Great Ways To Conserve Water

During seasons that are very dry across the country, some cities are asking residents to do everything that they can to conserve water and to reduce consumption as much as possible. There are a number of things that you can do to help in this endeavor and save yourself a little bit of money in the mean time.

One of the first things that you can do, if you live in one of these areas, is to not water your lawn as often as you probably do. Many people do this with a garden hose, but if you have sprinklers to do it for you, you should make sure your sprinklers do not waste water by shooting it over the driveway or the sidewalk. Changing the head of the sprinkler may help with this, as well.

Set the timer for your sprinklers for shorter times. This means that you should allow your sprinklers to water their areas for 5 minutes, wait around 15 minutes, and then set it to water for another five minutes. This gives the water that was sprayed the first time a chance to seep down into the soil.

Turn the timer on your sprinklers off when you know it is going to rain. You should not turn it back on for at least 2 or 3 days after it rains and if your sprinkler has a “rain delay” feature on it, you can set this.

Try to water your lawn during the early morning, since the water will not evaporate as quickly and this is a naturally good time for plants to be both fed and watered. Watering should be avoided in the middle of the day, since this is the hottest portion. A large quantity of the water will evaporate and be wasted.

Inside the house, you can reduce your water consumption by taking short showers instead of baths. A ten minute shower with a standard showerhead will amount to about half of a full tub of water or less, so try to take showers, especially if you are trying to get somewhere in a hurry. There is no sense in running a full tub of water if you are going to jump in and then right back out.

Try not to do half loads of dishes or clothes. Even though you can change the amount of water that you use in the clothes washer, you still use about the same amount of electricity to run the cycle, so you are still better off just doing a full load.

Great Tips For Water Safety

Summertime is the perfect time of year to go swimming, but no matter whether you swim in the ocean, creek, river, or in a city or backyard pool, you should never neglect to consider water safety. A large number of children and inexperienced swimmers die every year because they do not follow a few guidelines that could keep them safe from it.

The most important thing for you to do is learn how to swim. This can be one of the most useful skills you can ever learn and once you learn, you are not likely to ever regret it.

An area supervised by a lifeguard is the best place for you to swim, since the lifeguard is trained in CPR and first aid.

If you have children, they should always wear a floatation device and be supervised by you. There are likely a lot of other people and children where you are and you cannot rely on the lifeguard to be able to pay attention to everyone at the same time.

When you go to a swimming area of a beach or to a city pool, you need to read all the signs and make sure you understand what they mean. This is especially true of beaches, since certain areas of the world may be subject to different kinds of seasonal wildlife that can pose a great amount of danger. A good example is the box jellyfish that swims off the coast of Australia and can kill you. They inhabit the waters off the coast of northern Australia between November to April or May, so swimming in this area during this time is not recommended at all. You should be careful at other beaches around the world, though, even if there are no signs posted concerning dangerous wildlife.

Safety rules should be set for your entire family based on the level of swimming experience that each person has. Children and other inexperienced swimmers should not enter water that is higher than chest level.

If you have alcohol to drink, you should not go swimming, diving, boating, or driving. Alcohol impairs a lot of basic human necessities like coordination, judgment, and balance and your body will not stay as warm.

The only time you should dive into a pool of water is when the area is posted as being safe to dive into.

The local weather report can also be important to you and you should get out of the water at the first sign of a storm.

Why Should You Switch To A Tankless Water Heater?

Helping the environment, saving on your utility bill, and never running out of hot water no matter how many appliances are using it sounds like a dream, but the reality is that tankless water heaters can give you exactly that.

These have been extremely popular and even mandatory in some areas of Europe and Japan for the past quarter of a century, but the trend is just now hitting the United States and Canada, because we have been shown the benefits of having them.

One thing that makes these little gems so great is that you never have to worry about running out of hot water for your appliances. You can take a shower, run the dishwasher, and the washing machine all at the same time and the hot water just keeps on coming.

Since the water is being heated only when you are using it, you save on your electricity bill at the end of the month. Normal tank water heaters will keep a tank full of water heated whether we are using it or not (even when we are asleep). Homes that have a substantial demand for hot water may save around 15 to 25 percent, but homes that have smaller needs can see savings of possibly up to around 50 percent.

Take advantage of the Energy Tax Incentives Act and you can get a $300 rebate from the Federal government by replacing your old hot water heater with a tankless model.

Using a tankless water heater will also reduce the amount of fossil fuels that you use every day (actually, the electric company uses it) to heat your home’s water supply. Tankless water heaters also last about 2 or 3 times longer than their traditional counterparts and are generally much smaller and less conspicuous. You can have a tankless water heater installed in a large number of places in your home.

So, think about it. You pay less for an endless supply of hot water than you would for a limited supply and you help the environment in a number of different ways. What do you have to lose? Switch to a tankless hot water heater today and take advantage of the government’s rebate before it is gone and they mandate these all across the country. A free $300 from the government is pretty hard to come by and they have been popular in Europe and Japan for the last 25 years, so why not keep up with the times?

Two Great Ways To Reduce Mold

There are a number of things that you can do to prevent mold growth in your home, but stopping the mold spores from spreading even though they are already in the air is also important. It is important to realize that mold spores are always going to exist in the air that you breathe unless you are in a hospital or laboratory clean room, but reducing the amount of these spores in the air is not as difficult as you may think.

The first thing that you need to do is get rid of any mold infections that already exist in the home. You can do this a few different ways, depending on how far the contamination has advanced. If you try to scrub it off the wall and it comes back a few days or a week later, then it is embedded into the drywall and you need to replace it as soon as possible. No one wants to have to replace a section of drywall in their home, but if mold is embedded into it, this is the only way to get it out of the house. Any building materials that are contaminated with mold will need to be replaced.

After you either do that yourself or have a professional do it for you, you will want to purchase a vacuum cleaner that has a HEPA filter on it. HEPA filters will remove about 99.7% of all particles from the air that is expelled by your vacuum, which means that mold spores, dust mites, and etcetera will not be tossed back up into the air you are breathing when you vacuum.

Another appliance you will want to purchase, especially if you have allergies, is an air purifier that is equipped with a HEPA filter. This is one of the best investments that you can make for your home, since it will keep the air free of the same kind of particles that the filter on your vacuum cleaner will. It removes the mold spores from the air and thus stops them from landing and forming colonies in your house.

Even though these are two great appliances to help prevent mold growth in your house, you still need to do your best to make sure that water leaks and other moisture problems in the home do not develop. HEPA filters only remove 99.7% of particles in the air, which means that there are still another 0.03% floating around and it only takes one.