Tips for Homeowners

Winter is here - and many of us are spending more time in our homes. Here are some things to think about to make your home more comfortable.

Holiday Lights

We all love to see the bright shining lights of the holiday season on our homes, but you don't want to be the last person on the block with your lights up. Yet patience is needed, lights are expensive, and you will want to use them next year, so turn them off and wait until it warms up to take them down. Our frigid weather can cause the wires to become more brittle and they can snap/break internally and fail. It is best to take them down when it is-over 40 degrees.

Also, when storing your lights, keep each set in its own storage bag (Heafty Ziplock) to prevent the tangled ball of lights.

Humidifier Pads/filters

Do you have a built-in humidifier on your furnace? If you do, you need to check the pad/filter and replace it at least yearly. These pads/filters can stop being effective due to build up from water contaminants. If you have hard water it can cause build up to happen more quickly and you will need to replace more frequently. For your best air quality experience set a calendar reminder to replace.

Previous Posts

• Furnace filters (paper), when to replace them and with which one?

  • There many different types filters most ranging in their ability to trap unwanted elements. obviously we want the best filtration we can have but there is costs and draw backs.

    • The more the filter traps the more the filter costs but more important the shorter its life span.

    • The better the filter traps more of the unwanted elements the more the filter becomes restrictive, requring your cooling/heating system to run longer and reduces your systems ability to manage your environment to your desired level.

    • The better quality filters are directional and use a mesh on one side to provide structural support.

    • For examples 3M (MN own) makes excellent filters where the higher the model number the better the quality.

    • When to replace

      • Inspect your filter and if you see if it deforming and/or so dirty that very little to no light can be seen through it, it's time to replace.

      • Each home is different so keep a log of your filter changes and replace filters before the problems happen.

      • Buy in bulk and have then on hand, also most good filters are air flow dirrectional remember this when installing.

• Smoke/carbon Dioxide detector battery replacements

  • When is it a good time to change your batteries?

  • Each type of detector is diffent but most newer designs with start to cherp when its time, do not ignore this cheap becasue after a while the batteries will completely die and will stop cheaping and you may forget.

  • Also after changing your batteries if your detector coninuses to cheap its time to replace it(Most have a 10 year life span). Most units now have a built-in clock. there is a limit on the life of detectors.

  • When its time to change your batteries I prefer Lithium. these batteries last longer and that means less time on the ladder. these batteries come in multiple types; such as 9v, AA, AAA, etc. they do cost more but there are often on sale at the large box club stores. having extra around never hurts.

• LED bulbs and dimmer switches

  • Many of us now have moved away from incandescent light bulbs to Led and some older fluorescents bulbs.

  • In the beginng led and fluorescent bulbs were not compatible with dimmer light switches, but today many of the new led bulbs are. But there are some older high tech dimmer switches that have problems with these low power bulbs. Many of these switches use a small amount of power to control the light. Sadly, this is usually enough power to keep the lights on at a dimmed level or cause the swith to cycle on/off and/or flicking of the lights. this happened to us. there are four solutions:

1. Replace your dimmers (high cost).

2. Keep using incandescent bulbs (higher energy costs and low bulb life).

3. If the light fixture has more the one bulb you can use one incandescent bulb and change the others to leds. (we did for many of our light fitures, but when the one regular bulb burns out the problems return until replaced).

4. Use higher wattage led bulbs. There is now available 100w equivalent light output led bulbs, these bulbs draw more power, enough to satisfy the minimum required by the dimmer switches in most cases in multi light fixtures.

• • Also when replacing fluorescents bulbs be very careful many contain hazardous elements, some even have mercury.

  • Many home improvements stores have collection bins for such bulbs with special bags to place them in. But they do not take the long cylinder style fluorescents bulbs.

• Outside Water Lines avoiding burst water lines.

  • With low temperature now near and/or below freezing its time to shut off the water to our outdoor spigots. In addition after turning off the water drain the existing water from the line. To do this; some shut off values have a small cap that allows you to reduce the pressure and drain some of the water out of the pipe and/or open up the outside value after the water is off to these spigot to do the same, after theres no more water coming out close the value so to not let cold air and other foreign items in the pipe. **You should check with your plummer to ensure saftey and proper steps for your pipes.