Ohhhhh No We Are Having Power Cuts

[scotslasszoe]

Looking for some advice. We have severe winds where we live and the power has went out twice for approx 10 mins each time. Last year we were without power for nearly 2 days.

Not sure what i should do just incase it goes out again and doesnt come back on for a while?

should i just hope for the best lol

 

[TribeOfShroom]

Portable gas heaters. Might have to be an option to keep your tank warm in its room. I know how you feel though. Last night our sky tv was cut off for about 20mins due to hard massive downpour and some of our fence has come down.. and I'm the otherside of the country.

Keep the doors closed in the house to keep heat in. I suppose thats all you can do. Good luck

 

[kamber]

Looking for some advice. We have severe winds where we live and the power has went out twice for approx 10 mins each time. Last year we were without power for nearly 2 days.

Not sure what i should do just incase it goes out again and doesnt come back on for a while?

should i just hope for the best lol

You should be ok for a good few hours especially if you have gas central heating. if the temp drops too much you can always do a partial water change with slightly hotter water gradually if it gets really low.
Other than that a small portable generator would run your lights in your house and the tanks + heater and pumps etc. Very hand to have 1 i bought a little on from b&q after we had a power cut for 8 hours.

Theres a model for around £60 which is 850 watts "Pro User 850w Petrol Generator G850". Safer running a cable in from outside and have that running than lighting candles everywhere as well, epecially with little ones, our daughter kept going near them it was a nightmare.

 

[evilchild]

if you have a long power cut make sure your filter remains wet, might be a case of floating the media in the tank until the power come on. your fish should be ok for a few hours with out the heat, but i would be good if you could inserlate it a bit some how? if it goes off for a long time you may beale to place the heat pads for bad back on the side of the tank to try and keep some worth in? not tried it my self but it's a thought

 

[scotslasszoe]

Thanks all. We have central heating but the boiler is run on elec

Will just have to hope for the best i think. Got a big thick duvet at the ready for tank just incase. And heating is on full blast at the moment Just incase also.. If the worst come to the worse i have 2 spare mature filters, I will take them up 2 my friends and put them in her tank to keep them mature.

Zoe

 

[TribeOfShroom]

Looking for some advice. We have severe winds where we live and the power has went out twice for approx 10 mins each time. Last year we were without power for nearly 2 days.

Not sure what i should do just incase it goes out again and doesnt come back on for a while?

should i just hope for the best lol

You should be ok for a good few hours especially if you have gas central heating. if the temp drops too much you can always do a partial water change with slightly hotter water gradually if it gets really low.

I'm not sure if this is standard of all central heating run off gas. Because we run our central heating and water off gas, but when the electricity goes, we can't use it as it needs the electricity to spark the gas.

 

[kamber]

I'm not sure if this is standard of all central heating run off gas. Because we run our central heating and water off gas, but when the electricity goes, we can't use it as it needs the electricity to spark the gas.

I think most of em run of gas becuase its much cheaper than electric in most cases in the UK, also pretty much all modern gas central heating systems should have (you will have to take the front cover off most) a manual "clicky igniter button" usually red in colour.

I'd definately recommend a small genny to anyone who has regular powercuts tho, so handy! you could even run a small halogen heater off them as well.

p.s. when the power goes out you can still get some power from the phone line if you have a land line! its 50volts tho so you will need a step down transformer, and its probably classed as being "naughty", i noticed this after our door bell was still working when all the power was out in our area, the builders wired it into the phone line for power!
The idea being you could have an emergency 12v strip light in your hall which u can switch on if theres no power.

 

[scotslasszoe]

How much does a small Genny cost? roughly

And where is the best place to buy one?

Zoe

 

[scotslasszoe]

Into the Phone line

Could be even Naughtier and use a lampost outside

Zoe

 

[kamber]

How much does a small Genny cost? roughly

And where is the best place to buy one?

Zoe

Around £60 probably online, although b&q sell some decent ones they are a bit more like £90-100.

http/www.diytools.co.uk/diy/Main/sp-2-48...e-generator.asp

Cheapest i found doing a quick search. Its very light and portable too.

 

[evilchild]

Into the Phone line

Could be even Naughtier and use a lampost outside

Zoe

it's a good idea but the lamp post don't work in a power cut. lol

 

[scotslasszoe]

Its a weird set up here. We were without power for nearly 2 days and our neighbours had power. Some of the street lights were on some were off. Me and the neighbours must be on different circuits or something?

Zoe

 

[evilchild]

have seen that where i live depends on how the power grid is laid out. good luck, hope thing work out ok

 

[scotslasszoe]

Thanks Evil. We have not went out since i put this post on, so fingers crossed

Zoe

 

[TigerLotus]

Hi,

Just wanted to add my two cents since I just went through this a week or so ago. What I ended up doing is keeping all the windows closed to hold in all the heat. I also had a package of Bio-Spira in the fridge that stayed cold.(always have this in case of any type of emergency) If you don't open the fridge to much it can keep pretty cold for a good day. About every hour or so I went in with a small cup and put some water over the filter to keep the media wet. I also put candles around the tank to keep the fish awake and with light(that's just a personal thing though).

I've read that putting Styrofoam on the front and sides will keep in heat as will blankets. The fish were fine though (10 min ever hour or so, then about 8 hours) but I worried about the bacteria. I tested the water and all was well.

If your outages last more than about 12-24 hours I think a small generator would be a good thing to invest in.


Good Luck : )


TigerLotus