When it hits the fan - solar or generator?

[DocWatson]

From here.....

It has a small area of use today as White gas, a common name for two flammable substances. In its most common modern usage, it is used as a generic name for camp stove and lantern fuel, usually naphtha.

Within set ranges of distillation, drip gas may be extracted and used to denature fuel alcohol. Drip gas is also used as a cleaner and solvent as well as a lantern and stove fuel (white gas).

The use of drip gas in cars and trucks is now illegal in many states. It is also harmful to modern engines due to its low octane rating, high heat of combustion and lack of additives. It has a distinctive smell when used as a fuel, which allowed police to catch people using drip gas illegally.

 

[GTS225]

Been re-reading this thread and doing a bit of thinking. While there have been some decent ideas tossed around, there is something I feel I should bring up. (hopefully without getting political).

The U.S government has granted itself the power/authority to confiscate all survival stocks that you may have built up for just the scenario under discussion here. (It's something akin to the War Powers Act, but for domestic disturbances on a massive scale.)

Knowing this suggests that your/our biggest problem will not be other individuals or groups trying to survive, but our own government hunting us down and relieving us of our goods, as well as incarcerating us in some internment facility "for the common good", in order to restore order.

This also suggests that there won't really be anywhere one could hide, as all the technology in possession/control of government forces will be brought to bear on restoring order. "We" have satellites that can read a car's license plate from 50 miles up, see the smallest heat signatures, and measure magnetic anomolies on the planet's surface.

Buddychrist; do you think your wood gas generator's thermal signature would survive for any real length of time with that kind of "spying" available to them? The same holds true for electrical generating.......there will be an "unnatural" magnetic signature when generating and utilizing the power one worked so hard to get. Passive solar panels on a smaller scale may not be quite so attention-getting, but at some point, a satellite will catch a solar reflection off the panel, and someone will instruct it to zoom in on the light signature.

Don't want to believe me?.......Take a look at the New Orleans/Hurricane Katrina fiasco. The local LEO's and Nat'l Guard were removing people at gunpoint if they felt it prudent, even if those folks did not want any assistance. They were also confiscating firearms from private property, even though there was no threat of them being used by thier legitimate owners. How's that for respecting the "rights" of "the people"?

I suggest that mess gave us all a small view into what will happen during a breakdown of society in general.

Just wanted to itterate my thoughts, and hopefully cause you all to give it some real thought. Just whom might be your worst "enemy" during such a trying time?

Roger

 

[Buddychrist]

Been re-reading this thread and doing a bit of thinking. While there have been some decent ideas tossed around, there is something I feel I should bring up. (hopefully without getting political).

The U.S government has granted itself the power/authority to confiscate all survival stocks that you may have built up for just the scenario under discussion here. (It's something akin to the War Powers Act, but for domestic disturbances on a massive scale.)

Knowing this suggests that your/our biggest problem will not be other individuals or groups trying to survive, but our own government hunting us down and relieving us of our goods, as well as incarcerating us in some internment facility "for the common good", in order to restore order.

This also suggests that there won't really be anywhere one could hide, as all the technology in possession/control of government forces will be brought to bear on restoring order. "We" have satellites that can read a car's license plate from 50 miles up, see the smallest heat signatures, and measure magnetic anomolies on the planet's surface.

Buddychrist; do you think your wood gas generator's thermal signature would survive for any real length of time with that kind of "spying" available to them? The same holds true for electrical generating.......there will be an "unnatural" magnetic signature when generating and utilizing the power one worked so hard to get. Passive solar panels on a smaller scale may not be quite so attention-getting, but at some point, a satellite will catch a solar reflection off the panel, and someone will instruct it to zoom in on the light signature.

Don't want to believe me?.......Take a look at the New Orleans/Hurricane Katrina fiasco. The local LEO's and Nat'l Guard were removing people at gunpoint if they felt it prudent, even if those folks did not want any assistance. They were also confiscating firearms from private property, even though there was no threat of them being used by thier legitimate owners. How's that for respecting the "rights" of "the people"?

I suggest that mess gave us all a small view into what will happen during a breakdown of society in general.

Just wanted to itterate my thoughts, and hopefully cause you all to give it some real thought. Just whom might be your worst "enemy" during such a trying time?

Roger

Trust me I know that a wood gasifier will be easily seen with heat signature.

But I also know I'm not gonna be running it like normal. Just long enough to fill up two bath tubs of water and possibly cook something quick.

First thing Is gonna be chopping the powerpole and getting all windows and doors boarded up.

Here is where you don't understand. I live WELL outside of town and as long as you keep on your land out here they won't mess with you. Look at people outside of New Orleans. If they don't go rob their neighbors and keep to themselves it's not a problem.

I'm not out to live rich but just to live.

 

[GTS225]

Trust me I know that a wood gasifier will be easily seen with heat signature.

But I also know I'm not gonna be running it like normal. Just long enough to fill up two bath tubs of water and possibly cook something quick.

First thing Is gonna be chopping the powerpole and getting all windows and doors boarded up.

Here is where you don't understand. I live WELL outside of town and as long as you keep on your land out here they won't mess with you. Look at people outside of New Orleans. If they don't go rob their neighbors and keep to themselves it's not a problem.

I'm not out to live rich but just to live.

*****************************************************************

Actually, Buddy, I didn't figure you for that much of a fool. If you're smart enough to build and use a gas generator like that, and trying to live the independent life it suggests, you're a long ways from being any kind of fool. Just using your gas generator as an example to make the point.
Looks like you've given the scenario reasonable thought, and have a decent plan in mind. You sound like the type of guy this city boy would like to befriend......too bad you're all the way down there in Florida. ('Course, I'd probably get myself eaten by a 'gator.)

The rural folks would be further down the list as "targets" by government forces, but sure as shootin', they would make it out there eventually. Then, maybe I've got too much conspiracy theorist running around in my shoulder-mounted vacuum chamber.

Roger

 

[Buddychrist]

Trust me I know that a wood gasifier will be easily seen with heat signature.

But I also know I'm not gonna be running it like normal. Just long enough to fill up two bath tubs of water and possibly cook something quick.

First thing Is gonna be chopping the powerpole and getting all windows and doors boarded up.

Here is where you don't understand. I live WELL outside of town and as long as you keep on your land out here they won't mess with you. Look at people outside of New Orleans. If they don't go rob their neighbors and keep to themselves it's not a problem.

I'm not out to live rich but just to live.

*****************************************************************

Actually, Buddy, I didn't figure you for that much of a fool. If you're smart enough to build and use a gas generator like that, and trying to live the independent life it suggests, you're a long ways from being any kind of fool. Just using your gas generator as an example to make the point.
Looks like you've given the scenario reasonable thought, and have a decent plan in mind. You sound like the type of guy this city boy would like to befriend......too bad you're all the way down there in Florida. ('Course, I'd probably get myself eaten by a 'gator.)

The rural folks would be further down the list as "targets" by government forces, but sure as shootin', they would make it out there eventually. Then, maybe I've got too much conspiracy theorist running around in my shoulder-mounted vacuum chamber.

Roger

Man if you come down here I can teach you how to eat the gators! They really aren't a problem in north central florida as much as down south in Miami, Everglades, and Ocala national forest then yeah you'll get eaten quick!

If you ever get a piece of land outside of town and want any ideas for good survival techniques I will be more than happy to share my knowledge! A lot of the things I have made are very simple and effective!

I've had a lot of family in the military and I'm positive if I keep to myself and when they get to me I show them my family is completely self sustainable and harmless that they will turn the cheek and just say that there was no one home.

That's going to happen a lot considering majority of the military enlisted are from the woods and know that there is no harm and we are better off out here than in some refugee style camp where diseases and illnesses spread like wildfire.

The biggest perks to being in the woods is that you are secluded, self sustainable, able to hunt and gather, but most of all you don't have to rely on city water when you have a well.

Even if I can't manage to run the generator I have a hand pump that I could toss a 25-30ft piece of PVC on and just pump it from a shallow aquifer which takes work but requires no fuel and makes no noise.

That's my biggest thing is going to be staying dead silent and off the map. If I'm not bothering anyone and my family and I sticks to ourselves there's no reason they would have to come out and move us to some tent in the center of millions of people.

 

[River]

BC been following this thread. Can you share how to rig a hand pump for a well...lets say about 40 ft deep.When we loose power the girls get excited...Thanks...River

 

[Buddychrist]

You need to custom a dual hose hookup to your PVC pipe. It's all about volume not pressure so if you could hook three or even four hoses to the top of the PVC pipe the better. Then it's all about time and moving it up and down like an auger.


I've tried twice on my property but both times I wasn't able to go deep enough. I'm gonna go for 35ft and see what happens. 25 in Florida is usually enough but my land sits higher so I will need to go deeper.

Once you get your PVC down go ahead and install your pump and prime it and see if you can pull water. If it comes out good then you need to get a 4x4 and place it right next to your PVC pipe and strap the PVC to the 4x4 and use screws for the straps.

Pretty simple and straight forward when you learn how it works!

Once again it's all about volume when it comes to using water to get your PVC down. Kinda like when you stuck a hose straight Into the ground when you were a kid. Makes a big mess but it makes a hole none the less.

Good luck!

 

[GTS225]

Hey, guys....as a sidebar to this subject, might I be so bold as to recommend a book for your referance library?

If you can still get a copy, try "Wildwood Wisdom", by Ellsworth Jaeger, ISBN 0-936070-12-9. My copy is from Shelter Publications, Inc, in Bolinas, California.

Has chapters on animal tracking, building makeshift shelters, dressing out different game, and edible plants. (Even some that most of us call weeds.) Has a good helping of drawings/illustrations scattered throughout the book.

Something else you might want to get a copy of is "The Backwoodsman" magazine.
https://www.backwoodsmanmag.com/

Just a small contribution......Roger