How to Survive a Power Outage

A recent report from the American Society of Engineers revealed a disturbing statistic. There are more than 3,500 power outages in America every year.

If you’re a typical American, you’ve probably experienced more than one outage over the past 12 months. Some only last an hour or so. But the average outage goes on for four hours.

And when the cause of an outage is extreme weather or mechanical failure, you can be without electrical power for days or weeks.

So, here’s the question you need to ask yourself: If there were a power outage in your area tomorrow, would you be ready for it?

The aging U.S. power grid is extremely unreliable, leaving you and your family vulnerable to blackouts.

We never know when it might happen – or how long it might last – but there are things you can do today to prepare.

To help, we've put together a checklist to make sure you'll be prepared.

Your Power Outage Checklist

The only way you'll successfully handle a blackout – especially one that might last a while – is to have a number of essential items ready.

Here are a few of them. You might want to add more to your list depending on individual family members' needs.

• Have survival food with a long shelf life on hand – a minimum of 72 hours’ worth per person. More is better.
• Immediately following a blackout, eat and drink what you can from your refrigerator and freezer before eating your survival food.
• Have clean drinking water stockpiled, a water purifier on hand, and at least one portable water filter for each family member.
• Have a generator powered up and ready to go.
• Have flashlights, extra batteries, and matches stored where you can find them in the dark.
• Have a battery-operated or hand-crank emergency radio.
• Have at least several hundred dollars pulled out and set aside for when ATMs or online banking are down.

Reduce Your Stress During a Blackout

A power outage can be stressful. But you can handle it better if you've prepared.

Here's a list of to-do's that will help you deal with a blackout without breaking a sweat.

• Always keep electronic devices fully powered up.
• Keep your vehicles' gas tanks at least half full or as close to full as possible.
• After the power goes out, unplug sensitive electronic equipment to avoid power spikes when the power comes back on.

Hunkering Down in the Deep Freeze

But don't just take my word for it. Let's hear from a fellow 4Patriots customer.

Randy of Wichita Falls, Texas and his family hunkered down for six days during the Texas Freeze in February 2021. The temperature inside his home dropped to 15 degrees. It was so cold his toilet water froze.

When the power went out, so did Randy's CPAP machine. Fortunately, he had his Patriot Power Generator at the ready.

In addition to his CPAP machine, he was able to power up electric blankets to keep them warm during the day.

Watch a video of their story here: 

Generator Saves the Day

"Within the last four or five years I've really gotten into the prepping community," said Randy, who's lived in Texas his entire life.

"During the ice storm I was sleeping. I use a CPAP because I have some breathing issues. At some point during the night, I noticed my CPAP had stopped functioning. And I looked around the room and noticed my power was off.

"I got out my generator and hooked up my CPAP to it. It kept my CPAP going throughout the night.

"In the morning, we had snow and ice so I knew I wasn't going anywhere. I got my electric blanket and hooked it up to the generator.

Solar Panel Restores Power

"I even hooked up my refrigerator to it near the end because I wasn't sure just how long I was going to have to go without power," Randy continued.

"But that generator just plugged right through. When it started getting down to about two bars, I hooked it up to the solar panel. Within a few hours it was up around 70-80 percent (charged).

"We don't have the infrastructure in this city to deal with this. We don't have snowplows. People here in Wichita Falls went four or 4½ days without power.

"I was lucky. I got mine back after two. But some people didn't and they were still trying to dig themselves out."

Praise and Advice

Randy has words of praise for the 4Patriots products that got him through a rough time. As well as words of advice for his fellow Americans.

"The stuff I've gotten from 4Patriots has been a big help," he said. "I like the fact that their stuff is really well made. It's made to last. And it's really compact. Not a whole lot of wasted energy or material in this stuff.

"Prepare ahead of time. Know what you want, know what you're going to need and then do the research.

"If I didn't have the generator to keep my phone charged, to keep myself warm with my electric blanket and everything, it would've been really dicey. I don't even want to think about it."

Randy is just one of many 4Patriots customers who told us how much our products helped them get through the February mayhem.

Be Prepared for Your Power to Go Out

For most of us, not having power for a few hours would be inconvenient. But if you're looking at days, weeks or even longer, it's considered a state of emergency.

It's becoming more and more obvious that our power grid is failing and vulnerable. And the timing couldn’t be worse because we’re seeing more extreme weather events now than ever before. Not to mention other natural disasters, plus terrorist and cyber-attacks.

Former CIA official Dr. Peter Pry says that attacks on just nine of the nation's 55,000 electrical substations could result in nationwide blackouts for up to 18 months.

It's time to take steps to protect your family if you have not yet done so.

A solar generator is the best option because it can power your home without any gas, fumes, or noise. And there's no worry about carbon monoxide poisoning.

You can use it to run kitchen appliances, including your fridge and freezer. Charge your personal or medical devices. Or light up a room with an LED light string... for weeks at a time.

The Patriot Power Generator 1800 is worth its weight in gold. Fume-free and silent, it’s safe to use indoors. And you can charge it with the free power of the sun.

You’ll also get peace of mind, knowing you can handle whatever life throws at you. And it’s impossible to put a price tag on that.

Check out the Patriot Power Generator here.