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Post by missouriboy on May 14, 2020 15:19:04 GMT
I should have added this to my first post as it answers your questions First this house is built 'above code' which in Florida largely refers to hurricane proofing building code. The builders claim that this house should withstand a Cat 3 with only minor damage and still be a house after a Cat 4. As part of that there are steel straps/bars going from the steel mesh in the concrete float below the house up and over the underlying roof and down the steel mesh in the concrete float on the other side of the house. These are every 18" and the unintentional Faraday cage successfully attenuates all cellphone signals I suspect it would have a similar although not so successful effect on a solar event - but who knows. A Cat 2 went directly over the house 3 months after we moved in and we have had several close brushes with Cat 3 and so far the builder has proved correct. The other weather we get continually are thunderstorms (part of hurricanes as well) so the local power company Florida Power and Light provides whole house power spike protection that smooths power if there is a nearby lightning strike. Around 10 years or so ago there was a direct strike on a palm tree 10 feet from the house it did a real number on a pool blower pump that was close by but had there was no effect on the house power that carried on as normal. The FPL engineers did have to replace the whole house smoother though. Of course everything internally is on smoothers and UPSs. Now all I have to do is wait for a Carrington Event and see what happens then That with hydroxychloroquine, zinc and sunshine should take care of current anxieties.
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Post by gridley on May 15, 2020 13:09:36 GMT
And your prepping includes what? Seems you've put some thought into this. For example, how exactly is a house's internal wiring and attached components effectively protected from grid surges or more direct effects of a 1921-scale event? naut covered some things, I'll throw in a few more: Much modern wiring has self-extinguishing insulation (fun stuff to test, BTW). Whenever you're presented with a choice between an electronic option and a mechanical option, at least get and test the mechanical option as a backup. I could have gotten an electronic lock for my safe. This is one reason I have a mechanical lock instead. As a bonus I never have to remember to change the batteries. You can in fact build a fairly good Faraday cage fairly cheaply. Get duplicate electronics (radio, etc) and keep them in one. Have pre-established plans for what to do in the event you can't contact people (we'll meet here...). Finally, accept that some disasters can only be mitigated, not avoided. You can't protect the cell network, so accept that at BEST your smartphone will become an unconnected computer. You can't count on a cloud backup, so don't. Etc.
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Post by acidohm on May 15, 2020 13:15:37 GMT
And your prepping includes what? Seems you've put some thought into this. For example, how exactly is a house's internal wiring and attached components effectively protected from grid surges or more direct effects of a 1921-scale event? naut covered some things, I'll throw in a few more: Much modern wiring has self-extinguishing insulation (fun stuff to test, BTW). Whenever you're presented with a choice between an electronic option and a mechanical option, at least get and test the mechanical option as a backup. I could have gotten an electronic lock for my safe. This is one reason I have a mechanical lock instead. As a bonus I never have to remember to change the batteries. You can in fact build a fairly good Faraday cage fairly cheaply. Get duplicate electronics (radio, etc) and keep them in one. Have pre-established plans for what to do in the event you can't contact people (we'll meet here...). Finally, accept that some disasters can only be mitigated, not avoided. You can't protect the cell network, so accept that at BEST your smartphone will become an unconnected computer. You can't count on a cloud backup, so don't. Etc. Good advice Gridley 👍🏻
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Post by nautonnier on May 15, 2020 14:53:32 GMT
And your prepping includes what? Seems you've put some thought into this. For example, how exactly is a house's internal wiring and attached components effectively protected from grid surges or more direct effects of a 1921-scale event? naut covered some things, I'll throw in a few more: Much modern wiring has self-extinguishing insulation (fun stuff to test, BTW). Whenever you're presented with a choice between an electronic option and a mechanical option, at least get and test the mechanical option as a backup. I could have gotten an electronic lock for my safe. This is one reason I have a mechanical lock instead. As a bonus I never have to remember to change the batteries. You can in fact build a fairly good Faraday cage fairly cheaply. Get duplicate electronics (radio, etc) and keep them in one. Have pre-established plans for what to do in the event you can't contact people (we'll meet here...). Finally, accept that some disasters can only be mitigated, not avoided. You can't protect the cell network, so accept that at BEST your smartphone will become an unconnected computer. You can't count on a cloud backup, so don't. Etc. I would add something that is somewhat useful and that is a standby generator. Which will last as long as your fuel supply. Get a really basic one without clever electronics and if you still concerned about EMP/CME etc then it can be 'housed' in a steel box even a metal wheel barrow upside down over it would provide some cover. Although mine is just in the garage in the house Faraday cage.
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Post by missouriboy on May 15, 2020 18:55:58 GMT
And your prepping includes what? Seems you've put some thought into this. For example, how exactly is a house's internal wiring and attached components effectively protected from grid surges or more direct effects of a 1921-scale event? naut covered some things, I'll throw in a few more: Much modern wiring has self-extinguishing insulation (fun stuff to test, BTW). Whenever you're presented with a choice between an electronic option and a mechanical option, at least get and test the mechanical option as a backup. I could have gotten an electronic lock for my safe. This is one reason I have a mechanical lock instead. As a bonus I never have to remember to change the batteries. You can in fact build a fairly good Faraday cage fairly cheaply. Get duplicate electronics (radio, etc) and keep them in one. Have pre-established plans for what to do in the event you can't contact people (we'll meet here...). Finally, accept that some disasters can only be mitigated, not avoided. You can't protect the cell network, so accept that at BEST your smartphone will become an unconnected computer. You can't count on a cloud backup, so don't. Etc. Good observations. Us with older homes may face some challenges. Mine (raised ranch on daylight basement) was built in 1950. The daylight basement was "finished" perhaps around 2005 with all new wiring ... but the upstairs appears to have the older wiring. Can modern circuit breakers safely "disengage" under such surges? If not, are there separate breaker systems that can be installed outside the house to provide additional protection? How much is one of those "whole house smoothers"?
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Post by nautonnier on May 16, 2020 15:13:10 GMT
naut covered some things, I'll throw in a few more: Much modern wiring has self-extinguishing insulation (fun stuff to test, BTW). Whenever you're presented with a choice between an electronic option and a mechanical option, at least get and test the mechanical option as a backup. I could have gotten an electronic lock for my safe. This is one reason I have a mechanical lock instead. As a bonus I never have to remember to change the batteries. You can in fact build a fairly good Faraday cage fairly cheaply. Get duplicate electronics (radio, etc) and keep them in one. Have pre-established plans for what to do in the event you can't contact people (we'll meet here...). Finally, accept that some disasters can only be mitigated, not avoided. You can't protect the cell network, so accept that at BEST your smartphone will become an unconnected computer. You can't count on a cloud backup, so don't. Etc. Good observations. Us with older homes may face some challenges. Mine (raised ranch on daylight basement) was built in 1950. The daylight basement was "finished" perhaps around 2005 with all new wiring ... but the upstairs appears to have the older wiring. Can modern circuit breakers safely "disengage" under such surges? If not, are there separate breaker systems that can be installed outside the house to provide additional protection? How much is one of those "whole house smoothers"? Have a word with your power company as the whole house smoother is on their side of the wiring (or it is here on a 'subdivision' house). Florida Power and Light installed mine in 10 minutes when they decided to come it is a 'Type 1 surge protection device. It needs to be on the wiring just before it enters the house. I pay around $10 a month to rent the protection and they check and replace it as required. As I said earlier we had a close by lighting strike and lost no electrics apart from a pool blower motor that was around 8ft from the tree that was hit. So I will have to stay here for quite a while before I lose out on the deal A friend of mine ended up replacing all his Air Con electrics coolers and blowers and a lot of house wiring after a lighting strike ~$45K and not covered by his insurance. There are people that claim that $10 a month is a rip off - I disagree. Here is an information article on home surge protections. www.stevejenkins.com/blog/2014/10/whats-the-best-whole-house-surge-protection/
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Post by missouriboy on May 16, 2020 15:57:51 GMT
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Post by gridley on May 16, 2020 18:34:16 GMT
Good observations. Us with older homes may face some challenges. Mine (raised ranch on daylight basement) was built in 1950. The daylight basement was "finished" perhaps around 2005 with all new wiring ... but the upstairs appears to have the older wiring. Can modern circuit breakers safely "disengage" under such surges? If not, are there separate breaker systems that can be installed outside the house to provide additional protection? How much is one of those "whole house smoothers"? Have a word with your power company as the whole house smoother is on their side of the wiring (or it is here on a 'subdivision' house). Florida Power and Light installed mine in 10 minutes when they decided to come it is a 'Type 1 surge protection device. It needs to be on the wiring just before it enters the house. I pay around $10 a month to rent the protection and they check and replace it as required. As I said earlier we had a close by lighting strike and lost no electrics apart from a pool blower motor that was around 8ft from the tree that was hit. So I will have to stay here for quite a while before I lose out on the deal A friend of mine ended up replacing all his Air Con electrics coolers and blowers and a lot of house wiring after a lighting strike ~$45K and not covered by his insurance. There are people that claim that $10 a month is a rip off - I disagree. Here is an information article on home surge protections. www.stevejenkins.com/blog/2014/10/whats-the-best-whole-house-surge-protection/Can't speak to your specific situation, but here we got our lightning protection put in with the generator and it only covers our house. I'm afraid therefore I'd have to dig up the invoice to see how much that cost us on top of the generator, etc. It is also worth bringing up the difference between *electrical* equipment and *electronic* equipment. The exact terminology may vary, but what I'm discussing here is whether you have printed circuits and the like. Wiring and circuit breakers are electrical. A computer is electronic. Electrical systems can not only withstand surges better, they can often be repaired by semi-skilled labor afterwards. I'm NOT an EE, much less an electrician, but I've had enough classes and experience over the years to be comfortable re-wiring an outlet. When the present madness is over you might check out your local community college or similar. I never managed to reliably make nice looking soldered connections but they conduct electricity with acceptable resistance. A computer? I can swap out components... maybe... sometimes... but that's it. Smartphone? Anything more complicated than swapping the battery or the SIM card is out.
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Post by missouriboy on May 16, 2020 19:52:51 GMT
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Post by Ratty on May 17, 2020 1:42:26 GMT
And your prepping includes what? Seems you've put some thought into this. For example, how exactly is a house's internal wiring and attached components effectively protected from grid surges or more direct effects of a 1921-scale event? naut covered some things, I'll throw in a few more: Much modern wiring has self-extinguishing insulation (fun stuff to test, BTW). Whenever you're presented with a choice between an electronic option and a mechanical option, at least get and test the mechanical option as a backup. I could have gotten an electronic lock for my safe. This is one reason I have a mechanical lock instead. As a bonus I never have to remember to change the batteries. You can in fact build a fairly good Faraday cage fairly cheaply. Get duplicate electronics (radio, etc) and keep them in one. Have pre-established plans for what to do in the event you can't contact people (we'll meet here...). Finally, accept that some disasters can only be mitigated, not avoided. You can't protect the cell network, so accept that at BEST your smartphone will become an unconnected computer. You can't count on a cloud backup, so don't. Etc. Gridley, I see a business opportunity. The masses are easily frightened. Signed: Your new business partner.
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Post by gridley on May 17, 2020 12:46:03 GMT
You can in fact build a fairly good Faraday cage fairly cheaply. Get duplicate electronics (radio, etc) and keep them in one. Gridley, I see a business opportunity. The masses are easily frightened. Signed: Your new business partner. I can see it now: The Rat-Grid Cage Company!
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Post by Ratty on May 17, 2020 12:55:18 GMT
Gridley, I see a business opportunity. The masses are easily frightened. Signed: Your new business partner. I can see it now: The Rat-Grid Cage Company! Can we get Nicolas to promote it?
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Post by missouriboy on May 17, 2020 13:30:32 GMT
I can see it now: The Rat-Grid Cage Company! Can we get Nicolas to promote it? Perhaps between wives and IRS payments.
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Post by Ratty on May 17, 2020 13:46:29 GMT
Can we get Nicolas to promote it? Perhaps between wives and IRS payments. Would he take a promissory note? Production: I wonder how many units of our Model 3 cage Elon could turn out annually.
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Post by sigurdur on May 17, 2020 14:09:40 GMT
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