Breaking
FoodNerdy Recipes Management System
Tag

failure:

Browsing
Lifestyle

Power Failure: What to do if Electricity and Gas are Suddenly Gone?

Total energy failure due to a catastrophe: suddenly the heating stays cold or the apartment is dark. The Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance reveals how you can proceed in a guide.

Total power failure: The Federal Office for Civil Protection gives tips

If you suddenly run out of energy, there are a few ways to compensate. If the heating fails in the cold season, this quickly leads to unpleasant situations that can also be dangerous. The BKK recommends wrapping yourself in warm clothing. If you have a stove or fireplace at home, you should definitely use it to warm yourself. It is particularly helpful if you have a sufficient supply of firewood, charcoal and briquettes available.

Total power failure: basic information

The BKK gives basic tips that will help you to act correctly in an emergency. You can also make preparations to protect yourself in the event of a crisis. This is how you should make sure that all the batteries of your important technical devices are always charged. This includes, for example, your smartphone, laptop or computer or even telephones.

A battery-powered radio* should also be available so that you can be informed in the event of a disaster. An alternative to this are practical crank radios*, which you can drive yourself – without an additional energy source. It’s also important to keep enough cash around the house at all times, since a power outage can also affect ATMs and other systems.

Conclusion: failure of electricity, gas and oil – you can do that

A catastrophe can lead to a longer outage of electricity, gas and oil – the Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance reveals in a guide how best to proceed.

It is always advisable to have a sufficient supply of flashlights, candles, matches and spare batteries in case of a power failure. Solar and crank-powered lights and flashlights are also helpful. If the heating fails, the only thing that helps is to wrap up in warm clothing – if you have a stove or fireplace and enough fuel at home, you have an advantage.

Keep Reading
By
Lifestyle

In The Event of a Power Failure: How You Can Still Cook in an Emergency

A power failure due to natural events, crises or technical faults is also possible with us at any time. We will show you how you can cook without electricity and what you need to do it.

In the event of a power failure: cook like in the old days

We can no longer imagine everyday life without electricity. But our ancestors lived like this and cooked with fire. You can still do that today: find a spot outdoors with sufficient distance from combustibles and the forest.

Pay attention to a suitable, non-combustible surface, preferably earth or sand. Dig a small hollow for the fireplace or place a ring of stones. Alternatively, use a fire bowl. You can place a grill grate over the embers and put a pot on top. Put out every fire again, for example with sand.

However, making a campfire requires wood and a little practice. Because of the risk of fire, open fire is also prohibited in many places, especially during dry periods. It is generally not possible in residential areas. Maybe you have a charcoal grill at home, the modern version of the campfire. Not only can you roast vegetables, meat or fish on the grill, you can also heat your kettle or soup.

camping stove

The easiest way to cook without electricity is with a camping stove. Various models are commercially available: one-flame cartridge cooker, two and three-flame larger devices. There are also various accessories such as stands for pots and pans and even attachments that you can use to bake. As a rule, these stoves burn with gas cartridges, which you can get at any hardware store. Gasoline stoves are also occasionally offered. There are also special Esbit pocket stoves with solid fuel tablets. These mini stoves are particularly light and therefore suitable for outdoor tours. Because of their size, they are more likely to be emergency cookers, but they are useful for a cup of coffee or a ready-made soup.

You can cook a real meal with the classic one-flame gas cartridge cooker. We recommend dishes that you can prepare in just one pot, such as soups and stews. Gas stoves hardly smell and do not smoke or soot. Nevertheless, the manufacturers recommend using them only outdoors for safety reasons. You should make sure that the stove is stable and cannot tip over. Always turn off the gas immediately after use.

Cooking with solar energy is also an alternative. You can buy solar cookers, portable folding grills, or solar ovens. They are equipped with a reflective material that catches the sun’s rays, focuses them and thus generates heat. Solar ovens are particularly environmentally friendly and you don’t have to buy any fuel. However, they only work outdoors and in sunshine. The cooking time is longer than other ovens. You must therefore plan your time well in order to have enough sun.

indoor solutions

Fire bowl, grill and gas cooker are suitable for cooking outside. And inside? You can also prepare your food with a fondue set or table grill. This works wonderfully in the apartment. You can use fuel paste as a heat source. It consists of denatured alcohol (ethanol) and a thickener. In gastronomy, it is often used to keep food warm. It gets very hot and is also suitable for cooking.

If you don’t have a fondue set, you can build your own construction: place the grill grate from your oven over some bricks. You can also use flower pots, tin cans or preserving jars (no plastic!) as a substructure. Put your pot on it. Place the container with the fuel paste underneath on a fireproof, heat-resistant surface, such as a porcelain plate. Your construction must be stable and must never be left unattended.

If you don’t have fuel paste, you can also heat it up with tea lights if necessary. You can boil water, but it takes a long time and you need a lot of tea lights. The best ones with a longer burn time. Proper cooking with tea lights is tedious.

Prepare accessories, food and fire extinguisher

Cooking without electricity is not that difficult. Stock up on the necessary accessories and suitable food. Also don’t forget that you will always need matches or a lighter (except for the solar oven). Almost all methods presented here cook with flame. So pay attention to your safety and fire protection. Don’t leave your cooking area unattended. You should always have an extinguishing option (fire extinguisher, extinguishing spray, fire blanket…) at hand.

Keep Reading
By
Lifestyle

Power Failure at Home: What You Can do Now – and What You Should Better Leave Alone

A power failure in the house is always annoying. A quick look into the fuse box helps to find a solution. Did the fuse just blow or is the problem somewhere else?

Power failure can have many reasons

There can be many reasons for a power failure in the house. It is best to try to find out the causes step by step after the process of elimination. In the event of a severe storm, for example, a lightning strike, e.g. in a substation, can be responsible for leaving several households without electricity. So if you look out the window and everything is dark (in the evening), you probably won’t be alone with the power failure.

What is an RCD?

You may have heard the term “RCD” before. Colloquially, it is the designation for the residual current circuit breaker, which has been mandatory since February 1, 2009. Retrofitting does not necessarily have to be carried out in old buildings if the installation complied with the safety regulations of the time. However, if you significantly change or modernize such older electrical installations in an old building, retrofitting with residual current circuit breakers becomes a must. RCDs can therefore be found in newer houses or apartments in every electrical box. The “F” stands for error and the “I” corresponds to the formula symbol for current.

The FI switch breaks the circuit in the entire house as soon as an irregularity occurs in the mains. In a fraction of a second, the FI switch then switches off the current flow in the entire area. In order to be able to detect the irregularity, the current flowing in and out of the switch is continuously measured. Without a difference, the measured value is zero. However, if either more current flowing away or more current flowing in is measured, a difference arises, the RCD is triggered and the current flow is stopped.

If you can’t just turn the RCD that jumped out back on and it jumps right back, you should work through the cause of the error step-by-step.

How to deal with a power outage

First, turn off all fuses. They protect the power lines from overloading, for example, and switch off to prevent damage. If the electrician did a good job, you should be able to find a list on the inside of the electrical box door that shows the fuse assignments. Now try turning the RCD back on. If it flies out again immediately, you have to unplug all devices in the entire house or apartment from the power supply. If you still can’t turn the GFCI back on after this, you probably have a more complicated issue. Then it is advisable to call in an electrician you trust.

However, if the RCD turns on again after you’ve turned off all the fuses, you can just turn them on again one at a time. As soon as the FI switch flies out again, you have initially found the faulty circuit. In the kitchen, for example, this could be the fuses for the stove, refrigerator, dishwasher and sockets.

The next thing you have to do is find the device that is causing the fuse to turn off. Disconnect the devices in the faulty area (e.g. in the kitchen) from the circuit by simply pulling out all the plugs. Switch the RCD on again and gradually reconnect the devices to the mains. As soon as the FI switch switches off again, you have found the source of the power failure. If in doubt, the device or the socket is defective and must either be repaired or replaced.

When does the insurance pay?

A power failure can cause major damage in the house or apartment. Food can spoil, electrical devices such as televisions, PCs or laptops can break. Who is responsible for the damage in such a case? Basically, the polluter pays principle applies. The network operator is liable for damage caused by mains overvoltages in the event of a power failure. That’s what the Federal Court of Justice decided. In order to receive compensation, you must:
prove the direct connection between power failure and damage,
inform the network operator immediately (he is liable, not your electricity provider!),
document the damage with photos and, if necessary, name witnesses.
However, if the power failure was caused by force majeure, such as a lightning strike, the network operator is not liable. Whether your household contents insurance covers damage caused by a power failure, for example caused by defective appliances or sockets, depends on the contract. In the basic protection, a power failure does not usually represent an insured risk. However, this can be included in the insurance cover for a surcharge with many insurance companies.

Keep Reading
By