Winter Blackouts

[Captain Darling]

and the cost when a few squaddies burn down a barrack block brewing up on a hexy?

whats the emergency lighting like in the buildings most public buildings seem well catered for generally regs are 3 lux and 8 iirc over stair wells or change in levels

Hey were not that bad! We were all sheparded into the gym, the guard force did sweeps of all the blocks. When we've had proper power cuts before we've brewed up outside with hexy in the smoking shelter.

Emergency lighting is good enough, we had a drama a year or so ago that the doors weren't up to fire regs, now everything's been dragged up to standard.

[jansman]

You make a good point there though chaps. A powercut worries me from the angle of my dopey neighbours and candles. The dopey mare next door goes out and leaves those fancy candles burning on the mantelpiece! I have told her times, and I just get a gobful of abuse. Trouble is we are joined, and our house could burn as well.
No doubt about it, people are stupid. The average Joe probably does not even have a torch, and if he does, I bet the batteries are flat!

[farnet]

Jansman,

Make sure you have a hose and fire extinguishers in the attic that'd be the way the fire jumps in semis and terraced houses.

generally the expensive scented candles are designed for idiots, but the tealights are a different thing... I've seen someone have a load on a stack of paper plates before..... are they just daft?!?

[Decaff]

Jansman,


generally the expensive scented candles are designed for idiots, but the tealights are a different thing... I've seen someone have a load on a stack of paper plates before..... are they just daft?!?

Not so!!! Those expensive scented candles normally come in a jar, which makes them safer to burn than your normal candles as they are contained at all times, are hardly likely to fall over or out of their holder. I have a lot of those candles and I am far from being an idiot thank you very much!

[Yorkshire Andy]

Jansman,

Make sure you have a hose and fire extinguishers in the attic that'd be the way the fire jumps in semis and terraced houses.

I'd be up there with intermessant foam gap fill and fill any gaps between the property's or 1/2 " plaster board

Also as you decorate any joist holes between floors

[jansman]

There is a firewall up there, and we have extinguishers and fireblankets(upstairs and down) and a fireplan. When we had plastic windows put in we made sure there were good escape windows upstairs.
To me, candles are absolute last resort lighting. LED lanterns are far more economical and efficient.

[Yorkshire Andy]

I've just ordered 2x 2l afff foam extinguishers to add to put alongside the dry powder ones for burning textiles and the like (less messy than powder and penetrates and cools burning textiles/ upholstery and the like along with sealing the air out ..

[Smudge]

Now springs here, how did we all fare over the winter?

We had 1 power cut it lasted 30 minutes started just prior to 1800hrs, checked the fuse box then looked out the window, then we lit candles "no point in advertising" although I did put an LED camping lantern in the bathroom. The rest of the street sat in darkness until the lights came back on.


The kids loved it as an excuse to get their torches out, although I did have to warn against shining them outside (why advertise?). Got the camping stove out and put it on the hob to make a cuppa, all things being equal we were pretty well set and the drills ran smoothly. Should it have been a prolonged situation, we had the dynamo radio for entertainment and would probably have just gone to bed early.

[Brambles]

We had no interruptions. Although I never really expected any problems, it is a concern as I have GCH. I have alternatives for the short term though. I have plenty of alternatives for lighting and cooking and what is known as the powerless entertainment system: cards, jack straws, dominoes, radio that all live in the emergency box.

As an aside....
Did anyone else get an information leaflet through the door from the power distribution company? I got a glow in the dark emergency fridge magnet too. It would be interesting to do a straw poll to find out whether this was countrywide or just certain areas.

[unsure]

all we ever get from the likes of the power company or local council , are bills .nothing of any use to any one .