Blackouts

Does the range have a circulation pump or can you still light it without power ?

Its an old fashioned direct system with no coil and no need for a pump it works on the bases of hot water raising and displacing cold water. Any solid fuel heating system should have a good degree of safety built in that at least means you haven't got to put a stove out as soon as the power goes but most don't.

Load shedding is on a rotational basis and lasts about 30mins if I recall correctly.

No need to go all doomsday prep. Just keep the fridge closed and wait it out

Ah Dennis the mennis Waitley

everyone has had a power outage at some point

so if they haven't figured that out do they deserve to survive the doomsday

not that anyone would survive doomsday, by its very nature

Paraffin might give off too strong a smell for some people. Great idea I have few paraffin lamps but I tend to burn lamp oil in them which isn't quite as stinky.

We have a total of 10kg of the calor 11.34 bottles of which 6 that are kept as backups and one is that gets swapped in and out.

At our rate of use even with a gas caravan shower gas hob and a couple of gas heaters that would take us through a bad winter. Edit> of cold weather and major power cuts.

Over the years I've just picked the bottles up when I've seen them, a couple were left in a hedge just outside the local tip (as was), another was washed up on the beach and I've always been first in the queue when anyone gave up using gas and had them spare. If fact I had about 15 bottles but gave a few away.

Back in the day when we used to run the shower off it we would get one about every month. This was on the old geysers with pilot flame, horrible yokes. Just for cooking a dhrum would last at least 4 months.

You are right there cooking on a 4 ring hob we get through a little less than three 11.34kg bottle of butane a year. But we do have an electric oven and an electric kettle so I suspect that would go to more than 4 bottles of year if we had to heat a kettle for tea and coffee.

Another stalwart of cold houses and worth having as a backup if you are going to sleep in a cold bedroom is a hot water bottle.

I suppose the planning is based on the risk and the amount of times. If you are in a city an outage of 5+ hours would be rare. In the very rural country 24 to 48 hours a year would be normal due to storms.

It's unlikely any power cuts due to overload will happen this winter as the plan is to drop heavy commercial users first such as datacentres which have their own generators. If "planned" outages were to happen it would be between 4pm and 7pm on days with low wind generation and high demand.

That said, for up to 3 hours I could survive, so it would be for 12 to 24 hours you need to plan. As said fridges and freezers won't last 24+ hours without electricity. Most heating systems such as mains gas, oil or even wood pellets need electricity to start and run. A small generator would suffice but many only hold around 6 hours fuel. Properly they need to be stopped, let cool down and only refilled when cold, but this could be manageable in an emergency.

Many people are getting solar panels, home batteries with an inverter capable of powering the home during a power cut for a period of time depending on sun and battery size. The batteries can also be topped up prior to storm or expected outage. They are not cheap but can help reduce electricity bill.

In terms of outages for days all society could break down so it's a totally different plan.

Personally I prefer to invest in things that are useful day to day rather than things like generators which in a city may not be used ever.

In terms of internet failing you can get satellite internet systems and only pay the subscription if you need it to work. They tend to be expensive and slow, so not great for day to day use.