What is that big prep item that you've held off getting?

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Tacitus

Tacitus

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It will be different for everyone.

Something as simple as topping off long term supplies?

I guess for me it is a decent generator.

No...actually, it is rural property...or property with a water supply. I'm in the very far suburbs, but the suburbs nonetheless...and I bought the house before I was a prepper, so I didn't give a single thought to water supply when we bought. If only I'd wised up a few years earlier. Moving seems so daunting now...I've gotten comfortable.
 
A "Woman".

Eventually a "seeing eye dog".
 
Big prep item? Without all the small "little" prep items a "Big" prep item is worthless?

A dry abandon ICBM missle silo would be nice. Wife wouldn't want to move.

A under ground fallout shelter. No practical way to allow access from the existing house nor is soil type favorable.

Big prep item...rebar reinforced concrete lookout posts with hardwired communications. Wife would tell all. Hard to convince her they are just property line markers.

Whole house LP generator? Not really (IMHO) a SHTF or TEOTWAWKI item. It is spring storms related. Yea, a whole house generator. At my age it would make it easier for me, no more going out to the shop to fire up the portable, back feed to the house and filling 20 pound LP tanks.
 
A generator of some sort would top my list. Not sure if I would want something gasoline powered and more portable, or solar powered, or something hard wired into the house. A back up if the power goes down would be the main goal.
 
Looks like I’m not the only one listing a generator. This will likely be the third summer in a row that I will be diverting cash planned for the purchase, configuration and installation of a backup generator for the old homestead. It looks like another project is taking priority this summer. I have always worked to have a setup that requires no electricity for the homestead to operate and have this all in place. So a backup generator has always been low on the priority list.
 
We have a small generator, a large (whole house) one, and a welder that can serve as a generator so that's covered. That's an idea for those of you looking at generators: a welder can be dual purpose.
The first thought that came to mind is land. We have the place up the mountain which is on the river, but would like more acreage. That's not really been a "prepping" goal as much as a way of life goal. We both grew up on ranches and would like to live closer to that lifestyle again.
 
Simple pump (brand name) for my well.

We lost power for 18 days 2 years ago. Isolated from town for the first 6 of that. 30" of snow on the ground in an area that doesn't see more than a dusting every few years.

Took everything in stride and even kept 3 of the elderly neighbors from having it too hard. The one thing I wanted more than anything was to be able to not pack water. My new house, three doors down from my mom and dad's place we were staying, doesn't have a cistern. Only pressure tank. Simple Pump will allow me to pressurize my system and use the pressure tank volume. 💪
 
Tacitus said:
It will be different for everyone.

Something as simple as topping off long term supplies?

I guess for me it is a decent generator.

No...actually, it is rural property...or property with a water supply. I'm in the very far suburbs, but the suburbs nonetheless...and I bought the house before I was a prepper, so I didn't give a single thought to water supply when we bought. If only I'd wised up a few years earlier. Moving seems so daunting now...I've gotten comfortable.
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Both of these are mine as well. A decent generator and a rural property.
 
Terri9630 said:
Cows. We have been putting it off until we had the new property fenced. We have the fencing and will be starting it once the weather improves a bit.
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There is work I am familiar with, fencing fields. Anyone who has any rural land understands the importance of fencing. My grandfather had a field next to one of his neighbors. Both of them put up a fence, a few feet apart. I'm sure there is a story that I don't know about there.
 
HumbleAmerican said:
Simple pump (brand name) for my well.

We lost power for 18 days 2 years ago. Isolated from town for the first 6 of that. 30" of snow on the ground in an area that doesn't see more than a dusting every few years.

Took everything in stride and even kept 3 of the elderly neighbors from having it too hard. The one thing I wanted more than anything was to be able to not pack water. My new house, three doors down from my mom and dad's place we were staying, doesn't have a cistern. Only pressure tank. Simple Pump will allow me to pressurize my system and use the pressure tank volume. 💪
Click to expand...
Just an idea to throw out here - put your well pump on a plug-in type connection rather than hardwiring it. Then when power goes out, just plug it into a small generator and voila you have water:) That's what we did up the mountain so we could have water & even shower since hot water heater was propane.
 
LadyLocust said:
Just an idea to throw out here - put your well pump on a plug-in type connection rather than hardwiring it. Then when power goes out, just plug it into a small generator and voila you have water:) That's what we did up the mountain so we could have water & even shower since hot water heater was propane.
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I have been trying to convince the wife of this option.

Her response is if we run out of gas to operate the simple pump..... we won't need the water anyway.

^^^ This is why I love my wife.
 
Note where the capacitor is located. Most well pumps it is on the pump. The number one thing to fail on a well pump is the capacitor, which requires pulling the pump and replacing the capacitor. However given what is involved with that, it is generally cheaper to replace the entire well pump, which has likely enjoyed a long service live to that point.

We put the capacitor inside the cabin. If the pump ever dies, we will "first" replace the capacitor, which is super easy, as it is just on the wall in a switch outlet.

I will never ever install a well pump with the capacitor as part of the submerged pump. Pulling the pump is not fun in the depth of Alaska winter, with nine feet of snow and nineteen below zero.
 
Two sisters for my wife...? :)
 
SheepDog said:
Two sisters for my wife...? :)
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Sorry, trade-ins are not allowed!:LOL:

For me:
agi20p_industrial_diesel_generator.jpg


https://www.absolutegenerators.com/industrial-diesel-generator-20-kw-standby-19-kw-prime-1800-rpm-single-phase-or-3-phase
Only problem is, after 2 years, and 5 hurricanes, our power has yet to be out for more than 5 minutes :mad:.
 
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Sourdough said:
Pulling the pump is not fun in the depth of Alaska winter, with nine feet of snow and nineteen below zero.
Click to expand...

Truth. Ours well pump is about 120 feet deep and it’s a lot of work to pull it out, particularly in the winter. Reattaching it to a pitless adaptor 10 feet down in the middle of a dark cold winter night is no fun as well. Fortunately for me my almost 60 year old, 5 foot, 110 pound wife is stronger than most men, and her help saved the day.

I’ll have to keep the external capacitor in mind for when my approximately 30 year old well pump eventually fails. I’d also like to find a good well pump that doesn’t require 240 volts to pull water from that depth as well.
 
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