Healthy Homes of Rochester

I have purchased a power monitor. This is a fascinating piece of equipment. It is very easy to use, has a digital read out and is wireless so it does not need any fancy connection to your panel box. I have fun trying things around my home to see how much it will cost to use any item I choose.

The monitor’s easy-to-read digital display shows your current energy usage in dollars, so you don’t have to perform tricky calculations to understand what the readings mean. The power monitor also shows you the outdoor temperature, so you can account for heat used on cold mornings, and it displays your month-to-date usage along with an estimate for your upcoming bill. This advanced feature can work with any type of billing rate, including flat rate billing, separate peak and off-peak rates, or tiered billing structures.

Track Little Changes that Become Big Savings
A convenient appliance mode feature allows you to track minute-to-minute changes in electric consumption as major appliances are turned on and off, so you can see where your money is going. This makes it easy for you to decide, for instance, which electrical appliances and accessories are really worth their cost, and which of your older appliances are costing you more money than they’re worth. You can also quickly tell how much you save by switching to compact florescent light bulbs or instituting other conservation measures in your home, and have a lot of fun doing so.

Below is the same power monitor that I have.

This is just another great recommend product by the fixie chick

Thanks for visiting our site.

Since I live in New York State, our growing season is not as long as I would like it to be. It seems plenty of us enjoy growing our own gardens as it allows us to save money, live healthier and enjoy the outdoors. However, some of us would like to start working outdoors on our gardening as a hobby sooner. Actually home gardening has increased tremendously in the past couple of years due to commodity and fuel prices escalating. Let’s explore my latest venture.
My latest purchase was a nice freestanding greenhouse. It is a comfortable size for my gardening needs. It is about 5 feet high, 2 feet wide and approximately 19 inches deep with 4 shelves. Since I wanted to extend the growing season of my plants, I thought this would be the perfect idea. The greenhouse was very easy to set up. I actually placed a bag of sand on the bottom shelf in case we had high winds come through the area any time this winter.
I like the fact that is uses very little space outside. It is placed up nicely against the back of our home. I will not use it until March as it is still too cold in January to try and start seedlings in it. However, this will allow me to start planting in pots in March well before a thaw in New York State therefore giving me the jump on spring and saving me money on purchasing established plants in May! I am very excited as I can enjoy my hobby earlier in the winter months. The greenhouse should keep my plants cozy warm and get them growing faster.
-The Fixie Chick
To get an affordable greenhouse like mine visit link below:

Each time I venture out to my garden bench, I inadvertently pass my dryer vent exhaust.

The cracked hood surrounded by moss and mold covered caulk and rusted screws never fails to catch my attention.  Knowing that hot and cold air must be escaping through that hole has put this home repair on the top of my fall to-do list.

 What originally began as an aesthetic and energy saving fifteen-dollar-fix, has turned into a little research and a lot of shocking statistics! The USFA (United States Fire Administration), released a report regarding residential building clothes dryer fires. Between the years 2002-2004, an annual average of 12,700 clothes dryer fires occurred in residential buildings. These fires were responsible for an estimated 15 civilian fire deaths, 300 civilian fire injuries, and $88 million in property loss each year.

 According to this report:

Clothes dryer fires account for about 15,600 structure fires, 15 deaths, and 400 injuries annually.

Eighty percent of clothes dryer fires in structures occur in residential buildings.

Annually, 12,700 clothes dryer fires occur in residential buildings resulting in 15 deaths and 300 injuries.

“Failure to clean” is the leading factor contributing to clothes dryer fires in residential buildings.

New home construction trends place clothes dryers and washing machines in more hazardous locations away from outside walls such as bedrooms, second-floor hallways, bathrooms, and kitchens.

A clothes dryer works by forcing hot air through a turning drum. Wet clothes dried by the moving hot air. Lint is created from the clothes as the water is removed and the clothes dry. While much of the lint is trapped by the dryer’s filter, it is also carried through the venting system, with the moist air.  The accumulation of lint, both in the dryer and in the dryer vent, reduces the airflow and cre­ates a highly flammable fuel source.

In addition to the accumulation of lint, blockage in dryer exhaust vents also occurs from the nests of small birds and animals or from bends in the venting system itself. A compromised vent will not exhaust properly to the outside and overheating is a common result; when enough heat is produced to ignite the lint or nearby items, a fire can occur.

 Proper maintenance for clothes dryers involves removing the lint from the traps, vents, and surrounding areas of the dryer. Not unexpectedly, the leading factor contribut­ing to ignition for dryer fires is operation deficiencies, specifically “failure to clean.”

 Though dryer fire prevention is important no matter where you do your laundry, here’s an even more important reason to pay attention to this report:

New construction trends now situate wash­ers and dryers in nontraditional areas of the house, such as upstairs bedrooms, hallways, bathrooms, kitchens, and closets. These new sites generally require longer dryer vents in order to reach an outside wall. These routes contain sharp turns and bends that navigate through the structure of the home.  When lint has to pass through an exhaust that is under a floor or through walls and is more than 6-feet long, it is almost impossible to propel all the lint out of the vent. As a result, lint can accu­mulate in pockets along the vent where they are harder to reach and clean. Thus, it is crucial for homeowners to also regularly inspect and clean out the dryer vent.

All manufacturers now state in their manuals not to use plastic flexible dryer ducts between the vent and the clothes dryer.  The plastic itself can provide additional fuel for a fire.

If you notice heavy clothes such as blue jeans or towels taking a long time to dry, or clothes feel hotter than usual at the end of the cycle, then a clogged dryer vent exhaust is likely the problem.

Keep fire extinguishers and working smoke alarms near the clothes dryer.

 As a good fire safety practice, combustibles such as clothing, boxes, and other items should not be placed near or around the clothes dryer.

 If you do not feel comfortable cleaning or inspecting the dryer vent yourself, you can call a duct cleaning service. The Chimney Safety Institute of America (CSIA), a nonprofit educational organization, also provides information on clothes dryer fires and can provide a list of CSIA-certified dryer exhaust duct technicians.

Exhaust should vent directly outside the house.