Nursery Air Purifier: Protect Your Newborn

Expectant parents-to-be often hustle to prepare the new family member's room.

They agonize over proper nursery decor and furniture: everything must make the new one feel loved and stimulate baby's development. They would never dream of bottle-feeding their new bundle of joy.

But the new kid's room is splashed with fresh paint, and new carpets are installed. A fresh varnished or plastic crib is lined with the newest synthetic flame retardant treated mattress and blankets. Diapers, pajamas, pacifiers, and stuffed toys are thoughtfully staged.

Please do your new arrival a favor: spare the toxic chemicals. Love your baby by providing a safe, non-toxic nursery.

The problem of toxic chemicals in baby products came to the fore a few years back when Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) surfaced.

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) outgassing from fresh paint, carpeting, furniture, and new bedding pose serious risk.

Airborne particles are most hazardous to developing lungs, and are associated with SIDS.

Since the nursery is empty, now is a good time for environmental evaluation. If the home is older than 1978, it could have lead based paint. If this is the case, absolutely do not sandpaper the room. Lead abatement is a job for professionals.

Are central air ducts clean? Air filters on the furnace upgraded from standard (cheap) fiberlass?

Carpet should be evaluated for toxic emissions, and replaced with non toxic varieties or beautiful hardwood. The term "rug ratz" wasn't invented for nothing. Babies and pets cohabit the dirtiest part of every home, the floor. Most carpets are toxic and impossible to get clean.

When you are sure the room is safe, a nursery air purifier should be installed. The brand most prominently marketed as being suitable for "bebe" is just the opposite. Your infant's room should have the best air purifier in the house. One without ozone or other questionable technologies.

A baby nursery is no place for oxidant technology based air purifiers, even photocatalytics or plasma ionizers should be excluded.

Time honored HEPA air filters with significant weights of added activated carbon (for chemical vapor control) are the ticket here, and will not come cheaply. Any ultraviolet (UV) germicidal add-ons should be premium quality: inexpensive UV is ozone prone.

Any ionizer should be ozone free, which excludes the majority.

Recommended nursery air purifiers: IQAir, Allerair, and Austin Air.

You can save yourself and your new loved one so much heartache by raising a toxfree child. A truly clean nursery, your love, and a quality air purifier give a new life a fair chance.

Continue reading...

Inexpensive Comfort Found In Portable Air Conditioners

Portable air conditioners are air conditioning units that can be moved easily from place to place. They use electricity to run and are convenient options for areas where you want air conditioning but do not have central air installed. A great place to put portable air conditioners is the garage. Garages are generally used to store items and to stow cars away from the elements. However, some garages have work benches and are used for crafts. Some garages are used for game rooms so children or adults can have a bit of a hideaway area in which to play pool, watch television or play darts. Because garages are not generally installed with central air, an air conditioning unit will need to be added to the garage or portable air conditioners can be used instead.

Portable air conditioners range in price depending on the model and the size. They will typically start out at approximately three hundred dollars and can range up to approximately seven hundred dollars. You will need to measure the area of the room in which you want a portable air conditioner. The larger the area, the larger the size of the air conditioner you will want to use. Having portable air conditioners allows you the flexibility to move it from place to place and cool areas of the home where no air conditioning is present.

Portable air conditioners are also good in homes where there is no central air. Many areas of the country have houses that were built without central air because of the climate and lack of need for it. However, with changing climate conditions, some older homes do not have central air but the area of the country has gotten warmer. While it may not have been necessary to have air conditioning several decades ago, it is quite uncomfortable not to have it now. In such areas, portable air conditioners are the ideal choice and much less expensive than installing a complete air conditioning system. You can purchase portable air conditioners at most home improvement stores such as Home Depot or Lowes. You can also shop online using the Internet to conduct a search.

Continue reading...

Make It Start with a Door Switch – Dishwasher Repair

You wouldn't even know your dishwasher had one until it isn’t working. These little switches are tucked inside the control panel of your dishwasher and most times are a part of the door latch. The door latch pulls the door securely to the main body of your dishwasher and prevents water from leaking during a cycle. If your dishwasher doesn't start, it could be due to a faulty door switch.

How the door switch works

When the dishwasher door is open, the switch is off. Inside your dishwasher tub will be a metal or plastic prong. Close and latch the door. The prong will depress the door switch completely and the circuit will close allowing the dishwasher to start. Check the prong to make sure it's not loose or bent and it's properly activating the door switch.

It is important to disconnect the dishwasher from its power source before attempting any repair. You can unplug the dishwasher from the outlet, remove the fuse from your fuse box, or flick the breaker switch on your circuit panel. This will prevent you from getting an electric shock.

What a door switch looks like and where it's located

Typically a dishwasher door switch is an inch long. It can be black or red and has metal prongs called terminals protruding from the body. Some door switches have two terminals and some have three.

The terminals can be a common terminal (COM), normally closed terminal (NC) or a normally open terminal (NO). Switches with only two terminals will either have a COM and a NO, or a COM and an NC. Door switches with three terminals have COM, NC, and a NO.

Your dishwasher's door switch will be behind the control panel on the front of the unit. It may be necessary to remove the inner panel of the door first. You can do this by removing a few screws. The screws at the bottom of the door are for the hinges. You do not need to remove the whole door for this repair.

Once the inner panel is removed you may find another smaller panel covering the back of the control panel held in place with screws or clips. By removing this panel you will gain access to the latch assembly housing the door switch.

How to remove the switch

Carefully use needle nose pliers to pull the wires leading from the harness off the terminals. For door switches that have a locking clip, depress the lever as you gently pull the harness away from the terminal.

Take your time while removing switches that are a part of the latch assembly or that have a bracket. If you rush and break the switch's housing you will end up having to replace more parts.

How to test your door switch

Use an ohmmeter to test the switch for continuity. This test is for door switches with three terminals.

1. Set your ohmmeter to measure resistance at a scale of Rx1.
2. Touch the metal tips of the test leads together and zero your ohmmeter by adjusting the thumbwheel in the front of the meter until the needles reads "0" on the scale.
3. Touch one meter lead to the COM terminal and the other lead to the NO terminal. Do not push in on the actuator.
4. Your meter should give a reading of infinity, meaning the circuit is open, and there is no continuity.
5. Without moving the meter's leads, press down on the actuator until you hear a 'click'.
6. With the 'click' of the actuator, the meter should produce a resistance reading of zero ohms. This means the circuit is closed and continuity is present. (You will only hear this click with a door switch with three terminals.)
7. Keep the meter lead that is touching the COM terminal in place, but move the other meter lead from the NO terminal to the NC terminal.
8. When the actuator is released, you should receive a resistance reading of zero ohms.
9. Now set your ohmmeter to its highest resistance scale and touch one meter lead to the NO terminal and the other meter lead to the NC terminal.
10. The resistance reading between these two leads should be infinite.
11. Finally take a resistance reading from both the NC terminal and the NO terminal to any metal mounting hardware that is a part of the switch assembly. You should receive a normal reading of infinity.

Any readings that differ from the tests above are signs of a defective door switch that will need to be replaced.

Continue reading...