Generators

[Debbieangel]

I got to thinking, we have a small generator to use when power goes out. I live in a rural area.
Ok, so my house is very well fortified, boarded up and I also have vehicles circling up against the house for more of a barrier. Front porch steps are knocked out and of course a vehicle is right where steps had been.
Anyway, I was thinking for power if the power goes out which we know eventually it will using the generator.
There is food in fridge and our freezer..Food means life and we would be able to go for a long time on the food from the cupboards and freezer.
Would you use a generator if you had one or do you think it would be saying to the zombies "Open for Lunch"?
(I noticed the last time the power went out there are others that have generators too here )

[Mike70]

good question, debs. i don't know. i'm torn about this one. i live out in the middle of nowhere too and, in all honesty, i wonder how many zombies there would actually be out here. generators make quite a bit noise though and zombies, from what we know of them, seem to be drawn to noise like dung beetles to elephant poop.

i might run mine on and off, so the stuff in the freezer doesn't go bad. then stop using it after all the frozen stuff has been used up. either way you'd have to make do with the fuel you have on hand.

we have enough food in our pantry and cupboards to last probably a couple of months at least (sometimes i think my wife is expecting the end of the world, the way we are stocked up on stuff) so even if the stuff in the freezer went over, it wouldn't be that big of a blow to us.

i have enough weaponry on hand to easily deal with a small number of zombies. i really don't think you'd see a huge number of them showing up out in the countryside after a few days or even weeks. i'd still be worried about the noise though and every bullet or shotgun shell i use on a zombie is one less i'd have to deal with what would possibly be the biggest threat - people like khardis running amok.

[Skippy911sc]

Similar to you I also live in a rural area...my nearest neighbor is well over .25 miles from me...and my property is fenced with chain link, barbwire at the top. I would use the generator only if necessary. If it is cold enough to keep the food preserved(like it has been here) keep it in the attic or garage. Run the Generator ONLY when absolutely necessary. We lost power during an ice storm last year and we had no electricity for 3 days...I actually enjoyed it. It was a little cold and we used the generator to power the gas furnace, and freezer/refrigerator. I also have enough weapons to last a while and the ability to load my own rounds using the spent cases so I would be ok for a while, although I think the people I know would come to my place in droves...

[SRP76]

A generator would kill you. The noise would attract the dead for literally miles.

The thing many people fail to take into account is the normal background noise of life. Typically, you always hear the air conditioner units of your neighbors humming, the motors of vehicles on the road two blocks away constantly chugging, dogs the next street over barking...a whole bunch of background noise, which muffles your own stuff.

Not so when the dead walk. None of that stuff will be heard; any noise you make will stand out against a silent background. Cranking up a generator would seem like a jet engine. You'd wind up with every single zombie in the town in your front yard, trickling in a couple at a time.

[Yojimbo]

We lost power during an ice storm last year and we had no electricity for 3 days...I actually enjoyed it.


Skip, you are bad-ass. Folks like you who are set up, both provision/equipment wise and also psychologically will be the best candidates survive the apocalypse.

By way of contrast I cannot imagine a city dweller like me enjoying a power outage of any kind, let alone during an ice storm! Hell, the Lakers lose and we have riots for chrissake! Shut the power down in the city for one night, and you won't need zombies to make it hell on earth.

[strayrider]

http://www.alpharubicon.com/altenergy/gensetquiet.htm

or

http://www.amazon.com/Xantrex-802-1900-xPower-Outdoor-Generator/dp/B00005AL03

:D

-stray-

[Danny]

this was one of the main problems the character sin the novel autumn encountered. there countryside home was perfectly isolated, but because it was so alone any noise travelled for miles and the rumbling of a generator just attracted them, eventually even with the generator off the noise of the ones the generator attracted could attract more on there own and eventually there's a few thousand on all sides around the farmhouse by the end.


So i'd say maybe.:lol:

[Mike70]

So i'd say maybe.:lol:

like i said above, i'd probably run mine on and off to keep the stuff in the freezer edible but once that was gone, the generator would be done for.

i still don't know how many zombies there'd be out here. oxford is literally in the middle of nowhere - 35 miles from cincinnati and about that distance or a bit more from dayton. in any kind of crisis the students would abandon this place like rats off the proverbial sinking ship. all the non-student residents here (me included) have guns out the ying yang. plus, the population is so young here that people just don't die that often around here. 5,000 permanent residents to 15,000 people under the age of 23.


one thing that is true as hell - sound carries forever out here. you can hear a squirrel fart from a quarter mile away. i don't live in oxford proper but out on the edge- there is literally nothing in the other 3 directions besides gigantic farms and a huge state park.

[blind2d]

I'd rather be eaten with a full stomach, and no intestinal diseases, but that's just me... (in short, generator good.) My "country home" doesn't really have one, but they're not TOO expensive... right?

[Wyldwraith]

Read Autumn,
If after reading that novel you still think you'd have the guts to run a generator during a zombie apocalypse I salute your courage, and I'll be by to loot what's left of your stuff once you're all dead and have staggered away towards the next sound with the rest of the herd :P

Me, I'm wrapping my shoes in padding, laying down blankets on the floors, and layering blankets on the walls of the rooms I plan to use much to soak up as much sound as possible, and be vewy vewy qwiet. Mindless doesn't mean deaf ;)

Autumn was the first book in a LONG time to truly spook me. Not just cuz of the zombies, but the notion of a major die-off/epidemic PRECEDING the zombie apocalypse ::shivers::

Imagine if instead of the traditional model of the "normal" amount of dead folks getting up and attacking live people and making more zombies that way that 98% of the world's population dropped dead over a thirty second period before your eyes, leaving you all alone, for days or weeks until MAYBE you found ONE other living person. Then watching as first the huge masses of bodies start twitching a bit, then a few days go by and they sit up, several more days and they stand up and stagger around in straight lines for no reason, then a week or two later they start to seem to take an interest in anything moving/making a sound and approaching, in large numbers (not violent yet mind you, just tons of corpses coming up and bumping into you, over and over and over, following you wherever you went)...until finally they turn violent.

THAT is my idea of dying and going to hell.

To HELL with a noisy ass generator. I'm starting a new career as a ninja churchmouse. :)

Incidentally, if the zombies the noise your generator made didn't get you, then the exponentially larger number that were daisy-chain-attracted by the noise the first zombies heading toward you made would. If you somehow had the massive firepower and manpower required to deal with that MASSIVE horde, you'd only have drawn an even large horde to you by the noise you made when dealing with the first horde.

It's a lose-lose-lose scenario. Any noise will trigger an Undead Daisy Chain effect, so the Way of the Ninja Churchmouse would be your only chance of survival. Even one kicked over tin can at the wrong moment/wrong place could spell doom.

[blind2d]

Now you've got me all spooked! Okay, I take back my foolish first comment. But... I do love food... and hate the stinky moldy kind. Hmm... I've actually been reading a book on the way of Ninja recently... It seems like work. I don't like work. I better read Autumn, sounds good.

[Skippy911sc]

I will use one of our prior leaders words to describe what I am feeling... "Bring it on!!" :)

I know how sound travels...at night here I can hear sounds from miles around...the kids playing in the pool at the house 1/2 mile away...I can understand what they say to each other...but a person cannot stay silent forever and if the generator won't give up your location then the gunfire sure as hell will.
:elol:

[EvilNed]

I've actually been reading a book on the way of Ninja recently...

Is it about actual real-life ninjutsu (which involves spying, not assassination) or about fictional, hollywood ninjas who dress in incredibly inconspicuous tight, black clothing?

[Wyldwraith]

Well,
To be fair, if you haven't drawn a whole bunch to you and all you're dealing with is 2-3 who randomly staggered into your isolated area then you could take them out without gunfire. An isolated zombie is a zombie that's easy to kill with a melee weapon. A lead pipe to the skull makes a LOT LESS noise than the report of a .357 ya know? Or, if you're not the up close and personal type a compound bow or crossbow, while not silent, are relatively quiet and have more than enough power to put a broadhead arrow/bolt through a human skull if the range isn't excessive. At 20-30yrds you might even bury the arrow or bolt up to the fletching, if it didn't shatter. (Not a big fan of some of the graphite arrow/bolt shafts on the market these days)

In any case, those in extremely isolated areas are automatically going to have a better chance simply due to there being less zombies to potentially detect your presence. Less overall zombies also means less zombies to be daisy-chain attracted.

The people I think who'd really be at risk are those like 10-20 miles outside town. They might believe they're relatively safe because they don't see many zombies in their area, but that's still close enough to town to trigger an Undead Daisy Chain if they do something like discharge a firearm to dispose of a zombie in the front yard.

Goes without saying the people in urban/suburban areas are screwed if they don't get out FAST in the pre-shambling hordes phases of the outbreak. A lot of people are gonna die because they make the decision to dig in and wait it out at home for the cavalry because they only see a very few zombies around their neighborhood. By the time they realize what a huge mistake they made they'll be trapped/doomed.

[Debbieangel]

There are about 60 families here where I live and I noticed when we had the last power outage atleast 2 other generators going.
Let's put it this way, if I dont have mine going I know they would have theirs going. So,I am screwed no matter how you slice it.
Also,if we go by GAR's zombies with the recently deceased rising then we probably would get stragglers. Unless some dummies would have a mass grave in the two cemeteries between where I live on each side of me. Then I would be totally screwed!
I think still if you play it smart you could still put your generator on. Like others have said sound travels and sometimes it can sound like its coming from one direction and its coming from a completely different location.

[EvilNed]

Good point Debbie. I never thought of that. What if the sound would bounce? Would the zombies go off in the wrong direction?

[blind2d]

Interesting thought... And yes Ned, REAL ninjutsu, with martial arts, climbing techniques, meditation, weaponry... the whole shebang. It's by this Stephen K. Hayes guy, and it's actually really good. Worth seeking out if you're interested.

[Mike70]

I know how sound travels...at night here I can hear sounds from miles around...the kids playing in the pool at the house 1/2 mile away...I can understand what they say to each other...but a person cannot stay silent forever and if the generator won't give up your location then the gunfire sure as hell will.
:elol:

amen dude, a high five to that. i'm not worried because my area is mostly rural and filled with people packing some serious firepower (this is one place where you don't want to go hiking during deer season). if my generator didn't draw them in then my neighbors busting a cap at anything that moved would. then again, i seriously question how many zombies there would be in an out of the way area like the one i live in.

i know one thing for sure - my old man in cincinnati would probably be screwed but he's sitting on top of a literal arsenal of weapons and ammo, so he'd go down old west style with both barrels blazing. truly and for sure the number of guns and the amount of ammo in that house are mind boggling but after 50+ years of being involved in gun collecting and shooting what do you expect.

that's the thing that would bother me. it wouldn't be generators and noise, it'd be how my dad was getting along. i know i wouldn't be able to get to him nor would i try, the roads would be fucked. anyway it'd take a frigging u-haul to move his entire kit.

[Debbieangel]

I see exactly what you are saying Mike70 getting to your family would be the biggest problem. I would hope that it wouldnt be too far in the outbreak that my family would be able to get all together or atleast nearer to each other.
Also, we have a lot of gun toting people around here too, you wouldnt want to be out unless you had to thats for sure, you would have to have some kind of signal to let others know you are out and about.
I would have a plan thats for sure, I have a plan mapped out in a story I am writing and I think it is pretty good. It's what I would do anyway.

[Wyldwraith]

Well,
If you have neighbors that abandon common sense and do things to attract lots of zombies then the whole hiding out method isn't available to you. You'd be better off organizing a civilian defense force and a labor corps to construct barriers and bottlenecks to force the undead into.

If you had the right sort of topography, manpower and supplies at your disposal I've often thought you could use the singleminded linear manner that zombies go after live humans to corral them into a convenient killing ground en masse.

There's this cool scene in the Monster Planet series where they arrange shipping crates to only leave the zombies one relatively narrow passage to get at them (these were those huge blue rectangular cargo containers they put aboard cargo ships), and then they kept smashing them by lowering a multi-ton container onto a mass of zombies, lifting it back up, and repeating the process over and over. Obviously the average person/group doesn't have the means/environment for something that large-scale, but maybe heavy fencing that narrows down to a funnel point?

Any way to kill lots of zombies without expending hard to replace ammunition that doesn't involve a high degree of risk to the survivors would seem to be the only long-term hope for clearing/keeping an area clear of the undead.

I still stand by the notion that unnecessary noise, visible motion, or illumination at night that can be seen from outside the structure one is inhabiting will eventually cause a horde to pile up on your doorstep.

Even the rural areas won't remain safe forever. There'd be a mass exodus by the living away from the urban centers, and the zombies are sure to follow. It doesn't matter to a zombie if your sedan disappeared from sight thirty minutes ago, because unless some closer/more immediate prey derails its attention its still focused on pursuing you. That particular zombie will probably never find the survivor it set out to pursue, but it'll end up SOMEWHERE. This'll be happening all over.

That whole notion in Land, about the zombies just standing around like lawn ornaments just didn't strike me as the way it'd be. Wasn't there ANY noise, sight or smell to cause them to wander off in some direction? Guess they precognitively knew via the Undead Psychic Network that they needed to hang around to join the Glorious Zombie Revolution under Field Marshal Big Daddy. ;)

Doesn't matter for me though. Like Debbiangel said I've got health probs that'll slow me down enough to make taking it on the road a very bad idea. Would rather just hoard supplies, fortify my home as much as possible, and lay low until the jig was up. At least I'll be relatively comfortable before I need to decide how to check out before I get devoured :)

Ninja Churchmice Forever!

[Thorn]

Solar power for me, I even posted on the old site a cheap and efficient one you can build yourself out of items mostly found around your home with minor purchases made in pre-planning such an effort.

They even sell solar powered generators that are portable and camouflaged these days. You do not need a noisy, fossil fuel sucking alternative when you can go solar. It is what I would relay on in the beginning anyway. Personally it just suits my sensibilities. Would I be able to power an entire house with a portable version. Certainly not but I could power batteries for flashlights and electric lanterns. I could use a hand crank radio for updates as long as they were coming in, and my home made solar panels would be great for a fridge.

I just am not sure how much I would want to rely on anything just in case.

[Yojimbo]

Solar power for me, I even posted on the old site a cheap and efficient one you can build yourself out of items mostly found around your home with minor purchases made in pre-planning such an effort.

They even sell solar powered generators that are portable and camouflaged these days. You do not need a noisy, fossil fuel sucking alternative when you can go solar. It is what I would relay on in the beginning anyway. Personally it just suits my sensibilities. Would I be able to power an entire house with a portable version. Certainly not but I could power batteries for flashlights and electric lanterns. I could use a hand crank radio for updates as long as they were coming in, and my home made solar panels would be great for a fridge.

I just am not sure how much I would want to rely on anything just in case.


Hadn't thought of the solar method, but great idea!

BTW: All this talk of ninjas reminded me of these guys:

http://www.realultimatepower.net/index4.htm

[Mike70]

I see exactly what you are saying Mike70 getting to your family would be the biggest problem.

mine lives 50 miles away straight across a metro area with 2 million people in it. so i don't think there be much chance of reaching them.

even if i could get there, i'd probably find my dad out in the front yard (which has a fence all the way around it) wielding a contraption akin to what jessie the body was using in predator, the flag planted behind him, a case of dynomite on one side and a cooler of beer on the other.