Here are the five things your dryer is letting you know it’s time to clean the dryer vent. BTW, according to the National Fire Protection Association, 5% of all house fire are caused by dryers and washing machine, and of the total — dryers accounts for 92%.
If you don’t have the tools, time, or inclination to do this yourself, we recommend you hire a qualified contractor to take care of this for you. There are many companies that specialize in dryer vent cleaning.
Draft hoods that are pushed down or mispositioned, just like you see in this picture, is an issue I come across all the time. This water heaters draft hood is blocking the indoor air that is normally pulled out through the chimney as well as the poisonous exhaust gases from the water heater. This is an issue called backdrafting.
This issue is dangerous because exhaust gasses may build up in your home and kill you. This is a serious issue and need to be addressed by a licensed HVAC technician.
In the photo above you see there is plenty of room for air to enter the vent and allow good drafting up the chimney. That means when the water heater is turned on, the exhaust gases can easily be pulled out the chimney.
The dryer vent cap serves several purposes, it prevents rain and debris from entering the vent, it keeps out insects and vermin, and it also prevent lint from making a mess all over the outside of your home. Not to mention a missing cap is spoiling the look of your home. It’s a straightforward repair that most homeowners can do themselves, if you don’t have the skills or tools to do this, any qualified handyman can do this for you.
Most of the appliances for sale in the U.S. are ENERGY STAR certified, which means that they use less energy than their conventional, non-energy efficient counterparts.
Run your appliances only when they are full and use them at night when energy is cheaper. Utilities run newer more efficient plants at night while demand is lower saving energy.
Should you buy a new car or wait?
If you need a new car definitely look for a low CO2 emission model, but if you don’t drive a lot it’s more efficient to maintain your old ride.
According to the Stockholm Environment Institute, the production of a typical modern car creates around 8 tons of CO2, equivalent to driving 23,000 miles.
We think we are being green by cutting down on our shower time but if we installed a low-flow shower head — we can enjoy our shower knowing we really are being green.
Thinking your green by cutting down your 9 minutes shower to a quick 6? Think again! Really be green by installing a low-flow shower head and stick with your 9 minute shower.
Did you know? The standard shower head uses 2.5 gallons per minute. Your 6 minute shower just used 15 gallons of water! The typical low-flow shower head uses just 1.5 gallons per minute. Your 9 minute shower uses 13.5 gallons. You’re saving almost 550 gallons per year!
Dust can clog the sensors in your smoke alarms so clean and test all your smoke alarms and if needed replace the batteries too.
Press the “Test” button on all your GFCI outlets in the bathrooms, kitchens, outside receptacles and on the electrical panel to confirm they are working as the manufacture intended. Tip: Some homes are wired so that one tripped outlet will shut off the power in other rooms too, so always double check that your GFCI has been reset.
After a long hard winter of use your filter gets dirty. Change the furnace filter, make sure you instal it so that the arrow on the side of the filter faces in the direction of the air flow.
Take a long hard look at your roof from the ground. I don’t recommend you go on your roof, it’s dangerous for you and it’s not good for your roof. You can also get a good view by looking out a window onto the roof below. You are looking for any shingles or tiles that have broken loose, any flashings that have rusted through or have also come loose. If you’re at all unsure of anything you see, give us a call for a roof inspection and we will review our findings with you.
Clean gutters and leaders and make sure downspouts and splash pads drain away from walls and foundation.
Inspect the caulking inside and out and touch-up or replace where needed with the appropriate products.
Windows get really dirty over the winter so give them a good cleaning, not only the glass surface but also, the window tracks and make sure weep holes are not blocked (including sliding door tracks – lubricate openers and track rollers with silicone spray).
Remember to turn on the interior water supply to your hose bibs and exterior faucets.
The soil around your foundation tends to compact over the winter and spring is a great time (especially before the spring rains) to build the soil back up. I don’t recommend mulch (termites love it) or gravel (it allows the water to go down into the soil faster) — you want compact soil that will direct the water far away from your foundation and basement.
In the winter, water melts and trickles down between small cracks in your concrete. When the temperatures goes down the water freezes, it expands, and pushes apart the concrete. This is the freeze thaw cycle and it will destroy your concrete and masonry. It’s relatively inexpensive to fix these issues before they go too far so it’s important to take a look at these surface in the spring and fix them before serious damage can take hold.
It’s mid-April and airconditioning season will soon be upon us. One thing we can do to get ready is to take a look at our ductwork. A few weeks back I took this picture at an inspection and saw that it was just an isolated section — perhaps a simple fix. A few weeks before this photo I entered an attic and every duct was split open like this — a major issue that needs attention. I recommend a licensed HVAC professional evaluate the situation and then proceed from there.
In hot attic spaces or where exposed to UV light, the plastic vapor barrier of this flexible air conditioning duct material disintegrates leaving its fiberglass insulation exposed to also begin to disintegrate, leak, or possibly blow into the living space of the home.
From ASHI Electrical Power Booklet
If there are too few circuits or their loads are not distributed properly throughout the house, there may be frequent overloads. This kind of service is unsatisfactory and can be a potential fire hazard. If particular breakers trip regularly or specific fuses blow, an electrician should do a load calculation and make appropriate repairs. Each circuit in a house should be clearly labeled so the homeowner or others working on the system can tell which breaker or fuse controls specific outlets, appliance or lights.
The modern, ideal arrangement of duplex receptacles, for safety and convenience, is one for every 12 feet of running wall space one on each wall of the average 10′-by-12′ room. No point on any wall should be further than 6′ from an outlet. The reason is to avoid the use of extension cords, which can become worn, broken, simply overheat and cause a fire. In the kitchen, there should be 20-arnp appliance circuits with outlets serving counters one for every four feet of running wall space. No point along the counter should be more than two feet from an outlet.
Modern homes are equipped with grounded three-slot receptacles. Grounding is installed to provide a safe path for electricity to return to the electrical panel if it gets out of its intended path. For instance, if you’re using a damaged piece of equipment, grounding is intended to complete the circuit and trip the breaker or fuse. Without grounding, the electricity might flow through you in its attempt to return to the panel.
Many older homes have two-slot receptacles. If you only use appliances with two-prong plugs, it isn’t necessary to upgrade. Any appliance with a three-prong plug needs a properly grounded three-slot receptacle. Sometimes an electrician can easily upgrade outlets; other times upgrading requires rewiring.
Even if a system is properly grounded, minor faults in a circuit can cause dangerous shock to a person using an electrical appliance in a damp location or near water. For this reason, the National Electrical Code®now requires a Ground-Fault Circuit Interrupter (GFCI) in damp places, such as bathrooms, kitchen/ bar countertops, hydro-massage tubs, hot tubs, swimming pools, unfinished basements, garages, accessory buildings, crawlspaces, and exterior receptacles. Exterior receptacles also require watertight covers.
The GFCI senses the flow of electricity through a circuit. If more current is flowing through the black (hot) wire than the white (neutral) wire, there is a current leakage. The GFCI, which can sense a ground leak of as little as .005 amps, will shut off the current in 1/40 of a second, which is fast enough to prevent injury.
If you do have Ground-Fault Circuit Interrupters, it is recommended you test (and reset) them monthly. When you push the test button, the reset button should pop out, shutting off the circuit. If it doesn’t pop out or the power stays on even though it pops out, the breaker is not working properly. If not tested once a month, the breakers have a tendency to stick and may not protect you when needed.
Arc-Fault Circuit Interrupters (AFC!) are the newest electrical safety devices. An AFC! senses an arc or short circuit and shuts off the electricity before the arcing can cause a fire. AFC! should also be tested and reset monthly.
Further protection is provided in the electrical system by the use of polarized plugs and outlets, to ensure that the hot and neutral wires of an appliance connect to the hot and neutral wires inside the receptacle. Polarized plugs have one prong wider than the other, so that the plug can only be inserted the correct way.
Most homes are wired with copper.Nevertheless aluminum wiring was widely used in residential construction and remodeling from the 1960s through the mid 1970s. Such wiring can be identified by its dull silver color, not to be confused with older tin-coated copper wiring. The letters AL or the word Aluminum may be stamped on the sheathing or cable.
Homes wired with solid aluminum branch circuits have a greater potential of having hazardous conditions than those with wired copper. Common aluminum wire problems include the following:
These problem conditions create greater electrical resistance that translates into greater heat generation, which increases the potential for fire.
Warning signs of unsafe aluminum wiring include:
A house with aluminum wire may require improvements or may require rewiring, but only a qualified electrician should be allowed to evaluate and repair these potentially dangerous situations.
Modern electrical cables are usually composed of two, three or four insulated wires enclosed in a metallic (called armored) jacket, or in a non-metallic plastic cloth jacket.
In older homes, the conductors sometimes are not enclosed in jackets, but run as pairs of wires supported by porcelain fittings. This wiring system is called Knob-and-Tube wiring. Sections of the system may be visible in the attic or unfinished areas of a basement. While Knob-and-Tube wiring is not inherently dangerous, it is old, and its insulation may no longer be intact. Much of it will be concealed behind walls, ceilings and insulation, where its condition cannot be completely evaluated. It is also an ungrounded system, and therefore is more hazardous than others. In addition, previous homeowners may have improperly spliced into the circuits, thereby increasing the hazards.
If your home has Knob-and-Tube wiring, it would be wise to have the system inspected and repaired by a licensed electrician. If necessary, it should be replaced (which is likely).
From ASHI Electrical Power Booklet
In order for an electrical system to be safe, it must be properly installed according to the requirements of the National Electrical Code®and any local regulations. Licensed electricians follow the code when they install, repair or improve electrical circuits inside a house.
The National Electrical Code is revised every three years in response to changes in the understanding of electrical safety and to accommodate new materials and devices. As a result, any home more than three years old probably doesn’t comply with one or more provisions of the current code.
The National Electrical Code is revised every three years in response to changes in the understanding of electrical safety and to accommodate new materials and devices. As a result, any home more than three years old probably doesn’t comply with one or more provisions of the current code.
In older neighborhoods or rural areas, the utility company provides power to homes through overhead conductors called the service drop. In urban areas and newer neighborhoods, the power comes to the house underground and is called a service lateral.
Typically, the homeowner is responsible, through his or her electrical contractor, for maintaining the electrical system throughout the house up to the utility company connections (usually immediately before the meter).
Many factors determine the available amperage to a home. An electrician or an ASHI member can tell you how many amps your electrical system is set to provide.
With the heavy electrical demand of today’s lifestyles, any service which provides less than 100 amps at 120/240 volts may be considered inadequate for any home, except a small apartment or condominium. A home equipped with modern appliances, such as an electric water heater, range, clothes dryer and central air conditioning, may require 150 amps. If, in addition, the house is heated by electricity or has addi- tional electric appliances, it may require zoo-amp or greater service.
If an electrical service has not been upgraded within the last 40-50 years, the chances are that the amount of power being supplied is inadequate. An inadequate service may have:
Electrical usage is measured in units called watts, which are equivalent to the number of volts times the number of amps. The utility company charges you according to the number
of watts that are registered on the digital readout or dials of your electric meter. The meter itself, which belongs to the utility, may be located inside or outside the house.
The main distribution panel is the heart of the electrical system. It is usually located on a wall near the incoming service entrance wire. The service disconnect can be an integral part of this panel or it can be in a separate panel near the meter. The National Electrical Code allows up to six disconnects to shut of fall the power in a house. It is essential homeowners know the location of all service disconnects and understand how to use them in the event of an emergency.
When too much current flows through a wire, the wire gets hot, sometimes hot enough to destroy the insulation and cause a fire.
This situation, called an overload, may develop from a short circuit, where two bare wires are touching each other or, more frequently,when too many appliances are being used on the same circuit at one time.
To prevent this from happening, the wires in a circuit are protected with safety devices designed to open, or disconnect, the circuit from its source when too much current is passing through them.
There are two kinds of overcurrent protective devices: fuses, which must be replaced if they blow, and circuit breakers, which can be reset.
Once the cause of the overload has been corrected (e.g., by unplugging some of the
devices, or by replacing worn insulation or defective appliances), circuit breakers can be
reset by moving the switch from the “trip” position to “off’ and then back to “on.” Even if they
are never tripped, all circuit breakers should be turned off and on at least once a year to prevent sticking due to corrosion buildup or mechanical failure of their moving parts.
Since blown fuses must be replaced, it always helps to have a supply of the correct sizes on hand.
The National Electrical Code®specifies the maximum current of amperage that can be carried safely by each size and type of wire used in a home. Therefore, fuses and breakers must be the correct amperage in order to properly protect each circuit. In other words, if you blow a 15-amp fuse, it should be replaced only with a 15-amp fuse or a Type S (tamper proof) 15-amp fuse and adapter. Larger size fuses would allow too much current to flow in the circuit, making it unsafe.
Every electrical system must be grounded so that electricity from a lightning strike or a power surge will be harmlessly discharged into the earth rather than into the house system or a person. System grounding is achieved by connecting the neutral wires from all the electrical circuits to a grounding rod, a buried metal water supply pipe or the reinforcing steel in a building’s concrete foundation.
