DIY test of preps. 24 and 48 hour.

I know there is always a question of how well we will handle a disaster, but we really can put our preparing to the test.



Some years ago I had a power surge that fried my breaker box, literally. It also burned wire in some walls and the house was over 70 years old. I went a month without electricity and at the time I had not prepared for having no shower or toilet, everything in the fridge that wasn't eaten fast enough spoiled and only a few things were eaten from the freezer. To top it off, I had to eventually move out so the repairs could be made for another 2 months. I bought a cheap RV and lived in that for the remaining time.

Since after several months the insurance company called me and said they don't cover power surges. In the end I never moved back in, I sold it.



Now, I had no generator for backup, nor did I have a long term plan where to live if the house did burn down. My prior experience of living in a camper gave me the idea of an RV. It was nice the RV had a generator and all the other goodies that made life easier.



A few years later I bought bare land and two days before the new year I moved onto it. In the middle of winter. The worst time to set up camp and try to stick it out till spring when I could start building.

I was in preparedness mode by this time and had a little of everything to make life more comfortable and much warmer. The wood stove is a life saver.



Now I have a house again and I built it with survival in mind. I can shut the generator off and run on battery power, but if I have no more gas I have solar. A wind generator is on standby just in case there are cloudy days.

Several times I have done the 48 hour test with no power at all, but I then had an experience in the middle of winter of having a bad controller and the generator also went bad. With 5 feet of snow and 25 miles to the nearest parts store, I was in survival mode.

It was using flashlights, candles, and cooking on a modified wood burning BBQ or the woodstove.

However, I had lots of canned and dried food and an endless supply of water from the spring or if it was froze that day, I melted snow.



I worked as much as I could at daylight on repairing the generator, at night I relaxed by candle light reading before bed. Reading a good enjoyable book is good for the mind. I did have a HAM radio to call out, but I never had to use it.



Are you setup to handle a simple power outage? Have you just flipped the main breaker and tried to see what it is like for 24 hours? 48 hours? Even just fot half a day? Granted you may have a freezer full you don't want to waste needlessly.



We can't really know what its like unless we test our skills and preps, our back up systems and make a list of things we missed.



Then there is the ultimate test, after a 48 hour test head to a camp ground and stay for a weekend and live off the supplies you threw in your car in a hurry. Sounds extreme, but isn't it really the ultimate test to see how well we are prepared?



How about those with families that are always going their own way, since one kids at a ball game, the daughter is out with her friends, the wife is out shopping and you were mowing the lawn. How fast could you throw supplies in the car and round up the family in an emergency? Cell phones may not work, now whats the plan?



If we don't put everything to the test, it will be a circus trying to figure it all out on a whim.



Maybe even the power outage is as far as some will try out, but its something to think about.

DIY test of preps. 24 and 48 hour.