If you live in Sonoma, Napa, or Marin, you know the drill. Fire season rolls in, PG&E announces a Public Safety Power Shutoff, and you've got a few hours to get ready. A little prep protects your food, your appliances, and your wallet.
Here's the short version: before the outage, get your fridge and freezer as cold as possible and plan your backup. During it, keep the doors closed and unplug anything with a control board. After it, follow the food-safety clock and watch for surge damage. The details are below.
Before the Outage
- Turn the fridge and freezer to their coldest settings a few hours ahead. The colder they start, the longer they hold.
- Fill empty freezer space with jugs of water or bags of ice. A full freezer stays cold far longer than an empty one, and the frozen water becomes drinking water later.
- Group perishables together in the fridge so they hold cold as a mass, and keep a cooler with ice ready for the must-save items.
- Know where your breaker panel is and have a flashlight nearby.
- Plan your backup power if outages in your area tend to run long (more on that below).
During the Outage
- Keep the refrigerator and freezer doors closed. An unopened fridge holds for about 4 hours. A full freezer holds about 48 hours, half-full about 24.
- Unplug board-driven appliances (ovens, microwaves, dishwashers, anything with a screen) to protect them from the surge when power returns.
- Leave the fridge and freezer plugged in on a surge protector so they restart on their own, or unplug and plan to power them back up manually when the grid is stable.
- Don't run a gas oven for heat. It's not designed for it and it's a safety risk.
Keeping the Fridge Running on Backup Power
For a short outage, a closed door is enough. But our PSPS events can stretch into multiple days, and that's long enough to lose a freezer full of food. A refrigerator actually draws fairly little power once it's cold, so a mid-size portable solar generator can carry it through an extended outage and recharge from a foldable solar panel during daylight.
A local option we like is California Sunlight Corporation, a Sacramento company that builds portable solar generators (1,000W to 3,000W) and foldable solar panels sized for exactly this kind of fire-season backup. If you're tired of losing a fridge full of groceries every time the power goes out, a portable solar setup is worth a look.
Dr. Bing Gu
Founder, California Sunlight Corporation
A Sacramento maker of portable solar generators and battery backup systems, sized to keep a refrigerator running through a multi-day PSPS. A trusted partner of Kelly's.
After Power Returns
The food-safety rule is simple and worth memorizing: if perishable food has been above 40°F for more than 2 hours, throw it out. When in doubt, throw it out. Don't taste-test questionable food, and don't rely on smell. A lot of dangerous bacteria leave no odor.
For the freezer, food that still has ice crystals or is at 40°F or below can be safely refrozen. If it's fully thawed and warm, it goes.
Then check your appliances. Plug the board-driven ones back in one at a time. If something won't turn on or throws an error code, first check the breaker, since outages sometimes trip them. If the breaker is fine and the appliance is still down, it's most likely a surge-damaged control board.
When an Appliance Doesn't Survive the Surge
The most common appliance damage from a PSPS happens at restoration, not during the outage. The surge when power snaps back can take out a control board on a refrigerator, oven, or dishwasher. If that happens, stop cycling power to the appliance and give us a call.
Here's the good news: a fried board doesn't always mean a new appliance, or even a pricey new board. We often rebuild boards at the component level, which can save you hundreds over a full replacement. And if it's your refrigerator that took the hit, our refrigerator repair team carries common parts on the truck.
Kelly's Appliance Center has helped North Bay families through fire seasons since 1975. If a power event left an appliance down, book a repair online or call (707) 664-9702. Not sure if it's worth fixing? Our repair or replace guide helps you decide.
