today's video is made possible by our
friends at simplisafe welcome back
friends to the shop this morning i was
going over comments that i'd received
from
yesterday's video and one of you really
took me to task
on something that i have kind of
overlooked now kind of being the
self-described preparedness guy i have
not said anything or even commented upon
the tragedy it was going on in texas
with folks they're freezing to death
down there
now to be honest i wasn't even aware of
the extent of this um
uh of this incident
until he brought this to my attention
i've almost completely like cut myself
off from media
so i went on there and looked and i had
no idea to the extent
what to what extent it was that people
were dying down there people were trying
to stay warm in their
clothes it was just or in their cars it
was just heartbreaking
so i want to share with you the top 10
things that a person can do
to keep yourself and your family warm in
that environment in a home
that doesn't have any electricity now i
can speak to this because
we live in an area that loses we lose
electricity all the time and when we
moved into our off
or our last place our last homestead
i think that first week we were there we
were nine days without power or
electricity or heat
so it's not something that is alien to
me so i want to cover it
we're going to cover some things that
you can do in the future for problems
and some things you can do right now
with what you have in the house so let's
start with number one i made some notes
here on my phone so i'm going to
reference that just so i stay on task
here
but we're going to talk about propane
heaters now your propane heaters be
careful with those there's two types
there's propane heaters that are
catalytic that are designed
that to use inside of a house that are
safe and those that are not not all
propane
heaters are safe but something like this
a little heat buddy is a really great
asset to have these are
pretty affordable they are safe to run
inside
an rv or a house and they take the
little green bottles on the side now
you're going to want to get the adapter
kit they're not expensive it's an
adapter hose you're going to want to
adapt this
to a large tank now i know this might
not be helpful to you right now and i've
been told
that propane is is pretty scarce and not
even available
this is something that you might want to
be able to think about getting in the
future
you should have three of these you
probably already have two for your gas
grill just get an extra one
three of these will run that heater on
medium for the better part of a week
propane is really nice for this type of
a thing because it does two things
it heats and it cooks so you can put
your gas grill your camping thing on
there and the storage is is
pretty much indefinite it's not going to
go bad on you and you can buy it
set it aside and it's going to be there
when you need it one other thing
that's real handy that we've made use of
when we'd lost power for a long time
were these small butane stoves now
these are a lot of people use these for
camping
you know you can't get that thing to
lock until you
right here but these little guys are
great and they're
cheap i've seen these things for as
cheap as like twenty dollars there's
lots of different brands are essentially
all the same thing
but you should have a couple of these
things and these are the fuel bottles
that they run on and these will store
indefinitely so not only will this
cook but it will heat as well it's not
going to have as long
it's not going to last as long because
of the small bottles
but at least you can hook up or heat up
some beans
or some stew with that it's a really
great
combination to have also please
please please get yourself a carbon
monoxide
alarm there's it's i i couldn't believe
there are families entire families that
have
succumbed to carbon monoxide poisoning
for lack of a 20
dollar alarm that you can you can plug
in and um
or have battery operated it's just such
a shame
this is going to detect that and what's
sad is and i saw this
with the fire department as a first
responder what's really common with
folks is
even if they have a generator the power
will go out
and i've seen them run the generator
outside the garage being responsible
understanding that carbon monoxide is
deadly and
going to bed and not realizing that the
cold air
intake for the furnace system was in the
garage and it sucked all that carbon
monoxide in the house and they went to
sleep and never woke up
it's tragedy it's a 20 alarm would have
made all the difference
in the world so the propane is a really
good way to go
number two is the co2 sensor number
three
um can
bring everyone together and try to make
your stand in the smallest part of your
house as possible
probably somewhere around the kitchen
and the living room
take towels and roll them up and put
them underneath all of the doors
if you have a two-story house and you
have a staircase going upstairs
all of the heat that you're able to save
or produce is going to rush right up
those stairs and go away so take some
sheets or some painters plastic
or tarps or anything you have and close
all of that off make sure that you
you you get yourself in the smallest
living area as possible
there's a reason why folks before we had
power families lived in small houses all
living in the same room it's because it
takes a lot of energy
to heat these big mansions these big
houses that we have
and you don't want that close off those
unwanted rooms
close the doors just don't go into them
and bring your family together
into a smaller area
number that are also storm windows now
up here up north
it's common to have storm windows we
have double and even triple pane glass
what that is that creates an air space
that is really easy to heat now you
folks that live down south
some of you in the older houses are
going to have single pane windows
you you there's a massive energy
transfer between a single pane window
when it's cold outside and it's warm
outside so you want to build some sort
of a storm window
you can do this all by yourself with
just some painters plastic and some duct
tape
my granddaddy remember he made his own
storm windows and
out of plexiglass and every fall he
would pull them out of the garage and
take them outside and put the storm
windows up because they make a huge
difference
you can essentially do the same thing
with stuff you have if you have some
clear plastic
what you do is you cut it about the size
of the window and you get some duct tape
and you tape it to the wall pull it
tight as you can
and that's what that's going to create
is a barrier and air space and heat has
a hard time transferring between that
it's amazing the difference it will make
you will it will stop that coldness is
coming through in your house
one little pro tip when you have
painters plastic like this
you can thank jariah for this he taught
me this little trick
you take your painters plastic and if
you twist it
real tight like this then take your
knife out and cut it you can cut it all
at one time
rather than trying to run along and cut
a 12 foot piece and you get a nice
straight cut that way
so painters plastic is really really
good for that
with some duct tape okay so
uh number four car rv lifeboat uh
sit in the garage folks if you have to
you can of course get in your car
use that as a lifeboat you can get in
there and run the heater or if you have
an
rv my parents are currently have had
their power out for about a week now
and they're using their rv as a power
plant for the house
they've got a generator in there they're
running the cords in
and hooked up to the refrigerators and
those vital circuits that they need
also don't forget a lot of your new
newer cars
and trucks are going to have a power
inverter meaning they're going to have
the ability to convert that 12 volt
power to 110
and you can utilize that in the house by
running extension cords in there you can
run space heaters you can be charging
phones you can run electric blankets
you might even be able to keep your
refrigerator running if it's not too big
it just kind of depends on the vehicle
but don't overlook that
as a resource as kind of a remote power
supply and for goodness sakes if you are
going to go and take refuge in your car
pull it outside pull it out of the
garage because that carbon monoxide will
build up and it will poison you
the exhaust pipe is pumping that out
non-stop
just be careful be careful with that
stuff
okay car's a lifeboat uh
also you know another thing
using those inverters electric blankets
uh
i checked on amazon and they're still
available an electric blanket is a
really good way to keep warm
and they don't take a tremendous amount
of power but having an electric blanket
in your house
that's gonna that's gonna cover you
really good and keep you warm so your
family can sleep well
oh goodness burn candles to generate
heat
now if you're in a small area and if you
get your
get your uh you know everything sealed
off and you have candles in the house
burn those candles okay those candles
are a flame and they can
create quite a bit of heat i've been a
long fan of these
uco candle lanterns because they
do produce a lot of heat there actually
enough heat will come off of these that
you could heat a small
car or even a tent and it will make a
big difference with the room it gives
you light and heat
and i like these little lanterns because
you have a small cooktop on the top that
you could heat up
a can of beans or or some dinty more
stew
and you don't have to eat cold food if
you have an electric range these are
very versatile
and really a handy thing to have
number six set up a tent inside sleeping
bags and candles
if you have a camping gear if you have a
tent or pup tents
and your house is cold go ahead and set
those up up inside of your house get
your sleeping bags out
now you're talking about an area that's
much easier to heat
than the entire house right if you took
a two-man or a four-man tent
and you had a candle and be careful with
the candles you know don't be going in
there with open flames and going to
sleep
that's just a recipe for disaster you
want to be sure you have something
that is going to be able to be contained
that's really important
but by throwing a blanket over that tent
it's amazing just your own body heat
will produce a tremendous amount of heat
so just think about that you set up your
tents inside
with your sleeping bags and sleep inside
of those guys
number seven thermal mass i heard a lot
of folks uh
that you're having rolling blackouts in
power and
if you have an oven of course you know
it makes sense you would open up the
door
or turn the burners on that produces a
lot of heat and that's going to be able
to heat your
your apartment or your house up until
the power goes off
so if you're experiencing that don't be
afraid to go out into your yard
and dig up whatever you have to do but
fill that oven full of rocks bricks what
we're trying to go for
is a thermal mass if you have water
tanks
cans like this five gallon cans which
you should have about six of these every
house
get those in there get get everything
heating up because when that power goes
out
that all of that that heat that's built
up and those bricks and those rocks and
that water and that thermal mass is
going to time release slowly over a
period of time
it was common back in the day in
greenhouses guys would take 55 gallon
drums of water
put them in the greenhouses and as the
sun came through and you had that
greenhouse effect
warming up the greenhouse it also
brought the water up to that temperature
so it might be you know 90 100 degrees
in there
and then when the sun goes down at night
and cools down
those that thermal mass and that water
slowly time releases heat off
and keeps the plants from freezing and
the same thing can happen here
so have that water or in there and as
much
as much thermal mass as you could get i
mean good grief if you had to get five
gallon buckets full of gravel you know
even that's better than nothing
in a small area that can extend your
heat for quite a
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got
water bottles hot coal yeah also go to
bed with hot water bottles if you have
the ability to have those
as well i mean it was very common back
before the days of power electricity
families would go to bed with with hot
water bottles you don't see that too
much anymore but it was
cold and they would put the hot water
bottles in you can even find
old bed pans that they used to put to
coals from the fire end
into kind of a canister and they would
slide those under the sheet sheets and
that would help warm up the bed and keep
them warm
so those things are still relevant and
you can still do that today
let's see also when it comes to water
storage you know water could be a
problem as well
if your pipes are freezing this is kind
of common knowledge for folks that live
up north but if you don't
not used to it one way you can keep your
house
pipes from freezing is keep them running
when it gets really really cold up here
we'll go through all of the house all of
the bathrooms and the sinks and all that
and turn them on just so they're just
trickling a little bit just so that
water's moving
because moving water is a doesn't tend
to freeze like
static water water that's not moving
also open up
all of your cabinets underneath so if
you open those up so that the pipes and
the drains and everything can get a
little bit of extra heat in there and
some circulation
makes a big difference seems like it's a
little bit wasteful but
it's it's it's a lot better than having
your whole house freeze up and all your
pipes split
that's a huge problem and also regarding
water
if you're on a well or if maybe the ice
storm is so bad that the municipal water
is no longer delivering water to you
remember you've got 55 gallons of water
in your
in your water heater and you want to get
that out of there your water heater is
most likely going to be
in the garage or in an area that may be
unheated or you
you just can't heat and when that's
going to freeze and there's a good
chance that that's going to break and
destroy your hot water
heater all those are going to have a
drain on the bottom so drain that out
and get that capture that into your cans
if you don't have cans
get any receptacle that you can and line
your bathtub with plastic if you have it
and put that water in there and save it
because you might need it it's going to
give you a little thermal mass
if you have a bathroom that you're
heating and it's going to give you in a
pinch
of the ability to have something to
drink because if you can't get out
if you're out of gas and the whole city
shut down that's critical
because you can only survive about three
days without water so make sure you
use that resource and collect that water
as well
we have number nine generators gas solar
don't forget the cords
now uh generator of course that's
self-explanatory
uh it's nice to really really nice thing
to have you can charge your phone you
can run electric blankets
space heaters you can run your
refrigerator so you're not losing your
food
that's not an option for a lot of people
if you live in a a condominium or you
live in an apartment i mean where do you
go
where are you how are you going to get a
gas generator going or what if you're
uh a shut-in and or someone that older
that can't deal with that
well there is a good solution these
solar generators are becoming very
affordable now and there's a lot of
companies making really good ones
and all it really is is it's a large
capacity lithium battery
with a small inverter in it so you'll
have a series of plugs on the front of
them where you can plug in
a 110 you can plug in usb usbc you can
charge your phones you can charge your
flashlights
you can even run an electric blanket off
of this and it's
very very handy i love solar generators
i probably use this thing two or three
times a week i'm constantly
packing it around and plugging things in
it's just a portable power station
if you really want to make it functional
a couple this
with a portable solar generator or
a solar panel like this these are very
affordable now
this solar panel if you put it in direct
sun and if you're in texas you have lots
of sun
and all the snow is even more reflective
will charge that battery up in
a daylight cycle so that you can put
this out be charging everything up
and you can charge directly from these
for small things like your phones or
even run a
led light bulb and then at night you're
going to have a fully charged solar
generator that you might be able to run
your electric
blanket or small things that might make
life a little bit better for you
don't underestimate the cords as well
even if you do have a generator i
before i made this video i called my dad
and asked him
because he's been without power for a
week now you know what were the top five
things that that
really made a difference in this power
outage and he said
extension cords and i couldn't agree
more i have had
always had generators and always lived
in places where the power went out a lot
when you live in the pacific northwest
with all these trees and power lines are
not buried they're overhead and we get
ice storms of course power's out for a
long
period of time you can't have too many
extension cords
and have splitters because this gives
you the ability to run out have your
generator outside
run cords in feed circuits feed your
refrigerator feed your space heater
whatever and have the splitters on the
ends you use i've i remember times where
i've had three
four extension cords running in under
the front door going around and powering
everything
also your neighbor may have a generator
and maybe he's not using all of it he
you might talk him into letting you come
over and plug in for a few hours today
to
to power up a few things and having
enough cord to go over there and to
connect to your neighbor's house
is really handy you just can't have
enough of these and don't get those
little flimsy ones make sure you get the
big ones the contractor ones with the
grounds on them
so that you can run some some real power
but that's uh something that you really
really want
also don't over overlook alternate
ways where you can get power if you have
these
booster a lot of us have these uh
booster jump packs in our trucks for
our shop for cars most of these are
going to have a usb
port on there now these are not extended
for long run time
or designed for long run times but they
do really well at charging
phones and flashlights and things so
that if you completely out of power
and you really desperate don't overlook
that you can bring that in
and you might be able to uh to charge
with that as well
in addition to that a guy should have if
you don't already
an inverter an inverter just is the same
thing that's in that solar generator
but this is a standalone version these
are very affordable and if you have a
vehicle with a car battery
you can take these out and snap them
onto the battery run the car
and that gives you a 110 circuit so you
could essentially run
an extension cord to this into your
house and power those things heaters
space blankets and such very very nice
and you don't have to sleep out in the
car
they come in all different sizes this is
a 1000
you can get smaller ones 300 400 it just
depends on what you need but a power
inverter like this
is super super handy
oh goodness what else we have here that
was uh
number nine and number ten
uh the final thing if the power is out
uh you may and it's cold outside you may
kind of overlook or not think about your
refrigerators and your freezers
now those are very sealed and they're
cold just because it's cold outside
doesn't mean that
it's going to stay cold in there it's
actually going to be
over time it's going to be warmer than
it is outside so eat that food
first make sure you get it before it
spoils and then save your dry goods your
foods your beans and your rice
but if it's cold it's freezing outside
take as many pots and pans and different
things that you can
put them outside and let let the cold
turn
the water into ice and then at night
bring that in and put it inside the
refrigerator put it inside the freezer
and that will carry you through that
will extend that food
and keep that insulated box cooler it
might
pick you up a day or two and it could
make a big difference
so those are just some tips and i'll
just also just a little extra one
make sure you you go and make contact
with your neighbors to the right and to
the left of you
you they may have resources that you
don't they may have a generator
that runs on propane that they're all
out of propane and
you may have five gallons in your gas
grill or you might be able to combine
resources and help one another out
maybe they'll let you run an extension
cord over there but the real concerning
thing is
folks that are not able to to care for
themselves if you've got a widow or a
shut-in
just make sure that she's okay and and
if need be bring her into your house
and uh have them come in and look after
her and care for them
if everyone does that in a community if
you know the status of your person to
your left and to your right
then everyone will be looked after and
no one's going to fall through the
cracks and
and and and be left um alone
and abandon so just be aware of that
pool your resources
communities back in the day always
gathered together
pooled resources because that's what it
took to survive and we in our
comfortable western civilization and our
current technology
have created a world where we can live
independently from the help of one
another but when we come into situations
like that uh it really gets back uh to
the way things used to be
and it's important to rely upon each
other and to be there for one another
and to know
just be your brother's keeper just make
sure you know how everyone's doing and
that they have what they need
and don't lose hope just remember that
this is a temporary thing
it's not going to last forever and the
sunshine will be back so just
hunker down do the best you can use your
head
use the resources you have at your
disposal and learn from this
when you come out the other side realize
what how you were in want what was
really a difficulty what was really a
hardship for you
and make sure that when things come back
into stock heaters and propane and
electric blankets and that sort of thing
that you you get that in your house so
that when this happens again
you can weather the storm a little bit
better and you're not going to be in
such dire straits
that was a big wake-up call for me when
we moved into our
old place and we had that seven eight
nine days without power
and a leaky roof and no heat i vowed to
myself
never again will i put my family through
this uh this horrible experience and we
made sure that we had things in place
so that the next time that happened we
were well much better prepared so
i hope this helps thanks for watching we
are
you guys are constantly in our prayers
and may god bless all of you
please keep my family in your prayers as
well and we'll see you all
on the next video