Ross@home wrote:
>Sqwertz wrote:
>>George Leppla wrote:
>>>Sqwertz wrote:
>>>> He has his own propane tank, well water, and septic tank. Last ting
>>>> he needs is a generator (which he may have).
>>>
>>> A well doesn't do you any good if you don't have electricity to run the
>>> pump.
>>>
>>> If I were Sheldon living in a rural area like that, I would have a
>>> generator.
>>
>>The people who had wells in my old neighborhood always had a hand
>>operated option as well.
>
>Hand pumps will only work to a depth of about 22 feet so they're only
>good on shallow wells.
That's true, and shallow well water is as poor quality as run off...
it's good for irrigating crops and may be okay for cleaning/bathing
but rarely is ground water potable without boiling. I've often
thought about getting a generator but I really don't need one, they
can be more trouble than they are worth; another thing that requires
maintenence and fuel storage... a decent size portable can easily use
10-15 gallons a day. And since I heat with propane I've considered a
propane stand-by system but this being the first outage that lasted
more than a few hours I can't see spending the $10,000+ for something
I really don't need. I was without electric for almost four days and
lost nothing from my fridge/freezer, just didn't open the door and all
the frozen stuff was still like 90% frozen when the power came
back.... and ev en if I did lose it all I don't keep a whole lot in my
freezer.... I'd rather lose $100 worth of meat than spend $10K on a
generator. Next month I will be having a ventless propane heater
installed in my basement, will keep the entire house toasty and
prevent pipes from freezing in winter... shoulda done it years ago,
they are cheap ($400 installed) and more than pay for themselves the
first winter as they are 98% efficient and need no electric and no
chimney. I can live quite well without TV and computer. I have lots
of candles and flash lights, and I just ordered a new portable weather
radio and another battery powered camp light. I have enough food in
my pantry to easily last me a year... and my gas stove works without
electric. I always keep several gallons of bottled water on hand and
since there was plenty of warning I filled several of my humongous
cook pots. And for bathing and toilet flushing a couple hundred feet
from my door I have this:
http://i55.tinypic.com/jpu7b5.jpg
And it's no biggie to haul buckets of water, I do it all the time to
water plants where my hose won't reach:
http://i55.tinypic.com/b4iwqw.jpg