What's Up San Diego?

Are You Ready For The Next San Diego Power Shortage

Over the last three years, in my neighborhood we have had a power outage each year and each year we learned something different that made the big one last year easier for us. I'm going to share these secrets with you but take a look at why you should get ready for the next one.

San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant

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When running at full capacity, San Onofre supplies about 2,200 megawatts of power and makes up 19% of the power provided to Edison customers. With contingency plans in place, officials said Southern California should be able to get through the summer without power shortages under all but the most extreme circumstances.

LOS ANGELES - Southern California utility officials are warning that blackouts in the region are possible this summer as a result of the sidelined San Onofre nuclear power plant.

The officials say that if a heat wave hits while the twin-reactor plant is offline, rotating blackouts are a possibility. Utilities have been scrambling to find replacement power as a precaution, including restarting two retired natural gas-fired plants in Orange County.

I put these secrets on Facebook last year after the blackout and was surprised at the amount of people who didn't know anything about them.

The First blackout we found out that cordless phones don't work during a power outage.
But remember the old Princes phones and all other phone before cordless phones, they work fine during a power shortage.

Well you say... I use a cell phone.

Well my wife's phone was charging and my phone battery was low and eventually ran out. We had No communication

So we tried the phone on the fax machine first and it worked. Then my wife remembered the old princes phone, plugged it in and it worked fine.

The next blackout covered a larger area of San Diego and lasted longer then the first.

When the lights came back on, our cordless phones did not work at all. I replaced the batteries and my phones still did not work.

Well guest what! - We found out that when the lights came back on, we received a power surge to our house and it destroyed our cordless phones.

So you know I had to buy new cordless phones and a surge protector in case of another emergency.

I also purchase 2 new Princes phones because the the one we had was from the eighties.

They only cost $10.95 each at the Radio shack and they work great.

Last year 2011 blackout was the worst.

It covered a large part of the state, it lasted much longer then anyone I have ever experienced.

check this out!

A lot of cell phone carrier went down. Some People who only had their cell phones for communication had none during the blackout. The water plants also almost went down... Yes they depend on power to.

So get ready for the next blackout

Buy a direct line telephone.
Make sure you have all of your electronics connected to a surge protector.
Store extra water in your car and in your home.
If you can afford it, buy a small generator for a backup power supply.