anyone else seen this?

[Mortblanc]

Normally in a widespread outage everyone is in the same boat and they get too you when they get power back on to everyone.

But what to do in the meantime????

Do you have a backup manual wheelchair? If not I am sure there are places that will secure one for you for free.

As soon as the power goes out park the mobility scooter and get into the manual chair. That will save your battery pack since you will not run it down and will not leave you sitting stranded on a useless mobility scooter half way down the block.

As to who is going to take care of all the trappings and care for all the fringe things, you may be SOL and have to make do.

Which brings up the second question, since you do not know what to do, has this never happened before? And if not why do you anticipate it?

If this is for the "anticipated" blackouts in January be assured that it will not be as projected in the sensationalist article which I read earlier. You have had them in the past and the world did not end. Rather than shut down the entire nation because there is only a 1% surplus, rather than the desired 15% surplus (and that is surplus, not shortage), they will engage in rolling brown outs which shift power for only a few hours. That is the way the entire rest of the world deals with such things and the way the UK dealt with them back in the 1970s. Usually they announce the schedule so everyone can prepare for the 2-4 hour outage.

If you know the situation is going to present itself, and you know when, then it is really not an emergency, it is an inconvenience. And there is no sense in overcomplicating life for an inconvenience you knew was eminent. Think your way through the situation and what you will do on your own.

Sit in the door and let the dogs take care of their business on a long lead, if they are prone to running off. Keep in a good supply of everything and get one of the cheap phones at the grocery and an emergency charger like BSTS suggested, so you will have emergency comms. And remember that text uses less battery power than talk and works with weaker signal.

A battery powered radio is really handy when the electric goes off. Especially good if you have local stations. Over here we have commercial radio in every Podunk village spurting out all sorts of local fare right down to when they will be scraping the snow from your street and when the lights will come back on. They never stop so I suppose they operate off generators, I have never checked.

I am often snowed in for a couple of weeks at a time, and have had power go out in the middle of these events on a regular basis. Basically, it happens at least once every year. Police, fire and EMS still manage to get around even with a foot or two of snow on the ground.

You do what you can, prepare for what you are able to anticipate, and cope with the rest.

[katilea]

Normally in a widespread outage everyone is in the same boat and they get too you when they get power back on to everyone.

But what to do in the meantime????

Do you have a backup manual wheelchair? If not I am sure there are places that will secure one for you for free.

As soon as the power goes out park the mobility scooter and get into the manual chair. That will save your battery pack since you will not run it down and will not leave you sitting stranded on a useless mobility scooter half way down the block.

As to who is going to take care of all the trappings and care for all the fringe things, you may be SOL and have to make do.

Which brings up the second question, since you do not know what to do, has this never happened before? And if not why do you anticipate it?

If this is for the "anticipated" blackouts in January be assured that it will not be as projected in the sensationalist article which I read earlier. You have had them in the past and the world did not end. Rather than shut down the entire nation because there is only a 1% surplus, rather than the desired 15% surplus (and that is surplus, not shortage), they will engage in rolling brown outs which shift power for only a few hours. That is the way the entire rest of the world deals with such things and the way the UK dealt with them back in the 1970s. Usually they announce the schedule so everyone can prepare for the 2-4 hour outage.

If you know the situation is going to present itself, and you know when, then it is really not an emergency, it is an inconvenience. And there is no sense in overcomplicating life for an inconvenience you knew was eminent. Think your way through the situation and what you will do on your own.

Sit in the door and let the dogs take care of their business on a long lead, if they are prone to running off. Keep in a good supply of everything and get one of the cheap phones at the grocery and an emergency charger like BSTS suggested, so you will have emergency comms. And remember that text uses less battery power than talk and works with weaker signal.

A battery powered radio is really handy when the electric goes off. Especially good if you have local stations. Over here we have commercial radio in every Podunk village spurting out all sorts of local fare right down to when they will be scraping the snow from your street and when the lights will come back on. They never stop so I suppose they operate off generators, I have never checked.

I am often snowed in for a couple of weeks at a time, and have had power go out in the middle of these events on a regular basis. Basically, it happens at least once every year. Police, fire and EMS still manage to get around even with a foot or two of snow on the ground.

You do what you can, prepare for what you are able to anticipate, and cope with the rest.

Thing is I grew up in a rural community and these things happened but its an whole different ball game when you can still walk in several inches of snow and you live with your family all of whom are also able bodied!

2010 was the worst snowfall since I had to use a wheelchair and I originally leaved nearer to town in a block of flats, near a main road which was cleared I was never feeling left stranded, the snow was never that deep and for so long in my early years, neither did we get blackouts or powercuts lasting any longer than 30 mins tops.

I now live more rurally and alot of my neighbours are also elderly and will be in same dilemma. A day or two I don't mind, my youngest dog can play in garden providing its not heavy rain otherwise it just turns into a mud bath. if its loads of fresh snow he'll be happy to jump about in it in the enclosed back garden, I have a treadmill ofr back up which only works when we have power obviously!

It is a bit the thought of blackouts for January as January/Feb tends to be the worst up here and when its also most likely to snow/temps be freezing. The road i live on doesn't get cleared so I can't physically get to the main road that does to get my youngest dog for a walk round the block.

Yes I have manual chair I can manage it indoors and under car porch where its level. However my drive is sloped and its uphill in all directions to get anywhere and I certainly wouldn't make it over grass with it. My older dog can go under there for exercise as she has arthritis and won't want to go out in deep snow, she be happy with a quick 5 mins outside and back in as she's nearly 15.

I'm not sure what SOL means? ..and no its never happened that I can remember on the kind of scale they are talking about in the papers. though I do relaise they maybe exaggerating, even if they are only giving people for 2-4 hrs at a time I'm going to have problems charging my scooter and big chair which needs a 12 hour overnight charge. ..even if its not snowing and i could get out.

I am deaf too so a radio is no use to me. I doubt once batteries had run out on laptop I'd be able to get enough power to watch TV with subtitles, or read online papers to see what's going on and when I might have electric again. As a wheelchair user my biggest problem is not being able to get and keep warm after electric has been off some time as I can't exactly run round the house doing star jumps to keep myself warm! I should imagine they'll be alot of deaths from pneumonia from elderly and disabled people if the power cuts go on for any length of time at whats usually the coldest time of the year for most places!

[katilea]

I had one thought... would lithium batteries charge faster?

I've been looking at those electric trikes that have assisted pedalling and some can run battery power alone (no pedalling) so works basically like a mobility scooter, however they tend to be higher so not as close to ground snow if its several inches like a mobility scooter/chair maybe with only 3-4" clearance.

I've seen some mountain bike style which would be my choice to use specifically to get dogs down rougher terrain than my scooter can manage and a box or basket on the back for my old dog, which would reduce the need to pull a dog bike trailer.

Something like this but no mudguards, mountain bike tyres and electric version




The back is low enough for dog to hop on but maybe a little box or basket on the back, so my older dog can't fall off, something like this.

I'd need the back of a full power assist mode especially to start with, hoping to use assisted pedalling on flat and downhill and build up to be able to pedal for more of the ride. I have been using indoor electric pedals for a few years as part of my rehab, that basically helps you pedal in a more fluent motion than I'd be able to under my own steam.

Maybe a lithium battery wouldn't take as much charging if frequent power cuts are going to be part of future life? ..or could be charged with solar chargers. If I could get so I only needed the power for the uphill parts it maybe something to aim for as when power was low (blackouts etc) I can plan routes that are mainly downhill using minimal battery on uphills I can't avoid!

[Deeps]

I got a couple of little solar ones off Amazon to try as I do get good sunlight in kitchen window on good days then round the back, it did well with my mobile phone. Dunno if it would charge a Macbook as well yet, but we've had very grey overcast days here lately.

so its not just daylight that makes the solar panels work? .. the sun has to be shining directly onto them?

My camping stoves have arrived anyway and have a small Kelly Kettle so we'll at least have hot water and something to eat, as stocked up on tinned soups and stuff, so food wise I could survive but not sure how long the lanterns for example would last if a powercut went on longer than one night and didn't get chance to recharge them again between powercuts.

I don't have room to put a windmill thing up for wind powered electric and house is rented I doubt they'd give permission for an event that might happen once? Don't really have space for a generator either as you someone said if its noisy then neighbours may complain or will know I had one and be round all the time wanting to use my electric if there was a 5 day cut.. not that I'm mean or anything but given they all know my disabilities and I've lived here 10 yrs none of them think to call in the rest of the year to see if there's anything I need or just an attempt to 'make friends' or anything beyond an Hi or nod in the street. ..and I do hate fake people who are only your friend when they need something you have, or can give them!

Its maybe time for a 'charm offensive' on your part, they maybe think you like to keep yourself to yourself, try going out of your way to have conversations with them, some might be offish but some might be happy to chat back, at least you'll know and you might well get the assistance you're looking for, nothing to lose.

[Mortblanc]

Normally in a widespread outage everyone is in the same boat and they get too you when they get power back on to everyone.

But what to do in the meantime????

Do you have a backup manual wheelchair? If not I am sure there are places that will secure one for you for free.

As soon as the power goes out park the mobility scooter and get into the manual chair. That will save your battery pack since you will not run it down and will not leave you sitting stranded on a useless mobility scooter half way down the block.

As to who is going to take care of all the trappings and care for all the fringe things, you may be SOL and have to make do.

Which brings up the second question, since you do not know what to do, has this never happened before? And if not why do you anticipate it?

If this is for the "anticipated" blackouts in January be assured that it will not be as projected in the sensationalist article which I read earlier. You have had them in the past and the world did not end. Rather than shut down the entire nation because there is only a 1% surplus, rather than the desired 15% surplus (and that is surplus, not shortage), they will engage in rolling brown outs which shift power for only a few hours. That is the way the entire rest of the world deals with such things and the way the UK dealt with them back in the 1970s. Usually they announce the schedule so everyone can prepare for the 2-4 hour outage.

If you know the situation is going to present itself, and you know when, then it is really not an emergency, it is an inconvenience. And there is no sense in overcomplicating life for an inconvenience you knew was eminent. Think your way through the situation and what you will do on your own.

Sit in the door and let the dogs take care of their business on a long lead, if they are prone to running off. Keep in a good supply of everything and get one of the cheap phones at the grocery and an emergency charger like BSTS suggested, so you will have emergency comms. And remember that text uses less battery power than talk and works with weaker signal.

A battery powered radio is really handy when the electric goes off. Especially good if you have local stations. Over here we have commercial radio in every Podunk village spurting out all sorts of local fare right down to when they will be scraping the snow from your street and when the lights will come back on. They never stop so I suppose they operate off generators, I have never checked.

I am often snowed in for a couple of weeks at a time, and have had power go out in the middle of these events on a regular basis. Basically, it happens at least once every year. Police, fire and EMS still manage to get around even with a foot or two of snow on the ground.

You do what you can, prepare for what you are able to anticipate, and cope with the rest.

Thing is I grew up in a rural community and these things happened but its an whole different ball game when you can still walk in several inches of snow and you live with your family all of whom are also able bodied!

2010 was the worst snowfall since I had to use a wheelchair and I originally leaved nearer to town in a block of flats, near a main road which was cleared I was never feeling left stranded, the snow was never that deep and for so long in my early years, neither did we get blackouts or powercuts lasting any longer than 30 mins tops.

I now live more rurally and alot of my neighbours are also elderly and will be in same dilemma. A day or two I don't mind, my youngest dog can play in garden providing its not heavy rain otherwise it just turns into a mud bath. if its loads of fresh snow he'll be happy to jump about in it in the enclosed back garden, I have a treadmill ofr back up which only works when we have power obviously!

It is a bit the thought of blackouts for January as January/Feb tends to be the worst up here and when its also most likely to snow/temps be freezing. The road i live on doesn't get cleared so I can't physically get to the main road that does to get my youngest dog for a walk round the block.

Yes I have manual chair I can manage it indoors and under car porch where its level. However my drive is sloped and its uphill in all directions to get anywhere and I certainly wouldn't make it over grass with it. My older dog can go under there for exercise as she has arthritis and won't want to go out in deep snow, she be happy with a quick 5 mins outside and back in as she's nearly 15.

I'm not sure what SOL means? ..and no its never happened that I can remember on the kind of scale they are talking about in the papers. though I do relaise they maybe exaggerating, even if they are only giving people for 2-4 hrs at a time I'm going to have problems charging my scooter and big chair which needs a 12 hour overnight charge. ..even if its not snowing and i could get out.

I am deaf too so a radio is no use to me. I doubt once batteries had run out on laptop I'd be able to get enough power to watch TV with subtitles, or read online papers to see what's going on and when I might have electric again. As a wheelchair user my biggest problem is not being able to get and keep warm after electric has been off some time as I can't exactly run round the house doing star jumps to keep myself warm! I should imagine they'll be alot of deaths from pneumonia from elderly and disabled people if the power cuts go on for any length of time at whats usually the coldest time of the year for most places!

I thought SOL was a universal term, apparently not. When referenced to survival it stands for "$&!t outta' luck".

With every suggestion being dismissed out of hand I am at a loss for what to suggest except to remind you that the dogs will live without their trip around the block, which seams a great concern and the main reason your mobility scooter is such a necessity. Your survival comes first, the dogs conditioning retinue is way down the list of priorities. In this specific situation I will guarantee that the dogs will outlive you.

In my situation, when the snow is deep and the temps are low I remain inside. I have backup for my heat for two weeks because I know the mains are going to fail, just like has been announced for you. I also have a wood stove and a cord of wood if the outage is longer than two weeks.

But as a long term prepper I also have a generator, which is used only a few hours daily to recharge everything and not as a replacement for mains power.

In an absolute worst case scenario I have sleeping bags that are rated down to -20c, and staying inside one of those is the last case option.

As I have aged I have gotten rid of my livestock because I can no longer trudge through the snow and care for them. I have no desire to be found dead in a pasture, with a broken hip, half eaten by coyotes. I have done my best to eliminate anything that will force me outside in bad weather. It is a choice we have to make as we age and consider our new situations.

Over here we have blizzards and deep cold that lasts for months. In the worst of situations we do lose people to death from exposure and cold. Often it is due to their inability to modify their behaviors to meet the situations.

If the power goes out go to the smallest bedroom, pile the blankets on, pick out a good book to read, and use the dogs as a heat source. Make sure you have foods that do not need cooking and a portable stove to brew a cup. Then sit back and watch the show.

If the predictions in the news are correct the UK will cease to exist with the first flicker of the lights anyway. Everyone else will be dead right along side you.

[katilea]

Normally in a widespread outage everyone is in the same boat and they get too you when they get power back on to everyone.

But what to do in the meantime????

Do you have a backup manual wheelchair? If not I am sure there are places that will secure one for you for free.

As soon as the power goes out park the mobility scooter and get into the manual chair. That will save your battery pack since you will not run it down and will not leave you sitting stranded on a useless mobility scooter half way down the block.

As to who is going to take care of all the trappings and care for all the fringe things, you may be SOL and have to make do.

Which brings up the second question, since you do not know what to do, has this never happened before? And if not why do you anticipate it?

If this is for the "anticipated" blackouts in January be assured that it will not be as projected in the sensationalist article which I read earlier. You have had them in the past and the world did not end. Rather than shut down the entire nation because there is only a 1% surplus, rather than the desired 15% surplus (and that is surplus, not shortage), they will engage in rolling brown outs which shift power for only a few hours. That is the way the entire rest of the world deals with such things and the way the UK dealt with them back in the 1970s. Usually they announce the schedule so everyone can prepare for the 2-4 hour outage.

If you know the situation is going to present itself, and you know when, then it is really not an emergency, it is an inconvenience. And there is no sense in overcomplicating life for an inconvenience you knew was eminent. Think your way through the situation and what you will do on your own.

Sit in the door and let the dogs take care of their business on a long lead, if they are prone to running off. Keep in a good supply of everything and get one of the cheap phones at the grocery and an emergency charger like BSTS suggested, so you will have emergency comms. And remember that text uses less battery power than talk and works with weaker signal.

A battery powered radio is really handy when the electric goes off. Especially good if you have local stations. Over here we have commercial radio in every Podunk village spurting out all sorts of local fare right down to when they will be scraping the snow from your street and when the lights will come back on. They never stop so I suppose they operate off generators, I have never checked.

I am often snowed in for a couple of weeks at a time, and have had power go out in the middle of these events on a regular basis. Basically, it happens at least once every year. Police, fire and EMS still manage to get around even with a foot or two of snow on the ground.

You do what you can, prepare for what you are able to anticipate, and cope with the rest.

Thing is I grew up in a rural community and these things happened but its an whole different ball game when you can still walk in several inches of snow and you live with your family all of whom are also able bodied!

2010 was the worst snowfall since I had to use a wheelchair and I originally leaved nearer to town in a block of flats, near a main road which was cleared I was never feeling left stranded, the snow was never that deep and for so long in my early years, neither did we get blackouts or powercuts lasting any longer than 30 mins tops.

I now live more rurally and alot of my neighbours are also elderly and will be in same dilemma. A day or two I don't mind, my youngest dog can play in garden providing its not heavy rain otherwise it just turns into a mud bath. if its loads of fresh snow he'll be happy to jump about in it in the enclosed back garden, I have a treadmill ofr back up which only works when we have power obviously!

It is a bit the thought of blackouts for January as January/Feb tends to be the worst up here and when its also most likely to snow/temps be freezing. The road i live on doesn't get cleared so I can't physically get to the main road that does to get my youngest dog for a walk round the block.

Yes I have manual chair I can manage it indoors and under car porch where its level. However my drive is sloped and its uphill in all directions to get anywhere and I certainly wouldn't make it over grass with it. My older dog can go under there for exercise as she has arthritis and won't want to go out in deep snow, she be happy with a quick 5 mins outside and back in as she's nearly 15.

I'm not sure what SOL means? ..and no its never happened that I can remember on the kind of scale they are talking about in the papers. though I do relaise they maybe exaggerating, even if they are only giving people for 2-4 hrs at a time I'm going to have problems charging my scooter and big chair which needs a 12 hour overnight charge. ..even if its not snowing and i could get out.

I am deaf too so a radio is no use to me. I doubt once batteries had run out on laptop I'd be able to get enough power to watch TV with subtitles, or read online papers to see what's going on and when I might have electric again. As a wheelchair user my biggest problem is not being able to get and keep warm after electric has been off some time as I can't exactly run round the house doing star jumps to keep myself warm! I should imagine they'll be alot of deaths from pneumonia from elderly and disabled people if the power cuts go on for any length of time at whats usually the coldest time of the year for most places!

I thought SOL was a universal term, apparently not. When referenced to survival it stands for "$&!t outta' luck".

With every suggestion being dismissed out of hand I am at a loss for what to suggest except to remind you that the dogs will live without their trip around the block, which seams a great concern and the main reason your mobility scooter is such a necessity. Your survival comes first, the dogs conditioning retinue is way down the list of priorities. In this specific situation I will guarantee that the dogs will outlive you.

In my situation, when the snow is deep and the temps are low I remain inside. I have backup for my heat for two weeks because I know the mains are going to fail, just like has been announced for you. I also have a wood stove and a cord of wood if the outage is longer than two weeks.

But as a long term prepper I also have a generator, which is used only a few hours daily to recharge everything and not as a replacement for mains power.

In an absolute worst case scenario I have sleeping bags that are rated down to -20c, and staying inside one of those is the last case option.

As I have aged I have gotten rid of my livestock because I can no longer trudge through the snow and care for them. I have no desire to be found dead in a pasture, with a broken hip, half eaten by coyotes. I have done my best to eliminate anything that will force me outside in bad weather. It is a choice we have to make as we age and consider our new situations.

Over here we have blizzards and deep cold that lasts for months. In the worst of situations we do lose people to death from exposure and cold. Often it is due to their inability to modify their behaviors to meet the situations.

If the power goes out go to the smallest bedroom, pile the blankets on, pick out a good book to read, and use the dogs as a heat source. Make sure you have foods that do not need cooking and a portable stove to brew a cup. Then sit back and watch the show.

If the predictions in the news are correct the UK will cease to exist with the first flicker of the lights anyway. Everyone else will be dead right along side you.

hi, not meaning to be dismissive but it is a lot different scenario if you're able bodied than if you're reliant on electricity and warmth because you can't move as much as you could. I'm only 46 so not that old However I have been in a wheelchair for 10 years. Never have we had a winter as bad as they threaten is coming. (not since I've been dependant on a wheelchair anyway) Basically I just want to survive it with my dogs! Also being deaf isolates me further where an hearing person can listen to a battery operated radio and maybe not feel so alone from being able to hear others voices talking on radio or music, that is not an option to me. Of course I can hope I can still text someone and will get a data plan on my mobile incase its still possible for me to get on FB or something even to have a short chat in the day.

My routine is important to me, taking the dogs out on my mobility scooter is the only time I leave the house as I don't go to crowded places such as town, haven't been for several years but can can cope with going for a ride round the villages and over the fields while its nice and quiet and everyone's gone to work or school, its my little bit of 'freedom'...so yes it is important to me (and I'd love to be able to graduate from a mobility scooter to an electric trike) maybe more so than to most people who leave the house daily and easily via walking, driving etc.

I was just hoping to pick up some tips as I'm very new to having to plan like this! The sleeping bag for example that keeps you warm down to -20 degrees, where would I buy one of these in the UK? ..and how do I know that it keeps you warm down to these temps? Whilst I'm hoping it won't drop that low I do have under active thyroid and can't move much, something like that sleeping bag I could keep on me (around feet legs) as I use a wheelchair to move around anyway! It will probably be warmer than those footsie blankets from JML/Asda.

I do have a kelly kettle (and some small camping stoves now) so could heat water and put an hot water bottle in the bottom of sleeping bag on my footplate to keep my feet warm and one for my lower back. My older dog has fleece jumpers and I'm thinking of getting her a onesie made, my young one has a thick natural coat (he's long coated Border Collie) I don't worry as much about him though he does have a fleece jumper too just in case its so cold even he is cold!!
They do sleep on my bed thats not a problem.

I guess my main worry would be ongoing power blackouts and when it is on it not being enough time to charge my scooter and power chair so I can get the dogs out if there's no snow, especially as my youngest is a very active breed and used to around 5 miles a day runs..but maybe he won't have that kind of energy either if its so freezing cold out that the cold hurts his paws? (fresh snow they love but after its frozen over several nights in a row and its iced slush it's not so nice to walk on and impossible to drive over)

Theres also the issue for me that I shop and bank entirely online so with no electric and a road that never gets cleared, the worry of running out of food too is a new anxiety to deal with! Given that people seemed to have forgot I existed the last time I was snowed in 2 weeks solid! So I don't feel I can rely on others to remember or care enough to check, so just looking for tips to survive if the worst comes to the worst and I get both deep snow, freezing temps AND powercuts!

[Hamradioop]

1. Removed by moderator

2. have a can do attitude. there are numerous steps you can take to protect your self as has been pointed out.

3. Even if you are renting unless it is specifically forbidden in your rental agreement and does not affect the structure of the house JUST DO IT you can always discuss it afterwards with your landlord.

4. forget mobile phones and Data plans as the chances are your local tower has a battery back up for about two hours ,at the most, and if at all. It will be fed from the same grid you are.so the tower will be defunct fairly quickly Landlines will last longer.

5. solar Panels and batteries can be your best friend, they can be ground mounted as long as they have a clear line of sight. South will be best as it get the most solar Radiation. even in weather like we are having at the moment it will generate electricity to charge a battery. and also can be used to charge your scooter batteries which will probably be two 12 volt batteries in series if it is like the wife's scooter.

[Yorkshire Andy]

The sleeping bags come "graded" in seasons 1 season been a warm summers night 5 been well below freezing they also come with a comfort minimum and risk rating comfort iirc is sleeping in the buff minimum is clothed and risk is where there is a risk of hypothermia....
http://www.outdoorgb.com/p/Snugpak_Chry ... oCkTPw_wcB

http://www.surplusandoutdoors.com/arcti ... 27955.html

[Tizzie]

You can get an indoor gas fire which in run by cartridges which last for up to 2 1/2 hours. Size is 11 x 6 1/2 x 11. I've just received a Solutions World booklet and they've brought the price down to £39.95 with 8 free cartridges. Google link is www.solutionsworld.co.uk. Hope this is of help.

[katilea]

You can get an indoor gas fire which in run by cartridges which last for up to 2 1/2 hours. Size is 11 x 6 1/2 x 11. I've just received a Solutions World booklet and they've brought the price down to £39.95 with 8 free cartridges. Google link is http://www.solutionsworld.co.uk. Hope this is of help.

Do you mean this one?

http://www.solutionsworld.co.uk/sw/-200 ... r+gas+fire

when they say 'well ventilated' what do they mean exactly? does it have to be RIGHT NEXT TO an open door or window? or there has to be a window open not too far away? how much does it have to be open?