I know it's probably not in the average home budget, but a Generac whole home generator is so crucial for Maine winters. The first year I got it (almost a decade ago) it ran for almost 2 weeks straight and almost a cumulative month that winter. Having run it this long, I can tell you it's not a big drag on the yearly propane bill, and what it provides in comfort and security, well you just can't put a price on that.

- My other suggestions are getting a wood stove installed.

-keeping a large cooler or unplugged freezer in the garage for food storage

-Keeping multiple sources of water in the house. 5 Gallon potable tanks for drinking, 5 gallon buckets for flushing/washing.

-Propane stoves still work when the power is out. The first thing I did when I moved in was add that propane generator and a stove.

-Indoor propane heater. They make these rated for indoor use. still need to use safely.

-Non Perishable food supplies. Bonus points if you can plan for enjoyable meals. No need to be hungry dark and cold

-Large portable Battery with solar panel. These will set you back 200 for the battery and 350 for the solar, but all your phone/laptops will be charged for a week/month, and you can charge the battery in your car as well. Most devices are rechargeable these days so have a large source of power in an emergency to suit your needs.

-Radio - I actually need to get one of these, had no power/phone service for a minute there. Good to have a link to the outside world, news of more danger, entertainment, etc.

Thats all for now, good luck out there to everyone, hopefully something on this list helps

These storms will be more common as time goes on, wether out system will be upgraded to handle these storms or not is unlikely. Generator food heater and water are the things you need. Maybe a bunch of blankets could help but not very necessary. Stabil for your generators gas could also be helpful, if it sits over the summer it could be possibly be too gummed up next time you need. If you have a wood stove and you never use it I’d suggest cleaning it out and keeping at least a little wood for emergencies.

Been feeling that things were heading in this direction for quite some time, so we worked our way towards buying a few acres and started off by building a well insulated 18x18 cabin with a loft (504 sq ft). Haven't bothered tying into the grid yet, have a few solar panels and use a generator supplementally. Haven't drilled a well yet but have a hand dug well that I pull water from using a 12v pump and have water storage in the cabin. We currently get our drinking water from the town office, filling glass jugs. 60 watt medium sized fridge. Wood stove, constantly processing my own wood and looking for free wood anywhere I can get it. 20k btu wall mounted propane heater for when we really need it (no electricity needed, rarely use it). Propane range. Extra camp stove as well as a small backpacking burner with fuel. Dutch oven to use either in the woodstove or outside. Constantly keeping a base level of basic foods (rice, dried beans, canned veggies, plenty of spices). Working on building a root cellar of some sort to store more of the food we grow each year and upping the amount of food we grow as well.

Our monthly bills right now are under $2k (with food included), due to the minimal way we live, which leads to having time to actually work on the land. I'm the one that usually earns most of the money while my wife takes care of the many necessities on the homestead. We are both happy with this style of living and she has had some health problems that make it difficult for her to work. Eventually we will build a larger house (with a passive house approach) and will likely have CMP drop a line at some point but will use it minimally.

This lifestyle certainly isn't for everyone and is a fair bit of work but I'm also building some sort of survival-equity and that is far more important to me than... most anything else. If this lifestyle sounds at all alluring then the best thing to do is start taking small steps in that direction.

For what it's worth, we were forced to buy land June 2021 due to being booted from the farmhouse we had been living in so that it could be sold in the elevated market. We paid more than we probably should have for the land and had to live in a camper for a bit while we put an insane push in to clear land and build a home before winter that year and had very little help. Moved into the cabin early November that year without a touch of insulation in it but we had the woodstove. It's been a wild ride.

Edit: and a composting toilet. Guess that's an integral piece of information

Gone 5 days before. My generator broke down day 3 but I lucked out and found a rental nearby for cheap.

I live where the power goes out if a hummingbird lands on the line but we got lucky this time. A couple flickers but it stayed on.

We have a heat pump for everyday use but a wall mounted propane heater for outages and when it gets below 10 and the heat pump struggles. It’s enough to keep our little house cozy in an outage. I also keep a gallon of water in the freezer which just acts as a huge ice cube. We don’t have a generator so I shuffle fridge food inside and outside to keep it in the cold sweet spot. One of the best things we have is a solar powered phone charger. Enough to charge us four times over, more if we let it sit in the sun. We usually take trips out for food during an outage. In general I’d say we’re very well prepared but I still absolutely hate being out in the winter. I stress.

This is the worst stretch over a couple of years.

The last two winters have been relatively mild by Maine standards.

It makes me wonder how all the people who moved to the state during the pandemic are faring this year.

Maine is not the place to be if you rely upon or are expecting consistent infrastructure - public utilities, internet, social services, government or municipal institutions. Folks tend to be extremely self reliant because they have to be or come here because they want to be.

I’m not casting aspersions one way or the other.

I liken Maine to be a kind of latchkey state. Let yourself in, fix yourself something to eat, and someone will be home later. Maybe.

Been here my whole life, and am old.

As to whether these outages are going to become more frequent... there's no debate the weather is getting weirder and more extreme, specifically the big winds in late fall, unfrozen and saturated ground through more of the winter, etc. However, it definitely seems like the rural grid is overall better and quicker to be restored.

As a kid, I remember almost every winter there would be week-long outages from pretty mundane weather. We didn't have a generator and it was miserable.

As for how to better prepare? My closest neighbors growing up were depression-era folks who barely noticed if the power went out. They used wood for heat, oil lamps for light (but mostly would just sleep when it was dark), did a lot of canning and pickling of summer veg, had an outdoor root cellar, an outhouse, etc. Nothing about their day to day really NEEDED electricity.

Obviously that's a tough way to go all the time, but having some of those options will really stretch generator fuel a long way, and are pretty tolerable for a week or so.

Wire your house up to receive a generator.

Learn how to fully drain your pipes.

Be ok with staying with the in-laws that do have power.

We moved here after '98 so do not know anything more than 1-3 days w/out power. Here's what we do, and our house is all electric (no basement).

1. we have a wood stove that heats the house no matter the power situation.
2. we have a pretty good dry goods storage which includes a lot of veggies we grow
3. we have two trash cans that collect roof water for flushing toilets
4. we have a couple of lanterns
5. we have a butane burner stove for camping
6. we bust out coolers for food.
7. we have no generator
8. we have 5 gallons of drinking water

So far so good, but longer than 3 days we'd certainly start feeling it.

ETA, the biggest problem we had during one of the 2 or 3 dayers was when my son had a 60 gallon salt water tank. We were really sweating that, but it is since gone.

I have a generator the size of a small car for our family compound

It’s got an automatic transfer switch, it powers three apartments and a small business, complete with cooler and gas pumps.

I’ve also got UPS devices for all critical systems, so they don’t go out when the powe goes out, as the transfer switch takes 8 seconds to power generator on.

My home Wi-Fi network is also set up to stream my 20tb plex Server, even when the internets out.

If you can get a woodstove that's a game changer

I’m just here to mention a few things in case people don’t know this already or are from warmer states wintering here for the first time.

1. Snowmelt water is great for flushing the toilet.

2. If you have an untested porch or an empty cooler you can leave outside, you can always use the cold outdoor temps to save whatever was in your fridge/freezer.

3. Grills will work in the winter, though do it away from your roof or any overhang lest you cause a roof avalanche from snow or icedam melt.

4. Battery banks are your friend. I have a solar battery bank and it’s great to keep your phone charged in the even of an emergency outrage.

Also, if you’re a tradesman or have power tools around the house, Milwaukee makes a 120v inverter for their batteries that you can use to power basic electric items around the house. I’m sure other companies may make these too.

5. Candles. That’s it. Make sure you have some and make sure you have a way to light them. I keep matchsticks as well as a grill lighter. They’re also quite warm in the hand if you’re cold. Just make sure to put them out before sleeping or leaving.

6. Your house, (or apartment), is much larger than you need to heat in these situations. If you loose power, draw the shades over drafty windows, close doors, and try to keep warm in 1 room with said door closed. Even with only a couple of blankets you can be quite toasty after a little while.

7. Showers/baths. If you have friends, I’d advise asking them if you can lean on them for this. Otherwise heating water on a wood stove or grill is the only way you’ll be able to stand doing a sponge bath. Everyone comes together when this sort of thing happens here. :)

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How much is installing a propane powered generator if the house is no already wired for it.

Pretend I have no knowledge of houses at all.

If you wanted to pretend I am not particular bright , that would also work

This thread is awesome. So much good info.

It’s not the most efficient fuel but if you have a trangia camp stove you can burn denatured alcohol in it for a small heat source or to boil water (takes a bit though). It’s safe to burn indoors. I will emphasize for indoors it must be DENATURED ALCOHOL or meth spirits, not IPA or other types of similar fuel like eco kero. You can also burn yellow bottle HEET in it but I’m not sure how clean it is. Always used denatured alcohol in mine for camping and emergencies.

I felt like it had been awhile since we had such a long outage with it being so cold which definitely complicated things. We have a large stock of lanterns/flashlights and batteries but found that a lot of them had corroded from lack of use. Note for next time not to store with batteries in.

We have large and small indoor propane heaters. The small one went to the basement to keep the pipes warm and the large one was in the center of the house upstairs to try to heat the rest as much as possible. We also have a propane camp stove which was very useful.

We also made sure our CO2 alarms were functioning and placed next to each heater just in case.

We don't have a generator so the refrigerator is always a concern. We picked up a bunch of ice ahead of time and moved perishables to coolers and tried not to open the fridge.

We are fortunate to live in a somewhat densely populated area and tend to get power back relatively quickly, but with more and more severe storms I do think outages will become more common and sustained.

My biggest concerns are always keeping the pipes from freezing, losing as little food as possible, and keeping the animals warm. I have two guinea pigs that live in my semi finished basement so I keep an emergency cage on hand to bring them upstairs if it gets too cold in the basement.

As far as basic safety and avoiding damage to the house, the propane heaters are the most valuable asset. In terms of comfort, having the camp stove and the ability to eat hot food is a life saver. We always keep plenty of propane cans stocked in the garage.

After 10-20 outages a year we have a generator and fuel and plenty of food, candles, batteries and water on standby. Honestly it just becomes normal... Fuck cmp!

We're pretty well prepared, but my husband is a life-long rural Mainer and I grew up on a farm in the NEK in VT so not our first go around. Wood is our primary fuel source so we always have heat and generator to run the well pump. As long as I have heat and running water I don't worry too much about anything else. We have an old wood cooking stove in the kitchen that we fire up a few times a year as well.

Beyond that, we grow and store/freeze most of our own fruits and vegetables and raise all of our own meat. We have a small root cellar for winter term storage (perks of a 200+ year old home.)

Other than prepping for heat, water, and food we live a pretty simple life and don't find that power outages impact us too much. It's a good time to put the plow on the tractor, grab a few shovels and go see if your neighbors need anything.

A lot of good advice here. I'll add that if you have a gas generator you should have an extra sparkplug and oil. If you foul a plug then your machine won't run right and it's nice to be able to change the oil if you think the stuff in there is old or breaking down

If you can find ethanol free gas then fill up the generator with that before you put it away.

New homeowner here. Some stuff I learned about my generator this holiday season:

Non-ethanol gas for generator.

When close to empty, run with no load until empty. Gets all the gas out of the carb. Gas in the carb gunks up your generator.

Non-ethanol gas is more shelf stable than ethanol gas, although it won’t last forever.

Heads up folks! Maine has ALWAYS had extreme weather during the winter. Maine has ALWAYS had extended power outages. It's just part of living here so be prepared.

Drawer full of candles, lighter ect. It’s really nice to have some cozy light

Visit r/preppers maybe

The basic plan is to be equipped for 30 days of no power or assistance . Build up your store a week at a time. Lots of helpful tips and tricks!

Imagine yourself living in the 19th century but with a generator and lots of Jerry cans ;)

First a generator that can run the furnace plus an electric space heater plus fridge and freezer plus other small items as needed. I have gallon jugs of water for drinking, and non-potable water I store in old tidy cat plastic jugs for the toilet. Baby wipes for washing hands/bodies. (Saw recently someone recommend old laundry jugs for more non-potable water to wash hands, dishes, etc. So considering that) 2 camp style stoves that use the green propane bottles, plus a single burner that runs on butane, plus a solar stove. We have an airfryer, InstaPot, and slow cooker that we can use with the generator. Plenty of food, at least a months worth, probably more. A few oil lanterns. Extra fuel for everything. Also small rechargeable batteries I have for traveling to charge phones etc...but thinking about getting something bigger, maybe solar chargable. Also decided I need to add paper plates, plastic ware, etc to the stash.

When I was a kid (1970s80s) we used kerosene lanterns for light during outages, we even had a ships lantern, that we could hang to make sure we had light in the evenings. You cant read by one of those, but you can make dinner and play board games. (we already had a wood stove and a hand pump so lights were the biggest change).

We almost never get outages, and when we do they only last for a day at most, so we don't need to worry. It's the glory of living suburban and not rural. We don't even have a generator installed. We get more Internet outages than we do power ones.

(Been here 20+ years BTW)

Here are some cheap, and/or basic prep items I bring out for winter outages:

-Blankets

-throw pillows

-hot hands packs (for both hands and feet), i use these sparingly though

-tea lights or LED candles

-flashlights

-matches

-gallons of water for pets, people, cooking, flushing, etc

-shelf stable food or even self heating food packs, (similar to MREs)

-extra pet food

-newspapers. i live in an old, poorly insulated building. so when it gets cold i tape the newspapers over the windows and under doors to lessen any drafts or cold spots.

-battery bricks for charging phones/laptops

Again this is just a basic list, and can definitely be improved upon. But i felt it could be useful to those who may not be able to afford generators or other fancy prep gadgets. Stay safe folks 🙏

Seconding a wood stove for heating, cooking and light.

We have a wood stove for our main source of heat and propane as a backup, a gas generator that runs just our two fridges, boiler and gadgets (but not kitchen gadgets or our large washer). We have a propane stove/oven that runs on the generator as well. All in all the only difference for us is hotspotting our phones to our TVs. I’m only annoyed because while I can watch TV I can not for the life of me get any sort of usable internet via hotspot/tether on my work computer. Our internet has been out since Friday. Power came back Saturday night.

As far as food: I keep sourdough starter in the fridge and can make bread/pasta from scratch easily. We keep lots of pantry staples like flour/sugar/salt/grains and frozen veggies. I also have lots of cast iron cookware so if I had to I could cook on a fire outside.

Make sure to you have a Carbon Monoxide alarm; cheap and might save your life.

LED flashlights & batteries. I use battery LED string lights for ambient light. Headlamps are super-convenient.
Candles & matches; they don't really give much heat but they are cheery. use a safe candleholder; tealights in a short jar work well.
Store water in 1-, 2-, & 3 liter soda pop bottles. They're food safe and easy to clean. Some people say to replace every 6 months; I don't - water doesn't go bad. (I get city water and have never needed to rely on stored water, but it's good to be prepared.)
Keep the fridge and freezer full. It's more efficient, and if you lose power, food will stay cold longer. I use bottled water if the fridge or freezer are not full of food.
I love my wood stove. It supplements oil heat and keeps me warm in a power outage.
Easy to prepare food. Canned soup, tuna, canned fruit, applesauce, etc.
Lost power on the 23rd, was warm and comfortable, had tuna on an english muffin toasted on the wood stove.
Keep the phone charged, and get an external battery. It was nice to be able to use the phone when I lost power. Emergency radio - Mine has a crappy solar charger but also charges with a plug, has a flashlight and will charge USB devices. It has a crank but that's a big pain to use.
I have wool blankets and a down comforter, and lots of winter gear to layer on to stay warm.

I was here for the Ice Storm, mostly kept power, but so many friends lot power - up to 12 days. Much worse in Canada.

Yea I was not prepared at all. Grew up in town and moved rural. We lived next to the firestation in town so never was an issue. I have tons of camping and survival gear but it wasn’t enough. When me and my wife were young it didn’t matter but with small children it’s not fun. Thankfully a contractor friend had a spare generator and heater for me to stay warm but it was miserable. Can’t leave my family in that situation again.

I lose power a lot. 4 times in the last month.

I heat with wood no matter what. I've got a 6500 watt generator that can be powering 95% of the house in a couple minutes with a few breaker flips.

As long as I can get gas every 3 days or so I'm good.

The most important thing to be prepared is a generator. Its really essential in Maine since its a heavily wooded state with a significant portion of its grid surrounded by trees. If its a whole home setup, its much lower maintenance and worry versus a portable one connected to an interlock or transfer switch, but both setups are perfectly valid to keep a home running for days or even weeks. If you are trying to save money, a portable generator in the 8-10k watt range is generally sufficient. You may be slightly limited in some areas--like you cannot run an electric range, dryer, and hot water heater at once, but you can still live life pretty much normally. If its a portable generator, you also want at least 2 gas cans that can hold 5+ gallons of fuel. And if its available in your area, use non-ethanol gas as its stable for much longer and is a far better option for small gasoline engines.

As for other needs--you should try go have some shelf stable foods like rice, beans, beef/chicken/vegetable stock, canned foods, pastas. A chest freezer with some meats, frozen veggies, and other foods is also good to have. If you are on a private well and have a generator connected to the house, you won't have to worry about water as much, but its always good to have a few gallons of bottled water too. If you have pets, be sure to keep some backup food for them too.

Finally, have plenty of fresh batteries, LED flashlights and lanterns, keep some charged battery packs for phones.

For an extra tip, if you have the money, a UPS (uninterruptable power supply) is very nice to have connected to your internet equipment. There are many times we will lose power for maybe 1-2 hours in a heavy thunderstorm or bigger snowstorm, and even a relitavely inexpensive UPS ($150 or so) will keep your modem and router running for 3-4 hours easily. Its more than enough to let you report the outage to the power company and keep informed about their progress.

I've lived in Maine my whole life. What I find different today versus growing up as a kid is we lose power much less often now than we did as kids, but the severity of the storms that cause widespread outages are much more significant and cause more damage. The biggest storms in my childhood were in 1991 from Hurricane Bob and the Ice Storm of 1998. Both times we lost power for over 2 weeks, as did much of the state. But, it was also common to lose power for a day or two from something as simple as a thunderstorm or some light snow and wind. The difference today is the power companies are doing a better job of keeping trees and branches back from power lines, but, as climate change impacts us, the storms hitting us are more severe causing much more damage to trees due to wildly flucutating temperatures and higher winds. So, I think more storms with widespread damage will continue to increase as things continue to change and it will be even more imporant to handle the aftermath and be prepared.

Our power did not go out until Sunday morning (and then only for a little over an hour, but it was right as we were getting ready for the day) and we discovered how woefully prepared we are in the water department. Looking at getting and filling 55 gallon tanks in the basement that we can use to fill buckets for flushing toilets and washing. We do have a filter if we need to filter this stored water for drinking. We have never had a well before so we needed this reminder of what we need to do. So grateful it was not a long-term loss of power like so many others have/are experiencing. On the bright side, we have a good amount of food storage and a wood stove and wood pile. Getting to know the Maine way of living!

The scary issue is really more about the wider economy.

I know a lot of people live in denial, but 31 trillion in debt and a very clear future of shifting global powers is not ideal...

When the US can't just print itself unlimited money anymore, who knows what will happen...

If we can't maintain infrastructure when times are good, I doubt it will be better when things turn over.

It's why I'm much more "prepper" minded. I'm working towards being as self sufficient as I can be.