By Mitchell Crawford
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A couple of times in this column I have written about the need to be prepared in case of A/C power loss in our homes. The first time was during the California rolling power outages in 2001, and the second time was last year after hurricane Katrina. Last month Susan and I had the opportunity to see just how well we were prepared in case of a power outage. We came home from a Dodger game on a Friday night and our neighborhood was completely dark, and it turned out, we would be without power for 24 hours. I have not carried a key to our house for years. I enter the house via the garage using the garage door opener. Fortunately, our garage door opener has a battery backup and will open even if the power is down. But, I also have a backup way into our house. One of our doors has a battery-powered keyless entry system. I enter a combination and the door unlocks. So, not having a key to the house was not a problem. Also, our garage door opener, like most garage door opening systems, has a release so you can manually operate the door if the power goes down. It was dark when we arrived home. I pulled a flashlight out of my car glove box, and grabbed another one stored in a key cabinet in the garage by the entry door into the house. Both flashlights had good batteries in them, so they were ready to go. Also, aiding us with light were our power failure lights we have plugged in around the house. But, these lights are good for only about an hour, and by the time we arrived home they were starting to dim. The hand held flashlights we used are mini Maglites that use two AA batteries. I have one of these flashlights stored in every room in the house, so we had plenty of them available. One nice feature of these lights is you can unscrew the lens, slide the body of the flashlight into the lens, and use it to stand the flashlight on any flat surface. |
This allows the light to function as a lantern. So we set up a few Maglites as lanterns in the bedroom, and we were able to function very easily. Many emergency agencies recommend the use of flashlights over candles, as candles can start a fire. I also keep a large supply of the AA batteries on hand. We awoke the next morning still with no power. We were worried about the food in our refrigerator and freezer. So we avoided opening the freezer sections, and only opening the refrigerator section when necessary. According to a Canadian food safety web site, food in the freezer will be OK for 24 hours if the door is not opened, and the food in the refrigerator is good for 4 to 6 hours, depending on the kitchen temperature and the original temperature of the refrigerator. The web site stresses “When in doubt, throw it out.” We lost some milk and vegetables, everything else was OK. Like many households we have cordless phones. But, during a power failure, those phones are worthless. I always have one corded phone plugged in (in my library), and during the outage, I connected a spare corded phone downstairs in the kitchen. Since the regular phone system (vs. the new phone systems that use the Internet) almost always stay up after earthquakes and power failures, we could make and take calls as usual. So, after writing two columns about emergency preparation and then going 24 hours without power, both Susan and I feel we are prepared to ride it out for several days. Have an idea, comment or question? You can e-mail me with your questions, comments or ideas for future columns at mlcrawford@sandimasnews.com. You can also visit the San Dimas CommunityNews at www. sandimasnews.com where prior Personal Technology columns are posted. In addition, visit the official City of San Dimas Web site at www. cityofsandimas.com and the San Dimas Chamber of Commerce Web site at san dimaschamber.com. |