Precautions To Take At Home Against Power Outages

Precautions To Take At Home Against Power Outages

When the power fails, our entire everyday life is severely restricted. Therefore, targeted preparation for a power failure makes perfect sense. Here you can find out which areas need to be considered and which preventive measures are best suited.

Correct behavior in the event of a power failure

The first and most important rule is: stay calm! As a rule, the power supply is only interrupted for a short time. As part of the precautionary measures for a power failure, it is best to memorize the following process:

First of all, you have to find out whether only your house or apartment is affected or whether it is a large-scale power outage. When it’s dark, all you have to do is look out the window to see if the whole street is without electricity. During the day you can take a look at your smartphone: If you see Wi-Fi networks on it, there is likely to be a fault in your apartment or house.

First, turn off all major electrical appliances such as the television, stove, etc. If a defective device caused the power failure due to overvoltage, nothing further can happen.

If the power supply seems to be interrupted only in you and not in your neighborhood, check your fuse box. If the fuses of the individual circuits and the main fuse or the FI circuit breaker have not been triggered, you can assume that the power failure will at least affect your house or your house entrance.

Master power failures with good preparation

Since you have no way of knowing how long a blackout will last, the best way to prepare for it is to assume that there will be no electricity for a long time. The following applies:

  • Use battery-powered devices as sparingly as possible, for example a flashlight or your smartphone.
  • If the power failure affects the entire area, it is best not to take part in traffic, as traffic lights and street lighting do not work and there is an increased risk of accidents.
  • If power cuts in your area are frequent, invest in getting an inverter for home and get rid of all such outages.

Warmth and light

Warmth is especially important in winter. The loss of heating in the event of a power failure can be compensated for for a while with thick blankets and warm clothing. Wrap yourself up warm from the start so that your body doesn’t cool down in the first place and you start to freeze.

Do you have a fireplace or a stove? With a large supply of fuel, you can keep part of the house warm. It is best to limit yourself to a room in which all residents are present.

You can compensate for a lack of electrical light with candles, gas lamps and flashlights. Every household should have a flashlight ready in case of a power failure. Battery-operated LED lamps are particularly advantageous because they consume little energy and therefore give off light for a long time. Always keep enough batteries, candles, matches, and lighters in the house.

Food preparation in the event of a power failure

Smaller warm meals can e.g., B. be prepared on a camping stove outdoors. A small supply of gas cartridges should be kept for the stove and gas lamp.

Put together a power outage shopping list that uses the ingredients to create a long-life supply of food. These should be nutritious and not require additional processing. These include, for example, muesli, nuts, rusks, and crispbread.

Warning: garden or table grills that run on charcoal or gas generate smoke and should therefore not be used in closed rooms. Otherwise, not only will your health be endangered, but the risk of fire will also increase. Therefore, only use a grill or camping stove in the garden, on the balcony or in the courtyard.

Safety and health

The fire brigade is naturally in great demand in such situations. So don’t take unnecessary risks. In addition to warning systems such as smoke alarms, fire extinguishers or fire blankets cannot do any harm at home. With a well-stocked emergency pharmacy and a first-aid kit, you can treat minor injuries yourself.

Make sure that your alarm system or your smart home has an independent energy source available for bridging in the event of a power failure.

Maintain the ability to communicate in the event of a power failure

In order to stay informed and reachable for as long as possible even in an emergency, make sure that a power bank (or an emergency mobile phone, if necessary) is always fully charged. In addition to using battery-powered devices sparingly, solar-powered battery chargers can help. As a last resort, battery powered radios can ensure you stay in the know.

Others

Even institutions such as hospitals, shops and banks will sooner or later reach their limits in the event of supra-regional power failures, despite the presence of emergency power generators.

Consider getting a cash reserve at home before. Since the power supply to ATMs and card readers can also be interrupted, you are on the safe side this way.

If you want to go one step further, you can purchase smaller emergency power generators and gas-powered heating sources. Emergency power generators cannot be operated indoors, however, and particularly careful handling is required with many heat sources.

Checklist: How to optimally prepare for a power failure

Power outages lead to a variety of challenges. With simple means you can take precautions just in case. Use this checklist to check which products make sense for your household in the event of a power failure:

  • Matches / lighter
  • Candles / tea lights
  • Flashlight / camping lamp
  • Gas cartridge
  • Camping stove
  • Wood, briquettes, or coal
  • Smoke detector
  • Fire extinguisher and fire blanket
  • Container for firefighting water
  • Hose or water bucket
  • Trash bags
  • Reserve batteries (in various formats)
  • First aid kit including thermal blanket
  • Food
  • Fast charging power bank

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