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Survival and Preparations Long and short term survival and 'prepping'.

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  #1  
Old 09-14-2020, 6:40 PM
riprap riprap is offline
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Default What Household Profile to Project During Power Outage or Civil Unrest?

Granted, two very different scenarios.
I’m always intrigued by the Generac whole-house auto-start generator crowd that brags about keeping “lifestyle close to normal.”

I maintain a very low profile. Run my portable generator during the day, into the early evening then shut down and rely on keeping the refrigerator closed until morning and using lanterns and glow sticks for lighting; lots of power cells on hand to recharge devices if necessary. I go way out of my way to avoid attracting the attention of looters.

What say you?
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Old 09-14-2020, 6:47 PM
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Lightbulb

Blackout garbage bags in all the windows. If you're the ONLY one with power, ANY light leakage WILL gave away your position - possibly for MILES.

Go out and check your preps with your NVS some night. PLUG light leaks accordingly.

NEEDLESS to say, generator noise in a SILENT neighborhood, gives you away. Insulating your generator in it's own camouflaged housing is good precaution.
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Old 09-14-2020, 6:47 PM
George W George W is offline
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I'm in the first column but I shut it off when I go to bed.
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Old 09-14-2020, 6:51 PM
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Originally Posted by George W View Post
I'm in the first column but I shut it off when I go to bed.
Good strategy.
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  #5  
Old 09-14-2020, 6:54 PM
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IF it's that bad that you think your home is going to be over run because they can hear a generator or see lights, it sounds like you need to form a 24 hr armed watch with some neighbors/friends/family.
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Old 09-14-2020, 7:11 PM
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You guys live in some tough neighborhoods. My house in town has a whole house gen set. Powers out we run it.

At the ranch my nearest neighbor is a mile and half away. We don't care, we run everything.

Come thru the gate at either place and we know you are there night or day. We don't like bad people. They don't like us.
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Old 09-14-2020, 7:27 PM
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Get quiet and get small. Civil unrest style.

Your new schedule is to get up when the sun is up and go to bed an hour after dark or so.

Only run the genny when you NEED to. Saves gas and doesn't advertise your genny. Grey man strategy when you go out.

Stop cleaning up your yard and let nature do what it will. Make it look like you've got nothing to steal and nothing to see there.

Black out the windows with aluminum foil and some tape from the inside. Don't forget to make some vision slits so you can take a peek outside.

At least it's a start.
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Old 09-14-2020, 8:06 PM
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When you come to the point that you decide to get out of the cities before it's too late, look for a country property with privacy in mind. There is great value in not living within sight of the public. It solves a lot of problems with only minor trad-offs.

In the mean time, as to what SHTF profile to project if you're stuck in the city? Couldn't go wrong with destitute!
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Old 09-14-2020, 8:46 PM
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Related as homes vary.

3 plus years ago during some initial Bay Area riots after Trump won I did a weekend plus bug out on my boat. I was living on it at the time. Only did this 4 days but was pleased,

First I only powered at night and if I saw no shore movement or running lights of others. It was easy late at night. Next during the day in side sloughs adjacent to islands I knew I made the boat look pretty sad, sail would be poorly rolled up, no sail covers, nothing well cleaned outside and I’d leave it open to see out but stayed inside all day as best possible. Lots of people on the weekends would trek by but only once did anyone ask if anyone was aboard and ok. A bass fishing boat with father and son. Told em I was fine and they were off.

So I think the befuddled look works best.
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Old 09-14-2020, 8:50 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by The War Wagon View Post
Blackout garbage bags in all the windows. If you're the ONLY one with power, ANY light leakage WILL gave away your position - possibly for MILES.

Go out and check your preps with your NVS some night. PLUG light leaks accordingly.

NEEDLESS to say, generator noise in a SILENT neighborhood, gives you away. Insulating your generator in it's own camouflaged housing is good precaution.
Oh man, I thought you said MILFS. Fire up the generator!
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Old 09-14-2020, 9:48 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gcvt View Post
Oh man, I thought you said MILFS. Fire up the generator!
My wife keeps asking me what I'm laughing about...
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Old 09-14-2020, 10:07 PM
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When Sandy hit us. We were very lucky to only lose power for 1 hour because our side of the street was Actually connected to part of the park. Meanwhile the Rest of my town had No power n same could be said for the 5 towns around us. We didn’t leave lights on at nights. We had a A customer who had a generator in his backyard. someone had the bright idea of stealing it in the middle night and even showed up with a lawnmower n left it running. Another didn’t get power back on until 2 months later. People got into fist fights at the gas pumps. Even a couple of stabbing. I had a gun on me everywhere I went on my property. As there was some looting going on. Me and some Neighbors ( one of them who is a police officer ) did guard duty on our side of the block. Even a small Apartment complex by us did the same. It was one way in n out. So they blocked the Entrance n had Patrols of people walking with baseball bats n hammers. After 3 weeks in my area the most of the town had power. Things Calmed down n long lines at the pumps n grocery stores went away.
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  #13  
Old 09-15-2020, 6:55 AM
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Get a battery bank and few solar panels. Run generator as needed for heavy loads and to top up batteries. Shut down generator at night, run fridge off batteries alone overnight.

This stretches your fuel and lowers your profile. Adapt to "indoor camping" lifestyle.

I just ordered replacement batteries for my setup, the old ones are worn out. The LiFePO4 that are inbound should last 10 years or more. Requires a bit of homework but you can build a system affordably. By that I mean "acceptable tolerance" not "same as grid". Juice for phone, computer, tv, dvd, and fridge. Not whole house AC and charge up the Tesla. I live very comfortably in my 24 foot trailer when traveling off 420w of solar panels and 450 AH of battrey capacity. Occasionally run small suitcase generator when I need AC or have a few overcast days.

Very do-able, just need a modest adjustment of mindset & lifestyle.
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Last edited by bruss01; 09-15-2020 at 7:24 AM..
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  #14  
Old 09-16-2020, 7:20 PM
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I'm truly impressed with all the solutions for for everyone's unique situation.
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  #15  
Old 09-20-2020, 1:52 PM
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So a couple of years ago, we had a MAJOR power line go down in our neighborhood. The blackout was about 2-3 days. That is very long for a urban neighborhood in San Jose. It was December and raining.

After the first day, I decided to ride my bike in the dark, looking and listening to me neighbors to try and see "who the players are" in respect to prepping, generators. etc.

The three MAJOR things I took away were:
1. Light discipline. You can tell EXACTLY who had their stuff semi together by the glare that was coming from their front windows. You can tell the difference between candles and LED lights.

I found by simply placing foil in our propane lantern, I could direct much less light from the windows.

2. Cheap generators and a beacon, that you have power. Those cheap generac/costco generators are SO freaking loud when there is no other noise. Go honda, cry once........

3. Fuel consumption. We blew through our first tank of gas in our generator wit just using it for 6-7 hours. Enough to run the washer, gas dryer, fridge, and chest freezer.

My advice to go grey. Thick sheets in the windows, use the generator in the backyard patio. Your greatest exposure will be your direct neighbors. We know all of ours.
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