Power Outage Survival Manual



Matignon announced it, the prefects received the mandatory circular at the beginning of December, it’s official. French households could suffer power cuts this winter, in order to avoid a catastrophic blackout.

They would probably occur during an episode of Siberian anticyclone, on a calm and cold day in January-February, in the morning or in the evening, when the demand for electricity will reach its peak, while the wind and photovoltaic parks will not produce anything. . The script being written in advance, the households concerned would be notified several hours in advance.

Camping light and headlamp

Nothing to scare those who knew the 1970s! At the time, the power was cut without notice several times each winter, for an indefinite period. On the morning of December 19, 1978, three quarters of France found themselves paralyzed for four hours, trains and metros stopped, lifts blocked, hospitals in distress, traffic lights at half mast.

A scheduled outage is much easier to manage. In our simulation exercise, it occurred on a Friday at 6 p.m., with an outside temperature of 4°C, in a house from the 1950s, energy class D, heated with town gas.

READ ALSORisks of blackout: schools, banks, telephones… What to expect?

By 5:30 p.m., the stock of Christmas candles and throws were on hand. Phone and laptop batteries were 100% charged. The led camping lantern had been taken out of the closet, as had the headlamp usually reserved for running at night. The stock of batteries (size A, AA and AAA) had been inspected. All risk seemed excluded, when lowering the circuit breaker.

No false suspense, the evening took place without the slightest incident. It even had a rather pleasant little candlelight party scent. The reflex to press the switch while going from one room to another is quickly lost. With gas-powered hobs, it is possible to eat hot, provided you have a lighter or matches on hand, the internal spark ignition system obviously being inactive. The telephones worked, because the cell towers were operational. Be careful, in the event of real load shedding, this may not be the case.

Two hours is nothing. The batteries of connected tools go far beyond that, as does the autonomy of freezers. Starting from -18°C, a good model will stay below the critical defrosting temperature for five or six hours. Admittedly, the heating no longer works because even on gas, a boiler is controlled by an electric card, but the inertia of a properly insulated dwelling is such that in two hours, the temperature barely drops (including in the aquarium of the two freshwater turtles, Michel and Charlotte, who are also able to hibernate in their natural environment).

Watch out for electric shutters

In terms of emergency lighting, if you had to keep only one piece of equipment, it would be the headlamp, without the slightest hesitation. It costs 20 to 40 euros, lights up remarkably well and lasts a whole night with the same set of batteries. Candles are romantic, but can be nervous around young children.

Watch out for electric rolling shutters. They do not work without electricity! Some boxes are equipped with an emergency crank, but not all. There is a real risk of locking oneself in at home. In La Faute-sur-Mer, in 2011, 29 people drowned in single-storey houses, trapped by their electric shutters, when the rising water blew the seals. In general, home automation is a critical point. Be careful not to find yourself stuck at home in your car one morning because the electric gate no longer works.

Moment of stress when restoring power. Nothing is happening. The user is faced with an old-fashioned black meter, completed by an apple green Linky meter, delivering enigmatic messages (“O VA PUISSANCE APP”), plus an electrical panel also comprising circuit breakers. After activating all the buttons randomly, the power returned. Verification made, you have to press the “+” button of the Linky meter for several seconds, after having put the circuit breakers on “ON” to restore the current.

Time to grope feverishly in the basement in the light of the headlamp, the evidence has become clear: the two hours were a game, but the discomfort zone is really very close. After six hours, eight at most, life without electricity would become very unpleasant. Laptop batteries would fail one after the other. It would only be an annoying detail, compared to the impossibility of warming up and taking a shower. Headlamps and other auxiliary lamps can withstand 12 hours, but they too will eventually go out, leaving the citizen, who thought he was enlightened, faced with this question: how did our ancestors do?




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