Category: Maintenance

When The Power Goes Out You’ll Be Happy You Have A Generator

There will be some instances when the power goes out and you will feel frustrated. When that happens, you don’t know what you are going to do. One thing is for sure, you will be happy if you have a generator. First, your luxury appliances will keep on running. If you are trying to sleep while the aircon is running and the power goes out, chances are you won’t be able to sleep. There is a huge chance you got used to sleeping with the air-con turned to a high temperature. That means you will lose sleep and you won’t be productive the next day. You can’t rely on using the electric fan either since you have no power. Another reason would be you will be able to continue what you were watching. When the power goes out and you are watching your favorite TV show, you won’t know how it ends. You will have no choice but to check the Internet for spoilers. Of course, it is pretty different from when you watch it instead of reading it. Also, there is no need to find a switch to turn the generator on. It will turn on by itself so when the power goes out, you won’t have to worry about a thing. You know you don’t have to spend the next few hours wondering when the power will go back on. You can just sit there and answer calls from neighbors asking if they can come over for a few drinks. You know they are immediately bored when the power goes out. Of course, it would always be great to have people come over until the power comes back on.

One huge reason you will be happy you have a generator in the event of a power outage is the lights will stay on. When you have kids in the house, you know they will be scared during a power outage. They won’t know where they will run to and they may even hide under the bed. Without lights, you won’t be able to see your way and you may even trip. When that happens, you may spend a few days confined in the hospital when you accidentally bump your head. There may be a few things scattered around the house like your kids’ toys. You will certainly think about cleaning that up to avoid getting into accidents next time. Another reason why you will be happy you have a generator at home is that the food will stay fresh. There is some leftover food that you definitely put in the fridge hoping you can still eat them the next day. When the power goes out, that won’t be the case as the food will likely be spoiled the next day. The bad news is that you won’t really know how long the power is out. It may even happen for a long time and there is really nothing you can do about that but wait slowly.

Pat Givens

How To Keep Your Garage Door Opener Quiet

A garage for your cars is a modern day luxury. It’s so nice to be able to walk directly to your car and get in without ever seeing the outside. All good things come with compromise though, and one of the things that can be a bit of an annoyance with a garage is how loud the garage door opener is when it’s operating. This can be a particular problem if one member of your household is leaving while the rest of the family is trying to sleep.

Luckily, there are a number of things you can do to quiet down a noisy garage door. Let’s dig into some of the easier ways you can relieve your household from this minor but persistent nuisance.

Get It Right From The Start

The absolute easiest way to get started on your journey towards a quieter opening garage door is to start with using a garage door opener that is renowned for quiet operation. Try to find the quietest garage door opener available within your budget, and you’ll have started off on the right foot. As they say in the entertainment industry, you can’t polish a turd. To translate this comedic jargon to something we can all understand a little more effortlessly, basically it means there is only so much you can do with poor raw materials. You can make all the tweaks we’ll discuss in a minute, but if your garage door opener is just a loud model to begin with you’re not really going to see that much of a benefit.

Smooth Sailing

If you’re already using a high quality and quiet garage door opener and you’re still experiencing issues, this is the next place to address. Your garage door opener’s operating mechanisms should be properly cleaned and lubricated. Usually you’ll want to use a light and low-viscosity grease. White lithium grease is often the lubricant of choice. This will keep the chain and gears from squeaking and squealing. Don’t just spray some WD40 on there, that is more likely to cause problems in the long run than it is to help. If all else fails, just take a look in the owner’s manual and see what is recommended for your opener. While you’re at it, take a look at the rollers on the garage door itself. If they could use some help, you can use some lubrication on them as well.

Secure the Rails

The next thing to do is to make sure that the travel rails for the garage door are properly aligned and that they are in good condition. If there is a jog in the rails then every single time the garage door’s wheels travel past it there’s going to be a bit of a jolt. There’s a lot of momentum behind a moving garage door, which will transfer to a whole lot of sound if the wheels hit something out of the ordinary in the rails. Usually this can be fixed if needed by adjusting the mounting screws so that the rails provide a continuous, uninterrupted track for the garage door to open through.

Are you having issues with your garage door that weren’t addressed here? Please let us know and we’ll update the article to address them (that is, if we do in fact know how to fix them!). If you found this article helpful please don’t forget to share it with your friends!

Pat Givens