# EMP America without electric long term? Never happen



## budgetprepp-n (Apr 7, 2013)

What if a huge EMP hit America and knocked out all the grid and transformers and America went black? 
I don't think it would stay that way very long. We have technology we didn't have 150
years ago. Even before the civil war we had big machine shops with lathes and other
machinery that took a lot of power to turn. The only reason they weren't spinning generators 
was because they didn't know what electric was. I don't know about the pepole in the city
but I'm sure the hillbilly's around here would have the town lit up in no time. 

I don't know if they would use Wind, Water or solar power but I'm sure the lights in town
would come back on. We tend to forget how resourceful humans can be.

When TSHTF you are going to see pepole build things out of junk that you never
would Have thought possible.


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## SOCOM42 (Nov 9, 2012)

budgetprepp-n said:


> what if a huge emp hit america and knocked out all the grid and transformers and america went black?
> I don't think it would stay that way very long. We have technology we didn't have 150
> years ago. Even before the civil war we had big machine shops with lathes and other
> machinery that took a lot of power to turn. The only reason they weren't spinning generators
> ...


those machines, pre civil war were run direct with steam power and had been ever since fulton invented the steam engine.

Factories had a central power source and distributed that power throughout with a series of overhead shafting with takeoff wheels at machine points.

There was a lot of water power used in the connecticut valley in the 18th and early 19th century.

All that gave way to electric power with generators by edison and tesla in the later part of the 19th century.

Finding steam engines today is almost impossible, i have in the past tried.

No, if we loose the primary xformers supporting the grid we will be sucking wind for a long time.

The bigger the generator the greater the horsepower that is needed to drive the load,

so your locals cannot overcome physics with ingenuity to power a town.


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## dwight55 (Nov 9, 2012)

About the best they could hope for would be to set up a number of smaller units in tandem, . . . synchronized (a task all in itself), . . . so those without generators could at least have a light bulb, refrigerator, and a furnace fan for the winter.

And that would be a tough sell from those who don't have, didn't buy, and laughed at, . . . to those who DO HAVE.

I would be hard put to add mine to the group.

May God bless,
Dwight


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## Auntie (Oct 4, 2014)

budgetprepp-n said:


> What if a huge EMP hit America and knocked out all the grid and transformers and America went black?
> I don't think it would stay that way very long. We have technology we didn't have 150
> years ago. Even before the civil war we had big machine shops with lathes and other
> machinery that took a lot of power to turn. The only reason they weren't spinning generators
> ...


While I understand what you are getting at I have to disagree with your theory. I believe those that can do something (not people that are prepared) will wait because they will believe that the government will fix it. When they realize they are not going to fix the problem within a reasonable amount of time, people will be focusing on helping their family situation. Then there will be talk of doing something for the neighbors, then the neighborhood, then a larger area.

The problem in my opinion is that when you go past the neighbors people are going to want to discuss who does what and when. The more people involved the longer it will take to make decisions. What are you going to do about the guy that doesn't want to contribute time, materials, etc? Skip his house?

Have you ever been on a committee? Ever tried to get your neighbors (more than 1) to agree on something?

I can tell you that the neighbors on both sides of my place would do anything to help. However, the crazy neighbor behind us would fight any ideas that we had. The neighbor on the corner is one of those people who can do everything better than anyone else. The people across the street would tell us to have patience, the county will fix it or to wait because God will provide. They had a prayer group for a puppy that had parvo and refused to call a vet for the dog because God would heal the dog. They wouldn't even give it electrolytes.

Resourcefulness is not the problem, it is working together like people used to do in the old days.


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## James m (Mar 11, 2014)

I remember when hurricane Sandy took out a few power stations it took so long to get back up because everything was made overseas. I have a more horrific thought. The grid will go down and people will welcome in not so well meaning foreign powers.


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## Slippy (Nov 14, 2013)

Auntie said:


> ...
> 
> I can tell you that the neighbors on both sides of my place would do anything to help. However, the crazy neighbor behind us would fight any ideas that we had....


Here's a suggestion for the crazy neighbor behind you...Bear with me...

As a former German Shepherd owner, I recall that they tend to have huge bowel movements. Collect the largest and most "moist" of them if possible.

Place them in a large paper bag. Soak part of the paper bag in a very small amount of lighter fluid. Place paper bag filled with German Shepherd waste on doorstep of crazy neigbor, lite carefully with an extended fireplace or grill lighter. Ring neighbors doorbell and haul ass. Hide around the corner or behind another neighbors bush or car and laugh.

Thanks


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## Auntie (Oct 4, 2014)

LOL Slippy I should have mentioned that they are not only crazy but paranoid. Cameras are everywhere! They call the police when someone drives to fast, the kids in the neighborhood ride their atvs or gocarts. They called the police on a neighbor because they had music playing to loud at 9 pm on a Saturday night. My favorite one was when they called the police and they showed up at our house sirens and lights going because they said we were shooting guns. We were using a nail gun and putting up siding on the carport. When the cops were screaming drop the gun my poor nephew dropped the nail gun then threw himself on the ground like they do in the movies.


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## Chipper (Dec 22, 2012)

You need transformers to distribute the power. Each transformer is different for the required distance and use. Being all the transformers are now made overseas and they aren't stockpiled, we are screwed. Sure you can run a wind, water or solar generator for a small area. But unless you have enough to run everything it won't help much. Fuel and food will run out after a few days or weeks as logistics break down. Your brightly lit utopia will be a magnet for all the great people without, enjoy your new friends.


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## tango (Apr 12, 2013)

It won't be the hillbillies, it will be the millions of sheep who cannot survive without their "devices" --


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## DadofTheFamily (Feb 19, 2015)

Bigger issue is that the machines to make spare parts for the machines damaged by EMP are susceptible to EMP weapons too. So are the machines that process the raw materials. EMP is an extinction level event. Too hard to control. IMO, if it happened it would be a rogue nation. My gut tells me the likely SHTF event(s) will be a controlled but accelerating decline in order to continue to deceive the masses and "cook" them like a lobster. Like they are doing now. With that said, I do have a Faraday Cage with some simple comms and tools, just in case.


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## Mad Trapper (Feb 12, 2014)

Most machines in machine shops are now computer controlled and an EMP would render them useless. 

The few remaining manual machines would also be compromised as few old school machinists remain who actually know how to operate things without a computer. America's manufacturing base is for the most part gone anyway. You won't be getting raw materials or spare/replacement parts to fix/maintain most everything.

Think of the burger flippers who would be dumbfounded figuring out the price of a meal then adding in the correct % tax without a computer operated register.

Think of "cooks" having to start with the raw materials to make a meal, on woodstove if you are lucky enough to have one. 

Best have plenty of reference and textbooks because you won't be googling anything.


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## PaulS (Mar 11, 2013)

Because of the way this was worded it sounds like the OP is talking about a high altitude nuke EMP and not a solar EMP. (mostly because he was talking about just the USA being affected. 

Communications all but gone, no power being produced, transmitted, or converted to different voltages. No fuel except what is stored close and no way to get it out of storage that is underground. No natural gas - the electric pumps that move it through the distribution network don't function. No retail sales and no replacement stock because the computers that track sales are all down. No checks, credit or debit cards and no ATMs. The banks are all closed because they can't keep track of or even reference your account information. No water or sewer because the pumps aren't working. No trucks, trains, boats or planes because fuel has to be pumped and the pumps don't work.

We don't have the supplies to rebuild the transformers, generators, or transmission lines and we can't use the raw materials because there is no way to get them out of the ground, transport them, process them, and mill them.
Yep, I'd say it would be 10 years before we could have the components built by our allies - if they remained our allies and a lot of folks will starve, dehydrate, get sick and die in that ten or more years. Within the first month there will be massive loss of life and the numbers will just climb from there.


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## Prepared One (Nov 5, 2014)

Slippy said:


> Here's a suggestion for the crazy neighbor behind you...Bear with me...
> 
> As a former German Shepherd owner, I recall that they tend to have huge bowel movements. Collect the largest and most "moist" of them if possible.
> 
> ...


Ahhh The memories......... Good times.


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## beach23bum (Jan 27, 2015)

Read "One Second After" 
it's a good idea of what will happen.


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