Ok Californians! What is your game plan for these perpetual blackouts!

[bisous]

Wednesday we are expecting our 4th blackout this month. We’d have had a 5th one but they cancelled it! Two were longer than 24 hours. I know I’m not alone here. Everyone around us is in this state of stress about how best to deal with what appears will be our new normal for Fall weather for the foreseeable future! What are YOU doing?

I don’t know how I feel. We have supplies for light and can plug in to our neighbors generator for refrigeration. It is VERY disruptive to daily life to not have power!

[georgiegirl]

Sorry you are dealing with them. My sister hasn’t had any fortunately

[AnnieW625]

We haven’t had any yet. We had a pole upgrade in our neighborhood about a month ago and we lost power for 18 hours. I was thankful our food was fine. We ate almost all of our meals out because we didn’t want to open the fridge. We were thankful it happened on a Sunday. Dd1 had homework to do so we went to the library and I was able to charge my phone. Overall it was fine, but it would be frustrated if it had to happen more often.


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[PZMommy]

So far we haven’t had any here. Not sure what we would do. Our kitchen is currently being renovated, so we already have no use of it. Are schools open when there are blackouts?? I can’t imagine lausd allowing any more closures unless the school is actually on fire.

[California]

Haven't had to deal with blackouts yet, either. Four in one month would definitely throw us off, I can see why you are asking the question! I did price generators just in case. But at this point waiting to see how this plays out. How are your local schools handling this? I tend to make plan for disasters thinking of my kids being at home, which isn't realistic.

[o_mom]

I would look at getting your own generator. Borrowing from the neighbors is not a long term solution. Also look at some backup batteries for computers and charging cell phones. Depending on your internet service, you may be able to power the modem and router to maintain internet, which can be a sanity saver.

For cooking, a good propane grill and/or camp stove would be plenty for us. Find a few meals that you can make on those and use paper plates if you don't want to hand wash dishes.

Do you have electric or gas for hot water?

ETA: For cellphones/tablets, get a battery pack or two. They are handy in general. We have these for camping:

Large: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00X5RV14Y/ (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00X5RV14Y/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1)

Small: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XS9RMWS/ (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XS9RMWS/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1)

The large one will charge two phones and a tablet for a weekend, the small one will do one phone or slightly more for a weekend. The larger one can charge two at a time. Just make sure to recharge when the power comes back on. The larger one takes almost a full day to recharge from empty.

[SnuggleBuggles]

Are you pitching in $ for the generator operation? You should.
We’ve always been fortunate and haven’t experienced anything like long power outages.
I’d ask the kids what they think would help. I bet they have some good ideas!
See if you can find some new board games to borrow (friend, library...).


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[bisous]

Thank you all! Yes, it’s obnoxious because it’s only one small slice of our city that keeps getting shutoff. So yes, we still have school, work, music lessons, extra curriculars, etc. So everything is just that much more difficult to do but we have all our usual expectations. I was wondering if it was different up North for PG&E customers since that seems to be affecting many more people.

Our house is all electric so we can’t shower or use stoves during blackouts. We do have chargers for phones and help pay for the gas for the generators. Everyone around me is talking about getting one. You should hear how loud our block is with just a few shared generators! My cat is in agony.

Part of me wonders if instead of buying a generator we just plan on buying only small amounts of fresh food at a time? And eating out? The blackout really only affects a residential area and all the stores and businesses are open and operating. So we have access to gas stations, grocery stores, restaurants, etc. Or should I be prepared for REAL emergency threat, which would mean a generator....The likelihood of that is much smaller but certainly not impossible with all the wildfires we’re experiencing!!

Well I’m glad nobody is having this happen and thanks for helping me think all these things through. My life is busy enough these days without power outages that losing power is just wrecking me. I’m still expected to get the kids at school having their homework completed, fed, clean, etc and everything is so much more complicated! I gotta both physically and mentally prepare for Wednesday. I did a ton of cooking and laundry yesterday and we’re bathing each night we have power (my littles don’t always do this) so we can be ready to go.

[bisous]

This time I also bought as many shelf stable foods as I could in lieu of fresh foods. Thursday when we lost power (yes, less than a week ago) I remembered to buy lots of apples, bananas and oranges. They were delicious additions to the pantry meals. We rely on fruits and veggies that need refrigeration most of the time so this was a good change for us. We are fruit all weekend.

[specialp]

Part of me wonders if instead of buying a generator we just plan on buying only small amounts of fresh food at a time? And eating out? The blackout really only affects a residential area and all the stores and businesses are open and operating. So we have access to gas stations, grocery stores, restaurants, etc. Or should I be prepared for REAL emergency threat, which would mean a generator....The likelihood of that is much smaller but certainly not impossible with all the wildfires we’re experiencing!!

.

Both. While you are in this loop I would just buy smaller amounts and make 2 trips vs. 1 a week, but I would really work on getting me own generator.

[Globetrotter]

I’m so sorry you’ve been affected by this… It’s hard to believe we are in the US. I guess we have the earthquake kit so all of this is good practice for an earthquake, Except with this we get prior notice.

We haven’t been affected yet (norcal) but it’s probably a matter of time. Parts of our city have gotten the warning. I don’t know if it matters, but our neighborhood power lines are underground, for which I’m grateful right now.
My friends with kids at UC Berkeley say classes are cancelled as the air quality is terrible up there :(
I’ve noticed when there’s enough disturbance they close the school system. Ours has not been affected yet, though in the past they have stopped outdoor activities. Some workplaces are distributing particulate masks for the smoke, and Some of the UCB college kids We know are using them.

I agree with your idea of getting foods that don’t require refrigeration, maybe canned foods, too. But bread with preservatives. If nuts are ok, peanut butter and banana sandwiches are filling. Is Canned tuna an option? We Have Nuts, power bars, peanut butter, Nutella, and plain and Baked beans In our emergency kit. It’s good that restaurants are open, as a backup. A camping stove would come in handy. at least (I assume) the weather is moderate so you shouldn’t require A/c or heating.

We should probably keep gas tanks filled as a precaution. I need to do that.
The portable battery packs are great. Freeze water in bottles and use them to keep the fridge cool for some time. Long term, a generator seems to be a good idea.

[o_mom]

Our house is all electric so we can’t shower or use stoves during blackouts. We do have chargers for phones and help pay for the gas for the generators. Everyone around me is talking about getting one. You should hear how loud our block is with just a few shared generators! My cat is in agony.

Part of me wonders if instead of buying a generator we just plan on buying only small amounts of fresh food at a time? And eating out? The blackout really only affects a residential area and all the stores and businesses are open and operating. So we have access to gas stations, grocery stores, restaurants, etc. Or should I be prepared for REAL emergency threat, which would mean a generator....The likelihood of that is much smaller but certainly not impossible with all the wildfires we’re experiencing!!



Do you have a propane grill?

If not, I would budget to get one.

Also a camp stove like this one: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Coleman-Portable-Propane-Gas-Classic-Stove-with-2-Burners/895629

You can get adapters to attach it to a large propane tank, so you don't have to get the little bottles. This will let you cook just about anything and heat water to wash dishes.

Showers are more difficult. You can get a solar shower, which will let you heat 5 gallons of water to an acceptable temp for showering - a few of these might get you a shower or two for those that really need it. https://www.walmart.com/ip/Coleman-5-Gallon-Shower-Camp/13848644

If anyone has a gym membership, that is a shower option (this is what DH did when we were waiting for a new water heater). ETA: Our community center offers a day pass for around $10 - not cheap for a shower, but less expensive than getting a hotel room or some other options.

Long-term, I would look at what you need for a generator and what you would like it to run. The fridge/freezer and water heater would be priority. I think you are renting? If so, some of the other options, like solar, are not as reasonable.

[Globetrotter]

We have solar panels so I’m wondering what that means Irt outages 🤔

[Globetrotter]

I just learned that If you have solar panels, you can add a battery pack that subs as a generator And can be prioritized to power your fridge and a couple of outlets, or whatever is critical to you. That could be useful for earthquakes, too. It doesn’t help you unless you already have solar, but another incentive to put it in if you can. I read somewhere that Elon musk is giving a discount on his solar panels for people affected by this, But I didn’t look into that article.

[theriviera]

I just learned that If you have solar panels, you can add a battery pack that subs as a generator And can be prioritized to power your fridge and a couple of outlets, or whatever is critical to you. That could be useful for earthquakes, too. It doesn’t help you unless you already have solar, but another incentive to put it in if you can. I read somewhere that Elon musk is giving a discount on his solar panels for people affected by this, But I didn’t look into that article.

We have solar panels and a Tesla Power wall. We have been getting notices due to the fire that they aren't letting the power wall go down (power wise) as much as usual. It's storing power in case, and using the grid.

Bisous, I'm sorry you are dealing with this. This fire season feels especially bad but in reality that have all been bad for the past few years.

[Globetrotter]

We have solar panels and a Tesla Power wall. We have been getting notices due to the fire that they aren't letting the power wall go down (power wise) as much as usual. It's storing power in case, and using the grid.

Bisous, I'm sorry you are dealing with this. This fire season feels especially bad but in reality that have all been bad for the past few years.

We have Sunrun for solar. I need to research this.

[essnce629]

Do you have a propane grill?

If not, I would budget to get one.

Also a camp stove like this one: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Coleman-Portable-Propane-Gas-Classic-Stove-with-2-Burners/895629

You can get adapters to attach it to a large propane tank, so you don't have to get the little bottles. This will let you cook just about anything and heat water to wash dishes.

Showers are more difficult. You can get a solar shower, which will let you heat 5 gallons of water to an acceptable temp for showering - a few of these might get you a shower or two for those that really need it. https://www.walmart.com/ip/Coleman-5-Gallon-Shower-Camp/13848644

If anyone has a gym membership, that is a shower option (this is what DH did when we were waiting for a new water heater). ETA: Our community center offers a day pass for around $10 - not cheap for a shower, but less expensive than getting a hotel room or some other options.

Long-term, I would look at what you need for a generator and what you would like it to run. The fridge/freezer and water heater would be priority. I think you are renting? If so, some of the other options, like solar, are not as reasonable.

I think these are all great ideas. We've never had a power outage due to the fires either, even though the Getty Fire is only 5 miles from me and the Sepulveda Basin one was just 2 miles away. We do have an earthquake kit and go bags that include several lanterns, headlamps, face masks, family water filter, and a camp stove. Our regular stove/oven is also gas and we have a charcoal egg grill as well. We also have a solar powered battery pack that works well (DS1 has taken it on his school camp trips and kept his phone charged the whole time). Instead of keeping tons of canned food on hand (which I've ended up having to throw out when I've not kept up with dates) I've bought several kits of Mountain House freeze dried foods that have a shelf life of up to 30 years. DS1 and DS2 are also members at our local rock climbing gym which has showers (I actually already use their sauna and showers twice a week while I wait). If I was going to be experiencing power outages regularly I would definitely be looking into getting my own generator (my inlaws live in CT and have their own for the ice storms, etc they've had there). I'd also not let my car's gas tank dip below half if there was possibilities of being evacuated regularly. If you have pets, make sure they have a go bag with supplies as well (we have one for our cat).

[bisous]

Thank you so much for your helpful suggestions! This is the third year that fires have been majorly disruptive to our lives. Last year my kids missed 2 weeks of school and they missed over three weeks the year before. I am so sad for the direct victims of these fires and don’t want to be ungrateful that we have not lost our homes or even had to evacuate this time around. It is strangely stressful to try to live life normally without electricity. I think we’re learning some good tips and we’re getting prepared for a major incident too. But it’s still hard!

[pharmjenn]

We haven’t been affected yet (norcal) but it’s probably a matter of time. Parts of our city have gotten the warning. I don’t know if it matters, but our neighborhood power lines are underground, for which I’m grateful right now.
My friends with kids at UC Berkeley say classes are cancelled as the air quality is terrible up there :(
I’ve noticed when there’s enough disturbance they close the school system. Ours has not been affected yet, though in the past they have stopped outdoor activities. Some workplaces are distributing particulate masks for the smoke, and Some of the UCB college kids We know are using them.


We should probably keep gas tanks filled as a precaution. I need to do that.
The portable battery packs are great. Freeze water in bottles and use them to keep the fridge cool for some time. Long term, a generator seems to be a good idea.


We have solar panels so I’m wondering what that means Irt outages ��


I just learned that If you have solar panels, you can add a battery pack that subs as a generator And can be prioritized to power your fridge and a couple of outlets, or whatever is critical to you. That could be useful for earthquakes, too. It doesn’t help you unless you already have solar, but another incentive to put it in if you can. I read somewhere that Elon musk is giving a discount on his solar panels for people affected by this, But I didn’t look into that article.

My street went out for about 40hrs this last NorCal outage. Our lines are underground, but they must come from somewhere that is above ground. None of the houses on our cross street or surrounding streets were out.
We have Sunrun solar installed year and added the battery at installation. It powered our kitchen, and an outlet in the garage. DH ran an extension cord from the TV and cable box, so we had a fridge, kitchen lights and outlets, plus the cable. On Monday morning he ran a line from the powered garage outlet to our tankless water heater so he had a hot shower. I was worried the battery would run out during the night, especially Sunday when they were watching tv till late, but it only dropped to around 60% before the sun came up to start repowering it.
Our neighbors also have Sunrun but no battery. The grandma is on home oxygen so she went to a hotel for 2 nights, and gave away all their perishable foods. So now they are looking into adding the battery backup.

Oh, and our schools were open on Monday and only 3 schools in the district were ever without power. The school superintendent realized his mistake about having students at an all indoor school without power, and that high school was closed by lunch. The air quality is not good in the area, so everyone was kept indoors as much as possible, but lots of parents were upset about it.

[Globetrotter]

My street went out for about 40hrs this last NorCal outage. Our lines are underground, but they must come from somewhere that is above ground. None of the houses on our cross street or surrounding streets were out.
We have Sunrun solar installed year and added the battery at installation. It powered our kitchen, and an outlet in the garage. DH ran an extension cord from the TV and cable box, so we had a fridge, kitchen lights and outlets, plus the cable. On Monday morning he ran a line from the powered garage outlet to our tankless water heater so he had a hot shower. I was worried the battery would run out during the night, especially Sunday when they were watching tv till late, but it only dropped to around 60% before the sun came up to start repowering it..

This is helpful! I don’t even remember the Sunrun salesperson mentioning this battery, though it’s possible that they did and I didn’t want to spend more.
I thought underground powerlines would give us less chance of a fire in our own neighborhood (at least one sparked by a power line) but not necessarily reduce the chances of a power outage. We live near The Hills and they are as dry as usual for the season so it is scary.

[smiles33]

We have lost power 3 times already in the past 2 months. Usually it's been for less than 72 hours, but that's still long enough to have to toss everything in the fridge. Unfortunately, we live in the hills so we are presuming we'll have more power outages. It's a huge hassle because our house is all-electric (so no HVAC, hot water, or cooking when we lose power) and we have an electric pump to bring water up the hill from the lower street level, so there's no water at all in an outage either. We filled the bathtubs so we could still flush toilets and have tons of stored drinking water (it is earthquake country). We drive about 15 minutes and can order food from restaurants with power. But otherwise we have battery-operated flashlights and lanterns (no candles!), go to bed early, and wear lots of layers when it gets to be 51 degrees inside the house.

The prior homeowner had a giant liquid-cooled commercial propane-powered generator (42 KwH?) that required a permit (which he didn't get) and wasn't maintained annually. So of course it doesn't work. I was told we'd have to pay about $10,000 in fines for 10 years of not having a permit and maybe $2,000-3,000 just to inspect it. We decided we'll just buy a new residential generator. We are still debating getting the battery back-ups since we have a large solar panel system (about 9 KwH), but 2 different solar companies told me it would be far cheaper to get a propane-powered generator. Solar battery systems should come down in price eventually, but for now they're about $15,000-$20,000 to have enough capacity to cover a 3,000 sq ft house. It will cost even more if we want it to power the HVAC system.

So we're researching still but haven't moved on anything. I figure it will be difficult to even get a quote now until wildfire season is over and folks aren't calling all the generator and solar panel/battery back-up companies now.