We woke up to lost power this morning. Big snow dump last night. Well, not no power. The batteries of our solar system still had some power but was low enough they should have been charging from the grid...
So I got up and unplugged the freezer (the fridge and freezer being the largest draw of electricity in our house). I then broke out the extra blankets and covered the freezer with about 5 layers to stop cold leak from freezer. Safety warning here- You MUST unplug it first. If it comes back on without you noticing, it will have the opposite effect, it will melt stuff inside and potentially start a fire or rune the motor.
This buys me time to get other things done. This is one reason why I keep several extra blankets. They can be picked up cheap at second hand stores. 2 - 5$. I try to get the wool ones first.
Sooo....Say, an EMP, solar flare, cyber attack on the electrical grid or major storm knocks down your electricity for an extended time. The amount of food stored in the freezer and to a lesser extent, fridge, represents a good chunk of my food storage. Given enough time, we would can, dehydrate or consume what is in the freezer first.
In an emergency, I will have much more important things to do over the next week than worrying about what is in the freezer.
That is why, the FIRST thing I do in an emergency (if the solar panels aren't working) is to wrap the unplugged freezer and fridge in as many blankets as I have. Since I already have water covered, This is the First Job before I do anything else.
There are many other uses for those blankets than just your bed so have a BIG stack of them.
I have a Tactical Harness and I have a Tool Belt. The Tool Belt is more Useful.
Quick note to self- Next time the freezer is empty, put some high density foam and plywood under the freezer since cool air sinks.
So, I only put 5 blankets on today since I figured it would be short. It was....but what I want you to picture is about a foot of insolation over it with a string around the bottom to hold it together.
This should also be a good place to talk about the many other uses of blankets and why in the old days, people kept a closet set aside just to be filled with blankets.
Lets start with the bed in winter. Putting several layers of wool blankets UNDERNIETH you keeps your heat from escaping through your mattress. I lived in several rolling homes, wintering in the Canadian Rockies, often without heat... so I learned to live under 10 inches of blankets. It can be done.
If you put in a covered four post bed, just like the old days, hanging blankets means you have created a micro climate that traps your lost heat.
Blankets can be hung over windows and drafty doors in the winter. Then again during heatwaves to keep heat out. They can also be hung on badly isolated walls. This is how tapestries developed. On your body. Heat the body, not the space. On the floor as emergency rugs.
Second hand store blankets are a very cheap source of cloth and can be remade into clothes. They can be handed out to refugees or emergency visitors.
They can cover plants if a frost sneaks up on garden or in your greenhouse over hoops if its going to drop below freezing overnight.
You can slow cook with them by bringing the water in a pot to boiling, taking it off the stove and wrapping it in several blankets.
That's all I got. If you can think of more uses, feel free to ad or show pics.
I have a Tactical Harness and I have a Tool Belt. The Tool Belt is more Useful.
This is why I don't keep the freezer and spare fridge in the house. I have small well insulated room in the barn for them. I unplug them as soon as the temp. drops to below freezing in the room, early winter, and they stay unplugged till spring temps are at freezing or above. In summer, the insulated room helps the appliances run more efficiently and keeps the ambient air much cooler than outside thus keeping the solar draw to a minimum.
I am totally with you on the blanket thing. No such thing as too many. Can't have too many pairs of sock or gloves,mitts and tocques either.
Like OddDuck I have one chest freezer that's outside, and kept full. I use it roughly end of Sept to end of April, then switch to the in house chest freezer for the summer. It makes no sense to me to run a freezer inside the house, where its 20C through the winter, when I can have it outside where the average temps through the winter are well below 0. Days go by and it doesn't even turn on.
Give a man a gun, and he can rob a bank. Give a man a bank, and he can rob the world.
I went old school and am building a root cellar . in the winter you load it up with ice blocks and keeps everything cold right through summer.
Just for fun I hooked my kilowatt meter up to my out door freezer after I last posted. its not a typical day in January its been going above 0 the last few days. I will get a full 24hrs measurement around 10:30 tonight. Its a 10 year old 7qft. So a newer model would likely do much better
Give a man a gun, and he can rob a bank. Give a man a bank, and he can rob the world.
