Four things to do in a blackout

October 11th, 2012

Appliance Talk

It happens to the best of us.  Maybe you’re relaxing at home, or trying to get some things done at work, when the power goes out and you’re suddenly left in the dark.

If you’ve invested in some quality appliances from Appliances Online, there are a few steps you can take to make sure they are protected, along with your home and your loved ones, in the event of a power outage.

Is it just you?

Some power outages are small affairs, only knocking out a single circuit in a home.  Others are bigger deals, knocking out the juice for your entire home, the whole street, or maybe the block or suburb.

If you’ve invested in surge protection, a lack of power to a selection of appliances could be your investment paying off, cutting off the power to your at-risk appliances during an electrical fluctuation.

Check around your home and see what’s being affected.  Brush off those social skills and have a chat with your neighbours – if it is a widespread outage, there will likely be more than a few confused faces out and about.

If it’s just a matter of resetting a power board with surge protection, or flipping a switch in your fuse box, your problem could be over straight away.  If it’s a more widespread issue, it may be time to take some precautions.

Turn things off

“Why bother?” I hear you ask. “Everything’s off anyway – it’s a blackout!”

Electricity can be a temperamental thing, with its own ideas of when it comes and goes.  If your power comes back on unexpectedly, you don’t want every electrical appliance in your house to suddenly power on at once, greedily sucking up the juice.  That could lead to another power surge, damage your valuable appliances, or even kick off a fresh outage.

Plus, if there’s a problem with your electricity, there’s always a risk that one or more of your appliances could be ‘live’ with electricity.  Turn them off at the wall socket or carefully unplug them altogether to avoid the risk of electrocution.

Keep one light plugged in though, so you’ll have an indicator of when things are back to normal.

Save your food

So you’ve lost power and it looks like it may be out for a while.  Maybe a fuse has blown that you can’t immediately replace.  Perhaps a power line is down somewhere and you have to wait for the emergency crews to get into gear.

Does this make it time for an all-out gorgefest on the contents of your refrigerator?  It’s going to all go off anyway…

Well, not necessarily.

Fridges and freezers are designed to not only cool their contents, but to keep them cool.  Thus, most fridges offer superb insulation in addition to their compressors.  When your power goes out, the airtight seals on your fridge should be able to keep its inside cool for approximately 4 hours, and a half-full freezer can keep things frosty for up to a day (according to ActewAGL).

Of course, you’ll need to be even more vigilant about keeping the doors shut than usual, as any cold air that escapes the fridge won’t be coming back again.  One option is to grab a bag of ice from down at the servo (or if you can get it, a block of dry ice) and stuff it in your freezer to keep your essentials preserved in case of an extended power outage.

Hopefully, you won’t need a hazmat team…

Of course, if it looks like you’ll be without power for a long time, it may be worth cooking up a feast of all your refrigerated perishables on the barbeque or gas cooktop (being mindful of the fire risk, of course)…

Stay cool/warm

Depending on the time of year, you could have to deal with some extremes of temperature when power goes and takes your air conditioning or heating along with it.  Heat waves and cold snaps are often the cause of blackouts, after all.

If it’s hot outside (let’s face it – in Australia, that’s most of the time), to keep cool, keep your home’s insulation in mind – if the air in your house is currently cool, shut the doors and windows to keep it inside.  Of course, the Sun’s rays will likely warm the air up again fairly quickly, so open those windows and doors back up again if it gets stuffy and unbearable – if you’re lucky, you’ll be able to get a cool breeze blowing through your house.  Filling the bath or sinks with cool water can be a refreshing way to cool down if conditions are getting nasty.

If you’re in one of the country’s colder areas in the middle of winter, be sure to wrap up in warm clothes while you wait for the power to come back on and your heating to be restored.  Similar to the cooling example, if conditions in your house are currently warm, try and seal it shut if possible so it stays that way.

For more information on what to do in a blackout, power outage or other emergency, contact your local energy provider or emergency services office.