What I failed to address was the need to be able to locate and shut off (if needed) your central water valve, your main gas valve, and the main breaker in your electrical panel. Let’s face it, every year hundreds of people across the country experience costly repairs and replacements to their homes when lightening has caused a power surge that damaged the electronic devices in your home, or your water pipes freeze, break, and flood some part of your home after a winter storm has caused the power to go out for several days. In an ideal world we would all have a generator that we could use during these times of crisis, but as we know we do not live in an ideal world, so we have to prepare for those times in advance. If you do have a generator, remember to service it regularly and to run the old gas out from time to time. At a minimum I change the oil in mine annually (even if it would not have been used), and try to run the old gas out every 6 months (Spring and Fall) to make sure it will be ready for the time it is needed. If you are like me your generator will be used several times a year on camping or hunting trips that keep everything fresh.
If using a generator at your house please remember to turn off the main breaker before you start it so you are not sending power onto the lines that a service person could be working on. Many unfortunate injuries and deaths have occurred because someone accidentally left their main breaker on. The best way to solve this is to install a transfer switch (double pole / double throw switch) and a sub panel. This will allow you to shut off the main panel and only electrify the circuits that need to be powered (furnace, well pump, refrigerator, some lights, etc), it also allows you to use a smaller generator to supply power which means less gas to keep on hand. Don’t forget a heavy gauge extension cord, some of the lighter gauge cords can over heat when used for extended periods.
In regards to the main gas valve, it should go without saying that you would want to stop the flow of gas into your home during some types of disasters (i.e. during a wild fire in California or after a hurricane like Katrina). With that said most of the time you are going to want to have that gas to heat your home, hot water, etc (if using a generator) and will need to leave it on. When it comes to shutting your water off, follow the same guidelines as you would for shutting your gas off.
When adding these steps to your emergency plan, it is helpful to take a picture of the valve location, and a second of what it looks like when it is shut off so in a time of crisis there is no confusion about it being on or off. The same can be said of the location of the electrical panel and its main breaker of fuse block. A handy tip from Mizooch70 is after taking those pictures, paste them on a sheet of paper with the directions for shutting the device off, the location in or around the home where the valve or panel is located and what tools, if any, are needed to shut it off.
The time to learn how and when to find and shut off these devices is when it is not needed. Take a few minutes seasonally, or at least annually, to run through this with your family so when the confusion of an emergency happens they will know what to do or at least where to go to find out.
Thanks again to Youtubes Mizooch70 for his words of wisdom, if you haven’t done so before check him out at Mizooch70 on Youtube.
No comments:
Post a Comment