Lots of Files

http://www.pssurvival.com/

I came across this interesting tool on major pandemics blog. Half shovel and half pry bar.

 

 

http://www.crovelfoldingshovel.com/ 

http://www.majorpandemic.com/2012/01/crovel-extreme-survival-shovel-crowbar.html

 Revolver – one of the biggest advantages of revolvers is if you have a malfunction, most can be solved by simply pulling the trigger again.

　

Semi-Automatic – the problem with semi-automatics is that the malfunctioning cartridge is blocking the next cartridge, so you need to know how to quickly clear the malfunction.

　

Types of Malfunctions:

　

TYPE 1 Misfire: a misfire occurs when the firing pin strikes the primer but it does not fire. This is the most common type of malfunction.

　

SOLUTION: Tap-Roll-Rack, . “Tap” – tap the magazine and ensure it is properly seated in the grip. “Roll” – roll the firearm while “Racking” the slide to eject the misfired cartridge. Then “Access” the target to determine if you must shoot.

　

NOTE: the “Roll” step of the clearing drill is not necessary during the clearing of this type of malfunction, but it is necessary during the Type 2 malfunction. Learn this step for consistency.
NOTE: for those firearms that have a double-strike capability, I recommend following the above procedure rather than pulling the trigger a second time. If it misfired once, there is a good possibility that it will do so again.

　

TYPE 2 Stovepipe: a stovepipe occurs when the casing that has been ejected is caught in the ejection port by the slide.

　

SOLUTION: Use the same exact “Tap-Roll-Rack, then Access” procedure as used to clear the Type 1 malfunction. Why? Under stress, it is important to react quickly and naturally. I believe if you have a different method of clearing each malfunction, you are more likely to panic or spend precious time diagnosing your problem.
NOTE: Now you should understand why the “Roll” step in is the clearing procedure. With a stovepipe, rolling the firearm 90 degrees will let gravity help free the casing.

　

TYPE 3 –> Double Feed: this malfunction occurs when a round is in the chamber and a second round attempts to feed into the chamber. This results in a true jam. On most semi-auto’s, the slide has limited motion and the magazine will not eject by pressing the magazine release.

　

SOLUTION: When the firearm does not fire, immediately execute the immediate action drill – “Tap-Roll-Rack.” Upon performing this with a Type 3 malfunction, it becomes immediately evident that you have a double feed because the slide will not function normally. The clearance procedure can be summarized as: “Unload, Clear, Reload.” First, press up on the slide release / slide-stop lever and lock the slide to the rear (I find that on most of my semi-auto’s, you can skip this step). Second, press the magazine release and strip the magazine from the mag well (remember, it will not drop free on its own with this malfunction). Third, rack the slide 3 times to clear it of all ammo. Fourth, insert a new loaded magazine. Fifth, rack the slide to chamber a round. Sixth, access your target and fire if necessary.

It is important to note that the immediate action drill for all three malfunctions are initially identical. If all three malfunctions were cleared differently, then under extreme stress, it would take time you don’t have to access the malfunction and decide how to clear it.

http://www.sabergroup.com/tirr_clear_drill.htm

Economic Collapse to Trigger Social Pandemonium
by Lee Bellinger

As the shocking confidential information contained in this briefing shows, the threat of social meltdown and chaos is so large a domestic law-enforcement arm of the U.S. military (referred to by The Army Times as the “Consequence Management Response Force”) has been created to deal with what U.S. officials believe to be a coming, unprecedented wave of massive social chaos.

　

Later I’ll show you why many Washington insiders (including officials directly involved in homeland security) are personally making emergency preparations for social chaos. In addition, outgoing Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson told Sen. James Inhofe and Rep. Brad Sherman that so much financial mayhem lies ahead U.S. troops may have to impose martial law to deal with social unrest.

　

Yes, U.S. Officials Are Quietly Preparing for BIG Trouble Ahead

　

A new report by the Army War College’s Strategic Studies Institute states flatly the U.S. military must prepare for “a violent, strategic dislocation inside the United States” that could be provoked by “unforeseen economic collapse” or “loss of functioning political and legal order.”

　

Late last year, The Washington Post noted the incoming Obama Administration is going to “earmark” at least 20,000 troops returning from Iraq to deal with “domestic emergencies.” Since then, the Army Times has broken the story that the domestic emergency army unit has been increased to 80,000 troops, who are being trained right now in Georgia.

　

In short, U.S. officials expect big trouble ahead – but they are not warning the general public about the danger (much less urge the unsuspecting masses to make basic preparations).

　

A rare critic of the government’s keep-the-public-in-the-dark mentality is former head of the U.S. Commission on National Security, Stephen Flynn. He noted in a recent Wall Street Journal editorial: “Too many officials believe telling the truth to Americans about the risk would set off a nationwide panic. Thus, they keep us sheep in the dark for our own good.”

　

Boiled down, you need a real plan to deal with massive social dislocations that are headed our way. And you need to get started right now, because the government isn’t going to give you a heads-up.

　

Here’s Why Washington Expects to Use Troops Against Americans

　

Let me get straight to the point about the high probability of social chaos, what it will look like, and what you can do to not be among the millions of unsuspecting Americans who are going to get caught flat-footed.

　

You see, a government-consumer debt bubble 20+ years in the making is imploding – as desperate federal meddling to stave off financial collapse is “funded” by frantic funny-money printing to shower trillions of dollars over a restive public.

　

Even “mainstream” financial figures are finally admitting we may be in more than a recession. For example, the CEO of General Electric, Jeff Immelt, recently conceded the U.S. may be descending into a depression.

　

Until a few short months ago, official Washington wasn’t even using the “R” word. The “experts” are finally fessing up to what the rest of us can already see: Ghost malls springing up from coast to coast, with an estimated 148,000 store closures projected so far for 2009 – including Steve and Barrys, Sharper Image, Wicks, Levitz, CompUSA, Circuit City, Linens and Things, KB Toys, Whitehall Jewellers, and Shoe Pavilion.

　

Frightened U.S. policy-makers also note a number of giant chains are on the brink of bankruptcy for 2009, including Phillip Van Heusen (IZOD/Calvin Klein), Macys, Office Depot, Pacific Sunware, Bombay Company, Pep Boys, Sprint-Nextel service stores, Ethan Allen, Ann Taylor, Lane Bryant, Dillards, Starbucks, the Gap, Footlocker, and Home Depot.

　

Dire Unemployment Picture Foreshadows Social Chaos

　

John Williams of the authoritative Shadow Government Statistics notes that unfudged, un-manipulated government statistics suggests a whopping civilian unemployment rate of 17% – with a projected total to exceed 30% (during the Great Depression, unemployment approached an historic 25%).

　

In the U.S., job-shedding has now exceeded post-World War II levels and the January 28 Wall Street Journal warned: “One troubling sign is that the states that were first into recession – those with a heavy concentration of home building and manufacturing – are getting worse, not better…”

　

In December, the International Monetary Fund’s managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn warned of riots and unrest sweeping through Western countries as lower-income households are beset with credit constraints and rampant unemployment. (Such riots have already caused the government of Iceland to fall and triggered riots in Greece.)

　

Today’s Americans Don’t Resemble the Hardy Depression-Era Generation

　

Not to be politically-incorrect, but the simple truth is millions of Americans who’ve never known anything but prosperity and easy-money have a militant expectation that society “owes” them something. And with so many families on the margins of survival already, the speed of the downward unemployment spiral is downright ominous (and unprecedented).

　

Worse, there are few signs the taxpayer dependents of today have any of the self-reliance skills that saw the hardy Great Depression generation through the tough times.

　

In fact, there is mounting evidence tens of millions of low-income government dependents and many others infected with a sense of entitlement are prone to crime and violence – especially when it dawns on the masses there are not enough jobs and government promises of “relief” are as empty as the U.S. Treasury is bankrupt.

　

For example, in response to financially-troubled New York State making minor trims to its budget, an ugly 50,000+ mob took to the streets around city hall to demand higher taxes against the “rich.” (Similar protests were mounted in Albany, Buffalo, and White Plains.)

　

In just the last year, when fuel prices were soaring and metals such as platinum were exploding, gasoline thefts across the nation became rampant. Copper was being ripped off from construction sites, pipes were torn out of abandoned houses and catalytic converters containing trace elements of platinum were being shanghaied from parked cars all over the country.

　

Of course, the possibility of a full-scale depressionary unemployment is just one “trigger” threatening to cause society to come completely unglued.

　

Systemic Collapse is a Real Possibility: Other Shoes Are Getting Ready to Drop

　

It is far too dangerous to ignore the growing signs of impending national social chaos. Even after absorbing some of the unsettling facts in this briefing, you need to act calmly and decisively make sure you can get the things you need and protect what’s yours – with undertones of frantic – while you still can. The signs of trouble abound.

　

Congressional Quarterly notes that pension fund losses are about to spill out onto the front pages – with nearly as much financial exposure as that which brought down America’s banking giants.

　

It has not made much news yet, but the pension funds of millions of retirees is down by a whopping $1.9 trillion. This is why cities such as Philadelphia are quietly seeking federal money to bolster pension funds which CQ notes are 60% invested in the stock market – which itself has collapsed by a catastrophic 50% in just the last 18 months.

　

Not to scare the pants off you, but the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has quietly informed Congress that the “insurance” agency for private pension funds, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, is at high risk of failure. (This will not become a “crisis” until desperate people start trying to tap early retirement money that is not there – for now the looming pension catastrophe remains a “dormant” threat).

　

Worse, the former head of the U.S. Comptroller General Office, David Walker, essentially told Congress (before resigning in disgust) that the Social Security “Trust Fund” is a vault of IOUs; and Medicare will soon be effectively bankrupt.

　

State Governments Are Becoming Too Broke for Law-Enforcement

　

The American Association of Architects’ historically-reliable construction index has plunged 34.7% – a grim indication the commercial real estate market is the next shoe to drop, which analyst Mike Larson forecasts will lead to an “unstoppable chain reaction of bankruptcies.”

　

The reason I bring this up is because 46 states are already experiencing major budget shortfalls. And yet it is taxes from U.S. commercial real estate on which local and state governments depend to fund fire, police and social services. (Not to mention major insurance carriers – many of which are going to go belly-up when the full extent of the commercial real estate bust hits their reserve portfolios.)

　

States such as California and Kansas don’t even have enough money to send out tax refund checks (much less properly fund police departments) and are coping with the biggest annual job loss in a single year since 1945 (down 2.8 million jobs in 2008 alone).

　

The Washington Post notes two out of three large police departments in U.S. cities are already reporting budget cuts and hiring freezes, even as 233 departments told the Police Executive Research Forum that they are noticing a major “uptick” in property crime which they attribute to financial unrest.

　

The National Center for the Victims of Crime reports a whopping 24% increase in calls from October 2007 to October 2008 as “job losses and economic stress factor into increased violence.”

　

In addition, cash-strapped states have been forced by collapsing tax revenue to release hardened criminals back into society, noted the Post. On February 21, The Charlotte Observer reported on a disturbing trend which is going on all over the country: Major budget cuts for jails even as criminality is on the rise.

　

The Observer story cited the closing of a youth detention center for violent offenders, an all-too-common “low-profile” budget-cutting practice going on all over the country.

　

More Evidence the You-Know-What is Going to Hit the Fan

　

Think about the widespread collapse of order and emergency services in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina – except on a national level. The implementation of gun-confiscation laws, looters and thugs terrorizing the elderly with impunity, besieged hospitals without power, doctors and medicine. People forcibly herded into “containment zones” and denied access to food, water, and medical attention. At least 45 patients died in one city-run hospital after being abandoned by doctors and staff.

　

More recently, a simple fuel pipeline break in America’s barely-functioning, antiquated energy infrastructure spawned major gasoline delivery disruptions throughout the entire Southeastern Seaboard region. For over six weeks, drivers could not find gasoline except by standing in line for hours to get just a few gallons of fuel.

　

The recent regional collapse of the U.S. fuel infrastructure is a major warning sign that the energy supply chain is stretched dangerously thin – which combined with financial unrest has the strong potential to create major disruptions in the food supply chain (most population centers have only three days of food available to the public through supermarkets – meaning panic runs on food are a distinct possibility as the potential for social chaos continues to mount).

　

If you think these scenarios cannot happen in the United States of America, talk with anyone who has ever been in the path of a hurricane. They will confirm that by the time the general public catches on to the danger, getting everyday items such as gasoline, batteries, plywood, medicine, water, and food becomes next to impossible. Social services, police protection, public transportation, and highway systems become next to useless.

　

When the Police Abandon Law-Abiding Neighborhoods to Mobs

　

And don’t even get me started on police protection. Past riots in Washington DC and Los Angeles portend a disturbing pattern when social chaos overwhelms order. The police almost always “pull back” and abandon entire neighborhoods to vicious mobs.

　

In the case of the 1992 Los Angeles Rodney King riots (as Caucasians and Asians were hunted down, robbed, and slaughtered), the police hunkered behind their defensive cordons as the murderous racist rage unfolded – the only outside contact law-abiding victims had in the riot zone were with intrepid news helicopters hovering overhead, broadcasting the racial programs on live TV.

　

You may even remember the only community to come out unscathed were sections of Los Angeles populated by Asian merchants – who fended off the mobs by placing shooters on the roofs of buildings within their defense perimeter. These heroic Korean merchants successfully protected their families, shops and homes. All because they knew how worthless bureaucrats truly are and made their own preparations. Where are you in this process?

　

The coming social chaos will magnify these problems a thousand-fold. In short, it is extremely important to be one step ahead of the general public during an unfolding crisis. And at least three long steps ahead of the government’s draconian, blunderbuss, freedom-stealing response.

　

Government Deliberately Keeps Public in the Dark About Multiple Threats to Public Order

　

Some Americans have learned from past history and are quietly making basic emergency preparations for social chaos. Private gun sales at all-time record highs. Safe makers and alarm and generator installers have never been so busy. Not even close.

　

Highly successful financial players such as commodities genius Jim Rogers now openly says the U.S. is heading for an inflationary holocaust.

　

Which is why, for over a year – as confidence in the U.S. financial and political system continues to evaporate – physical gold and silver have been flying off the shelves – not just in the United States but all over the globe. The unavailability of physical gold and silver has become so acute that major U.S. mints have either curtailed or stopped taking orders for new coins.

　

The Washington Elite Are Quietly Making Themselves More Self-Reliant

　

Now I want to share an important personal insight with you that will probably never make the news. You see, I belong to two Washington, D.C. membership organizations which date back to the 1800s – with members that include a smattering of cabinet officials, members of Congress, mid-level federal managers and many, many, retired former insiders.

　

This is how I first learned that many top-level Washington insiders – many of whom have been directly involved in developing the Homeland Security Department, do not have confidence in government preparations for social chaos.

　

I know this for a fact, not just because of my conversations with club members. I am also an acquaintance with a private contractor who has a booming specialty business which does nothing but work in posh DC neighborhoods, installing emergency back-up generators, freezers for food, and safes (Even a quick review of the DC yellow pages suggests that installing emergency generators and other survival precautions has become a prospering cottage industry in the Washington area.)

　

As one of my very best Hillsdale College professors would have mused: “What would lead so many influential Washington insiders (who are in a position to know) to seek out ways to become so much more self-reliant than the average citizen?”

　

Outgoing Vice President Dick Cheney’s Chilling Prediction

　

Of course, financial mayhem may be the least of America’s problems. Right after leaving office, Vice President Dick Cheney warned of the possible deaths of “perhaps hundreds of thousands of Americans” in a terror attack using nuclear or biological weapons. “I think there is a high probability of such an attempt,” the straight-talking Cheney warned during an interview with Politico.

　

An important item buried deeply in The Washington Post recently noted there are already 20,000 commercially-available labs in the world where a single person could synthesize any existing virus. In those same 20,000 labs, five people with $2 million can create an advanced pathogen-meaning a virus that will be able to infect even those people who have been immunized with conventional vaccines, and kill perhaps a million of them.

　

Former Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson confessed to a reporter he “worries every single night” about a possible bioterror attack on the U.S. food supply. “For the life of me,” he said, “I cannot understand why the terrorists have not attacked our food supply because it is the easiest thing to do”.

　

Two Categories of People: The Prepared vs. the Clueless

　

Whatever form the “triggering event” takes, not only will millions of Americans suddenly discover they are completely on their own, they will be completely unprepared for the government’s draconian response to social chaos.

　

So there are two categories of people in America right now: Category 1 are the millions of clueless who blissfully assume their political overlords are going to take care of them. These are the people most likely to get caught flat-footed when all hell breaks loose. Category 2 are prudent, savvy people who are taking basic steps toward making their families and their households more self-reliant.

　

http://www.silverbearcafe.com/private/04.09/pandemonium.html

If your smashing a window near a door lock to reach in and open it up, use a roll of duct tape and tape up a section approx 6″x6″ square at the very corner of the window where you intend to break. Make sure the entire square is taped up. With a glass breaker, prybar etc hit the window at the very inside corner near the door jam.

The broken glass will stick to the tape, muffling the sound and preventing it from falling and making noise. Once you have a hole big enough to fit your hand through, reach in and unlock the door. This also shows why you shouldnt rely on noise alerting you or your neighbours to a break in.

The right vagus nerve gives rise to the right recurrent laryngeal nerve, which hooks around the right subclavian artery and ascends into the neck between the trachea and esophagus. The right vagus then crosses anteriorly to the right subclavian artery and runs posterior to the superior vena cava and descends posterior to the right main bronchus and contributes to cardiac, pulmonary, and esophageal plexuses. It forms the posterior vagal trunk at the lower part of the esophagus and enters the diaphragm through the esophageal hiatus.

　

The left vagus nerve enters the thorax between left common carotid artery and left subclavian artery and descends on the aortic arch. It gives rise to the left recurrent laryngeal nerve, which hooks around the aortic arch to the left of the ligamentum arteriosum and ascends between the trachea and esophagus. The left vagus further gives off thoracic cardiac branches, breaks up into pulmonary plexus, continues into the esophageal plexus, and enters the abdomen as the anterior vagal trunk in the esophageal hiatus of the diaphragm, where they convey sensory information about the state of the bodys organs to the central nervous system.

　

This means that the vagus nerve is responsible for such varied tasks as heart rate, gastrointestinal peristalisis, sweating, and muscle movements in the mouth, including speech and keeping the larynx open for breathing. It also has some afferent fibers that innervate the inner (canal) portion of the outer ear, via the Auricular branch known as the aldermans nerve.

 

In laymans terms you pretty much draw an imaginary line vertically down the neck from either eye to locate it. Using the ulna bone in your forearm, (ulna-bottom, radius-top) strike the pneumogastric nerve in the side of the neck and let the momentum of your relaxed hand further the depth of impact. When striking it you overload the central nervous system. Effecting a one strike knock out.

Unlike in recent years when yourd expect to catch the flu at a particular time of year, this is now a misconception. People catch the flu at all times of the year due to regular long distance travel by plane spreading diseases much swifter.

Along with Influenza A Virus H3N2 which is the normal seasonal form are also the more dangerous subtypes H1N1 known as Swine Flu and H1N2 known as Avain Bird Flu.

There are also two other bugs in our environment well worth being aware of. The first is MRSA which stands for Multidrug-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus or Golden Staph. Once thought to be associated with hospital infections is now within the comunity.Worldwide, an estimated 2 billion people carry some form of either Community-Acquired (CA-MRSA) or Hospital-Aquired (HA-MRSA), up to 53 million 2.7% are carriers.

This is considered a superbug due to its resistance to some disinfectants and antiseptics. Alcohol and ammonium along with hydrogen peroxide make good surface sanitizers along with Tea Tree or Eucalyptus Oils (Melaleuca).

The third bug to keep an eye out for is Escherichia coli or E.coli Bacterium. Which is found in the lower intestine of warm blooded animals. There are 5 strains of E coli, 4 of which are mostly harmless and are part of the normal flora of the gut and produce vitamin K and prevent pathogenic bacteria within the intestine.The O157:H7 strain causes severe food poisoning.

There are some very simple things you can do to drastically reduce the chances of contracting any of these strains.

The flu virus is relatively weak and gets killed very quickly by direct sunlight. One of the reasons why the flu spreads more rapidly in the autumn and winter is that people start spending more time indoors.When people with the flu breathe or sneeze indoors, the sun can’t kill the virus in their spittle. The virus can stay airborne for 11-17 minutes after being sneezed.

1. Have a reserve supply of food, water, medicines on hand. Stock up on 2-4 weeks of non-perishable food if you decide to self-quarantine.

2. Carry hand sanitizer containing alcohol and aloe. Use it after opening doors, shaking hands, etc. If you don’t use a sanitizer with moisturizer in it, you are very likely to develop micro cracks in your skin that will allow viruses and bacteria direct entry into your system.

3. Wash your hands regularly throughout the day, with soap.

4. Carry a pen to use rather than the ones at stores and to also push road crossing buttons etc.

5. Use a paper towel to shut off water & open doors in public restrooms.

6. Try to telecommute that is to purchase items and pay bills over the net to avoid possible centers of infection such as post offices.

7. Avoid touching your face unless you’ve just washed your hands. Pay particular attention to your eyes, mouth, and nose.

8. Drink tea or warm liquids every day. Gargle daily with salt water. Why? Because viruses need time in the back of your throat to reproduce enough to reach critical mass and overwhelm your immune system. By using salt water and/or warm liquids, you can wash many of the virus particles out of the throat and into the stomach, where stomach acids will kill them.

Quite a few of our clients live totally of the grid, and we think that is pretty cool! The info here will be very helpful to anyone thinking about alternative energy. First thing to contemplate is – do you have sufficient sun or wind on your property? If you are building in Puna, wind is generally lacking for most. The beauty of wind is if you have some, you might be able to keep your battery arsenal at a healthy voltage at night without running a generator. Which brings up another important point- the easiest, cheapest, most efficient and greenest way to go as far as having alternative power is to be hooked up to the grid. Why you ask? Well, if you are being powered mostly by PV panels during the day, and you are off-grid, your battery arsenal will most likely be maxed out by 10 am, and all that power you are producing via those panels is being totally wasted because if you were to over charge that arsenal, you quickly destroy it.

　

If you are on the grid, you spin your meter backwards, the grid holds that energy, and delivers it back to you whenever you need it, even at night, with no need to fire up that generator. Refrigeration makes it so you generally will need to run that generator all night, or turn off the reefer for some time every night as refrigeration pulls a massive amount of power. Think about that one for a while! Because of this, many buy propane powered reefers. They are pretty effective but small and much more expensive. They beat running a generator all night! And not having to run that generator at night means no carbon monoxide getting into your home either. Hot water and cooking round out the other two high energy consumers. Off or on grid folks can use either solar hot water or on-demand propane hot water, both work well if designed well. Gas for cooking is a no-brainer for off grid folks, and on grid folks can benefit from the superior properties of gas cooking. Every chef worth his salt insists on only gas cooking, electric cannot compare! If I were totally off-grid, I would want to have wind, lower my power needs and produce pretty much what I need and not have a massive energy production infrastructure nor a massive battery arsenal. Why? Batteries require a lot of maintenance if you want them to last and serve you well. Here are some things to consider that you may have never been told:

　

PV Basics & Recommendations

Basics first- With an off-grid PV or PV/wind system, you have PV panels and/or windmills which feed into a charger/controller first, and then the energy is delivered into your battery arsenal. This charger/controller makes sure that your arsenal receives this energy at a controlled rate and voltage, and it protects your arsenal from becoming over-charged, which is crucial to your arsenals lifespan. Then, depending on the voltage you have designed your battery arsenal to be, you have the appropriate inverter which converts the power stored in your arsenal from whatever voltage it is at to whatever voltage you need for consumption, usually 115 volts, which is standard household voltage for everything except 220 volt things, which most people would not have if off-grid. Yes, there are panels with built-in inverters to give you 115 Volt power straight from that panel, but if you have a battery system off-grid, you must have a charger/controller, so it makes no sense to buy panels with that built-in inverter, that is strictly for on-grid PV systems, which do not require a charger/controller nor inverter, which is another compelling reason why on-grid PV-wind has huge advantages vs off-grid – it is less expensive, does not waste any energy produced and has no battery arsenal unless you want one for power outages at night. Now- our recommendations:

　

Keep it simple! 12 V inverters are not as efficient as 24 or 48 V inverters, BUT- a 12 V system means much more flexibility with your battery arsenal. Why? Because lead acid solar PV batteries are typically 6V per each battery, so making a 24 or 48 volt arsenal means a lot of batteries, and if one or more individual batteries start crapping out on you, they will drag the entire arsenal down to the performance of the worst battery, so that behooves you to change those bad ones out, then as time goes on, the arsenal in general inevitably looses performance, you change out the entire arsenal and go all over again. Of course, there are lithium ion batteries that are generally better than lead acid, but they ain’t cheap from what I have seen. Regardless of what kind of batteries you choose, with 12 volt systems, the whole battery scene is much cheaper and easier to maintain. Also, 12 volt inverters are a lot cheaper! What I recommend is using multiple inverters in the home- regular cheap ones for things that are not super sensitive to voltage fluctuations and sine-wave inverters for things that are.

　

Most commercial PV guys like more centralized systems using a single 48 volt inverter whereas we kind of prefer decentralized systems that are configured with a little more thought involved in the systems design. The bottom line with off-grid systems is really evaluating your energy use, and minimizing it. The more you push electrons into and out of your arsenal, the faster you wear it out. Now you can probably see why we prefer on-grid support. That being said, we totally understand that folks like to get away from people, the government, utility companies etc. It is not a problem helping you with whatever objectives you have in mind, it just simply costs much more to live off-grid generally speaking, and is a lot more hassle and sacrifice. It can be done though, and it can be a fairly comfortable life if you plan it out nicely and thoroughly.

　

Wind power

There are companies that make cool little units from highly modified automobile alternators that are around $400 more or less. You can purchase them one at a time and assess your needs as you go. Again, we cannot over emphasize the beauty of having power at night to keep that arsenal at a healthy voltage without running that generator. If you are in the Puna jungle, you most likely do not have enough wind to warrant the purchase. Folks in Hamakua, Kohala, South Point etc generally have tons of wind. There are a lot of things to consider when searching for that new location to build at. If that magic place is totally off-grid, go for it, and plan intelligently!

　

Other helpful info

LED lighting is very energy efficient and reasonably priced, making it an obvious choice for those off-grid. Every light source has its own feel and nature, so living on-grid does give you more options when it comes to lighting. Download an energy inventory form online and carefully evaluate the power consumption of your lighting and everything you use in your home. You will be greatly surprised at how much more you use vs what you think you use, and you will forever change the way you look at how you live your life. It is a great first step to becoming more efficient and green.

At the present time, if you are away from a County sewer line, you can install a cesspool or septic tank system depending on your properties location. Your typical systems are anaerobic, which means that they use bacteria that do not use oxygen to break down the solid waste. There are systems that pump air into those solids and uses bacteria that live on oxygen. If you decide to go with a cesspool or septic tank system, we recommend an aerobic system so you have much fewer problems with waste backing up. You can contact us for info regarding aerobic systems that work with traditional septic systems. You can also choose to use composting toilets with a gray water processing system so you can re-use your processed gray water. This costs more than a cesspool or septic tank system, and generally can be put in place when you are building new, because of the need to separate your brown water from gray water plumbing. Hawaii code states that if you are close to a county sewer system, then you must hook into that system.

　

We are not 100% opposed to that concept so long as there is motivation for people to use new toilets that are pressurized and use much less water, and so long as folks can legally exercise the option to use safe, alternative systems like the ones we recommend. Our system does not put any additional strain whatsoever on the counties sewage system, which is a good thing. It also allows people to use processed “gray water” for watering lawn and plants. With a composting toilet system, the state wastewater division gets involved because of the necessary “gray water” processing system that treats your gray water. (Gray water is waste water that originates from your showers and sinks). It will cost quite a bit of money (about $3500.) to build a gray water processing system that will pass State Wastewater’s inspection. A gray water plan is required from a licensed wastewater engineering Co. Gray water can be used to water your trees and lawn. We think it would be great if people would utilize this system. There would be less stress and strain on the county sewage system, and less spillage during severe rainstorms. That is a good thing.

　

The Composting Toilet

What the heck is a composting toilet? It is a toilet that is not attached to a county sewer line or to a septic tank. There are flushing and non-flushing models. We prefer the flushing model as do most people considering this option. It works on very simple earthly principles of special bacteria composting the waste. Users add peat moss to the system to assist the special bacteria in composting the waste. There is a vent pipe with a solar fan that helps to evaporate moisture from the unit. Amazingly, there is no odor or smell. The flushing model uses only one pint of water per flush. The flushing model costs about $2000. each to get delivered to you in Hawaii. Every 30 days, you rotate the upper drum into the lower drum where the waste dries into a dry brick that has no bacteria remaining in it. You simply clear that lower drum every 30 days and use that brick for compost in your garden or yard. It does obviously require a small shift in lifestyle. This incredible sanitation system could be a great boon to people wanting to live on land that has little or no infrastructure, for properties sitting on a lot of solid rock, and for those who want to re-use their gray water instead of throwing it away. Also, non-profit service agencies could use such systems on leased land in areas with minimal infrastructure.

　

Gray water processing systems

The state and counties are concerned about people who might want to use composting toilets not disposing their gray water properly, and we understand that concern. We do not want any pollution to occur. Where we differ is we feel that it should be legal to use a gray water processing system in conjunction with composting toilets for those where it makes a lot of sense. What we are proposing is simply allowing people, especially thosein rural areas to have an option. We think its possible for those desiring this system to run it properly, with very little chance of polluting the land or wetlands. The State currently requires a fairly expensive and complicated gray water treatment system. It will cost quite a bit of money to build a gray water processing system that will pass State Wastewater’s inspection (about $3500). A gray water plan is required from a licensed wastewater engineering Co. We wish it was not so complicated and costly to do this. It is recommended that you use pure, natural vegetable based soaps, laundry detergents, shampoos etc for best results, and to also not put too much grease and fats down your drain. Garbage disposals would be out of the question.

　

Again, we are talking about some shifting of lifestyle, but we feel many are enthusiastically ready to be a part of a cleaner and more conscious world. It makes sense to re-use this water for watering your lawn and plants so you don’t need to use county water for this purpose. That would obviously save some water. We feel that the kind of persons employing this kind of sanitation system generally has to be pretty much on the ball to design and propose it, and would not want to pollute their own surroundings, so we think it should be allowed with strict rules and also penalties should anyone not take proper care of their “decentralized sanitation system”. With this being legal, folks in rural areas, and in areas not predisposed to conventional or septic tank type sanitation systems could have a much easier go at things. It potentially could also save taxpayers from paying huge sums of tax money to build sewage systems in rural areas, but that would require the government to promote the systems. Don’t hold your breath! Keep checking back to this site for more information, or send us an.

 

 

 

The process is simple, but you need to do things in the right order, the right way, with the right products.

Warning- Do not get acid on skin or in your eyes. Most of the products we recommend here are unhealthy to breathe. Always use a properly working double respirator made for organic vapors, and professional grade particle mask when grinding. Thank you!

　

Step one- Get a small, light weight, high rpm (12,000 minimum) grinder- 4.5″ is a recommended diameter, but any size will work. We recommend the bosch 7.2 amp grinder available at gaspro, it is the cadillac of grinders, and only costs $78. You can use the ¼” thick metal grinding discs for the tough stuff, and the braided wire cups for those hard to reach areas. Large, heavy grinders will wear you out quick, they buck too easily, do not spin fast enough and are not at all recommended. Grind off the rust that is flaking on the surface down until you hit metal. Don’t worry about grinding every tiny rust vein inside the metal, just get everything off until you get to bare metal with little veins of rust inside the metal, and do that everywhere on the container. Do step two as soon as possible, don’t leave bare metal unprotected for more than 12 hours.

　

Step two- Apply the zinc phosphate acid treatment made by the EZ clean company called etch and prep, available at home depot for about $15/gallon as directed, apply liberally onto the grinded metal and let it sit for 4 or more hours. A pressure washer is the best if you can get one to blast off the rust in those deeper veins that the acid has eaten. I usually do 2-3 acid treatments on the rust, washing with a pressure sprayer after each application. This is easier than grinding into those veins forever with the grinder. When you have eaten down to bare metal as best as you want to do, wash the entire container with industrial grade liquid detergent and a large, abrasive green scrubby cloth. We recommend using a drywall sanding swivel pad and pole and attaching two large green scrubby cloths that are sewn together to the large rectangular swiveling pad. This is because they don’t seem to make a green scrubby long enough to reach across the swivel pad. The swivel pole pad fits inside the corrugated metal surfaces of the container really well. Doing this on your hands and knees is not fun!

　

From this point, you have two processes to choose from- doing it well or doing it exceptionally well. I will start with doing it well:
Spray or brush or roll entire container the minute it is dry after scrubbing with detergent with Zinser “BIN” brand shellac based primer. The Zinser product bonds very aggressively. It cleans up only with denatured alcohol, also available at home depot. You need to put two finish coats of high gloss oil based enamel. Do this one coat at a time, giving the first coat about 12 hours drying time. You only have 2 days max to put the second coat on, high gloss oil doesn’t stick to itself well after 2 days. The company that made the paint I most like, ICI Paints, no longer makes it, so rustoleum high gloss oil based enamel is adequate. Do not ever use water based paint on your container. It does not seal off air or moisture at all, it is worthless IMHO. There is something magic about industrial grade high gloss oil based paint on metal. Use a respirator for all painting as all these paints are unhealthy to breath. You can reapply a new finish coat on containers where they are exposed to the elements every 3-5 years, or as needed, and your containers will most likely out-live you. Always wash down with industrial liquid detergent and prime before putting on a new top coat of high gloss paint.

　

How to do it exceptionally well

Option 1- Once container is totally dry after the washing, apply one coat of the POR-15 rust treatment only on the grinded metal areas with a brush (not on entire container) and apply a second coat 20 minutes later approx. Two coats of POR-15 is essential! You cannot spray it, and a roller is wasteful, so use a large brush for big areas. Do not apply second coat of the POR-15 earlier or much later. Once all grinded areas have 2 coats of POR-15, let cure 24 hours or whatever the can says (I believe 24 hrs is right). Kona Marine or J&J hardware in Hilo are the only places to get POR-15. You can also order it online, just google POR-15 to get to their site. It is about $45 per quart, and goes a fairly long way. You need to wear a good double respirator as the fumes are horrendous, and there is no solvent to break it down, so don’t spill on yourself or anything important. Once you open a can, you need to use the whole can fairly quickly as it doesn’t store very long. I pour it into multiple smaller mason jars and use 1 entire 8 oz mason jar in one sitting. Be sure to not have much air in the mason jars, and cap tightly right away. I have successfully stored it that way for several months. Air exposure will cause the POR-15 product to get thick and set-up really quickly. This product is the best defense against rust in the world if you use it properly as I explain in this article. Once the POR-15 cures as directed by the company, then prime and finish paint as described above, right away. The POR-15 shuts out oxygen and water vapor exceptionally well, but it needs the industrial oil top coats as the sun breaks down POR-15 fairly quickly. Rust bullet is also a good coating that is similar to POR-15.

　

Option 2- If you don’t want to do such a nit picky job grinding rust, you can grind off the thick rust and not grind down to the veins, just knock off until you hit bare metal and don’t continue much further. Then apply a special rust penetrating sealer, then 2 coats of a special epoxy barrier coating, then finish off right away with an aliaphatic polymer paint. We can get these products for you and ship or deliver, call us for pricing and info. The Aloha Stadium project is using these products here on option 2, it is a lot easier than our option 1, but we feel that option 1 is better.

　

Ceramic paint to reflect heat

To reflect the suns heat, we highly recommend “Hawaiian sunguard” ceramic elastomeric coating applied 4 coats thick. This product has an additive called lipocryl, which makes the coating hold up exceptionally well with ponding water on the roof. That is very very significant and important. Other elastomeric coatings do not have the same performance with ponding water and severe weather conditions. We can supply you with the product, ship and deliver it, call for info and pricing. (If the ceramic paint is too much hassle or cost for you, you can achieve some degree of cooling if you use a very light color paint, and the high gloss recommended here also helps reflect heat.) If you use Hawaiian sunguard, then you only need to use the oil based enamel on the grinded areas and not on the entire container. Do not put the ceramic paint system down without first using the oil based paint on the grinded areas as that paint is very effective to help seal air and moisture away from the rusted areas that you have grinded. Even if you opt for either of our more extensive processes, the ceramic coating is recommended to reflect heat. Hawaiian sunguard utilizes a water-based epoxy primer that you can use on top of oil based paint once it has cured for only 2 days approx. The primer sticks to anything, like a magnet. Do not ever use any elastomeric coating without first using the recommended primer. Bonding is everything!

　

Always keep containers off the ground. Moisture wicks up from the ground, from a concrete slab and also on blacktop. You can put one on the ground only if you place a waterproofing membrane inbetween the container and the surface you place it on. It is obviously easier to put it on concrete blocks. We use 16″ X 16″ X 5″ thick blocks from home depot, they cost about $10 each. Call us for recommendations on how to do this properly. Unfortunately, it is much too much trouble to treat underneath the container floor, but if you’re off ground, container floors rarely rust out completely unless you are right on the ocean. If you are concerned, you can put a rust-proofing compound from NAPA over the rusted areas underneath to help starve the rust from air and moisture. This rustproofing compound does stink for quite a while, and the vapors are not particularly healthy to breath, so we prefer to not use it for health reasons.

To conclude- it is so much easier and cheaper to work with a new container, which costs about $1600 more for a 40’ high-cube. Doing all this rust work and paying for all these expensive paints is not cheap and the labor is not fun. If you pay someone to grind the rust, you will pay a ton of money, so be smart and buy a new container and all you will need to do is keep it coated every 4-5 years or as needed. The floor on a new container is not rusty, it has fresh undercoating, so you do not have to worry about your structure crumbling after all the money you spend building it out. Again, we highly recommend the Hawaiian sunguard ceramic paint- it really works, and it is NSF rated for water catchment. Cost to put their primer and 4 finish coats on a 40′ container is about $800. 4 coats is highly recommended to reflect and insulate the suns hot rays so most of that heat does not even reach the metal. Insulation inside is good, but not without reflecting as much of the suns heat first from the outside as possible. A metal container structure behaves like a wood home with 4 coats of this ceramic coating on it. We can supply you with Hawaiian sunguard, and instruct you how to use it properly.