I am so spoiled stinking rotten, I probably couldn't live without electricity very long. I do know that my grandmother couldn't live without it at all, since she's hooked up to oxygen 24/7 due to her emphesyma.
How long could you live without electricity?
by JH 29 Replies latest jw friends
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Mulan
We have a gas range so I can still cook when the power is out (happens a few times a year during wind storms). And we have a gas log fireplace on both floors of the house. It heats pretty well too, so we don't get too cold either.
One year the power was out for several days (1993 in January). We had a rented generator because Princess and her husband were remodeling our downstairs for themselves, and the workers needed electricity for their power tools. I had a portable dishwasher at that time, and ran a very long heavy duty cord downstairs to run my dishwasher. Whew! At that time, I didn't have gas logs in the fireplace so bundled up when home, but I didn't stay home all day, and found a lot to do outside the house.
The power went out last Sunday for about an hour, right at dinner time. It was a challenge for my parents (89 and 90). Mom is very, extremely light sensitive, and Dad is nearly blind. We had a camping lantern in the middle of the table so we could see dinner............Dad has to have full light to see (sort of) what he eats. Mom had a terrible time, because the light was so bright.............had to get sunglasses for her to wear. Amazing how dark it is at 6PM without any light but a Coleman lantern.
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OUTLAW
You have to be able to survive in the Great White North at a moments notice..I can survive without electricity for as long as I have to,but I`d rather not...OUTLAW
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Sara Annie
8 days.
Several years ago (97 I think?) we had a big ice storm in this region that not only knocked out power in rural areas, but hit the city very hard as well. We lost power for 8 (very long) days in our neighborhood. We decided to stick it out at home, and actually had several overnight guests since our large basement and fireplace afforded a warm, relatively comfortable place to camp out in the dead of winter. The loss of modern conveniences was difficult. We had a small generator that allowed us to use many electric items when necessary, and still had hot water to shower and clean up. We lost a chest freezer full of food, and our beautiful old maple trees were badly damanged.
Interestingly, though the lack of electricity was quite annoying, I found that it was the constant exposure to family and friends that took the biggest toll on me. After 8 days, the novelty of rousing board games, daily McDonald's take out, reading aloud for entertainment, and communal campouts in the basement became a little tiresome. By day 7 as I was dragging in more wood for the fire, I was about ready to stand up and annouce to the sea of sleeping bags: "People, I love you all, but if the carbon monoxide doesn't get you all first, I will!"
An all around interesting experience that I wouldn't want to live through again. My husband now says that one of the chief reasons we built our new house is so that we'd never live in a neighborhood with above ground power lines again.
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acsot
It's kind of a trick question - I mean, it would depend where you live, if you have any sort of back-up (generator, wood stove, fireplace) or whatever. During the ice storm of '98 I was in an apartment with electrical heating, so if friends hadn't had me stay at their place (my electricity was off for 5 days) during the time the temperature hit -15 Celsius, well I probably would have lived .... I dunno - a day? how long before you die of hypothermia?
If I had a fireplace, or a gas stove to be able to cook, then it's not so bad, you can still function. Now I have a house and am thinking of buying a generator for next winter.
And if you want to start a new thread, how about "how the 'loving' congregation did NOTHING to help the rank and file during the ice storm of '98", other than the elders making sure they (the elders) were okay and all accounted for .. grrrrr.....
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seedy3
Well here in Guam we have little worry about freezing to death, but keeping food is another story. We had 2 typhoons last year, one in July and one in December, both times the electrical distribution system was wiped out on the island. It actually is such a common occurence here that about every 3rd house owns a generator, usually a 5k, just enough for lights and keep the fridge cold. Ice is a hot item at the stores because of all the people without generator. Most people here have a gas cooktop of some sort as well.
When I was in the states (MN), we always had alternative heating in the house, but when I moved to WI I was living in the city so we didn't have that option.
Seedy
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Trauma_Hound
As long as I have gas I have power. My car is equiped with a power inverter, bought it to power my laptop and things, while I was on the road, and to charge video camera batteries. Will have my ham radio license soon, so even if the cell phone fails, I'll still have communications. Including digital communications, packet radio over the ham airwaves. Even when we had a bad storm that took our power out for 10 days, I stayed in my motor home, that I had at the time, so I was warm, and had power.
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IronGland
If I were in an older home I could probably get by. The problem is, houses today are designed around electricity,modern plumbing etc, so you can't really live like the old days even if you wanted to.
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WildHorses
I went two weeks without electricity while I was visiting a friends M-I-L in Mexico. I also went a week without power after Fran.
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unclebruce
question should be "why live some place where you need electricity!
disconnected unc.
adendumb: i have gas.