Electricity - Who Needs It?

[dannyboy]

Ain't it typical? I had a 'day off' from other things yesterday, (and fortunately, one today), so I decided to finish my new test track, (an oval including a figure of eight), and, due to having to test a locomotive for a fellow forumite, I managed to get the oval part wired up. On goes the new locomotive and after one circuit it stoppped, "Oh dear me", (or words to that effect), thinks I. However, it was nothing to do with the locomotive, we had a power cut.  .  Not an unusual occurrence living where I do, but as soon as a storm is mentioned, I get all the torches etc., gathered together. 'Storm Dudley' had struck! I checked the website and it showed an anticipated restoration time of 7.30pm. Not too bad, just five hours without power. It is now 12.25pm the following day and the power came back about twenty minutes ago  . Now in a power cut, we can use rechargeable torches and my little gas ring. We also have an open fire, so we can keep reasonably warm and see what we are doing to make a cuppa. Other things though do not work - no television, no water to flush the loo, (my water is pumped, by electricity(!), from my own well), and of course, once the pressure in the system has gone, no water to make a cuppa  . But the thing with rechargeable torches, phones, tablets etc., is that they need recharging after a while and what do you need to recharge something - electricity!
And 'Storm Eunice' is going to hit us tomorrow!  . (Where is the 'fingers crossed' emoticon?).

I forgot to add - there is no internet either! I have got one of those battery back up thingys, but that don't last too long.

[Chris Morris]

May I suggest you need one of these......

[Jack]

.... or a hamster with a big wheel on the end of a turbine 


I've got my coat and I know the way out... 

[dannyboy]

May I suggest you need one of these......

How is a dragon gonna help me? 

.... or a hamster with a big wheel on the end of a turbine 

That's an interesting thought. I have an old dog, some old cats and a 'not very well' kitten ................

[Buzzard]

How is a dragon gonna help me?

A few breaths of fire and you could have a bit of toast

Other workarounds could be

Candles and matches

A hand pump to draw water from your well

An oil fired Aga that is gravity fed (if fitted properly you'd have hot water for washing up etc as well being able to boil water in a saucepan so you can make a cuppa)

A wind-up radio

Who needs this electricity stuff?

[joe cassidy]

A bicycle with a dynamo ?

[Newportnobby]

Now in a power cut, we can use rechargeable torches and my little gas ring

I'd recommend naked flames are kept away from your little gas ring

[guest311]

"no television"   

considering the absolute dross that is churned out these days, is that really not a blessing 

surely more time to play trains 

this post may take a while to appear, as I am back on a diet of NATO coffee and Jaffa cakes 

[The Q]

This house is 1906 and it was well into the 1950s before it got electricity, comming later were water and sewage in the 1970s. Though we are not on the mains sewage system.
You can still see where the sewer pipes were buried by the lines in the tarmac.

When we got here 23 years ago, we regularly got power failures, and that continued until a couple of years ago when they replaced the three single wires on the poles with a twisted insulated triple .
So we have a camping dual hob and grill gas stove,
Paraffin lanterns,
Coal stove,
There are two wells in the garden.
A later addition to facilities,  is a 3kW, generator.

Right time to finish this muggacoffee, and go see what the damage is from Eunice..

[Bealman]

Unfortunately, as people who play with model trains, we actually do need electricity 

[GrahamB]

We lost our power at 12:14pm yesterday. It came back at 05:04am this morning.

I'm very glad we have a gas range cooker, a good supply of candles and a log burner. Our mobile devices were all fully charged in aticipation so we were able to keep warm and enjoy a nice romantic candlelit meal with music supplied via the mobile devices.

Now wondering if it's worth installing battery backup for my solar panels so I reduce my exported electricity to as near to zero as possible whilst still getting paid for it.

[dannyboy]

Well 'Storm Eunice' hit Ireland yesterday before crossing the Irish Sea. We got off very lightly in our part of Ireland, nothing worse than a bit of wind and rain, although further south got hit badly, apparently there are still a few thousand homes without power and sadly, one council workman was killed by a falling tree whilst clearing some storm damage. We woke up to a couple of inches of snow, but that was it. It appears to have hit parts of the UK quite badly and again, there has been loss of life. Watching the BBC news, it seems that there are still people who are prepared to go out in such weather, just to look at the weather!