Am I over-preparing?

[Chrishazle]

My first move after the last lot was to buy a power bank capable of re-charging 2 mobile phones at least twice before it needs re-charging - except that the last major power cut took out the local masts as well so we completely lost mobile signal! At least BT had "paused" the planned move to VOIP, so out old fashioned corded phone connected direct to the main phone point still worked and allowed us to keep in touch with UKPN (for updates as we're registered on their vulnerable register) and family! We have a log burner in the living room, plus a couple of camping gaz burners for tea or cooking - having lived rurally for 40 years now!

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

I’ve got a colleague in Cape Town and they’re always having power outages. He’s taken the initiative of having two mobiles on different networks so he always has comms even if one of the providers is hit by a power outage. But as mentioned above I don’t think we’ll see any outages. One thing worth doing though is make sure your emergency light sources are easily accessible in the dark.

I usually carry two smartphones on two networks, and I make sure that we have a mix of two networks across my wife and children’s phones too. Not in case of power outage, but to maximise likelihood of picking up a signal.

On the subject of phones and power outages, I keep five high-capacity mobile chargers fully charged in case of emergency, power outage, travelling without the car, or heading to a hospital.. Very useful to keep handy.

Finally if mobile signal is lost for a sustained period - due to power outage or some other reason - it’s best to switch off your phone as it will flatten the battery much more quickly thank when there is a strong signal.

 

[BigJase88]

Whats going on here have people been watching too many end of the world movies.

You know what i have stored / stocked away. Absolutely didly squat. I don't even have a candle and you know what. I am still alive.

 

[Darrell]

I usually carry two smartphones on two networks, and I make sure that we have a mix of two networks across my wife and children’s phones too. Not in case of power outage, but to maximise likelihood of picking up a signal.

Is this for real??
We are a family of 4 persons and since we’ve been back in the U.K. (6 years) we’ve been on EE. We’ve never had a single issue. Ever.

We spend a lot of time in Greece, sometimes on our own or often as a whole family and again we’ve never had a problem if we need to contact each other. We have a business there and we never had any issues regarding contacting various colleagues and suppliers.

My son lives in Tavistock, my mum is in La Rochelle and my U.K. business partner is in the wilds of Scotland 1 week in 4 and we are all on the phone to each other on a daily basis.

I really think that some people overthink things far far too much. Your explanation of your chargers blows my mind., I’ve got a charger cable and a plug.

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

Whats going on here have people been watching too many end of the world movies.

You know what i have stored / stocked away. Absolutely didly squat. I don't even have a candle and you know what. I am still alive.

What, you don’t have an early ex-military Unimog which won’t be affected by an electromagnetic pulses? Don’t worry, I’ll pick you up in ours on the way to our bunker on the West Coast of Scotland.

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

Is this for real??
We are a family of 4 persons and since we’ve been back in the U.K. (6 years) we’ve been on EE. We’ve never had a single issue. Ever.

We spend a lot of time in Greece, sometimes on our own or often as a whole family and again we’ve never had a problem if we need to contact each other. We have a business there and we never had any issues regarding contacting various colleagues and suppliers.

My son lives in Tavistock, my mum is in La Rochelle and my U.K. business partner is in the wilds of Scotland 1 week in 4 and we are all on the phone to each other on a daily basis.

I really think that some people overthink things far far too much. Your explanation of your chargers blows my mind., I’ve got a charger cable and a plug.

For real. In rural areas mobile signal is very variable, especially data. Sometimes no signal, sometimes only signal on one network. Not really a problem in urban areas.

It doesn’t require anything more than a decision to do it. If you need a certain number of smartphones in the family, then you just choose to split them across multiple networks.

 

[Darrell]

For real. In rural areas mobile signal is very variable, especially data. Sometimes no signal, sometimes only signal on one network. Not really a problem in urban areas.

They can wait.

 

[Smiley]

I usually carry two smartphones on two networks, and I make sure that we have a mix of two networks across my wife and children’s phones too. Not in case of power outage, but to maximise likelihood of picking up a signal.

On the subject of phones and power outages, I keep five high-capacity mobile chargers fully charged in case of emergency, power outage, travelling without the car, or heading to a hospital.. Very useful to keep handy.

Finally if mobile signal is lost for a sustained period - due to power outage or some other reason - it’s best to switch off your phone as it will flatten the battery much more quickly thank when there is a strong signal.

I hope that the two networks are not o2 and vodafone.

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

I hope that the two networks are not o2 and vodafone.

Of course not, that wouldn’t help much

 

[geoffus]

This is making me scared to go out now, I will have to take a flask with hot soup, torch and warm blankets just to go to the pub.

 

[SpikyMikey]

Candles.

Four candles?

 

[Smiley]

I hope you all have some cash to buy beer when the internet goes down

 

[Smiley]

This is making me scared to go out now, I will have to take a flask with hot soup, torch and warm blankets just to go to the pub.

Don't forget the shovel in case it snows

 

[StMarks]

I hope you all have some cash to buy beer when the internet goes down

And a wheelbarrow to take it in, when the GBP value continues to nosedive.

 

[Londonscottish]

Don't forget a comfy chair and a book
I know the book is likely to go the way of the Dodo but highly recommended

A fully-charged kindle, surely?

 

[Larkone]

Had a generator sitting in my garage for the last 22 years unused - used to live in rural Hampshire and our overhead cable supply regularly used to fail which also meant we could not run the well pump for our water. Just been gathering dust ever since. The main issue is storing enough (fresh) petrol to actually make it useful because they tend to go through a lot under load.

 

[Meldrew2]

Hi , from memory you will have to isolate your house to make sure you don't electrocute any contractor working on the national grid system outside your house.

I had a suitcase generator and considered doing the same as you.

I had a generator on a boat and the actual output was in the region of 1800 watts.

Please contract a qualified electrician to confirm what I have written.

Connecting a generator to circuits that are also supplied by another supply network certainly does require a means of Isolation - and not only for the reason you describe.

I won't be connecting the generator to the house wiring - just running an extension lead to the lounge, where I can plug in a heater, standard lamp etc. If needed, the boiler connection (currently on a fused connection unit) could be connected via a plug/socket to enable it to run on whichever supply is appropriate.

 

[BTB 500]

If needed, the boiler connection (currently on a fused connection unit) could be connected via a plug/socket to enable it to run on whichever supply is appropriate.

Would that plug/socket connection power everything else needed to get hot water and/or heating though (thinking of circulation pump, 3-way valve, air & water thermostats, etc.)? These are typically spread around the house, and I'm not sure if they'd normally all be on one single circuit or not. Possibly easier to just get an isolator switch and exterior generator input socket installed?

 

[BTB 500]

My first move after the last lot was to buy a power bank capable of re-charging 2 mobile phones at least twice before it needs re-charging - except that the last major power cut took out the local masts as well so we completely lost mobile signal! At least BT had "paused" the planned move to VOIP, so out old fashioned corded phone connected direct to the main phone point still worked and allowed us to keep in touch with UKPN (for updates as we're registered on their vulnerable register) and family! We have a log burner in the living room, plus a couple of camping gaz burners for tea or cooking - having lived rurally for 40 years now!

Yep we now keep an old corded phone plugged into a spare socket in the kitchen 'just in case'. Having said that losing the (overhead) power in storms is a common enough occurrence round here for the electricity company to be geared up to respond, so outages rarely last for more than 2 or 3 hours. We have various LED worklights around the house and in the cars - they're used quite regularly, so are normally pretty well charged. Plus a Camping Gaz lantern and even an old Tilley paraffin lamp (and spare mantles for both). Worst case we have a very comfortable caravan on the drive that we could certainly live in without mains power for a couple of weeks (3 ring hob, oven, grill, big fridge/freezer, central heating, shower, stereo, TV, etc.)

 

[Meldrew2]

Would that plug/socket connection power everything else needed to get hot water and/or heating though (thinking of circulation pump, 3-way valve, air & water thermostats, etc.)? These are typically spread around the house, and I'm not sure if they'd normally all be on one single circuit or not. Possibly easier to just get an isolator switch and exterior generator input socket installed?

It's a newly installed Glow Worm combo - the only thing that is powered elsewhere is the drain pump for the condensate drain tank (the boiler is on an internal wall). The thermostat / programmer is a battery operated, wireless unit. Circulation pump built into boiler. We don't have a hot water tank, so no 3-way valve.

If power cuts become a regular part of life through the winter then I'll look into isolator / generator input socket ...