09-23-2008, 09:36 AM
Volcano, hurricane, earthquake, they could all leave you wishing you had prepared better. I remember the morning of the earthquake, here on Oahu, the long lines of people waiting to be escorted into WalMart and Times, only an hour or two after the quake. I remember thinking, "they couldn't be hungry yet!" I know I could do better but I have at least canned goods and bottled water for two weeks. Sanitation? There is an empty field near my house and I have tools to dig a hole.
The safe room is an interesting topic. As far as vog is concerned an air conditioner would clean the air pretty well because of the condensation on the cooling coil, but the drainage from the coil would be sulfuric acid. If there was ash, then filters and A/C coils would load up pretty quick. How quick I don't know. Ease of cleaning, again I don't know. Structuraly a saferoom is supposed to stand up to high winds, earthquakes, intruders, etc. It would be best incorporated into the original design of a house, such as having a poured concrete block section on the ground floor, then having an open, airy, wood living space above. I have seen things that looked like concrete septic tanks that can be buried under your front steps or in the back yard, but they were little more than fallout shelters. For the vog you don't need structural strength but you do need properly designed ventilation with filtering. However you can't tell ahead of time which disaster you are going to face so build a saferoom to cover all bases.
The safe room is an interesting topic. As far as vog is concerned an air conditioner would clean the air pretty well because of the condensation on the cooling coil, but the drainage from the coil would be sulfuric acid. If there was ash, then filters and A/C coils would load up pretty quick. How quick I don't know. Ease of cleaning, again I don't know. Structuraly a saferoom is supposed to stand up to high winds, earthquakes, intruders, etc. It would be best incorporated into the original design of a house, such as having a poured concrete block section on the ground floor, then having an open, airy, wood living space above. I have seen things that looked like concrete septic tanks that can be buried under your front steps or in the back yard, but they were little more than fallout shelters. For the vog you don't need structural strength but you do need properly designed ventilation with filtering. However you can't tell ahead of time which disaster you are going to face so build a saferoom to cover all bases.