Our government has stated there is none to very little chance of blackouts this winter. So? Get ready for blackouts. And with that in mind, the good Ripper, a mine of useful information, left a comment last night wot I’m putting here as the info contained therein could be useful and of interest to some. Ice on windows? silver fish? Memories indeed. Don’t forget the hot water bottles...
It'll be just like the house I grew up in - ice on the inside of the windows in the morning, then sweltering after the fire is lit. We had next to nothing but the house was always warm, my dad was a coal miner and got a quarterly coal allowance from the old NCB. We had a big, polished cast fender and as a toddler I could always be found sitting on it, fascinated by the silverfish in the fireplace. Mention those to the smartphone generation and marvel at the blank stares. Even my own kids, who are in their 40's don't know what a silverfish is.
I'm toying, yes toying - at the moment with ideas to circumvent those blackouts. I'm thinking of a generator (diesel, so I can run it on veg oil if necessary). You can get an automatic switch that switches between mains and generator when the power goes out. I can fit one of those and back-feed the house through a 50A MCB. A 750 KVA generator would feed the whole house. The larger ones are electric start and that can be made automatic as well.
However, if you're not as fanatical about being as off-grid as I am, and just need something to tide you over until the power comes back on, here's two emergency ideas...
Heat - take a round, flat tin can, about 4 inches in diameter and a couple of inches high (or cut one down). Cut some strips of corrugated cardboard, the same width as the height of the can. Roll them up until the roll is the same diameter as the can, then pack it in, not tightly but snug. Melt some candle wax (you can buy tea candles at about 100 for a quid) and pour the molten wax over the cardboard in your tin can, filling it to the brim and then let it cool. You now have a small camping stove that will burn for hours and boil a saucepan of water. Just light the entire wax surface. You'll get more effective heat from it if you stand it under a steel plate placed across a couple of bricks or something. Of course, the tin can will get hot - not hot enough to start a fire but too hot to touch. Probably best placed inside a flowerpot or something if used indoors.
Light - Go to Aldi and get one of those Workzone LED work lights - you can stick it to any steel surface, hang it or fold the handle to make a stand. They run for about 5 hours on a full charge with 2 light settings. The dimmer setting is enough for an average room and will make the light run for longer. For light that goes with you, a rechargeable head light is invaluable. I bought a Good Year for working in the loft (electrics). It leaves my hands free, has 2 light settings, runs for around 5 hours on a charge and takes the same 18650 batteries as my electrofag, so I can use those if need be.
Quote; George Gobel.
“If it weren't for electricity, we'd all be watching television by candlelight.”
Ray Charles.
“What is a soul? It's like electricity - we don't really know what it is, but it's a force that can light a room.”
Mac,
ReplyDeleteThe house I was talking about was originally my gran's. I'm sure I've mentioned it before - gas lighting, no electricity, toilet up the yard and a tin bath. The house was condemned in 1967 to make way for development and we moved into a council house. I was 10 years old then, and I've not set eyes on a silverfish since, even though the council house was coal fired too, but no central heating so we still had the ice on the windows.
Speaking of memories I wonder if you remember those fireplaces that my gran's house had. It was a black leaded range, with a high grate and an oven on the right side and a smaller one below it. The top of the oven was used by my gran as a hob. Though there was a gas cooker in the kitchen, food always tasted better when cooked on the range. Possibly because it took so long we were ravenous by the time it was ready. But meat was juicy and tender and everything cooked to perfection.
The council house did provide me with a lifelong interest. I was in awe that the light could be switched on just by flicking a switch and I just had to find out what all this trickery was about. I'm still into electronics today. So I'm the kid that was always in trouble for poking things into sockets. I blew all the fuses quite a few times. That's where all my knowledge came from, I got sod all out of school and couldn't wait to leave at 15.
And remembering hot water bottles, we did have those but ours were stoneware, cylindrical in shape with a big cork. Remember those?
Ripper,
ReplyDeleteUncanny, the range you describe was exactly wot we had in our house. We were lucky enough to have a bathroom - but one bath a week and warm water only when dad decided to switch the water heater on; hence one bath a week.
Yup, stone water bottles. Later that huge scientific leap to rubber.
We got through all that without a sulk and without a smartphone.
You also describe my education. Joined my first ship at 15 in Liverpool. Put on the train to Liverpool by mum and dad and that was it. I was in the world alone; get on with it.
That was after an interview in London. Bunged on a train way up North and that was it. Get to London find a way to get to the shipping office, interview then find a way back to rail station, locate right train for home.
I know damn well that you, like me, have never felt the need to have your hand held.
I remember silverfish living behind the fireplace tiles in the dining room. We had a front room but because we were posh (not really) the front room was for entertaining guests. I forgot all about the silverfish as I left home and built my own life. A few years ago I moved in with mum to help care for her. Lo and behold! There were the silverfish,thriving as they had almost sixty years ago.
ReplyDeleteAnother heating idea I heard about is placing a tea candle on a terracotta plate and inverting the flower pot over the flame. These are often found in pub smoking gardens as ashtrays. I don't go to garden centres but I do go to pubs. For the first time in my life I have found that hot water bottles are unavailable. I've still got the old stone bottle my mum gave me, you know the ones with the knob on the end. Just remember not to get too close to it in bed.
As for the silverfish, I didn't bring them home with me but the liberated linen brought mum's moths with them. I'd prefer the silverfish, they clean up the biscuit crumbs from the fireplace, moths make holes in my socks.
Andy,
ReplyDeleteYup, give me little scampering silver fish over moths any day. Assuming you get a choice that is.
Regards other bugs, I was on a rig working far, far, far away and one crew change, after a hotel night over in Vietnam and a lengthy flight I got to unpack back home. First thing I spotted was a cockroach looking up at me as if to say, thanks for the lift. And that was the last thing it ever thought. It probably hitched a ride from the rig as those places could be, at times, riddled with roaches.
Regards heating, I believe Ripper mentioned that idea a while ago at N. O. Us? If it’s cold and heating is lost for a while, we’ll jump in the car and take a pleasant, heater on, drive round quiet country back roads.