We have all been there before. You have to clean your scary dirty sink. Geiser Berner knows this isn’t one of your favorite tasks. Who wants to wash a sink after washing your dishes? You’d think all that running water would keep them clean. Unfortunately, sinks are notorious breeding grounds for bacteria. In fact, there’s a good chance it’s the dirtiest spot in your whole house. This article has compiled a helpful list of Weird ways to clean your dirty sink. Did you know the sinks are one of the six dirtiest places in your house according to WebMD?

Dirty dishes, food particles rinsed from cutting boards, grimy mildew. These are the things that make sinks one of the dirtiest spots in your home. Fortunately, you don’t have to bleach the sink every day to keep your home healthy. Everyday dish soap or natural cleaners like baking soda and vinegar, coupled with a good scrub brush, can keep germs at bay.

First Step: Scrub and rinse.

Give your sink a good scrub with a soap-dispensing brush. A mixture of mild dish soap and water is the best way to clean most sinks, particularly those with more delicate surfaces like copper or enameled cast iron. Baking soda and water pastes work on tougher sinks, such as stainless steel, but you’ll want to avoid acidic cleaners like vinegar on concrete, porcelain, or enameled cast iron.

Please note to always check with the manufacturer of your sink, but these are typical rules of thumb to go by.

• Stainless Steel: Use a baking soda and water paste, followed by a vinegar rinse.
• Porcelain, Copper, and Granite: Mix warm water with mild dish soap. (No scouring pads!)
• Enameled Cast Iron: Most non-abrasive methods work. (Avoid stains and scuff marks.)

Step 2: Clean the nooks and crannies.

We go through all that hard cleaning of the sink and we forget to clean the nooks and crannies. Those can also harbor bacteria and germs as well. You can clean with water and white vinegar to soak faucets, spray nozzles, and sink strainers. Scour grime along the faucet base and drain edges with a deep clean A toothbrush is nice to use in hard-to-clean areas.

Step 3: Disinfect it.

Do you want to make your stainless still shine? Fill a spray bottle with a 1:1 ratio of vinegar and water to wipe it down. White vinegar includes acetic acid, a natural disinfectant that effectively kills common germs. For surfaces that aren’t vinegar-safe, use a mixture of hot water and antibacterial soap.

Step 4: Clean your tools.

You use your sponge to clean everything. So of course your sponge is going to be dirtier than your sink. When it starts to stink, discard it. It’s also a good idea to scrub your sponge holder, dish brush, and sink mat (or just run them through the dishwasher). Make sure the items are dishwasher-safe before running them through the cycle.

Step 5: The Secret is to keep it tidy.

To keep your kitchen healthy, restock sponges and dish brushes regularly, and keep them corralled in a dishwasher-safe caddy. Choose a ventilated design for sanitary drying, and clean it whenever you replace your sponge. This will prevent bacteria from growing further.

Conclusion

We hope these suggestions will help you keep your sink clean and germ-free. Geiser Berner, located in Bensenville, IL. is here if you are having issues with your sink. Geiser Berner can replace and repair faucets, sinks, garbage disposals, or even resolve a plumbing issue. Please reach out to us at Contact Us for assistance.

In the daytime turn the thermostat down

Most families are at work and school during the day, leaving nobody at home. That means that the thermostat doesn’t need to be turned up! If this applies to you, think about scheduling your thermostat to turn down, say around the time everyone leaves the house every weekday. If your heating fuel is gas, you can lower thermostats by 10 to 15 degrees without making your house too cold (while saving around 10% annually on heating and cooling). That is a nice saving! Set the thermostat to climb back up when people start getting home.. Please keep in mind if you have pets to accommodate the temperature accordingly. If you have a heating system that is an electric heat pump, a much smaller temperature swing is optimum, maybe 3 to 4 degrees.

In the Nighttime turn the thermostat down

Think about turning your thermostat down when you go to bed. When we climb into our cozy beds we usually snuggle up into our blankets. Some of us wear warmish pajamas too. Because we layered up in our beds, we don’t need to have the thermostat up. Unless you are a sleepwalker and want the house to be warm for you when you are walking around. I know, not that funny of a joke.

Bundle Up and Save

You can save money just by turning the thermostat down a degree or two. Think about lowering your thermostat a couple of degrees and wearing hoodies, sweaters, socks, or long pants around the house to stay comfortable. Some people prefer to keep the thermostat below 68 degrees, but every little bit helps.

Avoid Turning Off Your HVAC System

You do not want to turn off your HVAC system completely. Sometimes we think it is a good idea to just completely shut the system off. Unfortunately, it actually costs a lot more for the system to turn back on and catch up to the temperature that it should be at.

Plan for different floors

Did you know that heat always rises? There are a few ways you can use this to your benefit. You can turn your ceiling fan in the reverse setting to force the hot air on the ceiling towards the floor. Another way is by opening and closing the vents on the floors to account for the airflow. Since hot air rises you could close your top floor vents and open the bottom floor vents to force more warm air to the bottom floor.

Switch to a smart thermostat

A regular thermostat schedule requires you to set specific times throughout the week. A smart thermostat, however, can learn from when people come and go and automatically set the temperature to save as much energy as possible – as well as let you control it remotely. It’s ideal for more complicated work or school schedules. At Energy.gov they share more thoughts here.

Unsolicited Tampering

We always see in movies and tv shows someone complains that a family member has changed the thermostat settings. The ugly truth of the matter is that some people see nothing wrong with taking the liberty of changing a thermostat that they don’t pay for. While spouses and children may have the ability to get away with doing this an infinite number of times, it’s still never a bad idea to at least try to set some house rules regarding thermostat usage. There’s nothing wrong with being a thermostat stickler either. No matter what, keep an eye on your thermostat’s settings if you live with others, especially if you start to feel a noticeable change in temperature or air quality. 

Conclusion

That is all the thermostat tips for winter for now. Geiser Berner hopes that you have learned a few new tricks and remembered some old ones that have been taught to us in the past. If you need assistance or looking for a new thermostat please give us a call at Contact Us.

Humidifying dry air indoors is better

In the wintertime, the humidity lowers.  This makes people feel the need to bring in humidifiers or run theirs.  The real root cause of low levels of humidity would be the leakage of air indoors to the outside.

The relative humidity, especially in winter, goes down. This necessitates the need for humidifiers. But, the real cause of the low levels of humidity would be the leakage of indoor air to the outside, which is the root cause that needs to be addressed.

Raising the humidity (moisture content) of the air in any given enclosed space by over 40 percent could create problems. That’s because, mold, fungi, bacteria, and other microbes tend to thrive with increased humidity.

A good way of preventing this issue is by sealing any air vents, which causes the loss of humidity.

Radon is not a problem

Radon is an odorless, tasteless and colorless gas. Radon is released when uranium breaks down in the ground. It is a radioactive gas that is notorious for being a high cause of lung cancer. In enclosed buildings during the winter, it is not uncommon for radon to build up.

Radon gas is a major IAQ and safety concern, which is why checking radon levels in public buildings, or when buying a new house should be part of an IAQ inspection. Learn more about radon and its dangers of it from the EPA website located here.

Improving IAQ requires a BIG investment

Bad IAQ can be improved upon. With HVAC advances, improving indoor air quality is not as difficult as some may think. By eliminating pollutants and contaminants from indoor air, HVAC systems can improve the IAQ in indoor spaces.

Professional installation and regular maintenance yearly are crucial for them to be effective. By using low-cost devices such as sensors to detect low humidity and IAQ levels, good quality of air can be easily maintained.

It’s impossible to monitor IAQ like an expert

All that is required these days to monitor a building’s air quality is a smart air-monitoring device that can be easily purchased and installed.

The options that are available on the market range from simple alert systems that monitor a single safety hazard to more advanced devices that are capable of monitoring and alerting you to a number of potential safety risks.

Air Fresheners are great for IAQ.

We all love our house to smell fresh and cover up some of those odors from time to time. Did you know they do little to no good for your indoor air quality? Unfortunately, most air fresheners have harmful containing chemicals. Too much use of these fragrances will lead up to poor IAQ.

GeiserBerner is here for you!

We understand that you want to keep your family, friends, and staff safe and happy. Geiserberner is here to help answer any questions you have about air quality. Please feel free to email us at clientservices@geiserberner.com or give us a call at 847-827-9424