10 things we miss the most when the electricity goes out

Going without electricity for a couple of hours is really bad, and it can be hell on earth for some people. Without electricity, even for a short time, these 10 things will be missed the most…

LIGHTS
The most basic luxury that electricity provides is our lights at night, and even during the day! Your candles and flashlights aren’t even close to the same thing.

CELLPHONES
Majority of our communications these days revolve around our phones. They are the centre of our world and the main way we communicate on social media and with our family and friends.

INTERNET AND COMPUTERS
This should go without saying, it is probably the thing we use the most in our modern lives. We can’t really get much done with our computer.

TELEVISION
The average person watches 4 hours of TV a day, while the average child actually watches 6 hours! It can be a shock to our emotional system when the power goes out and we can’t watch anymore.

iPODS, STEREO, MUSIC
So many people walk around with their earphones attached to their iPods and other devices, listening to music. It can be a little bit difficult to do this if there is no electricity to recharge these devices. Like TV, music is a major part of the background entertainment for people.

AIR CONDITIONING, FANS, HEAT
Now that the days are getting hotter, it is vital to have air conditioning and fans to keep cool. Even in the colder months, heaters are always on. We have lived so long with this convenience that being without it, even for a few hours is a shock.

REFRIGERATOR AND FREEZER
Our fridges serve an important role in keeping your food fresh and cool. When the electricity goes out, it can be hard to find a cool glass of water and it can cause food to go off, especially if the power is cut for a long period of time.

KITCHEN APPLIANCES
How will you handle it if you can’t make a fresh cup of coffee, or a nice piece of toast? Think about it, all your kitchen appliances run on electricity, so when the power is cut, you can’t use much in the kitchen!

STOVE, OVEN AND MICROWAVE
Let this sink in, all of us cook our food in the oven, microwave or on the stove, we won’t be able to cook any dinner if there is no power. Cold salads and sarmies are always an option though.

WASHING MACHINE AND DRYER
Washing your clothes is something that you may take for granted, and when the power goes out and you really need clean clothes for work the next day, it can be a real hassle.

Even though most of the time the power only goes out for a couple of hours, it can be annoying and a real shock on our emotional state when we can’t use the things we usually do! It is surprising how many things in our lives need electricity to function!

Off Grid provides backup power solutions that are both affordable and seamless to run; when the power goes out you are not inconvenienced and you can continue to run your business, watch TV, surf the internet, cook meals and all without worrying about when it’s coming back on again.

Did you know that SA has been load shedding-free for a month?

Yes, it’s true, it has been over a month since Eskom cut the power and they plan to keep up this trend for as long as they can.

"Eskom has not had load shedding for the past 30 consecutive days and none is anticipated for the day," the utility said in a statement on Tuesday.

The electricity situation has been helped by the extremely warm temperatures in the past few weeks, and the brand new power station which has added 794 megawatts to the grid. We are all hoping and praying that we get a load shedding-free summer!

The power outages have affected Africa’s industrialised economy quite seriously, which shrank by 1.3% in the second quarter. This raised the risk of recession. Luckily, the chances of avoiding recession are better if there is no or not so much load shedding, so this is good news. Christie Viljoen of NKC African Economics went on to say that, “load shedding has been a shock to the economy.”

However, now that we have lost momentum because of load shedding, it might be a while before things get going again.

The good news it they even went on to say that there is a low risk of load shedding, as the power system is constrained, but stable. Well, don’t get your hopes up too much, load shedding is probably still going to happen in the near future. After all we’ve been through; it’s obvious that Eskom can’t be trusted.

Off Grid provide backup power solutions that are both affordable and seamless to run; when the power goes out you are not inconvenienced and can continue to run your business, watch TV, surf the internet and all without worrying about when it’s coming back on again.

How does a computer’s UPS work?

Your computer or laptop is able to withstand slight differences in power, but a significant change will cause the power supply to fail! A UPS is generally there to protect your PC against these different power problems…

Surges and spikes – Times when the voltage on the line is much more than it should be.

Sags – Times when the voltage on the line is less than it should be.

Total power failure – Times when a line goes down or a fuse blows somewhere on the grid or in the building or area.

Load shedding – Times when the power is cut purposely to avoid excess load on the power system.

Frequency differences – Times when the power is swaying at something other than the right frequency.

There are two common systems that we use today, standby UPS devices and continuous UPS devices. A standby UPS runs the computer off of the normal power until it detects a problem. At that point, it will very quickly turn on the power inverter and run the computer off of the UPS’s battery.

In a continuous UPS, the computer is always running off of the battery power and the battery is always being recharged. It is possible to build a simple UPS yourself, using a large battery charger, a battery and a power inverter. If the power fails, the battery will then give power to the inverter. There is no switch-over time in a continuous UPS device.

Standby UPS systems are far more common for home and small-business use because they tend to be a lot cheaper than a continuous UPS. Continuous systems provide clean, stable power, so they are usually used for servers.

Off Grid can provide you with backup power solutions for you or your business, including a variety of UPS devices. Our load shedding solutions are both easy to work and affordable, so when the power goes out, you will not be inconvenienced.

Load Shedding and Safety

Most of us use a mixture of sources to get energy into our households. Because of load shedding, we can’t always rely on electricity to keep our homes powered. Alternatives include electricity, gas, coal, paraffin, firewood, candles and solar power to fulfill the job of lighting, cooking or heating.

What we don’t always consider with the alternatives we turn to is safety. Energy accidents are a global problem; and can cause accidents with children and adults. Education around energy safety not only helps you and your family but the community as a whole.

There are some preventative measures you can take to ensure that you and your family are always safe when load shedding prevents you from using electricity.

Preventative measures:

- Repair all damaged and broken wires in your home

- Never ever let children use appliances, paraffin stoves or candles unsupervised

- Turn off appliances when you are done using them

- Dangerous products, such as paraffin and matches should always be kept out of reach and properly sealed

- Make sure the container you use for storing paraffin is not used for anything else

- Have emergency numbers in highly visible places for children to call during a crisis

Dealing with the emergency

- Get yourself and others out of the situation

- Call for help

- Using sand to put out electrical and paraffin fires is far more effective than water

- All burns should be taken seriously, get the injured person to a hospital or clinic as fast as possible

Load shedding is not going away anytime soon. Because of this, we have been forced to use other ways to supply ourselves with power.

Although accidents do happen; we have to take extra measures to make sure that those dearest to us are safe and protected!

Off Grid can provide your home or your business with effective load shedding solutions. Don't get caught in the dark, purchase one of our many products today!