From: muratlanne@gmail.com   
      
   "Richard Smith"  wrote in message news:m11plry7jl.fsf@void.com...   
      
   It looks like "Project Ukraine" is going to be a "bust" - and if we have   
   societal breakdown in the inevitable poverty and economic breakdowns   
   which seem likely to follow, we will be in a lot of trouble.   
   ---------------------------------   
   My mother told me the Great Depression was something you only read about if   
   you had a job. I suspect that reliable electricity would be among the first   
   casualties of an economic breakdown that affects its maintenance.   
   https://energyathaas.wordpress.com/2017/05/30/the-developing-wor   
   d-is-connecting-to-the-power-grid-but-reliability-lags/   
      
   Here hurricanes and ice storms can shut down the power for over a week. The   
   roads can be cleared for 4 wheel drive but that doesn't help if the stores   
   are closed. Before Covid I planned for a week, during it I extended to two   
   weeks without resupply by adding a 60 liter DC powered freezer that can run   
   on solar + battery power, recharged during overcast with a small generator   
   for about an hour a day. I have firewood for heat and cooking and don't   
   really need more than food, preferably fresh or frozen though I could live   
   on dry and canned if desperate or a college student again.   
      
   The freezer has an AC to DC supply which I rigged to draw only enough   
   electric grid power to fill in for decreased or absent solar and keep the   
   battery float charged during multi day overcast. The simple non-engineered   
   way would be to swap the power plugs as needed.   
      
   A 1000W Honda generator is enough for my use with a battery and inverter   
   providing AC fridge starting current, which the Honda alone may not, and   
   it's light enough to carry outside on slippery footing to a small clearing   
   in the snow/ice to operate. I made a pressure fuel tank adapter that lets it   
   be fully drained to store indoors, and easily primed. As usual I bought the   
   generator second hand and running poorly.   
      
   For hot showers I heat the water on the wood stove and spray it from garden   
   pump sprayers modified with kitchen spray hoses. A two gallon tank is enough   
   for a submarine shower and not too awkward to handle in the tub without   
   falling, I heat a second as a backup for running out or a leak. They also   
   make good emergency fire extinguishers.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)