I learned about Furnace Filters on the inspection report when I sold my first condo.

Most of the people don't check the pressure gage on the Argon reservoir on their double/triple pane windows. Then they wonder why their windows are no longer efficient.





Just Kidding. There is no such thing. I just wanted to see how long before someone calls me out on my Bullshit.

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Remember - It's important to be comfortable in your own skin... because it turns out society frowns on wearing other people's

Keep the drain pan under the a/c unit clean and draining. Add a little bleach to it periodically.

You're supposed to periodically put bleach in the main A/C drain to prevent clogs (in Florida at least).

Basic stuff like filters are routinely ignored.

Annual service on your AC and furnace should help their longevity. Even just vacuuming out the burners/heat exchanger yourself would help.

Caulking around windows and doors.

Dryer exhaust.

I know it needs drained but have no idea how to do so. That's why I'm a member of the Happy Hiller Club and they come quarterly to do crap like this. The dude was impressed at my clean air filters though (change them every other month).

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clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com

Clean the membrane in the air exchanger. Drain the outside faucets last foot or so prior to winter so they don't freeze. Clean the window wells so they don't overflow into house.

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They constantly try to escape from the darkness outside and within
Dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good T.S. Eliot

That may be as much to prevent Legionnaires Disease as anything else.

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Remember - It's important to be comfortable in your own skin... because it turns out society frowns on wearing other people's

Dryer exhaust
Purging irrigation to winterize
Refrigerator filter/coils

Seems like there's a lot more since we've been homeowners for almost 20 years now, and while I'm still not exactly Mr Handy around the house I feel like I've learned a lot, only drawing blanks now trying to itemize a list...

Clean out the Shower Ferret?

We have really hard water, so we periodically pour vinegar down the shower drain. unclog and soak faucets and shower heads.

Ah yes, we've snaked out a litter of those, at least (or whatever else it is you call a family of ferrets). That's a nice one!

Which reminds me... similar deal on the outside storm drains, only w/ tree roots

You are changing your filters way too often.

Once a year clear your dryer vent of lint - the tube that goes outside. It’s a fire hazard.

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Harry: "I expected the Rocky Mountains to be a little rockier than this."
Loyd: "I was thinking the same thing. That John Denver's full of shit, man."

How do you do that? They wanted $1,000 to do it.

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clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com

Pay my round trip flight, and I'll do it for $50.

If your venting is a really long run you might not be able to do it yourself. If it's short/direct a shop vac or air compressor will do the trick. Literally just vacuum/blow it out.

$1000 seems insane for that service. I've had all the ducts cleaned out on houses for a few hundred bucks.

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Long Chile was a silly place.

I got one of these guys and it seems to do the job.

$1000 seems way steep.

When we bought our house, half the basement wasn't finished showing a good distance of the exhaust run for the dryer. From the front of the house to the back, someone installed the vinyl type of exhaust hoses, multiples of them, from the dryer to the outside. The first thing I did was install a 4" pipes from the dryer to the back and added an exhaust fan on the line.

Needless to say our house had a mouse problem at some point in time before we bought it. I found dryer lint underneath the bathroom showers on the adjacent wall to the dryer when replacing the shower last year. I found the mother load of bedding and shit. I thought the basement ceiling tiles that I replaced before moving in were bad.


- I hate cleaning our AC unit and the cottonwood seeds.
- Checking sump pumps for full function including if the back up is working is cheap insurance. Also make sure the check valve is working. Note that I have a completely finished basement now except for the god awful ceiling tiles in half of it.

Yearly check of the small intake line filters to washing machine -- we have city wells and sandy soil and end up with clogging water intake filters about every other year. Really slows down the washer cycle.
Also, pull the dish washer once every couple, check the water supply lines (and surround area) for rodent-y stuff. Found out that they like the plastic lines. Replace with metal mesh coated lines, Flooded house experience is not fun.

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RayGovett
Hughson CA
Be Prepared-- Strike Swiftly -- Who Dares Wins- Without warning-"it will be hard. I can do it"

I inspect for roof and drain leaks routine. Spray out outdoors ac HX and vacuum the inside one.

I went nuts with tape and dope on air leaks in ducts. Routine filters, dryer vent.

Fwiw, our dryer vent was crushed when we moved in. New dryer has a flow sensor. I installed all new hard piped duct all way and it cut probably a couple dollars a month off electricity bill.

-Water softener salt. I grew up in NY where we didn't have hard water, in the Midwest its normal to add in salt, that was a new one to me.

- Half pink. Change the oil in the small engines. I've done it once in the 10 years I've owned my lawn mower, still runs like a champ. Once in my snowblower owned it for 7 years, still runs like a champ.

- Replace smoke detectors after 7-10 years or so

- flip mattress once a year or something like that

When my kids were little we got a 'Bouncy Castle' at WalMart for $100. It came with a big 'ol air blower. Every once in a while I attach that blower to the dryer line and blow that line clean. I always looks like its snowing in July when the fluff shoots out the side of the house. Then I go and bounce a little in the backyard.

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Remember - It's important to be comfortable in your own skin... because it turns out society frowns on wearing other people's

We had a tenant that apparently had removed the lint trap in their dryer. The next tenant came in and complained their dryer wasn't working. The dryer vent went up through the roof. I got in the attic and the hose was packed full for about 3 feet with lint. I would have thought it was sabotage but I don't think she would have been able to get herself into the attic.

In the house we live in now it is a short enough run through the wall that I can reach clear through.

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I'm beginning to think that we are much more fucked than I thought.