Bad Engrish, Lost in Translation

Wood burning stoves are fantastic and can be a great help for families trying to cut down on public heating bills. They create a warmth and glow that electric heaters just can’t match and that can make the holidays absolutely perfect and festive. However, like babies these stoves have demands and require constant attention, feeding, and cleaning. Being aware of your new responsibility is the first step.

1) Stoves heat the air, but they also make it very dry. A humidifier may be necessary depending on your skin or sensitivity.

2) In your stove, never use artificial fireplace logs made of wax or sawdust. Never

3) Do not use treated or painted wood or as the released chemicals are highly toxic, and can damage your lungs as well as the stove system itself.

4) Starting your stove can be difficult as you should not use lighter fluid. Matches and newspaper can be tricky, and time consuming, but it is the way to go.

5) Clean out ash regularly as it will gunk up your system.

6) You will spend good money on wood, or you will spend it on the equipment and time necessary to get the wood. Also, your fuel needs multiple years to dry. This means that your first year’s supply wont be ready for some time after you get it.

7) Your system needs to be check and cleaned every year. No exceptions. Creosote and wear and tear can be very dangerous if they are not dealt with regularly.

Items which can burn, like rugs, carpets, or blankets, cannot touch the stove. Also, stoves are not small-child friendly. Have a barrier or block off the whole floor. Pets typically do not touch stoves, at least they don’t twice.

If you are looking to compare standard floor mounted vacuum with a whole house or central vacuum model, the very first thing you will notice is that they look the same—and they don’t at the same time. Yet in the battle between the floor vac and the central vacuum hose, it is the later that has the power, longevity, quality, and convenience to come out ahead over time.

Ground vacuums are self-contained units that sit on the ground where they are pulled around furniture until it is time for them to go back into the closet. They typically also have a pull-out arm to reach smaller, hard to reach locations. They are heavy, bulky, loud, and need to plugged in to the wall to work.

Central vacuums don’t need to be plugged into the wall per-se. These units have a large dedicated motor unit and storage area inside the house somewhere, with tubes that run to outlets in the walls. You simply take a lightweight hose attachment, plug it into the wall, and go to work. Because the motor is far away the sound is much quieter than a floor vac. Also the hose is light because, after all, it is only a bit of plastic instead of a whole vacuum unit crammed into a little standing case. Also, central vacs do not recirculate air, making them the system of choice for any allergy sufferers.

And, maybe best of all, central vacs have a very large storage space. This space rarely fills in the length of a year. Think of it—an entire year before you need to empty the vacuum. These systems are so well loved that adding a 1000 dollar unit can actually add more than its price to a house’s resale value. No depreciation for a household appliance! There is no wonder that the central vacuum hose is showing up in houses more and more.