# Help with X-mas gifts for someone afraid of losing electricity? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 9, 2008, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-x-mas-gifts-for-someone-afraid-of-losing-electricity/476451 "2008-12-09T20:48:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Crown\_Prince\_of\_Irony](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ed655f/32.png) [@Crown\_Prince\_of\_Irony](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crown_Prince_of_Irony)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2008, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-x-mas-gifts-for-someone-afraid-of-losing-electricity/476451/21 "2008-12-10T05:26:43Z")
**Priorities** , people! What better on a cold, dark night, than basking in the warm glow of the SDMB for another hour or so after the power goes out? Fairly cheap [Uninterruptible Power Supply](http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16842106005). It will keep up to 4 devices running for up to 60 minutes. Just hope the internet connection doesn’t die also. ---
**Author:** ![jhinman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/779978/32.png) [@jhinman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jhinman)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2008, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-x-mas-gifts-for-someone-afraid-of-losing-electricity/476451/22 "2008-12-10T05:55:49Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > I did find a [small generator](http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10051&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&productId=100637527&categoryID=524798). I have little grasp of electricity, so I have no idea if a 4000 watt generator would do diddly. > > Thanks for all the great ideas so far! It is not going to run your house like the power never went out but it would make life easyer douring the power failure. THis site list typical power consuption for various things you might want to run: > **[Appliance typical power consumption information](https://www.oksolar.com/technical/consumption.html)** > > Appliance typical power consumption information,emergency,solar energy,photovoltaic,solar panels,inverters,roof shingles,solar pump,renewable energy,siemens,kyocera,trace,uni-solar,unisolar,solarjack,xantrex So it should be more then enought to keep fridge going and run a Microwave but its not going to run your eltric stove. Note that is 4000 sourge watts. That means it can give 4000 but only for a brief time, It can only handle 3250 as a constant load. ---
**Author:** ![Hunter\_Hawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/50afbb/32.png) [@Hunter\_Hawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hunter_Hawk)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2008, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-x-mas-gifts-for-someone-afraid-of-losing-electricity/476451/23 "2008-12-10T07:41:22Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Both types are crap. Instead, get him a bunch of LED flashlights. I’ve found all sorts available online, and they are very inexpensive. I’ll second this. The one flashlight that I would recommend most highly is the Arc AAA Premium. If you want a cheaper solution, Fenix is okay quality for a Chinese manufacturer. I’m personally slavering over the upcoming Surefire Titan T1A, but who knows when it’ll actually be released. You might also want to look into getting some beeswax candles. They’re more expensive, but you get what you pay for. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2008, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-x-mas-gifts-for-someone-afraid-of-losing-electricity/476451/24 "2008-12-10T09:13:45Z")
Don’ t know if these are great gifts, but they are useful… A cooler is a good solution for saving stuff for the fridge. Sun showers (bags with nozzles that you can hang up in the sun to heat up water) can be useful for bathing when all you’ve got is cold water, but honestly it’s easier to take a bucket bath with heated water. A propane stove is essential if you don’t have a gas stove (though goodness they are expensive in America- mine have always cost like twenty bucks!). In hot weather those battery operated spray bottle/fan combos can be nice. Hot water bottles and sleeping bags for cool weather. A twisted braid clothesline would be useful for really long outages. You can buy small solar powered phone/battery/iPod chargers, though in my experience most people don’t end up using them much- it’s easier to take your stuff someplace that does have electricity and charge it there. And of course a pile of board games can do a lot to make people look forward to blackouts. Anyway, that stuff is the general packing list for people going to Peace Corps countries without electricity. It’s really all you need to live decently without lights. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2008, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-x-mas-gifts-for-someone-afraid-of-losing-electricity/476451/25 "2008-12-10T10:39:31Z")
We have a variety of oil lamps and candles, as well as flashlights. ALL light will put out some heat, which is something that we are very aware of when the power goes out in the summer. We keep matches and lighters next to the candles and oil lamps. I like the idea of board games, and possibly card games too. ---
**Author:** ![Chef\_Troy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Chef\_Troy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chef_Troy)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2008, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-x-mas-gifts-for-someone-afraid-of-losing-electricity/476451/26 "2008-12-10T15:43:06Z")
> [@even\_sven](#): > > Solar flashlights are very useful (snip) …wait, what? I’ll bet they work so well it’s like the sun is out. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2008, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-x-mas-gifts-for-someone-afraid-of-losing-electricity/476451/27 "2008-12-10T15:51:40Z")
My wife found that you can buy boxes of 72 shabbat candles for about $12, which is cheaper than most other candles out there. They burn for about three hours. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2008, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-x-mas-gifts-for-someone-afraid-of-losing-electricity/476451/28 "2008-12-10T16:32:25Z")
> [@Chef\_Troy](#): > > …wait, what? > > I’ll bet they work so well it’s like the sun is out. Yeah, sounds like a joke, huh? Well, you keep it in the widow sill by day, and you’ll have light all night long. I’m not sure how it’d work in cloudier climates, but I used mine every night to read by for hours at a time. It is exactly like a flashlight whose batteries never run out. And they only cost around fifteen bucks. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-x-mas-gifts-for-someone-afraid-of-losing-electricity/476451.md?page=1)