Want to know how to prepare, and what to do when the power goes out?
You’re happily enjoying your favorite TV program when suddenly the electrical power goes out. You should take immediate action. But what should you do?
Electrical power is an energy often taken for granted. When the lights, television, heating or air conditioning go off, most people just wait for power to come back on. They don’t realize it could be out for hours or days, and there’s potential damage when it is restored. Most people take no action.
When electricity goes out, all running motors spin down to a stop. Refrigerant stops being pumped through your air conditioning unit. Cool air stops blowing through your home’s ventilation outlets. For heating, there’s no power to operate the fan that blows warm air out the vents. Appliances that turn on according to set conditions can’t react. Water stops being available to your ice maker and refrigerator water spout. Computers shift to battery power. Clocks that aren’t backed up by batteries freeze in time. Security systems stop protective monitoring. And your whole world goes into silent shut down.
According to recent statistics, the average power outage last 4.5 hours. If it lasts longer than one day, most people become restless and worried. If it lasts more than three days, your lifestyle changes significantly—20% of power outages worldwide meet this criteria.
Here’s what you should do the moment power goes out:
1. Check with family and friends to see if they or others in your neighborhood have also lost power. Try texting since this uses less bandwidth and has a good chance of getting through.
2. Write the time on a pad of paper. You’ll want to monitor how long frozen or refrigerated food stays safe.
3. Turn off all motors that were running at the time.
You want to ensure everyone is safe when power is restored. A quick unexpected start of a motor that was left on or plugged into a socket could become a safety hazard. The power surge could also damage the motor. If you can’t easily get to appliance plug sockets, turn the refrigerator and freezer settings to the warmest or off condition. Then keep their doors closed.
4. If you have a sump pump, periodically check it to confirm no flooding is occurring in your basement or crawl space.
5. Turn off and unplug all appliances, televisions, entertainment devices, and operating equipment.
Leave a single light switch on to show when power is restored. Set out flashlights for use as needed.
6. Shut and lock all windows and doors and get into comfortable clothes.
You want to use natural ventilation and retain comfortable room temperatures as long as possible. Consider shutting doors to unused rooms.
7. In addition, if it’s nighttime, and you live in an area where illegals, drifters, or homeless are known to frequent, keep your home and possessions safe. Don’t tempt anyone to steal from you.
8. Get prepared to activate your backup electrical power and lighting systems. You did prepare didn’t you?
9. Fill all the clean containers you can find with fresh water—including the bathtub. Know how much bottled water you have and begin a rationing regimen. And don’t forget to take care of your animals.
10. Immediately initiate refrigerator and freezer food conservation procedures.
Don’t open their doors unless absolutely necessary. And decide what you’ll take out in advance. Keep the cold where it belongs. A packed freezer can keep food frozen for up to 48 hours. A packed refrigerator can keep food cold for up to 24 hours. Consider using a picnic cooler with frozen freezer bags or bags of ice or dry ice to keep food cold or frozen. Use canned or freeze-dried foods to avoid opening the freezer. If food in your freezer thaws, it becomes refrigerator quality until its temperature increases to 40° F (4° C). At this point, use it or cook it. If power comes back on and ice crystals are still visible on thawed food that has reached 40° F, you can safely re-freeze this. Any meat, poultry, fish, eggs, milk, or leftovers that have been warmer than 40° F for over two hours should be thrown out. A list of food storage times can be found at http://www.foodsafety.gov/keep/charts/refridg_food.html. Also note which foods can be safely kept at room temperature for a few days.
11. Continue cooking any hot meals in process on your BBQ outside.
Maintain hot cooked food at 140° F or higher until eaten. You can use a meat thermometer to measure temperature.
12. Begin listening to your portable battery-operated emergency radio.
Hand-crank capability is good because this won’t discharge your normal batteries and a 60-count crank charge can keep the radio going for over 30 minutes. Every community has an emergency broadcast station. Learn its frequency and then tune your radio to it and monitor the power out repair process and weather conditions.
13. When electrical power is restored, wait a minute or two and then re-energize appliances carefully and slowly to minimize surge.
Start with the freezer and refrigerator at their warmest setting and then slowly turning their temperature settings down. This should get things going without surge issues.
14. Contact family and friends to let them know your power is back on.
Then continue a normal lifestyle. If you’ve prepared, you can comfortably endure a power outage. You may even enjoy the slower pace while power is out.
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