Preparing for critical weather events

[drivesafe]

I have myself set up pretty well for all forms of electrical needs, should we have a long period of no power.


About 8 years back we had a major power outage after a large storm event but we were able to keep power up to most things for nearly three days, without any problems. Mainly because fuel was still available down on the Gold Coast ( 10 kms away ).


We still lost phones, both land line and mobile, for a few days.


But two or three years ago, after someone with a backhoe, took out a water main in the valley, we were without water for about 8 hours, and this proved to be a bigger problem than being without electricity.


Now to the reason for the thread.


With the ever increasing veracity of storms and bushfires, how do people prepare for such events?

[trout1105]

We have 3x rainwater tanks so drinking water isn't a problem and our house water is pumped from a well.
We also have a couple of gensets that can run all the important stuff in the house in the event of a blackout with enough fuel to run them for up to a week.
We also shop in bulk so we always have a full pantry and our freezers are always well stocked.
We also always have the fuel tanks in our vehicles full at all times.
As we do a lot of camping/caravanning we also have plenty of solar power options and accommodation in case the house gets flattened in a storm.

[Eevo]

i used to be more prepared, but now im not.

at home i usualy have a little fuel - 20l
cars are suaully above half full.
some drinking water - 20l
have 10,000l rainwater tank but i dont consider that suitable for drinking.
usually no food.
no generator


my general plan is to pack up n move. camper trailer

[Homestar]

Power is no problem, I have a 10KVA diesel Genset and enough fuel to run it for just shy of 3 days continuously. Water not so much, hadn't put too much thought into this to be honest. If we get hit with a storm big enough to knock out the power and water I'm guessing my Caravan might not survive that either, but if it did, I too could live almost indefinably in it and take it somewhere where there is water.

Given that the zone sub in our town is one of the major ones in the area, it has 3 different 66KV supplies coming into it from 3 different directions, so it would need to see a direct hit from a tornado or similar to be impacted long term. We have had storms knock out one incoming 66, but not more than that. A large storm could do enough damage to one of the 22KV feeders running up to our estate to put us out for a few days or more though.

Interesting conversation...

[bee utey]

I have a 2000 gallon tank upslope of the house that can supply us for two weeks or more, I just have to remember to keep it over half full. A 22000 gallon concrete rainwater tank next to the house supplies 99% of our water needs. A big old Honda powered fire pump can be used to pump water up to the header tank if battery power fails.

Batteries, a 1.2kW inverter, a 12V genny and some old solar panels keep the lights, fridge, freezer and comms running. Before NBN we even had a working landline for a while. Cooking stove runs off gas bottles. HWS has solar booster panels. When we were hit with a monster storm on boxing day 2016 we just mooched around eating xmas leftovers until the roads were clear again, had 4G internet off a tower about 10km away so didn't have to worry about anything. The grid operators compensated us handsomely for 60 hours without power which paid for a jerry can of petrol and plenty more.

It was kinda surreal living in the middle of the apocalypse yet being almost untouched by it. One of our neighbours had very little backup equipment and had to charge her phone on our verandah. Another mate blew his freezer up with a dodgy old genny, ended up buying two linkable EU20i's not long after the storm moved on.

[austastar]

Hi,
Last winter we lost power for 24 hours.
Mobile still worked so we had phone and Internet.
The house is solar efficient, so heating was not a major problem that an extra jumper would not solve.
Not knowing if/when power would be restored was the biggest hassle.
That evening I fired up the 700W generator to run some lights, the TV and the small circulating pump for the wood fired stove and hot water heating.
I tried running the fridge as well, but as I expected, the start current tripped the overload on the Genny.
And we got paid $160:00.
Can't complain at that.
Cheers

ps If I was building again, I would have a change over switch Installed in the power box and an inlet for the Genny in a convenient location.

[Eevo]

i do keep an umbrella by the front door

[p38arover]

have 10,000l rainwater tank but i dont consider that suitable for drinking.

Why? We lived for years in Norfolk Island, Ceduna, and in Qld as a teen, with tank water. We have a 5,000 litre rain water tank here but it's presently only used for the garden. I'd be happy to use it for general use.

We have a cheap 750w gene that I bought for camping but never used it in that role.

If needs be, the camping equipment would get broken out. Our house stovetop is natural gas as is our hot water system but it requires main power.

[weeds]

Doomsday prepping.......plenty of ideas on the net.

[Eevo]

Why? We lived for years in Norfolk Island, Ceduna, and in Qld as a teen, with tank water. We have a 5,000 litre rain water tank here but it's presently only used for the garden. I'd be happy to use it for general use.



because it comes from the gutters where the possums poop.

[p38arover]

Is that all? On Norfolk, it was rats on our roof.

[Eevo]

Is that all? On Norfolk, it was rats on our roof.


yes.

i could filter the water but apart from boiling, im unsure how.

[DiscoMick]

Once our house at Maleny is finished next year I plan for it to have:
30,000 litres of water plus a bore
Solar power with battery bank
Septic waste disposal
Hen house full of laying hens
Store room with many tins and packets of supplies
Wine collection [emoji6]
Would be nice to add an EV if funds permit

[bob10]

We have a 5KVA generator, water tank, portable toilet, and a cyclone kit replenished every year. And a comprehensive first aid kit. And sat phone. Apart from that two car fridges, one set as freezer one as fridge, and battery and solar panel setups. just the average stand alone camping stuff in the main. And 100 litre water tank in the camper.

[POD]

Forget doomsday, we can't have rain and electricity at the same time here. We're on tank water (I have about 120,000L in tanks, plus a bore) and I bought a generator for the sole purpose of enabling us to have water to the house when the power goes out.

[bee utey]

Forget doomsday, we can't have rain and electricity at the same time here. We're on tank water (I have about 120,000L in tanks, plus a bore) and I bought a generator for the sole purpose of enabling us to have water to the house when the power goes out.

In the old days country houses had 500 gallon tanks on tall pipe stands so they were higher than the roof. I bought one at a garage sale 25 years ago but ended up moving to another place with a decent slope, so the tank became a firewood shelter instead.

[p38arover]

In Qld, ours was on a high timber structure. Water was pumped up from a bore down at the bottom of the property to an underground tank behind the house. From there it was pumped up to the tank on the timber structure. One of my jobs when I was 12 or so was to go down to the dam where the bore was located and start the kero pump engine. Start on petrol, then change over to kero.

(For Brisbanites, this was out in the bush on Beaudesert Rd, Calamvale.)

[LRJim]

Forget doomsday, we can't have rain and electricity at the same time here. We're on tank water (I have about 120,000L in tanks, plus a bore) and I bought a generator for the sole purpose of enabling us to have water to the house when the power goes out.Same here, everything runs on power. Had no power for 2 weeks, having to manually bucket water around to the toilet and the sinks is the worst. We have a combustion stove/oven so cooking wasn't a problem, but moving water around and bucket filling the dunny gets old fast.
Cheers Jim

[trout1105]

We don't prepare for critical weather or any other doomsday type scenario But we do live out of town and the only service we get is electricity.
We supply all our own water needs, sewage and rubbish removals so the only thing we would be dependant on is electricity.
As we do a lot of camping and remote trips we have an array of solar and genset power available to us if we loose mains power.
We also always shop in bulk simply because it is far easier to shop once a month than duck into town every couple of days for stores so we always have at least a months supply of provisions on hand.
As for communications we don't have a landline so we both use mobiles and if the network goes down we also have UHF and VHF radios we can use in case of an emergency.
This is Not "Prepping" this is just the way many of us that don't live in town or in the city live our daily lives.
I would hate to have to endure a week of No services in the city because I think it would be absolute mayhem But out here it would simply be a PITA But Not a disaster.

[p38arover]

but moving water around and bucket filling the dunny gets old fast.


A quote I saw in a book by Richard Hammond (from Top Gear) - in the frozen north of Canada he was told "If it's yellow, let it mellow, if it's brown, flush it down"

[LRJim]

A quote I saw in a book by Richard Hammond (from Top Gear) - in the frozen north of Canada he was told "If it's yellow, let it mellow, if it's brown, flush it down"That's exactly it! Lucky it's only me and the wife so I'd just **** out side and she'd let it mellow in the bowl until someone needed number 2 [emoji38][emoji38]
We generally do that anyway as we don't have a great deal of water in the warm months. 50k litres goes pretty quick if your not conservative.
Cheers Jim

[DiscoMick]

A quote I saw in a book by Richard Hammond (from Top Gear) - in the frozen north of Canada he was told "If it's yellow, let it mellow, if it's brown, flush it down"Yes, I've heard that said too as a conservation measure for anyone on septic and tank water.

[LRJim]

Working at this Simmonds built house in sunbury, they have a rainwater tank and the tap says not suitable for drinking.
Do people really think town water is better for you than rainwater??
The only bonus in town water is the fluoride added to help your teeth otherwise you may as well drink from you local pool it's that feral.

[bblaze]

Working at this Simmonds built house in sunbury, they have a rainwater tank and the tap says not suitable for drinking.
Do people really think town water is better for you than rainwater??
The only bonus in town water is the fluoride added to help your teeth otherwise you may as well drink from you local pool it's that feral.

I reckon every house in aust should have at least 10 000l of slim line tanks, solve half of our water problems (not that we have any here on the nw tassie)
cheers
blaze

[Bearman]

I agree, everyone should have a rainwater tank. A bit of bird or possum poo is not going to have any effect on the water - we grew up on a farm living on tank water only and when mozzie larvae got into it the old man put some kero on the surface to sort them out, but we still drank the water. I can't recall anyone in our family getting crook from drinking it. I have 2 x 30,000 litre concrete tanks with a pressure pump which the whole house runs off, 50KVA genset and enough biodiesel to run it for about a month. Up here in cyclone country it pays to be prepared to be without power for some time if one hits. I know some are going to ask why I have such a big genset, well when I was looking for one I was after one around 15KVA so I can run the whole house including aircons and freezers on it and a bloke had this one for sale very cheap - I figured it was a bit overkill but now I have one which will run everything including the shed and my neighbours can plug into it as well if they want.

[LRJim]

The only real issue I've ever had with rain water going bad is when a possum crawled into it and died, completely contaminated it. Had to drain and get it refilled this was on a rental.
Kero won't hurt the water either, it sits on top and by the time it gets close to the bottom it's either evaporated or the tank has filled back up. These days they have the mesh on the inlet to stop them.
All the yummy bits like poo and dirt settle to the bottom below the outlet anyway, possum poos probably better than half the **** we put inside ourselves anyway!
Cheers Jim

[Homestar]

Working at this Simmonds built house in sunbury, they have a rainwater tank and the tap says not suitable for drinking.
Do people really think town water is better for you than rainwater??
The only bonus in town water is the fluoride added to help your teeth otherwise you may as well drink from you local pool it's that feral.

I believe that's a Hume Council reg for water tanks - no drinking allowed, only watering... Stupid.

Go back only a few years and you weren't allowed to have a rainwater tank on a domestic house if there was mains available.

[Homestar]

I reckon every house in aust should have at least 10 000l of slim line tanks, solve half of our water problems (not that we have any here on the nw tassie)
cheers
blaze

I would, but I need a building permit to install one, and it needs to be installed by a licenced Plumber. Tank cost for a slimline 5000 litre is around $1800 + transport, permit and installation I was quoted $3,700 and I can't put it down the side of my house where I wanted it even though there is plenty of room because the edge of the tank would be within 900mm of the boundary which is not allowed in my area, so it would have to go in the backyard where you can see it.

Guess who's NOT getting a water tank...

[DiscoMick]

After the last drought one of our Maleny tanks didn't smell the best, so we opened the bottom outlet and let it drain for a while. Then it rained and all was good.

[DiscoMick]

I would, but I need a building permit to install one, and it needs to be installed by a licenced Plumber. Tank cost for a slimline 5000 litre is around $1800 + transport, permit and installation I was quoted $3,700 and I can't put it down the side of my house where I wanted it even though there is plenty of room because the edge of the tank would be within 900mm of the boundary which is not allowed in my area, so it would have to go in the backyard where you can see it.

Guess who's NOT getting a water tank...Can you ask the neighbour for a letter to the council agreeing to relax the distance rule?

[trog]

We have absolutely no stores of water food or fuel. Only so much room in a two bed rental flat. By the looks of some of the well off houses nearby I could always join the raiding parties, if the need arose.

[Homestar]

Can you ask the neighbour for a letter to the council agreeing to relax the distance rule?

Nope, the neighbours are fine - we’re very good friends, and have a gate between backyards - always at each other’s place having a beer. It’s in the Estate bylaws type of thing - minimum 900mm clearance from any building (or tank as it turns out) to the fence line. Stupid really as the new estates have the gutters on their houses almost touching...

Still, even if I could, I’m not spending nearly $5.5K all in for a tank.

[DiscoMick]

I could be wrong about Victoria, but up here if the neighbour gives written agreement, the council can relax the boundary restrictions. We have done this twice in Maleny when building carports with approval from the Sunshine Coast Council. Council approvals override estate by-laws, I believe.

[LRJim]

Nope, the neighbours are fine - we’re very good friends, and have a gate between backyards - always at each other’s place having a beer. It’s in the Estate bylaws type of thing - minimum 900mm clearance from any building (or tank as it turns out) to the fence line. Stupid really as the new estates have the gutters on their houses almost touching...

Still, even if I could, I’m not spending nearly $5.5K all in for a tank.If you that good with your neighbors just go for it[emoji106]just say it was there when you bought the place [emoji16]

[DiscoMick]

Estate by laws don't have much power really. The developers would have moved on long ago. If the council agrees, that's all that counts.

[Homestar]

Agreed, but the Council don’t agree unfortunately. 😒

[Homestar]

If you that good with your neighbors just go for it[emoji106]just say it was there when you bought the place [emoji16]

Hard to claim that when I built the place... 😉

Given that I could be selling I the next 12 months, no point either and I don’t want something here that hasn’t got a permit - you can’t get them retrospectively any more.

[LRJim]

Hard to claim that when I built the place... [emoji6]

Given that I could be selling I the next 12 months, no point either and I don’t want something here that hasn’t got a permit - you can’t get them retrospectively any more.Well yeah if your selling bugger it then!

[bblaze]

Hard to claim that when I built the place... 😉

Given that I could be selling I the next 12 months, no point either and I don’t want something here that hasn’t got a permit - you can’t get them retrospectively any more.

Well bugger, get the neighbor to put the tank in, give him $5 for a T and plumb into his
problem solved
Aint you fellows lucky there is some problem solvers amongst us
cheers
blaze

[350RRC]

Working at this Simmonds built house in sunbury, they have a rainwater tank and the tap says not suitable for drinking.
Do people really think town water is better for you than rainwater??
The only bonus in town water is the fluoride added to help your teeth otherwise you may as well drink from you local pool it's that feral.

There are issues such as mosquitoes laying eggs in stagnant water in 'funny' spouting that hatch into wrigglers in tanks, pollen in the wattle flowering season clogging everything, dust that naturally settles out of the air when it rains settling in the bottom of tanks, etc.

I've got 2x 22,500 litre tanks that get fed off a shed roof via a system that I made that takes all the dust and pollen out of what goes into storage. I'm not on the mains but could easily be if I wanted.

The mosquito prob is best dealt with by ensuring spouts drain completely after rain, i.e. they've got the legal fall or better.

It really isn't that hard to get to this stage, been about 5 years now with crystal clear water at my ponderosa.

Simonds would never be allowed to call collected water 'potable' because of regulation.

Pretty sure they wouldn't want to in any case.

cheers, DL

[LRJim]

There are issues such as mosquitoes laying eggs in stagnant water in 'funny' spouting that hatch into wrigglers in tanks, pollen in the wattle flowering season clogging everything, dust that naturally settles out of the air when it rains settling in the bottom of tanks, etc.

I've got 2x 22,500 litre tanks that get fed off a shed roof via a system that I made that takes all the dust and pollen out of what goes into storage. I'm not on the mains but could easily be if I wanted.

The mosquito prob is best dealt with by ensuring spouts drain completely after rain, i.e. they've got the legal fall or better.

It really isn't that hard to get to this stage, been about 5 years now with crystal clear water at my ponderosa.

Simonds would never be allowed to call collected water 'potable' because of regulation.

Pretty sure they wouldn't want to in any case.

cheers, DLWe just have a mesh cover on the tank fed from the house, every time we get storms I always run out and clean the screen. The tank fed from the hay shed is much older and dosnt really have much of a mesh. The water can be a bit mineral filled from the shed one but tastes fine, been drinking it for 7 years now havnt had an issue. Like I said before all the dust that gets in filters to the bottom maybe one day it will get above the outlet. If it wasn't a rental I'd have it set up better but it works just fine.

Cheers Jim

[4bee]

And if it does, the out flowing water would take the ****e with it leaving a nice hollow in the mud.[bighmmm]

[DiscoMick]

Agreed, but the Council don’t agree unfortunately. 😒Damn!
In our case it's amusing that when we bought the place the search found the council didn't have plans of the house internals because they had disappeared when two councils were amalgamated.
Later we obtained copies of the original plans from a previous owner.
So we know what's inside the house, but the council doesn't. Very useful information that has been.

[DiscoMick]

There are issues such as mosquitoes laying eggs in stagnant water in 'funny' spouting that hatch into wrigglers in tanks, pollen in the wattle flowering season clogging everything, dust that naturally settles out of the air when it rains settling in the bottom of tanks, etc.

I've got 2x 22,500 litre tanks that get fed off a shed roof via a system that I made that takes all the dust and pollen out of what goes into storage. I'm not on the mains but could easily be if I wanted.

The mosquito prob is best dealt with by ensuring spouts drain completely after rain, i.e. they've got the legal fall or better.

It really isn't that hard to get to this stage, been about 5 years now with crystal clear water at my ponderosa.

Simonds would never be allowed to call collected water 'potable' because of regulation.

Pretty sure they wouldn't want to in any case.

cheers, DLJust install a water filter and also boil your drinking water and you should be fine.

[Eevo]

boil your drinking water and you should be fine.


boiling is a pain the bum though.
rather just have tap water

[LRJim]

Or just drink it straight from the tank and realise you have the best water in the world!

[Eevo]

Or just drink it straight from the tank and realise you have the best water in the world!
the germaphobe says no.
:no2:

[bee utey]

the germaphobe says no.
:no2:

The chlorophobe says stuff it, been drinking rain water for over 30 years, so you can keep your chemical soup flavoured drinks. [bigrolf]

[Eevo]

Chlorophobia
Being afraid of slightly angled objects between 7-34* Degrees
The boy was afraid when his friend pointed at him from an angle - this was due to chlorophobia

[trout1105]

Considering that rainwater is where ALL our water comes from with the exception of desalanation plants why is there a problem drinking from your rain water tank?
I have been drinking rainwater for most of my life and it hasn't caused any problems and it tastes so much better than town water, A small amount of kerro poured in the top of the tank takes care of the "wrigglers" and mozzies[thumbsupbig]

[4bee]

And if one dislikes the taste of Kero picked up as the level moves up & down the tank you can use Paraffin.

Job done.


Council amalgamations here were a great success. NOT.

Lost/destroyed (read Shredded) records, Lower Rates, NOT. Sharing of plant & equipment to save costs. NOT

Better communication & responses with Rate Payers, . NOT
And probably a million other little badly developed schemes that were a dead loss, but cost Rate Payers plenty.


Don't even mention the local Town Boundary "signs" that each cost a King's ransom. A couple of bits of painted water pipe, some plate & a coat of paint. Oh yes, some sign writing so you know where you are.[biggrin]

Some say it was decided as a competition that was won by a Council Members family member.


BAH HUMBUG!