LND: Water.

   Water is just below air at the top of the list of things you need in order to postpone dying.  Virtually unlimited, uninfected supplies of fresh water are one of the unsung heroes that enabled the big lifespan increase in the Western World through the 20th Century.  So maintaining the flow is a high priority.

The Typical Farm Well Pump...

   The best source of clean water is a well drilled into a reliable aquifer.  The most common set-up for getting the water from the bottom of the well to your spigots is a grid-powered, automatic, submerged pump with pressure tank.  If you acquire rural property with an established home site, this is what will probably already be there.  If you buy raw land, this may be the simplest thing to have installed.

   The well casing is essentially a big (usually around 6" diameter) pipe that goes straight down to into the ground to below the water level.  Near the bottom of the casing, deep under water, is the actual pump.  A cylindrical thing connected to what is essentially a heavy-duty hose and some wires which run back up the casing to the surface.  The upper end of the hose connects to pipe which, in-turn, connects to a 20 to 50 gallon tank and then out to the homestead plumbing. The wires from the pump run to a pressure switch at the tank, which then connects to the household panel electricity.

   When the pressure in the tank is below a set minimum (usually 30 to 40psi), the switch will send electricity to the pump, which will force water up the hose pipe into the bottom of the tank, compressing the air in the tank into a smaller space at the top.  When the pressure reaches a set maximum (usually 50 to 60psi), the switch will stop power to the pump.  The compressed air in the top of the tank acts as a spring, maintaining fairly constant water pressure for the plumbing without the pump needing to switch on every time water is used.

   Wells under 100' may use surface pumps to pull water up, but deeper wells, and the higher flow rate needed for farms, makes the submersible pump more common in most rural areas.

Alternative Power For Standard Well Pump...

   If you've set-up a backup generator for your doomstead (as detailed in another chapter), you're already ahead of the game.  The well pump should be powered along with everything else when your generator is going.  But you may not want to run the generator 24/7.  So be sure to flush your toilets, fill your water jugs, top-up the livestock troughs, and so-forth while the generator is going. 

   A freestanding solar power station is a more long-term (not to mention quieter) solution for running the well pump.  (You may want to read through the Generator chapter for some info on basic electrical stuff.)

   Contrary to what you may have seen on Captain Planet, photo-voltaic solar panels are kinda' wimpy.  The standard circuit feeding my well pump can provide 3,600 watts.  It would take thirty big solar panels to collect that much power.  At high noon. On a clear day.  So you can't just run a typical well pump system directly from solar panels.

   Fortunately, a pump doesn't draw full power constantly.  In fact, most of the time, it doesn't use any.  When it cycles on, it pulls a big surge of electricity for a second or two, then settles down to more moderate wattage until the pressure maxes out and it cycles off again.  While solar panels collect only a relative trickle of energy, they do it for hours on-end on clear days.  That can add-up to enough to supply the big gulps of power needed for the pump, if you have some way to store the accumulated energy.

   We have two 12 volt, 10 amp solar panels connected to four big marine 12v  batteries.  (These are better for extended charging/output cycles than automotive starting batteries, and better for the high-amp starting load from a well pump than pure deep cycle batteries.)  There's a 35 amp-rated charge controller between the panels and batteries, which keeps the batteries from being overcharged by effectively disconnecting the panels when the battery voltage gets above 15v, reconnecting them when it drops below 13v.  During the day, the solar panels act as a trickle charger to top-up the batteries for when the pump needs power, day or night.

   Problem is, the solar panels and batteries produce low voltage, Direct Current.  The well pump runs on 240v Alternating Current.  To rectify this, we use an inverter.  A device which inputs low voltage, high amp, DC electricity and outputs high voltage, low amp, AC electricity.  Once connected to the inverter, the pressure switch controlled well pump works exactly the same as when it's on grid power.

   Naturally, the solar panels have to be out in the open.  Usually oriented to face directly towards the sun at midday in the Spring and Autumn.  It may be worthwhile to mount them in a way that allows you to adjust them (more upright in Winter, at a shallower angle in Summer) to catch maximum sunlight.

   The batteries and charge controller need to be under cover.  The inverter is the most vulnerable component, and needs more protection from the elements.  It is also capable of producing sparks which could ignite gas vented from the batteries.  So the inverter needs to be enclosed separately from them.  We have the batteries under an old camper shell, with the inverter in a large wooden box also under the shell.  A canister of silica gel beads are kept in the box like a gun safe, to reduce moisture condensation on/in the inverter.

   Remember that low-voltage, DC electricity doesn't carry well over distance.  Keep your components reasonably close together, and wires short.  Use the heaviest wire practical for connecting the panels to the charge controller, and controller to the batteries.  Use the thickest automotive battery cables and clamps to connect the batteries to one-another and the inverter.  Our inverter takes 12vDC input, so the entire DC side of the system is wired in parallel.

   We use a modified sine wave 12vDC to 240vAC inverter which is considerably more affordable than pure sine wave inverters in the 5000 watt range, and works just as well for our purpose.  Oddly enough, it has weird sockets designed to accept a lot of different electrical plugs, including standard American 120vAC extension cords.  This could actually be a hazard if someone plugged a 120vAC device into these 240vAC-only sockets.  But, since the inverter is out by the well house, that's not likely to happen, and the use of a common plug came in handy for us.

   After switching off the pump circuit at the main panel (of course), I reworked the well house junction box so that, instead of connecting the underground electrical conduit from the house to the pressure switch, the line from the house connects to a short 'pony tail' ending in a heavy-duty standard type extension cord socket.  The line from the pressure switch connects to a section of heavy extension cord long enough to reach the inverter in its box, and ends in a standard plug.  This enables me to switch pump power from grid to solar simply by unplugging from one and plugging into the other.  There is no 'suicide cable' risk, as the pronged plug is never live when out of a socket, and no chance of backfeeding as the well can only be plugged into one power source at any given time.

Operating Notes:

   Always power-up the inverter first, then connect a load.  In fact, I've found that it's best to leave the inverter on at all times, even when your using grid power, as powering up from cold seems to really tax the electronics.

   Try to do your heavy water use in the middle of the day, so that the batteries will be charged up by the morning sun after the night's drain, and so that the afternoon sunlight can charge the batteries up before the coming night.

   You may need to open up your power system to fresh air in the heat of Summer.  The inverter will shut down if overheated.  Remember to put the lid on your silica canister when the inverter box is open.
 
   Still on my To Do List (yes, after two decades on the doomstead, I still have a long one!) is the addition of a small wind turbine to top-up the batteries during the dark seasons.  It should be possible to simply wire it in like another solar panel, although another charge controller may be needed.

   During the aforementioned extended periods of gloomy weather, I have run a trickle charger to keep the batteries up on occasion.  In a few pinches, I've used jumped cables from an automobile to charge the battery array. 

Off-Grid From the Start...

   If you're starting from scratch, or determined to be fully self-sufficient, you may want to skip the whole grid AC and pressure tank set-up altogether.

   You can't get much more Old School than a hand pumped well.  (Well, you could lower a bucket on a rope, I suppose.)  No electricity involved.  Back down in the Lowcountry, a lot of Old Timers (including my grandfather) insisted on having a pitcher pump backup for their well.

   Of course, hand-pumping water for just household use can be a big chore.  If you need more fore livestock, irrigation, etc., a hand pump isn't going to be sufficient.

   But it's not quite rocket science to build a windmill and have it mechanically drive the pump for you.  You'll see this sort of thing filling stock tanks on big cattle farms across the country. 

   If you set up a windmill-driven pump, and have it push water into a water tower, you can not only have plenty of water even when the wind is calm, but also have gravity-provided water pressure to your plumbing.  (You'll need to make sure the bottom of your water tower is a few feet higher above the ground than your highest shower head!)

   

   A limitation on hand and mechanically-driven wind pumps is that they can't pull up water from very deep wells.  Nothing really beats a submersible, electric pump for that.  But, using the same water tower approach as a windmill, you can forego the battery array and inverter to have solar panels and/or wind turbines power the well pump directly.

   The problem is that low voltage, DC pumps drive water up the pipe slowly and at low pressure.  So they won't work with a typical pressure tank.  But they can tickle-fill a water tower whenever the sun shines or wind blows...  If you have enough panels and/or turbines. 

Artesian wells...

   Some underground water sources are naturally pressurized to the point that you don't need a pump at all.  Just drill a pipe into the aquifer and the water gushes up.  But you're very lucky if that happens, because it requires rather specific geological conditions which are not that widespread.

Other sources...

   Deep wells are your safest, most reliable source of potable water.  Surface water, such as creeks, ponds, springs, collected rain, and condensation are subject to many sources of pollution.  As infrastructure declines, the likelihood of surface water sources being contaminated will get even worse.  

   Filtration, boiling, distillation, UV, and chemical purification of surface water may be useful means to get through rough spots.  But, unless you are part of a group that can do this on a fairly large scale, it won't be enough to maintain a comfortable standard of living long-term.

Tips...

   In the Doomstead Layout chapter, I mentioned that you want the well house near the middle of your barnyard to minimize hose drag.  Even so, you're probably looking at 100' or more hose to reach all the stalls and paddocks.  Don't cheap-out and try to use ordinary, vinyl-shell garden hose.  Not only will it fail often (I mean every few weeks), but it also doesn't patch well due to its layered construction.  Get the heavy, solid rubber hose.  It's more than worth it.

   For the 'way down yonder' troughs and garden sprinklers, it may be a good idea to just leave a section of hose running back from them to within range of your regular hose, so you can just connect to run water out there without having to drag the full length every time.

   Rather than a spray head or other restrictive valve on the hose (which slows down bucket filling), I prefer about a 6' section salvaged from an old hose with replacement fittings on both ends.  Having this on the end of the main hose allows me to crimp the water off a few feet from the outlet as I thread the hose through a stall wall or paddock fence to water the stock, or to allow easy connection to one of the aforementioned extension lines.  The frequent crimping will wear the hose, but just the easily replaceable 6' piece. 

   Weird thing about the solid rubber hose is that it will conduct high voltage electricity.  So you (or your critters) can get zapped running it over an electric fence.  Wrapping about 18" with electric tape just where you need to lay it across the fence will fix this.

Inverters...

   Solar panels can last decades.  Batteries can go several years, and can be rejuvenated if replacements aren't available.  Charge controllers seem fairly tough, and you can get by without them in a pinch if you figure out how to balance panels/turbines, batteries, and power usage.  Inverters are the weak link in standard well pump to alt energy conversion.

   Modern, electronic inverters are simple to use, provide very stable output, and are very efficient.  But moisture, heat, overloads, and various other things can mess them up.  And they aren't easily reparable.  So it's worth investing in a backup or three for the long term. 

   It's also probably a good idea to look into old-fashioned mechanical inverters, dynamotors, and the like.  These are basically some form of DC motor driving an AC generator or alternating switching system into a transformer coil.  Nowhere near as efficient or self-monitoring as modern electronic inverters, but they can give you AC from DC sources, and can be repaired or even built from scratch by a handyman.

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Back to LOW-NONSENSE DOOMSTEADING Index.

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LND: Backup Generator.

   Some preppers dismiss the idea of generators.  After SHTF, fuel will run out, right?  A generator will be useless.

   But I think there is a high probability that modern civilization and Cornucopian infrastructure will stutter and grind to a halt over the course of years rather than stopping all at once.  During this time, the power grid will become unreliable, and fuel supplies may become erratic.  Being able to stockpile fuel when it's available and generate one's own electricity during outages could smooth-out the bumpy road of the collapse, at least for a while.

   (Of course we're big into non-electrical alternatives where they're practical, and solar/wind electrical generation for things electricity does best.  Covered elsewhere in this book.)

   The best approach to getting a generator is to buy a proper back-up system and have it professionally installed.  The things appear to be pretty awesome.  They look like an extra heat pump behind the house.  Start automatically during power failures.  Shut down when the grid is back up.  Even do maintenance runs and diagnostics by themselves.  Owner just checks the oil a couple times a year.

   Complete with a dedicated transfer panel, these generators are safe and code-compliant.

   But they are rather expensive.  Complex installation means that you may be dependent on the professionals if service is required in the future, and who knows if they will be available then?

   The deal-breaker for us was that these systems run on propane or natural gas.  And not just a barbecue bottle.  Since we don't have gas service here, setting it up just for the back-up generator was an excessive hassle and expense.
   (In retrospect, a gas home might be a pretty good way to go for a doomstead.  A big tank full could keep the appliances going quite a while, and only a small back-up generator system would be needed to go with it.)

   A popular approach to back-up electrical power is the gasoline-powered 'portable' generator.  These are widely available, reasonably affordable, and fairly simple to operate.   Of course, you have to wheel 'em out, start 'em manually, and plug things in yourself.  And they are obnoxiously loud.  But still: POWER during an extended blackout rocks!


   The 'proper' way to use a portable generator is to set it up outside the house (the gasoline engine exhaust can kill people with carbon monoxide in an enclosed area), then run extension cords from it directly to the appliances or devices you want to power.  This reduces the possibility of electrocution, fire, and damage to electronics and household wiring.

   But there are considerable safety hazards in doing it the 'right' way.  You're going to have to leave a door or window partially open to admit the extension cords, possibly letting out heat, letting in bugs, fumes, or worse.  There's also the possibility of the extension cords being damaged by accidental closing in the door or window, creating a shock and fire risk. 

   Having extension cords running across the floor in a poorly-lit house is a tripping hazard.  The most important things you may need to power could be loaded refrigerators and freezers, which often have stuff stacked on top, and are recessed into the counters and cabinets with their short power cords behind them.  Trying to drag the blasted things out so as to plug them into the extension cord can easily result in injury from strain, having the icebox tip over onto a person, or gashing a hand or arm fishing around behind for the plug.

   Making matters worse, long extension cords don't play well with 120v heavy-load appliances.  You may find your generator breakers tripping every time the fridge cycles on.  And other things you may need to run, especially your well pump, may be 240v and/or hard-wired, so you can't just plug them into an extension cord.

   Wouldn't it be easier just to connect the generator to the household electrical system?

Please review the disclaimer at the start of the book.

We're heading into sketchy territory now.

Quick Primer On Household Electricity.

Voltage:  There are two general voltage standards for US household electricity.  120v is used for lighting and common wall sockets to supply power for most devices and light appliances.  240v is used for heavier demand appliances like stoves, electric furnaces, water heaters, clothes dryers, and deep well pumps.

Amperage:  The load on an electrical circuit (or maximum safe potential load) is measured in amps.  Increasing amperage tends to heat-up electrical components, especially wires.  So higher amp rated cables have to be thicker and heavier to avoid melting or burning under a full load.

Wattage:  Watts are a measure of the actual power being applied in a circuit (or potential maximum power).  It's basically volts multiplied by amps.  So a 60w bulb puts a 0.5 amp load on a 120v circuit.  A 1200w hair dryer puts a 10 amp load on a 120v circuit.

Starting Loads:  Electrical devices and appliances usually require a spike of power to get them started, then settle to their regular operating load.  Starting loads vary between devices.  Incandescent bulbs have a fairly low and brief starting load.  Fluorescent lights take considerably more.  Pretty much anything with an electric motor (fan, pump) will take a big, long gulp of electricity to get going.  Household electrical services are typically wired to handle far more power than normal consumers would usually need just to accommodate simultaneous starting loads that might occasionally occur.

Breakers:  These are switches which automatically turn off (trip) when the amperage on a circuit exceeds the rated limit.  They are usually integrated into the household service panels and the generator as well.  Breakers are there to prevent dangerous overloads. Do not circumvent them.

The Four Wires:  US standard 120/240v wiring use four wires.  Hot #1 (usually black), Hot #2 (usually red), Neutral (white), and Ground (usually green or bare).

   The Hots are opposite 'ends' of your 240v circuit.  Connect red and black an appliance to feed it 240v.

   Neutral taps from the center of that same circuit, putting it 120v from each of the Hots.  Connect black and white (or red and white) to a device to feed it 120v.

   Ground is just what it says on the tin.  The green or bare wire is ultimately connected to a rod driven into the earth to provide a harmless escape path for stray current in the system.  The Neutral wire is usually cross-connected with the Ground at the household main service panel as well as at your generator.  This means that, when a Neutral connection is needed, and there isn't one available, you can usually get away with connecting to the Ground wiring instead.

Connecting a Gasoline Generator to the Household Service.

   This will require a mid-sized (5000w) or larger generator with a 12/240v socket to be worthwhile.


The Suicide Cable.

   If you have a 240v receptacle that is easily accessible from outside the house (back porch or garage clothes dryer, workshop welder, RV shore power...  Make sure it's a 240v, not just a 30 amp 120v!), back-feeding generator power into the house through a Suicide Cable may be a practical solution.  But remember that these things deserve their name.  Screw up the Order Of Operations and you can earn a Darwin Award real quick.

   A Suicide Cable is a generator extension cord that has plugs at both ends.  Nobody manufactures these, so you have to make one for yourself.  Start with a heavy-duty extension cord that fits the 120/240v outlet on your generator.  (Most take a 30 amp, 4-blade twist-lock.  Bigger generators may also have a 50 amp, 4-prong push-in.  May as well go with the more powerful one if you have it.)  Get a replacement plug for whatever appliance would normally use the 240v household receptacle.  Take the socket end off your generator cable and replace it with the appliance plug.

   If your appliance plug has 4-prongs, you're in luck.  Just be sure to get each of the four wires in your generator cord connected to the correct prong.  If the wires aren't color-coded, you may have to use a voltmeter or test light to verify.

   If your appliance plug has only three prongs, double-check to make certain we're dealing with a 240v outlet and not a heavy 120v.  For three prong 240v plugs, omit the dedicated Ground wire.

Backfeeding Procedure.

(Order is more than important!)

-   Position your generator within cord reach of the 240v household outlet.  The generator must be out in the open air, not inside the house!  Take care that there's nothing that could be melted/ignited near the exhaust pipe.  Get it leveled, grounded, fueled, and ready to start.  Nothing should be plugged into any of its outlets at this point.

-   Walk through the house and make sure all the accessible lights and devices are switched off to reduce the combined starting load when you power the house up.  It may be a good idea to unplug televisions, computers, and other sensitive electronics altogether.

-   Start your generator so that it can begin to warm-up.

-   Go to your primary electrical service panel...  The breaker box, usually outside the house, right under the meter.  SWITCH OFF THE MAIN POWER BREAKER.  (This is usually a big breaker switch at the top.  Something on the order of 100 to over 200 amps in most modern houses).  This effectively disconnects your house from the electrical grid, which is important for a couple reasons: 

   It prevents your generator from backfeeding out onto the power lines.  Safety Sallys scream this will kill utility workers, but the odds of that happening are between slim and none.  What should happen is the monstrous overload of trying to power the whole grid with a portable generator will instantly trip the household breaker associated with the appliance outlet, the generator's breaker, or both.

   The biggest reason to make absolutely sure the main breaker is off is that, if it's left on, and the grid comes back to life while you're handling the Suicide Cable, you could suffer a horrible, agonizing, gruesome death.  If one end of the cable is plugged into a live socket while the other is free, the exposed prongs become like an electric cattle prod, but with very lethal current!

-   Plug the appropriate end of the Suicide Cable into the (inactive) household 240v receptacle.

-   Plug the other end of the Suicide Cable into your generator.

-   You should now have normal, but limited power throughout your house.  Everything should run, but don't try to run everything at once!  Or anything you don't really need, for that matter.

-   To go back to grid power, unplug the generator end of the Suicide Cable FIRST, then the household receptacle end.  After both ends are unplugged, shut off the generator and throw the main breaker on the household service panel back on.


   The advantages to a Suicide Cable approach are that it's relatively cheap, simple, and portable.  And, when not in use, you can coil the cable and stow it.  So you don't have to worry about a meter reader or anyone else spotting the code violation and getting you cited.

   The disadvantages include the use of an appliance outlet circuit, which could be the weakest link in your power feed.  No matter how powerful your generator is, if you're backfeeding through a 240v, 20amp circuit, you're going to be limited to 4800 watts, maximum...  Oh, and there's the whole "make one error and have most of your body cremated so quickly that the remainder is alive long enough to 'enjoy' the experience" thing. 

   Note:  120v Suicide Cables are sometimes attempted.  They aren't worth the risk or effort.  Even if they work right, they'll only power some of the 120v outlets in your house (the ones using the same Hot leg as the backfed socket), won't power any of the 240v essentials, and will feed only 1800 watts max.

Our Way.

   We played catch-as-catch-can with typical, mid-sized generators and inverters for backup electricity for quite a few years.  Then the bovine aspect of our doomstead got up to speed, and we found ourselves with multiple freezers full of valuable beef and dairy.  We needed a more practical solution.

   First we considered a proper, automatic back-up generator system.  But we don't have LP or NG here, and the inaccessibility of the doomstead made professional installation of the generator and regular delivery of fuel an impossibility.

    So we bought the biggest gasoline generator we could.  In addition to having enough output to power everything we might want to run, the big generators tend to have other useful features.  Electric, push-button start.  12v DC output that can be used to charge batteries for incidental power needs.  A 50amp 120/240v socket, which can be used to channel up to 12,000 watts to the household service, rather than the 7,200 max that the mid-sized generators could provide through their 30amp 120/240v sockets.  And a toggle switch breaker on the 50amp socket, which allows it to be shut-off for safer plugging and unplugging.

   One common problem with portable generators for backup is that they almost inevitably wind up pushed into the far corner of the garage, buried under and behind a long ton of assorted junk.  Not only is it a pain to dig them out when they're needed, but you're unlikely to do it very often for maintenance...  So I laid down a heavy, rubber stall mat near the corner of the house, away from windows, and where it can be easily reached by the cables from the house, barn, milking parlor, and smithy.  Then I built an intentionally rough-looking corrugated box shed to cover the generator in its permanent location.  (Better it look like a doghouse for a redneck's really huge Rottweiler than the home of thousands of dollars worth of equipment for OpSec.)  Not having to to drag the thing out and connect the ground wire every time makes starting the generator much faster and easier, both when it's needed, and for regular maintenance.

   To connect the generator to the house, I got a heavy-duty 50amp extension cable with a plug that fits the generator's big outlet, removed the socket end from the cord, and wired it into the house's primary service panel though its own 50amp breaker, labeled "Aux In".  (No weak link from backfeeding through a 20 or 30amp dryer outlet.)  I also installed an interlock device...  A simple, sliding plate on the breaker panel that prevents the generator cable's incoming breaker and the grid main power breaker from being switched on at the same time.  This prevents anyone from accidentally energizing the generator cable from the house's end and creating a Suicide Cable hazard.

   When the grid goes down, I just raise the cover and start the generator with nothing plugged into it and the 50amp toggle breaker switched off.  Then I go to the house's primary service panel and switch off the 200amp main breaker from the grid, then switch on the Aux In breaker.  The interlock keeps me from doing this in the wrong order.  Next I remove the safety cap from the 50amp cable and plug it into the generator.  Switching on the 50amp circuit powers up the house.  The barn, milking parlor, and smithy can be plugged into the generator's other outlets so that they don't count against the wattage available to the main panel.  (This generator has plenty of capacity left-over to run them.)

   To switch back to grid, I switch off the 50amp circuit on the generator, remove and re-cap the big plug, go back to the house's primary panel to switch the Aux In breaker off, and the main grid breaker back on.  Again, the interlock keeps me from screwing up the order.  An effective interlock device is fairly easy to fabricate, and definitely worth the effort.
  

  
Bonus Round:  Generator Fuel & Maintenance.

   Generators need to be run, preferably under some electrical load, on a monthly basis.  This is one of the big problems with your typical portable generator as a backup.  The danged thing is a hassle to get to and set up, so you put it off.  Next thing you know, there's a major blackout, and your generator hasn't been run in years, and won't start or run right...  This is why I set up ours in a permanent place.  During the last week of each month, I fire it up, plug in just the barn (including the big barnyard lights) and milking parlor, and let it run for an hour while I do other chores.  No big deal.

   When shutting down after a maintenance run, or whenever I don't plan to restart the generator anytime soon, I shut off the fuel valve and wait for the engine to starve out, then turn the run/off switch off.  This gets the gasoline out of the fuel lines, pump, and carburetor, where it might thicken to clogging varnish over time.

   Check the oil every few runs.  Just in case.  Air filter, etc.  See your manual.

   The reason the dedicated, pro-installed backup systems run on LP/NG is that gasoline is a bit of a pain for this application.  It has a limited storage life, so you can't stockpile a lot of it.  Ethanol, which is common in American gasoline, shortens storage life even farther, and is murder on generators  to boot.  So get ethanol-free gas (it's around, but you may have to search), and treat it with a gasoline stabilizer for maximum storage life. 

   Regular maintenance runs should allow you to top-up the generator tank frequently enough (probably every third month) to keep the fuel therein from getting stale.  Be sure to use newly purchased and stabilized ethanol-free gas for this, not the stuff that's already aged a few months in your jerrycans.  If you feel like you're not going through gasoline fast enough to keep it fresh, siphon some out and use it in your automobile, clearing room for fresh fuel in the generator tank.  When SHTF, you don't want stale gas in the generator.

   A bunch of jerrycans (stored safely in a shed away from the house and barn) may be the simplest way to keep a stockpile of stabilized, ethanol-free gasoline for the generator.  Number or position your cans, keep using the oldest stuff up in your chainsaw, mowers, vehicles, and other gasoline engines before it gets stale, replace with new gas, keep the rotation going.


Notes:  There is a lot of variation in the way houses are wired.  Our house has a main service panel outside, under the meter.  This has the 200amp main breaker, and the 240v breakers for my well pump and heat pump.  (And now my Aux In breaker.)  This panel has a shared bus bar for Neutral and Ground. 

   There is a subpanel inside the house that is home to breakers for all the household circuits.  This panel also has a 200amp main switch at the top...  But switching it off will not kill the current in the outside panel or anything wired directly to it!

   Some houses will have only one panel.  Locate your meter and work from there to find the real main switch for your grid power.

Back to the LOW-NONSENSE DOOMSTEADING index.

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