The
DRS News
August
- September 2002
In
this issue:
1)
14 uses for the Wet-Vac, the handyman’s 2nd
best friend!
2) Simple Lightning
protection for your home while on vacation
3) Didjaknow? Those
Handy Microwave Magnets
4) A really cool
utility download: AI Roboform
1) One of the handiest tools around home & shop these days has
to be the wet-vac. We have 3 of them, and use one every single day on the job and off. I thought it’d be interesting to
list a few of the things they can do. Many thanks, BTW, for all your suggestions – I’ve picked up some neat new tips from you!
*
My personal favorite: Defrost frosted refrigerators, using a small
pressure sprayer full of hot water and the vac (fastest method ever!)
* Unclog sink, tub, or dishwasher drains
* Clean lint from dryers
* Empty the water from ‘dead’ dishwashers
* Open clogged refrigerator defrost drains using a computer
cleaning
(3/8” nozzle) attachment – a very handy nozzle for alot
of things
* Pick up various messes little kids make in the middle of the
night
(yech! – sit it outside overnight, then hose it out in the AM!)
* Empty water from washer hoses for service – replacing pumps,
etc –
on some washers, you can just connect to the end of the drain hose
* Clean those looong dryer vents, using a 30 ft central vac hose
* Vacuum those hard-to-reach refrig. condenser coils, with the
vac running and a long condenser brush
* Pull heaters & wires through curved tubing or conduit,
vacuuming a
small string through first
(refrigerator Yoder loops, etc)
* Clean AC & Dehum. coils - spray with water or a
coil-cleaning chemical first
* Retrieve cell phones from floor drains (better you than me,
Shane!)
* Check various hoses for clogs (listen for the vac motor’s
pitch change)
* Compact sleeping bags and bulky blankets in plastic bags for
storage
* I guess you could use it to just vacuum or blow dirt,
too!
PS - One tip I’ve learned with my 'ShopVac' brand: it’s not
necessary to change back and forth between that paper ‘bag’ and foam
‘wet’ filter. I just use 2 foam filters and pick up water or
‘dry’ with no problems.
I
know there are probably a lot more, but I’ll leave it at that for now. If
you don’t have a wet-vac, get one – you’ll be
amazed! Oh, and if you plan on picking up much water, stay with the 5-6 gallon size. At 8 pounds per gallon, That’s heavy enough when full!
2) One of the kindest things you can do for anything electronic
that plugs into an AC outlet is simply unplug it when you leave the
house for an extended length of time, or even when
a lightning storm gets ‘close’. Here at our place we’ve gotten
into the habit of shutting down the computers and unplugging
all the electronics when the thunder starts, and it has paid off.
We’ve
been fortunate to have very little lightning-damaged
electronics here even though we’ve had 2 direct hits - that we
know of - to the house lightning rod ('been glad for that
old-fashioned lightning rod!). Our entertainment
center’s plugged into a power strip, allowing us to pull one plug to disconnect it all quickly.
3)
From the ‘Did-ja-know’ Dept:
There
are 2 very strong, round ceramic magnets in every
microwave oven, inside the ‘magnetron’ - hence the name
(been wanting to use the word ‘hence’ for a long time! <g>).
These
are the handiest gadgets. We use them for attaching
tarps to outside equipment, holding blankets over open refrigerators whole working
on the doors, erasing cassette
tapes fast, (usually intentionally!), hanging up
wrenches, and a whole host of other jobs.
So
before you ditch Aunt Emma’s old RadarRange, pull the
magnetron out and salvage those magnets, they’ll come in
handy – they hold alot of the kids’ school papers to the
refrigerator! Just
keep them away from your computer and analog watch!
4) Cool Downloads Dept:
Here’s
a really NEAT utility for filling in online forms, and
unlike some, this one includes no ‘spyware’ or ads!
It’s called ‘AI Roboform’, and it’s available from:
www.roboform.com
I've used it for many years and have hundreds of ID's and passwords in it and can
tell you this one’s a real timesaver!
Well,
that’s it for this month. Thanks
once again for subscribing;
I’m really enjoying this and sincerely hope you are too! Remember to keep sending me
your suggestions for topics you’d like to see addressed here. We’ve had some good ones again this month, and look forward to sharing them with you in future issues.
May
The Lord richly bless you and yours,
Dave
Harnish
drs@sosbbs.com
Creation/Evolution,
the Bottom Line: Psalm 118:8
