find a manual model that better suits.

COULD YOU SHUT DOWN YOUR HOUSE IN TEN MINUTES?

• Do you know where all the shut-off valves are for gas and water? Do you have all the tools you need to close those valves?

• Do you know how to shut down your electrical service?

• Do you know the exact location of all keys?

• Are your essential documents in a fireproof safe or backed up in a separate location?

• Do you have evacuation packs for all family members?

CHAPTER 5 COMMUNICATIONS