When will the gas/water stop?

[itslee]

Its one thing ive not come across online. But how what and when and if the gas/water stops coming to my house? Gas feeds my boiler, cooker & fire place. Water feeds taps, bath, etc.. How long will gas/water stay being supplied to my house?

Or in the fact of a zombie attack or an air borne virus how will we tell the water is no longer safe.

Hope someone can answer this, as its been puzzling me.

[jansman]

You will find that electricity in certain circumstances (weather etc) will go first. Of course your gas boiler will be ok. Wrong. It takes electricity to ignite, and run the pump. In an extended powercut (we lived through a one week power/water cut 24 years ago) the water will go off, depending on your location. Water has to be pumped up uphill.
Gas however , will be the last to go off. In a crisis, GVT has a policy of domestic dwellings to continue to receive gas. Industry has to shut down first to allow this. For this they get competitively priced gas. That, of course is worst case scenario.
So to conclude, you need stored water, alternative lighting/power, and alternative hearing. If this is a situation that worries you.

[ForgeCorvus]

I live in Norfolk, around here all water pressure is by pump...... We lose electricity, we lose water too

As Jansman says, your boiler and central heating need power as well. But your stove will still work, for a while at least.


Re: Water safety. The suppliers spend a lot of time and effort (therefore money) making sure that no sub-standard water gets into the pipes. Why? Because the hassle and downtime (more money) required to flush the whole system through would probably bankrupt the company.

Unless there is a massive problem (ie Blitz type bombing raids) you'll get a Do-Not-Drink notice before the water gets bad..... If there is a massive problem you're likely to have no water anyway

......I think

[jansman]

ForgeC is right. Water will get a 'no drink' or 'boil first' if things go awry. After our one week without running water we have always kept at least ten gallons in store, and purification tablets.

[bikerjoe83]

Interesting topic!

How would I go about finding out if my water supply is pumped uphill? Do I just ring my supplier and start a discussion "Now let's assume there's an apocalypse..."?

[poppypiesdad]

Ordnance Survey map would be your best start , find out your height above sea level , then you need to find out where your water comes from , reservoir up in the hills so from the map the height of the reservoir , or from a borehole. If it's from up in the hill hill then more than likely will be gravity , borehole and its electric pump. Also depends on how the water flow is controlled, even on a gravity system there may be flow valves , power operated that go into safe mode (shut) in power failure .

J

[Devonian]

Interesting topic!

How would I go about finding out if my water supply is pumped uphill? Do I just ring my supplier and start a discussion "Now let's assume there's an apocalypse..."?

It really doesn't matter, if the power goes off, the will eventually stop.

Water treatment Work rely on a network of pumps to pass the water through the various filters and from the WTW's it is then pumped to underground service reservoirs which are normally located on the top of hills to allow the water to gravitate into the mains supply network, some place will however still need booster pumps to lift the water around the distribution network.

So even if you are fed by gravity from your local service res, as soon as that is empty, then that it is!

You'd be better placed working towards establishing your own collection/storage/treatment arrangements.

[jansman]

I think that last sentence sums the water part up. I have a surplus of clean plastic pop bottles. Today I am filling them. At a gallon a day/per person even that small measure will give the three of us 3days water.