This article only takes into account the effects of a nuclear EMP and not a solar flare. A solar flare will impact just about grid-connected electronics.
1. Will a microwave work as a Faraday cage?
No. If an EMP strikes, you will notice that all the electronic devices that you stored in a microwave oven will be rendered useless. The microwave is not a Faraday cage.
2. Will a refrigerator work as a Faraday cage?
No, most refrigerators do not work as a Faraday cage. I tested mine, and it’s definitely not a Faraday cage.
3. If I keep a backup mobile phone in my Faraday cage, will it work when I need it?
Yes, your phone will work perfectly. However, it will be rendered almost useless because the network will not be functional. The only form of communication after an EMP will be the radio.
4. Do I need to store batteries in a Faraday cage?
No. They will continue to work regardless and will just take up space in your Faraday cage.
5. Do Faraday cages need grounding?
No.
6. Do I need to keep my solar panels in a Faraday cage?
No. Your solar panel inverter is the only component of the device you need to think about. Do not think about your solar panels; they are going to be okay. Buying an extra inverter is best, and holding it in your Faraday cage so you can remove the useless one after the EMP.
7. If I wrap electronic devices in heavy-duty aluminum foil, will that work?
No. But if you wrap the cardboard box in which you bought them in heavy-duty aluminum foil, this would be an effective Faraday cage.
8. Will flashlights continue to function after an EMP Strike?
Some flashlights will continue to function, and some will burn out. It all depends on the power and distance from the blast.
9. Is a shipping container a Faraday cage?
Yes, but just remember that you can’t just put the electronic devices directly in contact with the metal. Some people board the interior of the container with wooden panels.
10. Can I use this shipping container as a “Faraday garage” for my car?
Yes, you can definitely do that. Most cars fit in a standard shipping container, but just to make sure, go ahead and take the measurements before buying a shipping container.
11. If you turn off your devices, will they be EMP-proof?
No.
12. Are airplanes Faraday cages?
No. Planes operate on the basic principles of lift and thrust, so they will become more or less gliders. They will be very difficult to control and most of them will fall from the sky and crash.
13. How do I test an object to see if it will work as a Faraday cage?
You can test any device that you think might work as a Faraday cage with a radio. Simply turn the radio on and place it inside your device. When a signal is still being transmitted by the radio, then it is not a Faraday cage. You can use a mobile phone if you don’t have a radio, but the tests won’t be 100% accurate in the sense that if your mobile phone still rings, it’s certainly not a Faraday cage, but if it doesn’t, you can’t be sure. To be 100% sure you have a Faraday cage, you need to test it with a radio.
14. Can you EMP-proof a car?
You could build a Faraday cage, but that would mean either you’ll never use your car or you’ll need to purchase a new one. I’ve seen some pictures online of people wrapping them in aluminum, but as I said earlier, it makes no sense.
Instead of making your car EMP-proof, I think you’d better buy an old, cheap car that has a much less vulnerable electric system. Here are the top 6 EMP-proof vehicles.
15. Will a galvanized steel trash can make a good Faraday cage?
Yes, but they can have to close perfectly, and you will have to line the walls with cardboard.
This article only takes into account the effects of a nuclear EMP and not a solar flare. A solar flare will impact just about grid-connected electronics.
1. Will a microwave work
A lot of preppers are worried that, in the event, we’re ever attacked with EMP weapons, most of our vehicles will instantly turn to junk. This isn’t a far-out belief, either; it’s based on testing by the EMP Commission.
It’s true that those tests didn’t cause any permanent damage to the vehicles, but the Commission freely admits that they stopped testing at the level of EMP where the vehicles stopped running – and that was far below the levels that would be emitted by an actual attack.
It’s difficult to predict what damage an EMP attack would do to vehicles because so many variables are involved. We can make some educated guesses, though. We do know that EMP can destroy solid-state electronics, and late-model vehicles depend on those for almost everything. Without its engine management computer, a modern car won’t even start.
If your new truck is caught by an EMP the chances are it’s going to take a lot of work to get it running again. You’re almost certainly going to have to replace all the computers if you can find undamaged spares, and EMP can do funny things to wiring as well.
As the wiring harness is one of the first things installed in cars, replacing it is a huge job. Is it going to be feasible in a country devastated by the attack? I’m not betting on it.
There is another option, though – find yourself a vehicle that doesn’t rely on electronics. Computer-controlled car engines didn’t really exist until the mid-1970s and there were plenty of new cars without them at the end of the decade, so most vehicles that age or older will be much more resistant to EMP. Carbureted engines with simpler wiring looms don’t give the pulse much to get their teeth into.
The bad news is that we’re talking about some pretty old, and often hard-used, vehicles here. The good news is that in many cases you should be able to get a running one for a reasonable amount of money. Here are six EMP-proof vehicles you can pick up for less than $2,000.
Volkswagen Beetle
You can easily pay over $100,000 for a classic Bug in immaculate condition – but you can also get a runner for under $2,000. In fact, while I was writing this I saw one for $500 that just needs some work on the hubs to put it back on the road. The post-1971 “Super Beetle” is usually cheaper than the classic flat windshield model.
The Beetle is built on really old technology. It has a flat-four air-cooled engine without any hint of electronics.
It’s also a rugged and reliable car that’s good enough off-road that the German army put an open-topped body on it and used it as a jeep. It won’t even notice an EMP.
Dune Buggies
VW Bugs are classic cars now, but from the 60s through the early 80s they were just cheap imports – and a lot of people used their simple mechanicals as the basis for a dune buggy. Usually, this involved shortening the Beetle chassis by about a foot and fitting it with a simple, lightweight fiberglass body.
Dune buggies have decent fuel economy and off-road performance, and they don’t rust. They’re also very easy to modify into survival vehicles, and they don’t need a lot of maintenance. You can find a running one for about $800 upwards.
CUCV (Commercial Utility Cargo Vehicle)
In the mid-1970s the US military was running out of utility vehicles. The HMMWV program hadn’t produced anything yet and the old M151 jeeps were wearing out. As a stopgap, thousands of commercial wagons and trucks were purchased, in slightly militarized versions.
There are a few different models of CUCV, but the most common is the M1109 – a 1984-model Chevrolet K5 Blazer. This is a simple vehicle with plenty of load space, 4wd, and a powerful 6.2-liter diesel engine, and it’s ideal as a post-SHTF vehicle. Thousands have been disposed of at auctions and you can easily find a usable one for under $2,000. Try eBay.
International Harvester Scout
The Scout was probably the first mass-produced SUV, even if it was never the most exciting or popular. It’s a simple, sturdy, and reliable vehicle, though, and it has great off-road performance.
The original Scout is starting to get expensive, so look for a Scout II. Manufactured from 1971 to 1980, this is a lot cheaper and just as reliable. You can find rough but repairable ones for under $1,000; $2,000 will get you a good runner.
Chevrolet Cheyenne
Chevrolet produced this full-size truck from 1959 through to the turn of the century, but what you’re looking for is a pre-1980 third-generation model. With a computer-free engine and easily maintained mechanicals, it’s a tough and practical utility vehicle.
A lot of these are still hanging on in rural areas, and you can pick up a running example for under $1,500 if you hunt around. Can’t find a Cheyenne? No problem; most other pre-1980 trucks will do just as well.
Yugo
No, don’t laugh. This cheap and nasty car was imported into the USA from 1985 to 1991 – but mechanically it’s a 1970s Fiat 127, so its 900cc engine is EMP-proof. Incredibly, good examples now sell for up to $15,000 – but you can get an average one for under $1,000 because nobody wants them.
The thing is, this is a cheap communist-built car with a tacky finish and unreliable accessories, but the engine is simple and reliable. It might be an embarrassing car to drive, but it’s a lot less embarrassing than one that won’t start because its electronics are fried.
Other self-sufficiency and preparedness solutions recommended for you:
A lot of preppers are worried that, in the event, we’re ever attacked with EMP weapons, most of our vehicles will instantly turn to junk. This isn’t a far-out belief,
Building a survival stockpile is a challenge on many levels. Trying to afford it, is one challenge. Trying to ensure that it will provide your family with the necessary nutrition, is another challenge altogether; one which can contradict the first one. Making sure that the food and other supplies you have purchased will still be good when you need them is another issue altogether. Forgetting any of these many issues can leave you without the stockpile you need.
The result of all this is that we all make errors in building stockpiles, especially in the beginning. Of these errors, the most critical ones are those where we buy things that don’t last. The real danger here is that we have food that we think is good, but it turns out we don’t. Unless you check your food on a regular basis, this could end up being very dangerous, as the food is unavailable during a crisis, when we need to use it.
It’s imperative that we all check our stockpiles on a regular basis, at least once a year. This is part of my personal new year’s activities; something I try to accomplish sometime during January of every year. Even the best-preserved foods can go bad if something goes wrong in the preservation process. Checking them in January allows me to fit the replacement of those items into my plan for the year.
Some items just aren’t going to last, no matter what you do. Then there are those items you might have in your stockpile, which really aren’t going to do your family much good anyway, due to their lack of nutrition. Getting these items out of your stockpile and replacing them will help your family to be better prepared when the time comes.
Gasoline
Gasoline could end up being one of the most important things you can stockpile. The problem is, it doesn’t store well. Untreated gasoline can only be stored for about six months.
Even treated gasoline doesn’t do all that well, as you can only expect it to still be good for about a year. After that, many of the most combustible elements will have evaporated out, even in a sealed gas can.
Still, you need to have gasoline in your stockpile. The way to do that is to constantly rotate your stock so that none is over six months old. I have a 55-gallon steel barrel, laying on a stand on its side, which I use as a gas tank. Every month I take a tank’s worth of gas out of the drum and put it in my car, replacing that with fresh gas. In this way, I always have a good supply of fresh gas and I burn off the old gasoline.
Please note that my 55-gallon steel drum is a much better storage container for long-term storage of gas than plastic gas cans are. Gas cans are much more likely to leak, as well as absorb the gasoline, changing the chemical structure of the can itself.
Kerosene
Kerosene can also go bad when stored for a prolonged period of time. Condensation is the number one culprit, but not the only one. It will also develop a sludge, created by bacteria and mold that live in the kerosene, feeding off of it.
The solution for keeping kerosene for a prolonged period of time is to rotate your stock, just like I was talking about with gasoline. Always use an opaque plastic container, specifically marked for kerosene.
Breakfast Cereal
Breakfast cereals are a staple in most American households. Sadly though, most breakfast cereals hold very little nutrition for their volume. This makes them very poor food to be stockpiling. You would be better off storing whole grains and granola, which can be mixed together and eaten like cereal.
The other problem with breakfast cereal is that it goes stale very easily, even in a sealed container. Packing breakfast cereals in five-gallon buckets with oxygen absorbers don’t solve this problem, as that doesn’t do a thing about any moisture that might be contained in the bucket or the food itself, as I found the hard way. Adding silica desiccant packages can help, but as I already mentioned, there are other options that are better.
Ground Wheat Flour
Ground wheat flour is difficult to store for prolonged periods of time, due to the propensity to have insects or insect eggs in it. This is actually where the idea of sifting flour first came from. In many countries, you have to sift flour, because of insects getting into it while it is stored.
Storing wheat flour in vacuum-sealed bags, inside of five-gallon buckets, with oxygen absorbers helps. But even then, the flour has a limited shelf life. The difference is that it is about eight years, instead of eight months. But if you store whole grain that way, it will last for 20 years. The natural husk of the grain provides excellent protection from insects, and once you grind it, will provide you with healthier baked goods.
Snack Foods
To put it simply, there is no such thing as a snack food that is worthwhile as survival food. Granted, if that’s all you’ve got, it will provide you with carbohydrates and probably fats. But it will also provide you with a lot of chemicals to go with it. Those foods just aren’t designed to sustain life. The space you’re storing them in can be better used for other things.
Summer Sausage
Sadly, summer sausage just doesn’t store well for a prolonged period of time. I originally thought it would, especially since it normally comes vacuum-packed. But that isn’t enough to keep it from going bad.
What happens to summer sausage is that the curing process that is used to make it doesn’t stop. The nitrates and nitrites added into curing salt help to dehydrate the meat, but also work to break it down, turning what would normally be very tough meat into tender cured meat. But that process doesn’t really stop. The breakdown continues, turning that nice summer sausage into something much mushier.
As best I know that mushy summer sausage isn’t dangerous to eat. I’ve actually eaten it. But the texture and flavor of that sausage aren’t going to be the same. To me, it was really weird to eat.
Chocolate
As a confirmed chocoholic from a family of chocoholics, this one is even sadder than sad. Nevertheless, you can’t keep chocolate for a prolonged period of time, unless you can keep it cold. The problem is that heat causes the natural oils to seep out of the chocolate, messing up the texture and flavor. Eventually, you end up with something that looks more like white powder. It’s not dangerous to eat, but it’s not the chocolate you started out with.
Applesauce in Jars
Canned goods are generally good virtually forever. But there are some exceptions. One of these is applesauce canned in plastic jars.
Glass jars probably wouldn’t cause the same problem, but commercially canned applesauce is generally put into plastic jars. This allows the applesauce to discolor and the flavor to change. After about a year, it’s just not the same.
I have eaten canned applesauce that is more than a year old, without any negative side effects. But since we’re talking about stockpiling here, I don’t want to see what will happen to that applesauce in five or ten years.
Powdered Milk in “Cans”
Most canned powdered milk (and a few other things) comes in cardboard “cans” rather than metal ones. While this is fine for short-term storage, it’s not what you need for storing that milk for 10 or 20 years. The cardboard can become water-damaged, insects can eat their way through it and the milk can spoil.
Fortunately, the milk isn’t the problem; just the packaging. If you vacuum seal the powdered milk in Mylar bags and store it in sealed five-gallon buckets, it will last as long as you want.
Damaged Canned Goods
I’m a firm believer that canned goods can last forever; long past the supposed “expiration date”. At the same time, I recognize that it doesn’t always do that. I know this because I’ve had canned goods go bad; not many, but some.
This problem generally happens with acidic food and can only happen when there is an error in the canning process. The cans for these foods are lined with an acid-resistant film, protecting the metal can from the acid. But if the film doesn’t cover the entire inside of the can or if the film becomes nicked in processing, then the can is no longer protected from the acid in the food. That acid will eventually eat through the can, allowing air and bacteria into the can, where it spoils the food.
Of course, if you are checking your stock on a regular basis, you’ll see any cans with puffy lids, that are leaking, or which have mold on the outside of the cans. When these are found, they must be removed and any cans nearby checked, especially those stored below. At times, the damage will allow acids that spill out, which will attack the unprotected outer side of the cans it spills on.
Building a survival stockpile is a challenge on many levels. Trying to afford it, is one challenge. Trying to ensure that it will provide your family with the necessary nutrition,
