Two More Styles of LED Emergency Lights

A couple of days ago I posted about the new lantern style LED emergency light we added to our emergency preparedness supplies.  LED lights are perfect for emergency lights because there is no flame, they are battery friendly and the bulbs never need replacement so you don't have keep replacement bulbs on hand.  On average each LED last about 100,000 hours which means each LED run for 24 hours per day would last 4, 167 days or 11 years on average.  The manufacturers have made these types of lights so that they have more than one LED so even if one diode goes out the rest will continue to light up until they too  fail.  The downside to LED lighting is they do eventually end up in the landfill but at a much lower rate than a CFL light

Easy stick on LED lights that use 3 AAA batteries are widely available even at the dollar stores in single packs or in triple packs in department stores.  Essentially these light fixtures are meant for temporary use in places where running electrical wiring is not as convenient (eg. closets, under cabinets, in cabinets, etc.).  They come with an easy stick on base that can go anywhere and they are small enough to fit anywhere.  Most of them have 3 LED lights.  The outer covering comes in a variety of colours.  Once the base is pressed into place you replace the top portion with the LED lights.  The light is turned on by simply pushing on it which makes this type of emergency lighting ideal for every room of the house.

It is small, compact, comes in a variety of colour and it is inexpensive.  The light can be installed near the light switch in every room so it is as simple that in the event of a power failure there is always a back-up light source.  One can be easily installed in your vehicle or boat and because the stick on there is no danger of them getting lost in the glove compartment.  Turn on or off as needed.  There is no searching for flashlights or other alternative lighting during a power outage.  The only thing you have to do is check from time to time to be sure the batteries are charged.

We are advid campers turned boaters so know one of the first places to look for emergency preparedness supplies is in the camping section of any department store.  I spotted this great 24 LED camp light with hanger that can be used to light up the interior of dining tents as well as regular tents.  This LED light puts out a considerable more light than the 3 LED diode versions.  What is really nice about this light is it could easily be hung from a hook in a main living area in the house to provide evening lighting during a power outage.  It can also be installed in a more permanent location using two sided tape.  This fixture would be great for emergency lighting in the family room where everyone is gathered giving enough light to perhaps play a board game until the power comes back on.

Both of these safe, supplemental emergency lighting fixtures will operate on rechargeable batteries that can be recharged using a solar powered battery recharger.  This is important during prolonged periods of power outages.  More importantly they are very low cost solutions that can be attached in convenient locations throughout the house.  The smaller ones will cost between $1 and $2 each costing less that $20 to have one in every room of your house.  The larger one will cost about $8.  In addition to the cost of the fixtures you will have to buy rechargeable batteries (highly recommended) but I also recommend keeping a small supply of regular alkaline batteries on hand for emergency purposes in the event there isn't enough solar power to recharge the rechargeable batteries if needed.

Garden Gnome
©2006-2010

New LED Lantern Added to Our Emergency Preparedness Supplies

We are always on the lookout for items to add to our emergency preparedness supplies.  Lighting using LEDs is perfect for emergency preparedness because the LEDs don't draw a lot of energy meaning your batteries last a lot long.  The lights are fairly bright but not the same as regular CFL lightbulbs.  Still when the power is out they provide enough light that you can get around by.  They are safe to use anywhere without a fire risk so are perfect for homes with children and pets.  I'm currently working on installing a push style LED light in each room of the house so if the power is out we still have a bit of light as needed that can supplement candles and the battery operated Coleman lantern and camp lamps. 

My husband brought home this cute LED super-bright 12-LED indoor/outdoor lantern by Illumibeam.  It is about 8½- inches tall and designed like the traditional camp lanterns.  The lantern can be operated using 4 "D" batteries using the holder or it can be plugged in using a 6 V adapter.  It is not deep enough to use 6 V battery. We have rechargeable "D" cell batteries that can be charged using our solar battery chargers.  The lantern has a dimmable control for the long-life LED lights (100,000 hours) which is a nice battery saving feature.

This lantern is a nice addition to our emergency preparedness supplies.  I especially like that it is portable.  This is very important in the case of the event of emergency evacuation.  Not only that a portable lantern means you can take it wherever you need the light.  Now I need to do a bit of stocking up on rechargeable batteries but I'm holding off until I see how the start of our solar system install goes.

Garden Gnome
©2006-2010

Refrigerator Water and Ice Dispenser

We bought our Whirlpool refrigerator model ED2FHEXSQ2 in early 2006.  It was bought specifically to fit the only spot available in the kitchen of our last house where there were both tight height and width restrictions. There are still a few models available that are shorter but many of them lack the features we wanted.  When I finally found a model that fit the space we had with the features I called the appliance place we deal with and had them order it in. It ended up being a wise purchase as it just fits in this kitchen.  New home builders have gone to a shorter cabinet over the refrigerator so the appliance manufacturers have responded by making refrigerators higher, wider and deeper.  While the new design size of the refrigerators fit well with new homes, fitting them into older homes can mean a major kitchen makeover to get them to fit but in some cases the space is too restricted that even a makeover won''t help get the newer fridges into the space.  This was the position we found ourselves in. 

I really like the refrigerator.  It has a lot of great features like extra lighting and glass cantilever shelving.  My husband's request as a refrigerator feature was an indoor water and ice dispenser.  There is a filter in the bottom of the refrigerator  that filters water to the fridge.  We had no problems at the old house that had a larger Culligan water filtration system under the sink.  We don't have the additional water filtration system here.

I started noticing that the drip tray (ridged portion) looked like it had adhesive residue on it.  Despite cleaning it got worse.  Then the guides developed brownish streaks (red arrows) that I thought was normal dirt but they wouldn't come off even with a Mr. Clean Magic eraser.  The streaks felt hard and crusty yet wouldn't flake off.  The other day I was doing a bit of blog hopping and came across a post about water deposits.  Well this was not new to me but for some reason it had not dawned on me that the problem with the water and ice dispenser was water deposits! 

I removed the drip tray then set it in the sink and filled it with 5% acetic acid white vinegar.  I let it sit for 15 minutes then washed it.  All of the brownish markings were gone.  So I rigged up a coffee cup filled with vinegar propped up by two canning lid boxes to soak each of the guides as pictured.  I let each guide sit in the full strength vinegar for 15 minutes.  It was a rather low tech solution but it worked.  The guides were residue free with only the wipe of a dishcloth.  Now that I know what is causing the problem I can take the necessary steps to prevent and correct any future problems.  The left over vinegar did not go to waste either as I used it in the dishwasher to clean out any deposits. 

Pictured is the refrigerator water and ice dispenser after using the vinegar treatment.  I'm quite pleased with the way it cleaned up.  I routinely clean with a 1:1 vinegar to water solution so it will be as simple as spraying the dispenser when I do the counters. 

It might be time to consider installing an under sink or whole house water filtration system here as well.  I thought our area had soft water so water deposits have not been a huge issue but looking at the one shower head that needs replacing which we will do when we renovate the bathroom, water deposits may be a bit of a problem than I thought. 

Garden Gnome
©2006-2010

Replacing a Stove Burner

Well I can finally say I wore out a burner with canning.  I have a  Jenn-Air slide in range with various cartridges giving me the ability to grill indoors, save energy for day to day cooking and coil cartridges for canning.  I bought the heavy, reinforced burner element specifically for canning with my stove.  Late last year I noticed it arching a bit but with a bit of a twist the arching stopped.  I never thought much of of but when I mentioned it to my husband about a month ago he said that was dangerous and I should not have used the burner.  I went online to order a new burner since I will be very busy canning especially tomatoes this time of year. 

Pictured is the old burner to the right.  The contacts on the old burner were seared and the insulation around them was definitely a deteriorated (arrow).  More importantly the element itself was loose allowing movement over the reinforced base.  The new burner does not move over the reinforced base.  The problem really becomes the heavy canners themselves.  It is hard to move a canner from the element without using a sliding motion.  That sliding motion will eventually cause the entire burner to fail.  The fact that the burner performed well for over 5 years is almost amazing considering how heavy the canners are.  The new burner is in place and performing nicely.  We are going to try being a bit more conscious of not sliding the caanners over the burner. 

Garden Gnome
©2006-2010

The Leak

Well, it was bound to happen and for some reason lately all of our housing problems have involved water leaks!  We got the dreaded call from one of our vacation home neighbours that there was a water leak at our vacation house.  My husband immediately called the resort manager to have the leak taken care.  Apparently it is a rather common problem in the resort and we were told to call the utility company to remind them we had had a leak if there were any charges.  We got the bill today and was sickened to see 1.200 gallons of water had been used!  In terms of cost is was only $10.48 but heavens that amount of fresh water going to waste is just horrible in my eyes.  So I called the utility company and they said the leak must have been on the house side otherwise it would not have registered on the meter.  Anything on the house side of the meter is the customer's responsibility.  That's fair enough as it is the same thing here in Canada so no big surprise.  At any rate the problem has been repaired by the park so we will likely have a small repair bill when we get down there the next visit although we have had no notification of any type of bill. 

We now find ourselves in the same position many Canadian snowbirds who own property outside of Canada face year round.   We have to rely on good neighbours and the resort itself for these types of problems given the distance the vacation home (US) is from our permanent home in Canada.  It isn't like we can just drop, run and be there within a few minutes or even an hour or so.  We are very lucky we bought in this community where not only the resort itself looks out for residents the neighbours do too!

Garden Gnome
©2006-2010

Nonstick Fry Pan

While I do use nonstick bakeware it has been years since I gave up on nonstick pots and pans preferring instead to use stainless steel or cast iron.  Nonstick especially Teflon® has come under fire because of possible off gassing that can cause respiratory and other health problems.  Other than two fry pans I gave up on nonstick for pots and pans well before those warnings ever came out.  However as a home cook who loves to cook I like having a couple of nonstick frypans in different sizes.  Nonstick reduces the need for oil and gives excellent results for certain foods like eggs. 

Here's where I ran into a problem.  Back when I got rid of my nonstick I bought 2 nice Lagostina International fry pans on sale but they weren't cheap!  I looked after them too with not using metal tools in them and always hand washing.  The larger one failed after a couple of years of use so I replaced it with another that also failed.  My husband brought home a KitchenAid nonstick frypan (~ $60) to replace the Lagostina.  Despite careful care the other day I was to the point of being tempted to get out a piece of steel wool.  I was very disappointed as KitchenAid is one of my favourite brands.  That fry pan is not even a full 2 years old!  It has never been in the dishwasher or had metal utensils in it nor has it been abused by using high temperatures yet the coating failed!

A couple of months ago I bought a 12" commercial grade nonstick fry pan from Sam's Club to replace the last Lagostina.  This was a heavy-guage, aluminum frypan with cast stainless steel handle (with removable silicone grip) and Eclipse® nonstick coating.  The frypan is NSF certified as well.  It cost me about $20 but the frypan is quite heavy and so far has performed as expected to the point I bought another one last night.  It was a 10" frypan for $15.64.  For less than the replacement cost of one KitchenAid I ended up with 2 heavy duty, commercial grade nonstick frypans.  Hopefully that will be the last of having to replace them!

Garden Gnome
©2006-2010

It's That Time of Year

Summer is half over here!  The gardening is producing nicely and I've been busy restocking the pantry with lots of home canned goodies.  Today I'm canning maple blueberry conserves, peach lavender jam and peach chutney.  As I've been getting all my supplies ready my mind has been wandering towards how the new TOU hydro prices that will come into effect in our area on September 8 will affect us.  At the same time the price of natural gas will likely see some type of increase just in time for the heating season.  The added new HST of 8% extra on home heating fuel is also a concern. 

While the canner runs churning out good food for the year or so to come I use my down time to identify a few projects that need being done before winter  giving a higher priority to those that will help save a bit of hydro or natural gas.  Topping the list are 2 on demand water heaters, one of which will eliminate about and 70' run to get hot water to the kitchen.  I am also hoping to get one solar tube installed and the first part of our solar system.  We are also planning on installing storm doors on the house.  So the winterizing ideas are coming in full tilt right now while the caulking gun is seeing a bit more action.

Garden Gnome
©2006-2010