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[deleted] t1_j1zop33 wrote

Reply to comment by FaustusC in Harbor Freight Predator generators 20% off till Jan 5 by scajjr29

If you’re reliant on electricity to save your life, I agree. Some people have medical conditions where a loss of power could actually kill them. In those cases, you should really have a backup generator too, even if you have a whole house generator. This Harbor Freight generator would make a decent backup generator IMO.

Personally, I got the cheap harbor freight generator because I want it to save the food in my fridge, not my life…

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FaustusC t1_j1zt9fi wrote

I mean, in the event of a total shitstorm like Texas, using a small generator to power small heaters could save your life. But people with cpaps, O2 machines etc.? Idk, but I wouldn't trust the knock off version of anything keeping me breathing.

Just to run a fridge? Yeah, no worries at all. It works or it doesn't. Plus, keep a thermometer in there and as long as it stays under X, food should be fine.

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[deleted] t1_j1ztzur wrote

Well, this is N.H., not Texas. We have coats, long underwear, blankets, sleeping bags, wood stoves, etc. The vast majority of us wouldn’t die of exposure in our homes. The frail exceptions are why they always tell you to check on your neighbors during a winter disaster…

Seriously, my coworker from Houston didn’t even have a coat when that shitshow went down. Unbelievable.

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LordMongrove t1_j1zzk20 wrote

You are comparing apples and oranges. Bitterly cold weather isn’t at all common in Texas. It is here. Of course people are going to be better prepared.

Not to mention that your characterization of NH is wishful thinking. This idea that the majority of NH is full of self-reliant rural folk doesn’t match up the demographics. Remember the chaos of the ice storm of 2008? Most people still don’t have generators.

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[deleted] t1_j201cs4 wrote

I didn’t say it’d be a good time. I said we wouldn’t freeze to death inside our homes. If your neighbor is elderly or an infant and is at risk of hypothermia, someone in the neighborhood has a wood stove. There are places they can get warm.

Actually, my point is that we are not self reliant at all, but that we have more resilient communities. People come together in the Northeast, in times of crisis. Just look at what’s happening in Buffalo. People opening their warm homes to strangers who were stranded in the middle of the road. We aren’t so different. WNY is a lot more similar to New England than to NYC.

No, self-reliance is what produces Texas level disasters. Run your own power grid where the gas lines aren’t insulated. You’re on your own. You’re prepared, right? It’s bullshit. It’s toxic individualism. Nobody is an island. Even the off grid homesteaders can’t sustain themselves forever. How the hell did they afford that land, anyway? By chopping wood and growing potatoes? Give me a break.

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