Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Barn In An Emergency
First of all, I hope that everyone who "weathered" this week's storms is okay. We lost power for most of yesterday, but others nearby lost it beginning Sunday and not all power in this area will be restored until sometime tomorrow.
Having the electricity off made Andrew and me think about what we would do should the power fail in July or August, when the rabbits depend on the fans to keep them cool. It's a scary thought. We don't own a generator.
We're on a well with a large pump. The generator my parents own is not strong enough to run the pump. So we would be out of water, too. Yesterday, we supplemented with several gallons of purchased water. Luckily, the new PVC-based system holds a lot more water, so the rabbits not on crocks were able to get some water throughout the day.
But a dribble of water would not be okay in 100 degree weather. And there would be no way to run the misters.
Andrew was chatting with a co-worker about the issue and he mentioned the idea of getting a turbine that generates electricity. He said they run about $600 and can run a 20-amp circuit. That's exactly what the barn is now running on. It's an idea to check into.
He also mentioned solar collectors. I'm not sure whether that would work either, but it's worth checking out as well.
A generator would be a hefty purchase, too, but we've now added it to the long list of things we need to get around to purchasing when we can.
The high winds of this week remind me that we still need to take some dead trees out that are far too close to the barn. There's always something to worry about, isn't there?
Because there have been new reports of barn fires across the country lately, that's been on my mind as well. I'm thinking that the mister system could come in handy if we caught a fire in the early stages, but the location of the valve is not convenient - it's 24 feet from the door. I should create some sort of access for it so that it can be turned on without entering the barn. We have a pressurized water fire extinguisher near the front door. I'll need to purchase another one for the new barn plus make sure the valve for the new sprinklers is easily accessible from outside as well.
I wish there were some way to have a fire alarm system in the barn. I don't think a smoke detector would work because of the high dust content in the barn - we'd probably have daily false alarms. And I wonder whether the temperature of the tin roof would set off a heat detector. The other issue is that I certainly wouldn't want the alarm to sound in the barn. Any false alarms could result in broken backs when the rabbits are frightened. Still, detecting a fire early could make all of the difference in the survival rates of the rabbits.
I know this isn't a very cheerful topic, but it is better to think about it now, in the relative comfort of not dealing with an emergency rather than to think about it when there's a problem and options are severely limited.
Laurie Stroupe
The Nature Trail Rabbitry “Home Of Grand Champions”
Precious Pet Rabbits
Affordable Web Site Design
¶ 4:42 PM
Having the electricity off made Andrew and me think about what we would do should the power fail in July or August, when the rabbits depend on the fans to keep them cool. It's a scary thought. We don't own a generator.
We're on a well with a large pump. The generator my parents own is not strong enough to run the pump. So we would be out of water, too. Yesterday, we supplemented with several gallons of purchased water. Luckily, the new PVC-based system holds a lot more water, so the rabbits not on crocks were able to get some water throughout the day.
But a dribble of water would not be okay in 100 degree weather. And there would be no way to run the misters.
Andrew was chatting with a co-worker about the issue and he mentioned the idea of getting a turbine that generates electricity. He said they run about $600 and can run a 20-amp circuit. That's exactly what the barn is now running on. It's an idea to check into.
He also mentioned solar collectors. I'm not sure whether that would work either, but it's worth checking out as well.
A generator would be a hefty purchase, too, but we've now added it to the long list of things we need to get around to purchasing when we can.
The high winds of this week remind me that we still need to take some dead trees out that are far too close to the barn. There's always something to worry about, isn't there?
Because there have been new reports of barn fires across the country lately, that's been on my mind as well. I'm thinking that the mister system could come in handy if we caught a fire in the early stages, but the location of the valve is not convenient - it's 24 feet from the door. I should create some sort of access for it so that it can be turned on without entering the barn. We have a pressurized water fire extinguisher near the front door. I'll need to purchase another one for the new barn plus make sure the valve for the new sprinklers is easily accessible from outside as well.
I wish there were some way to have a fire alarm system in the barn. I don't think a smoke detector would work because of the high dust content in the barn - we'd probably have daily false alarms. And I wonder whether the temperature of the tin roof would set off a heat detector. The other issue is that I certainly wouldn't want the alarm to sound in the barn. Any false alarms could result in broken backs when the rabbits are frightened. Still, detecting a fire early could make all of the difference in the survival rates of the rabbits.
I know this isn't a very cheerful topic, but it is better to think about it now, in the relative comfort of not dealing with an emergency rather than to think about it when there's a problem and options are severely limited.
Laurie Stroupe
The Nature Trail Rabbitry “Home Of Grand Champions”
Precious Pet Rabbits
Affordable Web Site Design
¶ 4:42 PM
