These storms will be more common as time goes on, wether out system will be upgraded to handle these storms or not is unlikely. Generator food heater and water are the things you need. Maybe a bunch of blankets could help but not very necessary. Stabil for your generators gas could also be helpful, if it sits over the summer it could be possibly be too gummed up next time you need. If you have a wood stove and you never use it I’d suggest cleaning it out and keeping at least a little wood for emergencies.

We have a wood stove that’s our primary heat and we supplement with oil, but our mom’s in-law suite is electric heat, so we need to keep her house warm. The indoor safe heaters look like a good option and maybe a camping stove for her. I agree that this will be more common, it worries me a bit. At this point I feel like we need to be prepared to live off grid for at least 2 weeks!

Gone 5 days before. My generator broke down day 3 but I lucked out and found a rental nearby for cheap.

I live where the power goes out if a hummingbird lands on the line but we got lucky this time. A couple flickers but it stayed on.

We have a heat pump for everyday use but a wall mounted propane heater for outages and when it gets below 10 and the heat pump struggles. It’s enough to keep our little house cozy in an outage. I also keep a gallon of water in the freezer which just acts as a huge ice cube. We don’t have a generator so I shuffle fridge food inside and outside to keep it in the cold sweet spot. One of the best things we have is a solar powered phone charger. Enough to charge us four times over, more if we let it sit in the sun. We usually take trips out for food during an outage. In general I’d say we’re very well prepared but I still absolutely hate being out in the winter. I stress.

It’s not the most efficient fuel but if you have a trangia camp stove you can burn denatured alcohol in it for a small heat source or to boil water (takes a bit though). It’s safe to burn indoors. I will emphasize for indoors it must be DENATURED ALCOHOL or meth spirits, not IPA or other types of similar fuel like eco kero. You can also burn yellow bottle HEET in it but I’m not sure how clean it is. Always used denatured alcohol in mine for camping and emergencies.

Wire your house up to receive a generator.

Learn how to fully drain your pipes.

Be ok with staying with the in-laws that do have power.

Camping stoves absolutely need proper ventilation when being used inside - had a roommate once that didn’t know this

She could use it on her covered porch

We’ve got 3 dogs to take care of so going to someone’s house isn’t going to work. I’d rather stay home and figure it out with them.

Yeah, I get wanting to stay home. It's always good to fill some pales or cans with water, or at least fill your bath tub,if you think you're going to lose power. But really, it sounds like a bigger generator is going to be your best option.

Man, the generator route seems damn expensive. Could you ballpark the cost of wiring up the house for it and a generator that would run the fridge, well pump, and a few other essentials?

I felt like it had been awhile since we had such a long outage with it being so cold which definitely complicated things. We have a large stock of lanterns/flashlights and batteries but found that a lot of them had corroded from lack of use. Note for next time not to store with batteries in.

We have large and small indoor propane heaters. The small one went to the basement to keep the pipes warm and the large one was in the center of the house upstairs to try to heat the rest as much as possible. We also have a propane camp stove which was very useful.

We also made sure our CO2 alarms were functioning and placed next to each heater just in case.

We don't have a generator so the refrigerator is always a concern. We picked up a bunch of ice ahead of time and moved perishables to coolers and tried not to open the fridge.

We are fortunate to live in a somewhat densely populated area and tend to get power back relatively quickly, but with more and more severe storms I do think outages will become more common and sustained.

My biggest concerns are always keeping the pipes from freezing, losing as little food as possible, and keeping the animals warm. I have two guinea pigs that live in my semi finished basement so I keep an emergency cage on hand to bring them upstairs if it gets too cold in the basement.

As far as basic safety and avoiding damage to the house, the propane heaters are the most valuable asset. In terms of comfort, having the camp stove and the ability to eat hot food is a life saver. We always keep plenty of propane cans stocked in the garage.

I have a generator the size of a small car for our family compound

It’s got an automatic transfer switch, it powers three apartments and a small business, complete with cooler and gas pumps.

I’ve also got UPS devices for all critical systems, so they don’t go out when the powe goes out, as the transfer switch takes 8 seconds to power generator on.

My home Wi-Fi network is also set up to stream my 20tb plex Server, even when the internets out.

We split this expense into two phases, and started by getting the inlet installed - that was about 500 bucks, but made it extremely easy to borrow a generator. After our first storm that we borrowed one, we invested in our own, and spent about 700. But man being able to just throw the switch and plug in outside was worth every penny (and makes the generator-lender more confident that you won’t wreck theirs, imo!) That was a few years ago, so prices have probably gone up, but if you were looking to do which one first I’d say inlet. ETA our generator can run the furnace or heat pumps, fridge, lights, etc. Probably not the DW, washer or dryer, but that isn’t as essential as the others! We have an induction range, not sure if would run that but I have a single burner and a great toaster oven that we’d use instead.

I just had an electrician wire up a generator hookup and bought a 7500w portable generator. Cost me $1400.

Been feeling that things were heading in this direction for quite some time, so we worked our way towards buying a few acres and started off by building a well insulated 18x18 cabin with a loft (504 sq ft). Haven't bothered tying into the grid yet, have a few solar panels and use a generator supplementally. Haven't drilled a well yet but have a hand dug well that I pull water from using a 12v pump and have water storage in the cabin. We currently get our drinking water from the town office, filling glass jugs. 60 watt medium sized fridge. Wood stove, constantly processing my own wood and looking for free wood anywhere I can get it. 20k btu wall mounted propane heater for when we really need it (no electricity needed, rarely use it). Propane range. Extra camp stove as well as a small backpacking burner with fuel. Dutch oven to use either in the woodstove or outside. Constantly keeping a base level of basic foods (rice, dried beans, canned veggies, plenty of spices). Working on building a root cellar of some sort to store more of the food we grow each year and upping the amount of food we grow as well.

Our monthly bills right now are under $2k (with food included), due to the minimal way we live, which leads to having time to actually work on the land. I'm the one that usually earns most of the money while my wife takes care of the many necessities on the homestead. We are both happy with this style of living and she has had some health problems that make it difficult for her to work. Eventually we will build a larger house (with a passive house approach) and will likely have CMP drop a line at some point but will use it minimally.

This lifestyle certainly isn't for everyone and is a fair bit of work but I'm also building some sort of survival-equity and that is far more important to me than... most anything else. If this lifestyle sounds at all alluring then the best thing to do is start taking small steps in that direction.

For what it's worth, we were forced to buy land June 2021 due to being booted from the farmhouse we had been living in so that it could be sold in the elevated market. We paid more than we probably should have for the land and had to live in a camper for a bit while we put an insane push in to clear land and build a home before winter that year and had very little help. Moved into the cabin early November that year without a touch of insulation in it but we had the woodstove. It's been a wild ride.

Edit: and a composting toilet. Guess that's an integral piece of information

I know it's probably not in the average home budget, but a Generac whole home generator is so crucial for Maine winters. The first year I got it (almost a decade ago) it ran for almost 2 weeks straight and almost a cumulative month that winter. Having run it this long, I can tell you it's not a big drag on the yearly propane bill, and what it provides in comfort and security, well you just can't put a price on that.

- My other suggestions are getting a wood stove installed.

-keeping a large cooler or unplugged freezer in the garage for food storage

-Keeping multiple sources of water in the house. 5 Gallon potable tanks for drinking, 5 gallon buckets for flushing/washing.

-Propane stoves still work when the power is out. The first thing I did when I moved in was add that propane generator and a stove.

-Indoor propane heater. They make these rated for indoor use. still need to use safely.

-Non Perishable food supplies. Bonus points if you can plan for enjoyable meals. No need to be hungry dark and cold

-Large portable Battery with solar panel. These will set you back 200 for the battery and 350 for the solar, but all your phone/laptops will be charged for a week/month, and you can charge the battery in your car as well. Most devices are rechargeable these days so have a large source of power in an emergency to suit your needs.

-Radio - I actually need to get one of these, had no power/phone service for a minute there. Good to have a link to the outside world, news of more danger, entertainment, etc.

Thats all for now, good luck out there to everyone, hopefully something on this list helps

The scary issue is really more about the wider economy.

I know a lot of people live in denial, but 31 trillion in debt and a very clear future of shifting global powers is not ideal...

When the US can't just print itself unlimited money anymore, who knows what will happen...

If we can't maintain infrastructure when times are good, I doubt it will be better when things turn over.

It's why I'm much more "prepper" minded. I'm working towards being as self sufficient as I can be.

Back in the day it was like 3-5,000 fully installed and warrantied. It might be worth visiting the local bank and seeing if they would loan on such a home improvement. Might be able to get one for little money down, on a fixed payment. I can tell you after almost a decade of owning one, Idk how anyone lives without them in the country lol. Especially if you're in a small town thats last to get their power back.

Oh ok - that’s less than I was thinking. Thanks.

This is the worst stretch over a couple of years.

The last two winters have been relatively mild by Maine standards.

It makes me wonder how all the people who moved to the state during the pandemic are faring this year.

Maine is not the place to be if you rely upon or are expecting consistent infrastructure - public utilities, internet, social services, government or municipal institutions. Folks tend to be extremely self reliant because they have to be or come here because they want to be.

I’m not casting aspersions one way or the other.

I liken Maine to be a kind of latchkey state. Let yourself in, fix yourself something to eat, and someone will be home later. Maybe.

Thank you! This seems doable.

We moved here after '98 so do not know anything more than 1-3 days w/out power. Here's what we do, and our house is all electric (no basement).

1. we have a wood stove that heats the house no matter the power situation.
2. we have a pretty good dry goods storage which includes a lot of veggies we grow
3. we have two trash cans that collect roof water for flushing toilets
4. we have a couple of lanterns
5. we have a butane burner stove for camping
6. we bust out coolers for food.
7. we have no generator
8. we have 5 gallons of drinking water

So far so good, but longer than 3 days we'd certainly start feeling it.

ETA, the biggest problem we had during one of the 2 or 3 dayers was when my son had a 60 gallon salt water tank. We were really sweating that, but it is since gone.

If you can get a woodstove that's a game changer

This is a great list! We have a wood stove which is a life saver. Our generator does a decent job, but an upgrade would be great.

We have one and YES 100% a game changer!

Fantastic solution

This is awesome! I need to get some better lanterns and heaters!

[deleted]

After 10-20 outages a year we have a generator and fuel and plenty of food, candles, batteries and water on standby. Honestly it just becomes normal... Fuck cmp!

This thread is awesome. So much good info.

Maine can’t maintain electrical infrastructure. The rest of the country can. And the entire country is capable of maintaining our physical infrastructure. We just don’t want to.

New homeowner here. Some stuff I learned about my generator this holiday season:

Non-ethanol gas for generator.

When close to empty, run with no load until empty. Gets all the gas out of the carb. Gas in the carb gunks up your generator.

Non-ethanol gas is more shelf stable than ethanol gas, although it won’t last forever.

This may be true in some parts of rural Maine but I’ve lived in Maine for over 30 years and “self reliant” is not a trait I expect from most of my friends and family near Portland nor do we all expect critical infrastructure to be unavailable for long periods of time.

Been here my whole life, and am old.

As to whether these outages are going to become more frequent... there's no debate the weather is getting weirder and more extreme, specifically the big winds in late fall, unfrozen and saturated ground through more of the winter, etc. However, it definitely seems like the rural grid is overall better and quicker to be restored.

As a kid, I remember almost every winter there would be week-long outages from pretty mundane weather. We didn't have a generator and it was miserable.

As for how to better prepare? My closest neighbors growing up were depression-era folks who barely noticed if the power went out. They used wood for heat, oil lamps for light (but mostly would just sleep when it was dark), did a lot of canning and pickling of summer veg, had an outdoor root cellar, an outhouse, etc. Nothing about their day to day really NEEDED electricity.

Obviously that's a tough way to go all the time, but having some of those options will really stretch generator fuel a long way, and are pretty tolerable for a week or so.

Nailed it. This is a great place to live, but you better know how to cover your butt if you’re rural. We learned some lessons with this event. It’s all good, everyone safe and sound and the house is ok. We drained our pipes, both baseboards and plumbing. Definitely a learning experience for us. We thought we were ahead of the curve, but the guy installing our whole house generator disappeared around Thanksgiving. Counting on contractors was another valuable lesson. It does look like things are warming up this week, so there’s that.

Portland doesn’t count, that’s little Boston.

It’s not even just Portland, it’s most of Southern Maine. Do you think the people of Westbrook, Cumberland, or Falmouth are mostly self reliant, living off the land type people?

Making the state of Maine seem like some wilderness survivalist utopia is pretty odd to me.

Second the stabil recommendation! I had a generator when we lived down south for hurricanes. I added stabil to the fuel and switched off the fuel supply at the carb and ran it dry. It sat for almost 3 years with a full tank of fuel (again, with the stabil mixed in). When we decided to move up here and i was going to sell it, i popped open the fuel cap and gave it a sniff. Was surprised that it still smelled like gas. Opened the valve to the carb, fired up on the second pull and ran like the fuel just came from the pump. That stuff is amazing!!

Bullshit. Just look at Texas and California. Get outta here with this horse shit.

If I may ask, what type of solar power phone charger do you have?

Add stabil to all your fuel, ethanol or non. It can extend the shelf life up to 2 years from personal experience.

Realistically, a lot of people can't afford a generator. It is definitely a lot cheaper to rig your water lines to be drained and blown out by an air compressor. Keep some RV antifreeze on hand to dump into your sink traps, and your house essentially winterized.

Yes it is!! I am loving reading through all these comments and taking notes! Mainers helping Mainers!

It’s definitely become more common and these outages are lasting longer it seems. I would love to upgrade our generator, but that’s a huge expense. Some day though it will be a must!

Haha don’t be jealous, but I’ve had 3 days of power in over a week 😅 I definitely think we need to do better, we are not too far from a few little towns where we can get food/supplies but I still want to have a better emergency set up at home.

This is the solar charger that I have. I do a lot of backpacking and car camping (this charger is in my car camping bin), and someone on one of those subreddits had purchased a lot and done an exhaustive study on them.

You’re better off letting it charge a battery bank for the day, then using the battery bank to charge your devices.

Ryno-Tuff Portable Solar Charger... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0787GQZTQ

It’s a couple of years old so it has regular USB plugs and not USB-C (fyi)

I had an 11kW generac installed 3 years ago for $6000. It sounds like a lot of money until your power goes out in the middle of the night and all you need to do is listen for the switch throw and roll over back to sleep.

According to studies the infrastructure in America (ACROSS ALL STATES) is in a disastrous condition. Bridges at risk of collapse.... lead pipes in many many cities (it's far more than the one or two that make the news).... even our rail system is nothing compared to advanced nations.

In every single aspect we are living in a country made in the mid 1900's. What we have USED TO BE great, but now is just aging and decaying and there is no investment into the country anymore.

It's a night and day difference when looking at upcoming countries or more socially minded countries. They have high speed rail, massive public transportation, huge cities with the finest building and technology.... internet access that shatters what Americans generally have access to....

>We just don’t want to.

Exactly. Because of massive corruption all of the money is going to weapons contractors and health insurance companies and all sorts of other private interests.... while we end up paying more for less.

Who needs a robust public transit system or healthcare when you can instead funnel all that money into aggressive policing and massive police forces with tanks? Or throw 100+ billion into a proxy war half way across the globe?

It's a joke how much the American people are just letting this country be gutted. And all the politicians have to do is whisper "things could be worse" and Americans get on their knees and thank the corrupt oligarchy for fucking them.

Heads up folks! Maine has ALWAYS had extreme weather during the winter. Maine has ALWAYS had extended power outages. It's just part of living here so be prepared.

Maine power is the least reliable in the country. Worse then Texas. Worse then California. Take it up with your legislators.

Drawer full of candles, lighter ect. It’s really nice to have some cozy light

I would strongly recommend keeping non reformulated gas (No ethanol) for you chainsaw, and generator!

Yup, every state has the same issues. In more advanced countries they put power lines under ground.... but in Kansas if the wind blows the power goes out.

We COULD invest in this country, but that would require doing things that isn't making some corrupt piece of shit rich. So instead let's just shove all our money at corrupt health care industry and corrupt internet companies and rail lines.

Oh? Rail workers want a single paid sick day? Fuck that, get the president on the line and crush them!! lol

Every single step we are fucking over the people of this country while things just keep getting worse and worse from decay and lack of investment. And instead of demanding anything better, the citizens smile and shrug "at least we aren't some random 3rd world country!!!". Always comparing themselves to the very bottom of the world to make themselves feel good lol.

Yeah, that’s the kind of price I was afraid of. I can’t imagine the peace of mind though.

In Kansas 32 people have no power. In Maine 25,068 people have no power. Unreliable power isn’t a US thing it’s a Maine thing.

Visit r/preppers maybe

The basic plan is to be equipped for 30 days of no power or assistance . Build up your store a week at a time. Lots of helpful tips and tricks!

Imagine yourself living in the 19th century but with a generator and lots of Jerry cans ;)

Our power did not go out until Sunday morning (and then only for a little over an hour, but it was right as we were getting ready for the day) and we discovered how woefully prepared we are in the water department. Looking at getting and filling 55 gallon tanks in the basement that we can use to fill buckets for flushing toilets and washing. We do have a filter if we need to filter this stored water for drinking. We have never had a well before so we needed this reminder of what we need to do. So grateful it was not a long-term loss of power like so many others have/are experiencing. On the bright side, we have a good amount of food storage and a wood stove and wood pile. Getting to know the Maine way of living!

First a generator that can run the furnace plus an electric space heater plus fridge and freezer plus other small items as needed. I have gallon jugs of water for drinking, and non-potable water I store in old tidy cat plastic jugs for the toilet. Baby wipes for washing hands/bodies. (Saw recently someone recommend old laundry jugs for more non-potable water to wash hands, dishes, etc. So considering that) 2 camp style stoves that use the green propane bottles, plus a single burner that runs on butane, plus a solar stove. We have an airfryer, InstaPot, and slow cooker that we can use with the generator. Plenty of food, at least a months worth, probably more. A few oil lanterns. Extra fuel for everything. Also small rechargeable batteries I have for traveling to charge phones etc...but thinking about getting something bigger, maybe solar chargable. Also decided I need to add paper plates, plastic ware, etc to the stash.

A quick google reveals the reality.

Yes Maine has the highest frequency of outages with 3.9 per customer each year.

West Virginia - 2.8

Louisiana - 2.3

Alaska - 2.2

Tennessee - 2.2

Florida - 2.2

Montana - 2.1

Mississippi - 2.1

Georgia - 2.1

Oklahoma - 2

Is it AS BAD in other states? No. But experiencing blackouts multiple times a year on average in a range of states is not my idea of "unrealizable power isn't a US thing".

And that is JUST POWER, the infrastructure issues in America go far far beyond just keeping the lights on.

Thank you

If you own your house it may be worth investigating an equity line of credit to pay for it. I cannot convey how much it eases one’s mind.

You just proved that Maine is the worst state and then said it’s not the worst. That is a level of opposition to reality that I just can’t deal with right now.

I use ethanol free gas. It's hard to find. I use it in anything that will sit for a while. Generator, lawn mower, ice auger, etc. It will still go bad but it takes much longer

Corn doesn't grow tall enough to take out power lines.

We're pretty well prepared, but my husband is a life-long rural Mainer and I grew up on a farm in the NEK in VT so not our first go around. Wood is our primary fuel source so we always have heat and generator to run the well pump. As long as I have heat and running water I don't worry too much about anything else. We have an old wood cooking stove in the kitchen that we fire up a few times a year as well.

Beyond that, we grow and store/freeze most of our own fruits and vegetables and raise all of our own meat. We have a small root cellar for winter term storage (perks of a 200+ year old home.)

Other than prepping for heat, water, and food we live a pretty simple life and don't find that power outages impact us too much. It's a good time to put the plow on the tractor, grab a few shovels and go see if your neighbors need anything.

A lot of good advice here. I'll add that if you have a gas generator you should have an extra sparkplug and oil. If you foul a plug then your machine won't run right and it's nice to be able to change the oil if you think the stuff in there is old or breaking down

If you can find ethanol free gas then fill up the generator with that before you put it away.

Edit: You are correct, maine leads the county in number of, frequency, and duration of power outages. I retract my previous statement.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07H8CM4F1/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

We have this one! It’s served us very well.

Totally agree.

When I was a kid (1970s80s) we used kerosene lanterns for light during outages, we even had a ships lantern, that we could hang to make sure we had light in the evenings. You cant read by one of those, but you can make dinner and play board games. (we already had a wood stove and a hand pump so lights were the biggest change).

Who’d you have install it?

We almost never get outages, and when we do they only last for a day at most, so we don't need to worry. It's the glory of living suburban and not rural. We don't even have a generator installed. We get more Internet outages than we do power ones.

(Been here 20+ years BTW)

[deleted]

Flanders. They are worth every penny. Automatically do a yearly maintenance without me having to call them. Very efficient and reliable company. Installation was quick and done when they said it would be. They now service my moms generator because the company she originally hired was so negligent and unprofessional

In norway? The storm was the last stra. I’m getting one installed. I’m worried everyone will be doing the same and it’s going to take forever.

Yes, Norway. When I hired them I believe the install was scheduled about two months out. Ironically, a very bad storm was predicted for install date so Flanders team and the propane company showed up a day or two early to get it set up but CMP refused to change their schedule to allow for final connection. So I went a week with no power even though I had the generator all set up in my yard. Made me hate CMP with a burning passion that endures to this very day!

Does the generator automatically kick on when you lose power? I use propane and this sounds great

• another thing I used this year that was helpful was actually some glow sticks. When I lost power I just threw some glow sticks by places like the stairs so they were clearly visible and I didn't trip down. They last all night it was helpful

Solidly biased take. Did you even read my whole post? I clearly stated I'm working towards a larger passive house which is nowhere near living in 1822 and for that matter, neither is my current cabin. Also clearly stated it's not for everyone. But in the end I won't be paying a $1000+/month mortgage because I put in the work earlier on and I don't have to suffer everytime the power flickers.

[deleted]

[deleted]

An automatic standby generator costs 9 to 13k installed depending on what size you get. From my company at least.

The generator inlet with interlock bracket is what the person below is talking about, that price is in range as well.

One of these days I'd love one this past power outage I was so worried about my pipes

They are very nice to have but you have to keep up on the maintenance. We got slammed with service calls and troubleshoots last weekend, and like everybody else, we are severely short staffed.

Also, I ran mine about 2/3 of the time the power was out last weekend, then I got our propane topped up. We used about 150 bucks worth of propane in a couple of days.

We'll be budgeting its usage more next time.

>I know it's probably not in the average home budget, but a Generac whole home generator is so crucial for Maine winters.

I'll second a whole house generator with the auto-transfer. We just had one put in (plus 120-gallon tanks) over the past year and it was a life saver this weekend. The power was out for about 30 seconds to a minute and it came on.

As for solar panels - you can get some that are small and have suction-cups to go on windows and can (slowly) charge mobile electronics - I think you can find them on camping supply stores or on Amazon (a quick look on Amazon I see many under $50 but these do not have batteries (or if they do it's a small one), just for charging).

Here are some cheap, and/or basic prep items I bring out for winter outages:

-Blankets

-throw pillows

-hot hands packs (for both hands and feet), i use these sparingly though

-tea lights or LED candles

-flashlights

-matches

-gallons of water for pets, people, cooking, flushing, etc

-shelf stable food or even self heating food packs, (similar to MREs)

-extra pet food

-newspapers. i live in an old, poorly insulated building. so when it gets cold i tape the newspapers over the windows and under doors to lessen any drafts or cold spots.

-battery bricks for charging phones/laptops

Again this is just a basic list, and can definitely be improved upon. But i felt it could be useful to those who may not be able to afford generators or other fancy prep gadgets. Stay safe folks 🙏

Seconding a wood stove for heating, cooking and light.

We have a wood stove for our main source of heat and propane as a backup, a gas generator that runs just our two fridges, boiler and gadgets (but not kitchen gadgets or our large washer). We have a propane stove/oven that runs on the generator as well. All in all the only difference for us is hotspotting our phones to our TVs. I’m only annoyed because while I can watch TV I can not for the life of me get any sort of usable internet via hotspot/tether on my work computer. Our internet has been out since Friday. Power came back Saturday night.

As far as food: I keep sourdough starter in the fridge and can make bread/pasta from scratch easily. We keep lots of pantry staples like flour/sugar/salt/grains and frozen veggies. I also have lots of cast iron cookware so if I had to I could cook on a fire outside.

I definitely felt like I was in the 19th century warming up water for my sponge bath 😶‍🌫️ For real tho, I’m going to check out the preppers!

Fill the tub partway and some milk jugs. Flush only for solid waste.

Make sure to you have a Carbon Monoxide alarm; cheap and might save your life.

LED flashlights & batteries. I use battery LED string lights for ambient light. Headlamps are super-convenient.
Candles & matches; they don't really give much heat but they are cheery. use a safe candleholder; tealights in a short jar work well.
Store water in 1-, 2-, & 3 liter soda pop bottles. They're food safe and easy to clean. Some people say to replace every 6 months; I don't - water doesn't go bad. (I get city water and have never needed to rely on stored water, but it's good to be prepared.)
Keep the fridge and freezer full. It's more efficient, and if you lose power, food will stay cold longer. I use bottled water if the fridge or freezer are not full of food.
I love my wood stove. It supplements oil heat and keeps me warm in a power outage.
Easy to prepare food. Canned soup, tuna, canned fruit, applesauce, etc.
Lost power on the 23rd, was warm and comfortable, had tuna on an english muffin toasted on the wood stove.
Keep the phone charged, and get an external battery. It was nice to be able to use the phone when I lost power. Emergency radio - Mine has a crappy solar charger but also charges with a plug, has a flashlight and will charge USB devices. It has a crank but that's a big pain to use.
I have wool blankets and a down comforter, and lots of winter gear to layer on to stay warm.

I was here for the Ice Storm, mostly kept power, but so many friends lot power - up to 12 days. Much worse in Canada.

I'm in Windham. I could go a month without power or shopping if I had to. Even in the big Ice Storm, people could get to their wood for the stove. Wood stove would keep my house & pipes warm enough. Everybody should have a battery-operated radio and flashlight, and batteries. It's easy to store some food and water unless you have a big family and a really small home.

Maine got the storm after everybody else, and it was a doozy. CMP is inept, but not horribly inept.

I get Portland Water - safe, clean, reliable.

Perhaps a little premature, but r/collapse also has a lot of good prepping information.

Power goes out and my neighborhood is so noisy with generators, houses all lit up. It makes sense to run the heat and fridge, but a lot of people have to have every convenience.

My wood stove was 500 used, @ 1,000 to install(2010), and it's a pleasure to use; fire is down to coals because the sun is pouring in.

It's okay to burn indoors for a short period. Burning stuff indoors creates carbon monoxide; it can harm and even kill you.

You can heat water with your propane grill, bring it in to provide heat. Burning anything indoors creates CO and is dangerous.

If you lose power, put a light source in the room you stay in, the bathroom, & kitchen. It's hard to stay organized in the dark. Know where your supplies are, keep at least 1 flashlight someplace where you know it'll be there.

Generac systems self cycle weekly minimizing service/maintenance and yes they automatically switch the power system and run when the power goes out. They are $7k - $10k tho, so it's definitely an investment. I live in the city, so a full system is a waste as our power is repired pretty quickly 99% of the time... My camp, on the other hand, looses power for 2-4 days at a time so currently I have to go up with my little 2000watt inverter generator to run the heat every day or two so it doesn't freeze up. I want a nice automatic generator up there, but it's alot of cash to spend for a few weekends a winter. Edit: I have a 7000watt generator that I can attach to my panel in the city too, but it was about $800 and I went to school for electricity so I can safely patch it in on the few occasions I need it.

Yea I was not prepared at all. Grew up in town and moved rural. We lived next to the firestation in town so never was an issue. I have tons of camping and survival gear but it wasn’t enough. When me and my wife were young it didn’t matter but with small children it’s not fun. Thankfully a contractor friend had a spare generator and heater for me to stay warm but it was miserable. Can’t leave my family in that situation again.

The difference between being able to power your entire house vs running individual extension cords to things in a house is minimal at best.

A 5000 watt generator will power 90% of an average house.

I lose power a lot. 4 times in the last month.

I heat with wood no matter what. I've got a 6500 watt generator that can be powering 95% of the house in a couple minutes with a few breaker flips.

As long as I can get gas every 3 days or so I'm good.

I live a bit outside the city, but have an older 7000w generator. I didn't lose power, but my brother did. I lent him my generator, and turns out it has issues, because it hasn't been run since I got it a couple years ago.

EDIT: before anyone says it, it was completely drained of gas (tank emptied, float bowl removed and dumped) before storage.

This. Most people have a furnace that's wired in, so you can't easily plug it into a generator. Just make damn sure you turn off the mains when you plug in the generator! And if you have LED lights, the additional power drain is minimal, might as well use them instead of wasting batteries.

Regular startups are important. The shizz is like $25 a gallon, but "True Fuel" is the key to maintenance IMO. I run fresh 93 octane when I need to run it for hours, but I run it out or drain it and put about a half gallon of true fuel in and run it into the fuel system for storage. It's long term stable and ethanol free, so I just fire the sucker up a few time a year and haven't had issues since.

I’m just here to mention a few things in case people don’t know this already or are from warmer states wintering here for the first time.

1. Snowmelt water is great for flushing the toilet.

2. If you have an untested porch or an empty cooler you can leave outside, you can always use the cold outdoor temps to save whatever was in your fridge/freezer.

3. Grills will work in the winter, though do it away from your roof or any overhang lest you cause a roof avalanche from snow or icedam melt.

4. Battery banks are your friend. I have a solar battery bank and it’s great to keep your phone charged in the even of an emergency outrage.

Also, if you’re a tradesman or have power tools around the house, Milwaukee makes a 120v inverter for their batteries that you can use to power basic electric items around the house. I’m sure other companies may make these too.

5. Candles. That’s it. Make sure you have some and make sure you have a way to light them. I keep matchsticks as well as a grill lighter. They’re also quite warm in the hand if you’re cold. Just make sure to put them out before sleeping or leaving.

6. Your house, (or apartment), is much larger than you need to heat in these situations. If you loose power, draw the shades over drafty windows, close doors, and try to keep warm in 1 room with said door closed. Even with only a couple of blankets you can be quite toasty after a little while.

7. Showers/baths. If you have friends, I’d advise asking them if you can lean on them for this. Otherwise heating water on a wood stove or grill is the only way you’ll be able to stand doing a sponge bath. Everyone comes together when this sort of thing happens here. :)

Stop wasting your money on 93 octane. Higher octane rating fuels exist to prevent detonation (fuel igniting before the spark plug fires) in high compression/forced induction engines. Small engines are neither. Some cars can adjust their ignition timing to compensate for power octane and take advantage of higher octane. Small engines cannot. There is no benefit, at all, to running high octane fuel in any small engine.

I also don't buy true fuel, I suspect it's no better than pump gas + stabil.

I worked for several years as a small engine mechanic. I had fully intended to check/clean the carb before running it, but in the craziness of Christmas Eve, didn't get a chance to, so rolled the dice. He got his power back Christmas day, so I never went out to his house to fix it. I'm seriously debating filling the carb with motor oil, to protect it from corrosion and not have to worry about it.

All you need is a transfer switch for it to turn on in the case of an outage. You will need an electrician to install it, but they’re worth it.

My parents had one put in for ~$800 with a little bit of work.

How much is installing a propane powered generator if the house is no already wired for it.

Pretend I have no knowledge of houses at all.

If you wanted to pretend I am not particular bright , that would also work

Interesting. I have been told by relatively high level mechanics that higher octane is better, but that was for my tuned and high output modern engines. I instinctively applied that conclusion to my small engines, but after reading up just now I see that you are correct. I also read that stabilizers increased corrosion in the past, but apparantly Stabil does not. Thank you for drawing my attention to this!

Despite this info, I will probably still run 93 because I have it for my boat, and still store my small engines with trufuel because it is ethenol free. Thanks again.

On my general 6500 it isn’t any quieter if I run less appliances. So we use lighting so we can actually see

That's the thing. Whether my generator is running one light bulb or the whole house it's using the same amount of gas and making the same amount of noise.

If you can’t afford the $7-$10K for an automatic failover Generac system look into a self installed transfer switch and a regular 5-8K watt gas generator. The transfer switch isn’t difficult to install yourself but if you are worried an electrician can do it for you. 8K likely won’t be enough to power your whole house but should be enough to power the furnace fan, a few lights and the fridge. Total costs should be in the $2K -$4K range.

Admirable my man. I can't wait to hear what you've made for yourself in a few years or a decade from now.

I own a home in Denver Colorado and have been working remotely from my folks place in harpswell. My folks are well off and have a home generator. They don't even stop using the dryer or hot tub. It's ludicrous but it's a real reminder how different it is here to Colorado.

Harpswell didn't have power for days. The comfort of the grid always supplying life is different in these winters.

$6-$10k+ depending on your budget and wattage requirements. I personally think that powering every breaker in your home is a waste of $$. Calculate the essentials (well pump, heating, fridges/freezers, sump pump, and main living areas) and be done with it. You don't have to light every room. Our previous home with about 2300sqft we got by just fine with a 7k standby Generac powering the main stuff. Our current home, smaller at 1800 sqft, has an 8k Generac but similarly wired.

$1000 +/- for the generator $500 +/- to have the house wired for it. You could skip wiring it to the house and just run extensions cords depending on what your needs are.

Username checks out

Canned fuel is much better then pump fuel due to ethanol. No stabilizer will stop phase separation. Fill the tank and carb with canned fuel and it will start easily for 2+ years. If you drain out pump fuel that already had water that moisture won't pour out, it will stay there and corrode. I manage a small engine shop, we do this work daily and we test pump fuel monthly. We've gotten 10% water in "fresh" 90+ fuel. Usually no more then 1 or 2% in 87. In a vented generator tank in the fall with humidity and temperature all over the place there can be 10% water in 2 weeks.

Many gas stations sell ethanol free fuel. Even if you have to drive a bit to find it, it'll still be cheaper than the true fuel.

I've got a dual fuel generator, gasoline/ propane. I always "finish" by shutting off the gas and running propane through it, which absolutely completely dries out the carburetor of any gas residue whatsoever.

Anyone shopping generators should consider one, they aren't much more than gas-only models. You can also get a retrofit carb for $35 on amazon.

Its governor keeps it at 3600 RPM to make 60Hz power but you are saving gas by using fewer appliances. Many people over-size their generators and aren't operating in the "sweet spot" of efficiency- 50-60% of full output.

Gas itself can be hard to come by in an extended outage, so it pays to plan.

$100 furnace transfer switch

I know someone who has the self-starting Generac. They like it because if they're at work, it kicks in and the food doesn't spoil.

When they get home, they switch over to a smaller portable to save gas. They manage loads. But the first 12 hours are covered automatically.

Rotate your gas cans seasonally-- the winter stuff has a better vapor pressure so it "lights off" easier. Just dump the old stuff in your fuel-injected car, it can handle it better.

Ya, IDK about many. In northern Maine where the fuel comes from Canada premium can be Ethanol free. Southern and Central Maine are much farther and fewer. And from the few places I've gotten some from its been really poor quality. In reality what's $25 of fuel to store your equipment and know it's going to run vs $200+ carb repairs.

I can buy a carb for my snow blower for $25, and I know of at least 3 gas stations within a half an hour drive that sell ethanol free fuel.

Congratulations, not everyone can buy 4 Amazon carbs the day the generator does not start on the off chance one works every time the power goes out.

It's a con on our people that we leave the stuff you mention needing more of to the states to implement. The current situation is a moral hazard because if a state neglects its stuff badly enough the feds jump in and save them... so you get these shitty states that don't raise enough revenue to service their people, they get free money from the rest of us, and their leaders get reelected based on how "clever" they are.

[removed]

Finding it though can be hard, at least where I am in southern Maine.

Not to mention that the Chinese carbs on Amazon are hot garbage. My $500 Mikuni on my ATV is not equivalent to the $60 "replacement" on Amazon... Speaking from experience unfortunately.

Thanks !

Any time I'm forced to order one because an OEM is unavailable, I order 2 at least. They never last long, and until covid made things impossible to find I would never touch them.

The most important thing to be prepared is a generator. Its really essential in Maine since its a heavily wooded state with a significant portion of its grid surrounded by trees. If its a whole home setup, its much lower maintenance and worry versus a portable one connected to an interlock or transfer switch, but both setups are perfectly valid to keep a home running for days or even weeks. If you are trying to save money, a portable generator in the 8-10k watt range is generally sufficient. You may be slightly limited in some areas--like you cannot run an electric range, dryer, and hot water heater at once, but you can still live life pretty much normally. If its a portable generator, you also want at least 2 gas cans that can hold 5+ gallons of fuel. And if its available in your area, use non-ethanol gas as its stable for much longer and is a far better option for small gasoline engines.

As for other needs--you should try go have some shelf stable foods like rice, beans, beef/chicken/vegetable stock, canned foods, pastas. A chest freezer with some meats, frozen veggies, and other foods is also good to have. If you are on a private well and have a generator connected to the house, you won't have to worry about water as much, but its always good to have a few gallons of bottled water too. If you have pets, be sure to keep some backup food for them too.

Finally, have plenty of fresh batteries, LED flashlights and lanterns, keep some charged battery packs for phones.

For an extra tip, if you have the money, a UPS (uninterruptable power supply) is very nice to have connected to your internet equipment. There are many times we will lose power for maybe 1-2 hours in a heavy thunderstorm or bigger snowstorm, and even a relitavely inexpensive UPS ($150 or so) will keep your modem and router running for 3-4 hours easily. Its more than enough to let you report the outage to the power company and keep informed about their progress.

I've lived in Maine my whole life. What I find different today versus growing up as a kid is we lose power much less often now than we did as kids, but the severity of the storms that cause widespread outages are much more significant and cause more damage. The biggest storms in my childhood were in 1991 from Hurricane Bob and the Ice Storm of 1998. Both times we lost power for over 2 weeks, as did much of the state. But, it was also common to lose power for a day or two from something as simple as a thunderstorm or some light snow and wind. The difference today is the power companies are doing a better job of keeping trees and branches back from power lines, but, as climate change impacts us, the storms hitting us are more severe causing much more damage to trees due to wildly flucutating temperatures and higher winds. So, I think more storms with widespread damage will continue to increase as things continue to change and it will be even more imporant to handle the aftermath and be prepared.

>-Propane stoves still work when the power is out. The first thing I did when I moved in was add that propane generator and a stove.

Propane stove tops will work - but new propane ranges (at least the oven portion) will not work due to the igniters requiring electric power and also some sort of safety device. If you buy a new propane range that is still manual light pilots then no worries at all :)

Not my old piece of junk, thing spews gas lol throw a match in and duck for cover!!

No argument from me - I just got rid of said old piece of junk for a new range - things i miss from old piece of junk - it heating up a good portion of the house due to it not being insulated compared to a new range.. ahahaahhaha, and of course, no electronics. :)

This is all awesome! Thank you!

I've bought 4 Tecumseh carbs on Amazon, and only had one bad one.

Thats insanely expensive.

All depends on what needs to happen to your existing electrical to get it ready and how much the parts cost. That’s really not that much after parts and labor.

This here. We lived in Vermont (my son lives in Maine now) and got by with a wood stove and a small generator. Even with some space between homes the drone of four or five generators was terrible.