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Post by wickedkittiesmom on Sept 14, 2020 22:30:14 GMT
Hurricane Sally is getting too close for comfort, we are in a hurricane warning, the city of Saraland was handing out sandbags for people in the flood zone (I'm not in the flood zone). I put anything that could blow away in the garage. I'm worried about the feral cats. I guess it will hit sometime tomorrow near the Alabama/Mississippi border. I slept through Hurricane Nate (#1)a few years ago but I guess this might be a #2.
How long will the food in the freezer stay frozen if we lose power?
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Post by NJtoTX on Sept 14, 2020 22:59:46 GMT
How long will the food in the freezer stay frozen if we lose power? You'll want to put water bottles in the freezer (not completely full or they will expand and burst) and/or move foods in. Food in a packed freezer should last 48 hours, but with a lot of air space, only 24 hours. Good luck! Are you in Alabama?
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Post by divtal on Sept 15, 2020 0:03:05 GMT
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Post by GoodbyePorkPieHat on Sept 15, 2020 0:14:38 GMT
How long will the food in the freezer stay frozen if we lose power? You'll want to put water bottles in the freezer (not completely full or they will expand and burst) and/or move foods in. Food in a packed freezer should last 48 hours, but with a lot of air space, only 24 hours. Good advice. You could also preemptively set your freezer to a lower temperature setting, and find a local source for dry ice, perhaps even picking some up in advance as insurance and to avoid the risk they will run out. Best of luck!
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nicoroni
Sophomore
@nicoroni
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Post by nicoroni on Sept 15, 2020 3:19:19 GMT
How long will the food in the freezer stay frozen if we lose power? You'll want to put water bottles in the freezer (not completely full or they will expand and burst) and/or move foods in. Food in a packed freezer should last 48 hours, but with a lot of air space, only 24 hours. Good luck! Are you in Alabama? Yep,same advice here from an old hand at losing electricity.Where I lived previously ( due to political BS trying to get folks out) I formed the habit of keeping a packed freezer using the water bottle thing. Hurricane Sandy back in '12 knocked our electric out for 5 days but I had so much stuff in the freezer and maxed out with bottles that when the electric came back we lost nothing in the freezer.The only problem was we had all of our big pots boiling water on the stove due to reports of bad water that the kitchen was a steam room
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Post by GoodbyePorkPieHat on Sept 15, 2020 3:40:48 GMT
You can also use a small amount of laundry bleach to purify your water. I don't recall the exact ratio offhand, but it's something like 1 teaspoon per gallon. Then just let it aerate for about an hour to remove any chlorine residual taste and smell.
Something like a Brita pitcher is handy to keep around as well, perhaps stored in the back of a cupboard (mine is).
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Sally
Sept 15, 2020 8:47:54 GMT
Post by wickedkittiesmom on Sept 15, 2020 8:47:54 GMT
How long will the food in the freezer stay frozen if we lose power? You'll want to put water bottles in the freezer (not completely full or they will expand and burst) and/or move foods in. Food in a packed freezer should last 48 hours, but with a lot of air space, only 24 hours. Good luck! Are you in Alabama? We're in Saraland, Al, a suburb just north of Mobile - we're at the NW side of Mobile Bay, our small neighborhood borders the western side of I-65 and is surrounded by a small forest. I have those blue freezer packs in my freezer and its packed to the top. Thanks for the info.
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Sally
Sept 15, 2020 9:31:19 GMT
Post by GoodbyePorkPieHat on Sept 15, 2020 9:31:19 GMT
It sounds like you have a chest freezer which is the best model for keeping food frozen longer should you lose power, potentially up to 72 hours, depending on the ambient temperature.
Another option not yet mentioned is, of course, to use a backup generator. I have a 900W model with a small overload potential (max of 1 kW I think). The overload is necessary because a fridge or a freezer will have a higher power demand when the compressor first kicks in. It might also be possible to use a power inverter from a running vehicle, but it would take a fairly high wattage unit with a high overload ability.
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Post by wickedkittiesmom on Sept 15, 2020 9:55:30 GMT
It sounds like you have a chest freezer which is the best model for keeping food frozen longer should you lose power, potentially up to 72 hours, depending on the ambient temperature. Another option not yet mentioned is, of course, to use a backup generator. I have a 900W model with a small overload potential (max of 1 kW I think). The overload is necessary because a fridge or a freezer will have a higher power demand when the compressor first kicks in. It might also be possible to use a power inverter from a running vehicle, but it would take a fairly high wattage unit with a high overload ability. Yes, we have a 5 cu. ft. chest freezer in the kitchen and its packed. We do not have a generator and WKD and I are "city folk" (Chicago area) and we're really dumb when it comes to things like generators. Alabama Power is also very good with emergency outages and seem to get things up and running very quickly. I'm going shopping this morning to get more cat litter and will pick up more of those plastic freezer packs. I have a diabetic cat and need to keep the insulin cool. I usually shop on Thursday and Fridays but most of the stores (except Publix) in Saraland are in the flood zone.
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Post by GoodbyePorkPieHat on Sept 15, 2020 11:34:22 GMT
We do not have a generator and WKD and I are "city folk" (Chicago area) and we're really dumb when it comes to things like generators. There are different types of generators, but the most common/least expensive is gas-powered. They're pretty simple to operate, not much different from a gas-powered lawnmower really. You fill one up with gas, pull the cord to start it, and plug stuff into it.
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Post by divtal on Sept 15, 2020 20:28:46 GMT
WKM
When you can, please let us know how you're doing ... hopefully, that you're OK.
I'm following the Weather Channel, and my atlas. There was just a report from Fort Morgan, which I found on the map. It looks like one of a string of islands, much like the Florida Keys, that dips down into the Gulf.
We're with you!
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Post by wickedkittiesmom on Sept 15, 2020 22:10:23 GMT
We're ok, just some rain right now. The weathermen are not worried about the wind but are worried about the rain and storm surge. Here in Saraland, it looks like we will be lucky because now they predicting that the center will hit closer to Fort Morgan and Fairhope which will put Saraland west of the center (East is the Beast, West is best when it comes to hurricanes -I'm learning). We're also west of I-65, Saraland east of I-65 is the area that floods real bad. My biggest worry is the feral cats, I hope they can find good shelter. Tomorrow will be a very wet day - too bad we can't send some of that water to the Western States that are on fire. This will be my second hurricane since we moved here, the first was Nate about 2 years ago, I slept through it.
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Sally
Sept 15, 2020 22:16:52 GMT
via mobile
Post by enigma72 on Sept 15, 2020 22:16:52 GMT
Hurricane Sally is getting too close for comfort, we are in a hurricane warning, the city of Saraland was handing out sandbags for people in the flood zone (I'm not in the flood zone). I put anything that could blow away in the garage. I'm worried about the feral cats. I guess it will hit sometime tomorrow near the Alabama/Mississippi border. I slept through Hurricane Nate (#1)a few years ago but I guess this might be a #2. How long will the food in the freezer stay frozen if we lose power? All my best WKM These are scary times!
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Post by divtal on Sept 15, 2020 22:22:14 GMT
We're ok, just some rain right now. The weathermen are not worried about the wind but are worried about the rain and storm surge. Here in Saraland, it looks like we will be lucky because now they predicting that the center will hit closer to Fort Morgan and Fairhope which will put Saraland west of the center (East is the Beast, West is best when it comes to hurricanes -I'm learning). We're also west of I-65, Saraland east of I-65 is the area that floods real bad. My biggest worry is the feral cats, I hope they can find good shelter. Tomorrow will be a very wet day - too bad we can't send some of that water to the Western States that are on fire. This will be my second hurricane since we moved here, the first was Nate about 2 years ago, I slept through it. Ah, good to hear. Yes, it would be great if we could share the water resources. I'll keep good thoughts for the feral kitties, too. But, if they've been paying any attention for the last few years, they should know to head for WKM/WKD's house.
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Sally
Sept 16, 2020 11:34:05 GMT
via mobile
Post by NJtoTX on Sept 16, 2020 11:34:05 GMT
Check in when you can. Be safe!
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Post by wickedkittiesmom on Sept 16, 2020 12:22:38 GMT
Check in when you can. Be safe! We're still safe, lots of rain and very windy. I just went outside to feed the birds, my husband said to stay in but I told him that since the birds showed up - they deserved their food. The raccoons and possums showed up at 2:00 am (I was up) so I fed them on the front porch. No feral cats showed up, I hope they are safe. 95% of Mobile County is without power but we've just had several brown outs here. Direct TV is going in and out, the weathermen are saying its just 1mph less than a Cat 3. I'm so glad we did not buy a home right on the coast, I love big bodies of water but I've always thought it was best not to live right by them. Saraland is on the west side of the storm.
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Post by NJtoTX on Sept 16, 2020 12:26:43 GMT
Check in when you can. Be safe! We're still safe, lots of rain and very windy. I just went outside to feed the birds, my husband said to stay in but I told him that since the birds showed up - they deserved their food. The raccoons and possums showed up at 2:00 am (I was up) so I fed them on the front porch. No feral cats showed up, I hope they are safe. 95% of Mobile County is without power but we've just had several brown outs here. Direct TV is going in and out, the weathermen are saying its just 1mph less than a Cat 3. I'm so glad we did not buy a home right on the coast, I love big bodies of water but I've always thought it was best not to live right by them. Saraland is on the west side of the storm. The big concern is the slow forward movement as it will deluge some locations it sits over.
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Post by wickedkittiesmom on Sept 16, 2020 12:33:50 GMT
We're still safe, lots of rain and very windy. I just went outside to feed the birds, my husband said to stay in but I told him that since the birds showed up - they deserved their food. The raccoons and possums showed up at 2:00 am (I was up) so I fed them on the front porch. No feral cats showed up, I hope they are safe. 95% of Mobile County is without power but we've just had several brown outs here. Direct TV is going in and out, the weathermen are saying its just 1mph less than a Cat 3. I'm so glad we did not buy a home right on the coast, I love big bodies of water but I've always thought it was best not to live right by them. Saraland is on the west side of the storm. The big concern is the slow forward movement as it will deluge some locations it sits over. We just lost our power, lucky our PC in on battery. Its daylight now. I told my husband not to open the freezer.
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Sally
Sept 16, 2020 13:11:19 GMT
Post by GoodbyePorkPieHat on Sept 16, 2020 13:11:19 GMT
We're still safe, lots of rain and very windy. The big concern is the slow forward movement as it will deluge some locations it sits over. I've been hearing that it will be *feet* of rain in some places. That's a lot. Too bad you can't send some of it our way.
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Post by wickedkittiesmom on Sept 16, 2020 13:46:53 GMT
The big concern is the slow forward movement as it will deluge some locations it sits over. I've been hearing that it will be *feet* of rain in some places. That's a lot. Too bad you can't send some of it our way. Wish I could.
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