Healthy Homes of Rochester

This is a great, inexpensive book that helps show our children how to recycle while they are young. Get them going on recycling as soon as possible and they will reap the rewards of helping to save our planet.
I purchased this book for my four year old son. He is now five years old. My son recycles everything in site. If he sees someone who does not recycle an item and just throws it away, he will get upset and demand that that person changes his or her ways. My son will school an untrained individual on the rules of recycling and demand change.
It is comical to watch, but, at the same time serious business. He has learned a valuable skill around the home which he will carry through life.
Use the link below to get your child a great, easy to read book on recycling and do the world some good.

Another great product recommended by the Fixie Chick
Thanks for reading.

Water is amazing. It would take a thick chemistry book to describe all the possible elements and compounds that can combine with it. Over time it will dissolve nearly anything but glass and a few specialty materials. Fortunately, there is a small subset of them that are found in most typical water supplies. Knowing a little bit about those can help the homeowner keep his or her plumbing system in top shape.

One of the most well-known water contaminants is the all-too familiar hard, chalky compound that we are perpetually wiping off: calcium carbonate. It coats the surfaces of sinks and shower tubs. It lines the interior of shower spouts and drains. It builds up inside handles and makes its way into every other small crevice.

Wherever water is found, you’ll usually find calcium carbonate. It’s the mineral that makes ‘hard’ water hard. Though it’s not corrosive or even harmful, it can cause problems. Just as arteries don’t work as well when they build up fatty tissues, so pipes are less efficient when they clog. The culprit is usually calcium carbonate, at least in part.

Fortunately, it’s easy to dissolve with baking soda and vinegar, or any of a thousand commercial products. Sometimes, just a good scrub sponge is enough. Keeping as much of it at bay as possible helps keep your seals from suffering an early demise. Removing it keeps things sparkling.

Another common contaminant is actually a class of compounds: oxides. Whether it’s red rust (iron oxide), green (copper oxide) or white (aluminum oxide) any of them will cause more than just a degraded appearance.

Oxides form by corroding part of the metal of which a part is made. Corrode enough of it and sooner or later its function is reduced or even compromised. The oxygen that combines with the metal comes from the ever-present atoms in water (H2O). Some are free floating in the water (as ions), some are easily torn loose to combine with the metal in a simple chemical reaction. When that reaction occurs, the trouble starts.

Rusty water isn’t harmful in small quantities, but it’s distasteful. Copper oxide makes a smooth surface crusty and reduces the diameter of pipes. Aluminum oxide produces pits in smooth surfaces when the metal from the part is oxidized, then washed or scrubbed away.

Some amount of oxidation is inevitable. Even areas outside the kitchen and bath are exposed to air which almost always contains some water vapor. But the difference can be dramatic. That’s one reason that things in dryer climates tend to suffer much less from the problem. Keeping surfaces cleaned off of water can radically slow the process. It will keep your plumbing attractive and fully functional years longer.
Thanks for reading, the Fixie Chick

Dimmer switches are a great convenience. They help save electricity and allow you to adjust the atmosphere of a room. Sometimes you just don’t want to be blasted in a pool of light. But many people are intimidated away from installing one where a standard switch already resides. Others have fluorescents and worry the dimmer won’t operate properly. All those problems are easily solved.

Dimmer switches today come in a variety of styles, but two are still the most common: round and slide. They both work essentially the same way. They change the resistance of the circuit, altering the amount of current applied to the bulb.

That fact introduces the first possible problem. If the switch controls a fixture with a fluorescent bulb, ensure it’s the type that can be dimmed. In years past, no fluorescent was capable, but the situation has changed in recent years. Many CFLs (Compact Fluorescent Lights), often used to replace incandescents today, can be dimmed within 80-20% of their normal output.

Once you’re ready to go, the process is usually simple.

First, TURN OFF THE CIRCUIT BREAKER that controls the electrical supply that includes that switch. Never rely only on using gloves or ‘being careful’ to change a switch, though those are both good habits. Make sure you have the right one. Then make doubly sure by using a volt-amp meter to test that there really is no current at the switch.

It only takes 2/10ths of an amp to kill or do serious harm. Moist or salty hands can easily lower the body’s resistance so that it takes only a few dozen volts to push it through you. Amps measure the amount of current, voltage is a measure of how ‘hard’ that current is pushed through the circuit. Watts = Volts x Amps.

From there on, the task is usually simplicity itself. Just unscrew the screws holding the faceplate on. Remove it and, with gloves on, pull the switch gently out of the hole. It will be attached by thick, difficult to move wires. Avoid yanking anything loose.

Then, unscrew the large wires from the old switch. Sometimes it’s possible to just unscrew a plastic cap holding two thick wires together. More often, the thick copper wire will be attached to the switch by being looped around a screw post. Loosen the screw and slide the loop off the post.

Be sure to keep straight which wire was attached to which post. In many homes, the color coding is non-standard. It may differ from house to house. Though red and green or white and black are common colors for ‘hot’ and ‘ground’ the scheme is not universally respected.

Examine your dimmer switch or the directions it came with. Put the appropriate wires onto the appropriate terminals on the back. Wiring the switch backwards may allow it to still work, but it generates confusion. Down is typically lower, or less current. Ditto counter-clockwise is usually off. Getting them backwards is inconvenient, even when it still works.

Ensure that the wires are well separated, then turn the circuit breaker back on to test the switch. Make sure to keep your hands away from the wires. When the test is successful, turn off the circuit breaker and replace the whole assembly. Make sure no bare piece of wire touches another.

Done!

I have the following dimmer switches in my home and love them! Try one.
Thanks for reading, the Fixie Chick