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What to Stock your fort with
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When the dead rise, there is nothing more important than your own survival. In order to survive, you will need to have some items stocked up in your fort. Here are some suggestions.
Sanitation Supplies
During a zombie outbreak something that can go as and after thought would be sanitation. If you have ever worked in food service then you would know that this is something that is very important. the department of environmental health is very clear on what you need in your kitchen to keep up with the on going battle against bacteria.
Water
Water is a necessity for life. Using your fortress to collect rain water for simple chores will help ease the usage of your precious drinking water stores.
| James Rascal indiesandy ironhand |
When the dead rise, there is nothing more important than your own survival. In order to survive, you will need to have some items stocked up in your fort. Here are some suggestions.
| Food - There is nothing more important to your survival than food. | |
 Canned food has several benefits- it lasts a long time, you get the benefit of choosing between meat, vegetables, soups, fruit, etc., and they're also heavy and can be thrown at intruders at the last minute. | |
Sanitation Supplies
During a zombie outbreak something that can go as and after thought would be sanitation. If you have ever worked in food service then you would know that this is something that is very important. the department of environmental health is very clear on what you need in your kitchen to keep up with the on going battle against bacteria.
Water is a necessity for life. Using your fortress to collect rain water for simple chores will help ease the usage of your precious drinking water stores.
If you claim a fort before the water and power no longer work, one easy way to obtain a supply of water is to fill up bathtubs and sinks. That way, you know the water is clean, and you don't have to depend as much on rain and outside sources. But if you do end up short on water, here are some rainwater collection tips.
Rainwater collection systems: Cisterns
A rain collection system can supply you with non-potable water for use in growing crops, laundry, bathing or toilets and if properly treated - drinking water. The idea is that you use the entire area of the roof of your fortress as a rain catch by using the gutters on the roof to funnel rain water into a collection reservoir called a cistern. Cisterns have been used for hundreds of years with some dated back to 6th century A.D. in Turkey. Modern cisterns have electric pumps and filters installed and are suitable for drinking water.
Cisterns can be made from concrete or plastic and range in size from 10'x10'x10' concrete tanks or 500 gallon plastic tanks for some underground cisterns to as small as a 55 gal barrel above ground.
The picture (above) shows the basic idea of how this system is setup. Rain is caught in the gutters, filtered through a screen (to remove solids) and diverted down the pipes by gravity through a second strainer and into the cistern (tank). Then the water is either gravity feed or pumped out to use it.
Rain Barrels:
Simple "rain barrel" type of cisterns (pictured) can be setup at the bottom of the down spout and either dipped out with a bucket or use a simple valve and water hose at the bottom of the barrel. This type is good for watering crops outdoors. Note that it is important to have a good lid on your barrel to minimize evaporation and contamination from insects or debris. Evaporation is an issue with all above ground cisterns, but in general, an above ground cistern can use a gravity feed system to use it instead of a pump. It also can be heated by the sun for "warm" water, but will also freeze in the winter.
The rain barrel (left) shows a better picture of the lower valve for you to connect a hose and how you can raise the barrel up to improve the gravity feed of the water.
For a good detailed guide to making your own rain barrels, check out this link... http://www.wikihow.com/Build-a-Rainwater-Collection-System
Underground Cisterns:
An underground cistern is basically a larger version of the rain barrel idea, but does not have the issues of evaporation as one above ground. Also, you will need to either pump the water up and out or use a bucket and rope to access the water. While the pump is ideal, the bucket and rope do not require power to use. You can rig up a hand pump or bicycle pump to replace the electric pump if you wish.
A buried cistern keeps the water (year round) at 54 degrees without worry of it freezing. It also has much less chance of contamination from insects or debris as they are usually sealed with a tight access door.
Underground tanks are usually much larger and hold between 130 gallons to approximately 500 gallons of water. A variation of this is to put a large tank in your basement. To do it is just a matter of arranging your piping to get it there.
Multiple Buildings:
Rain collection can be rigged to ANY large roof, so if you have several buildings in a compound, each building's roof can be used to collect water and linked to a central tank or multiple tanks. Even if you don't have multiple buildings, you can rig piping from other buildings to drain into your tank.
Swimming Pools:
Seem like a good idea for catching rain water and that is true, but they are terrible at storing it. Pools create a stagnate breeding ground for insects (specifically mosquitoes) and Bactria. Although you can use the pool to catch water, it must be pumped or emptied to a sealed container. Actually the best thing to do with a pool is either use it to make an underground food storage bunker or to bury your cistern.
Remember: You still need to treat it, filter it or boil it to use it for drinking water.
Power
How to you make power in a electricity-less world?
There are alot of ways to make electricity, such as using solar panels and windmill generators. These are doable if you take the time to learn how.
Below is some basics to get you going, but you are going to have to research what things you will need to buy (pre-Zday) or salvage (post-Zday). You may decide that some parts are cheap and can be purchased second hand if you know what you are looking for. Same for scrounger teams, you will need to KNOW what you are looking for.
Windmill Generator
Seems like a complicated thing, but it is not. The hard part is making one more efficient to run our modern day life. In a post Z-day world, you won't be running refrigerators, microwaves and TV's. What you will need is basic electricity primarily for lighting, recharging batteries, security sensors or a CB radios.
Above is the basic layout of this system and it's components. I'm not going to go into detail of this system because it is more technical than this page is concerned with, but the important part is to show you what components you need.
You will want to setup several windmills to feed into your system. This will give you a good, redundant setup in case one is damaged by a storm or disabled. Also, setting up windmills on several high areas or buildings is easy and you only have to run wiring back to your batteries.
Solar Power
Solar panels come in all shapes and sizes depending on the output wattage you want. Electrical wattage is added together to give you total watts you need.
For example: 2x 60 watt light bulbs needs 120 watts to run them. A microwave needs 1500 watts!
So you will need a solar panel (or several) that gives you that much output.
A solar panel system is similar to the windmill system in it's setup. In fact, many charge controllers can be connected to both at the same time. This can help you with those high wattage using items - like maybe lab equipment to analyze blood samples.
Bicycle Generator
Don't laugh as this is a very effective method of generating power.
Above is a free schematic and how to build instructions from Pedal Power at http://pedalpowergenerator.com/ It shows a good picture or what is needed for this type of generator.
Bicycle generators have been used for years. Pedal Power shows systems to give you and output of 200 to 370 watts. With a little coordination from the members of your group, a bicycle generator can be a good way to get exercise and make power.
Compatibility
Notice now that all these systems are starting to look similar? They are! They are also ALL compatible so you can have multiple power sources running into your fortress.
None of these systems use your precious gasoline like a gas generator. They are all simple systems and durable for years of service.
Rainwater collection systems: Cisterns
A rain collection system can supply you with non-potable water for use in growing crops, laundry, bathing or toilets and if properly treated - drinking water. The idea is that you use the entire area of the roof of your fortress as a rain catch by using the gutters on the roof to funnel rain water into a collection reservoir called a cistern. Cisterns have been used for hundreds of years with some dated back to 6th century A.D. in Turkey. Modern cisterns have electric pumps and filters installed and are suitable for drinking water.
Cisterns can be made from concrete or plastic and range in size from 10'x10'x10' concrete tanks or 500 gallon plastic tanks for some underground cisterns to as small as a 55 gal barrel above ground.
The picture (above) shows the basic idea of how this system is setup. Rain is caught in the gutters, filtered through a screen (to remove solids) and diverted down the pipes by gravity through a second strainer and into the cistern (tank). Then the water is either gravity feed or pumped out to use it.
Rain Barrels:
Simple "rain barrel" type of cisterns (pictured) can be setup at the bottom of the down spout and either dipped out with a bucket or use a simple valve and water hose at the bottom of the barrel. This type is good for watering crops outdoors. Note that it is important to have a good lid on your barrel to minimize evaporation and contamination from insects or debris. Evaporation is an issue with all above ground cisterns, but in general, an above ground cistern can use a gravity feed system to use it instead of a pump. It also can be heated by the sun for "warm" water, but will also freeze in the winter.The rain barrel (left) shows a better picture of the lower valve for you to connect a hose and how you can raise the barrel up to improve the gravity feed of the water.
For a good detailed guide to making your own rain barrels, check out this link... http://www.wikihow.com/Build-a-Rainwater-Collection-System
Underground Cisterns:
An underground cistern is basically a larger version of the rain barrel idea, but does not have the issues of evaporation as one above ground. Also, you will need to either pump the water up and out or use a bucket and rope to access the water. While the pump is ideal, the bucket and rope do not require power to use. You can rig up a hand pump or bicycle pump to replace the electric pump if you wish. A buried cistern keeps the water (year round) at 54 degrees without worry of it freezing. It also has much less chance of contamination from insects or debris as they are usually sealed with a tight access door.
Underground tanks are usually much larger and hold between 130 gallons to approximately 500 gallons of water. A variation of this is to put a large tank in your basement. To do it is just a matter of arranging your piping to get it there.
Multiple Buildings:
Rain collection can be rigged to ANY large roof, so if you have several buildings in a compound, each building's roof can be used to collect water and linked to a central tank or multiple tanks. Even if you don't have multiple buildings, you can rig piping from other buildings to drain into your tank.Swimming Pools:
Seem like a good idea for catching rain water and that is true, but they are terrible at storing it. Pools create a stagnate breeding ground for insects (specifically mosquitoes) and Bactria. Although you can use the pool to catch water, it must be pumped or emptied to a sealed container. Actually the best thing to do with a pool is either use it to make an underground food storage bunker or to bury your cistern.
Remember: You still need to treat it, filter it or boil it to use it for drinking water.
Power
How to you make power in a electricity-less world?
There are alot of ways to make electricity, such as using solar panels and windmill generators. These are doable if you take the time to learn how.
Below is some basics to get you going, but you are going to have to research what things you will need to buy (pre-Zday) or salvage (post-Zday). You may decide that some parts are cheap and can be purchased second hand if you know what you are looking for. Same for scrounger teams, you will need to KNOW what you are looking for.
Windmill Generator
Seems like a complicated thing, but it is not. The hard part is making one more efficient to run our modern day life. In a post Z-day world, you won't be running refrigerators, microwaves and TV's. What you will need is basic electricity primarily for lighting, recharging batteries, security sensors or a CB radios.
Above is the basic layout of this system and it's components. I'm not going to go into detail of this system because it is more technical than this page is concerned with, but the important part is to show you what components you need.
You will want to setup several windmills to feed into your system. This will give you a good, redundant setup in case one is damaged by a storm or disabled. Also, setting up windmills on several high areas or buildings is easy and you only have to run wiring back to your batteries.
Solar Power
Solar panels come in all shapes and sizes depending on the output wattage you want. Electrical wattage is added together to give you total watts you need. For example: 2x 60 watt light bulbs needs 120 watts to run them. A microwave needs 1500 watts!
So you will need a solar panel (or several) that gives you that much output.
A solar panel system is similar to the windmill system in it's setup. In fact, many charge controllers can be connected to both at the same time. This can help you with those high wattage using items - like maybe lab equipment to analyze blood samples.
Bicycle Generator
Don't laugh as this is a very effective method of generating power.
Above is a free schematic and how to build instructions from Pedal Power at http://pedalpowergenerator.com/ It shows a good picture or what is needed for this type of generator.
Bicycle generators have been used for years. Pedal Power shows systems to give you and output of 200 to 370 watts. With a little coordination from the members of your group, a bicycle generator can be a good way to get exercise and make power.
Compatibility
Notice now that all these systems are starting to look similar? They are! They are also ALL compatible so you can have multiple power sources running into your fortress.
None of these systems use your precious gasoline like a gas generator. They are all simple systems and durable for years of service.
PedroAsani |
Latest page update: made by PedroAsani
, Jan 30 2011, 4:19 PM EST
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| Started By | Thread Subject | Replies | Last Post | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| gunsmith107 | stock piling medicine | 6 | Jul 24 2011, 7:39 PM EDT by Hega-boy | ||
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Thread started: May 18 2010, 4:49 PM EDT
Watch
u should also stock pile stuff like tylenol advil claritain zertec peptobismol peroxcide rubbing alcohol insta clot all antibiotics ,
you would be surprised how anoying it can be when you have a head ache and no advil or diarea with no pepto or a ozzing wound with no insta clot |
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| wbfos | Renewable Rescources | 1 | Jul 2 2011, 10:20 PM EDT by Gunnersrus | ||
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Thread started: Jul 25 2010, 6:14 PM EDT
Watch
My BOL in Maine besides having enough woods to supply plenty of firewood, My Grandmother used to plant herbs and they were allowd to keep growing in an unused section of land behind the house. There is Rosemary, Basil, Oregano, Chives, assorted berries, rhubarb, and potatoes. Anything I dont need is now a valuable tradeable item. I know my old fox traps are still in the barn there ( alont with a still I built in highschool). My grandmother had a "Victory Garden" untill the day she died and for the most part it still grows there...
If you live in a rural area this might be something for you to look into... |
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| sesi329 | Food & water | 5 | Nov 20 2010, 1:21 AM EST by White76Knight | ||
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Thread started: Aug 27 2010, 11:04 AM EDT
Watch
Food would't be a problem the local deer provide it, theres a creek by my house
and my neighbor is a doctor whitch he carriers alot of medicne. |
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