2008年3月15日星期六

Tips to Clean the Sink in a Proper Way

Sink needs to be cleaned regularly to avoid the water jam. Here are some guidance on how to clean the sink and the drain. There are some tips on maintaining the dishwashers. Below are some of them which can be useful to make your dishwasher last longer.

CLEANING YOUR SINK. Synthetic detergents used for dishwashing leave the sinks clean and free of incrustations of grease, so that they rarely need scouring. If you do need an abrasive, select the finest. Coarse scouring powders scratch the finish, making it harder and harder to keep clean. Always rinse away carefully any powders you use. Stains can be removed easily from a kitchen sink with household bleach. Just fill the sink with warm water, add a quarter of a cup of bleach, more or less, and let it remain until the stains are gone and the sink is uniformly white. Sponges and dish mops can be bleached at the same time. The removal of iron and copper rust stains from porcelain enamel are discussed in relation to bathrooms.

FLUSH THE DRAIN of you kitchen sink with plenty of hot water after using it. This cleans the drain and leaves the trap filled with fresh water. To keep the drain from becoming sluggish put a little washing soda down it about once a month and follow it with hot water. The soda will cut out light accumulations of grease and sweeten the drain.

GARBAGE GRINDERS. If you sink is equipped with an electric garbage grinder, operate it according to the directions given by the firm that made it It will dispose of vegetables and fruit refuse, including pits and rinds, and shells of crabs and lobsters. It cannot manage bits of metal, including tin foil, splinters of glass or china, string, rubber, clam shells, or paper.

Garbage grinders have sealed motors and do not need to be oiled; the inside is scoured clean by their own action. Usually recommended, however, is a special flushing about once a week. To do this, close the drain opening and run two or three inches of cold water into the sink. Then, with cold water still running, turn the top of the unit to the "on" position and let the grinder run until the sink is empty. Do not use chemical drain openers if you have a garbage grinder. They are not needed and might be harmful.

If a bottle cap or other forbidden item accidentally gets into a garbage grinder, the gadget will protest by emitting strange noises. Turn the motor to "off," remove the top, and take out the obstruction. The motor cannot operate when the top is off.

IF YOU DEPEND UPON A GARBAGE PAIL, use one with a pedal-lifter for the lid, and try to select a model that is rustproof the inside of the lid as well as the container. Use leak proof garbage bags, or wrap refuse in newspapers, and keep the pail clean and odor-free by washing it frequently, inside and out, with hot water and soap or detergent.

ELECTRIC DISHWASHERS should be operated and cared for according to the manufacturer's instructions for different models. The following directions are general, applicable to most. After finishing the dishes, these aids rinse themselves thoroughly and require special cleaning only occasionally.

Use the proper amount of detergent of the special type made for dishwashers. If too much is used, heavy suds will be produced which interfere with proper cleaning action. Directions are usually given about the placing of various articles and utensils to be washed. Aluminum ware usually is placed toward the outer rim of the basket so that it will not be spattered with undiluted detergent. After it has dissolved the detergent will not spot aluminum. Dishes and pans should be completely free of food particles before being placed in the dishwasher. Do not wash woodenware, including knives with wooden handles, in an automatic dishwasher. Follow the directions given by the manufacturer of the plastic dishes and utensils you may have.

For a special cleaning of the tub take out the removable parts; trays, valve, impeller,and wipe the inside and the cover with a damp cloth. If necessary a little mild cleansing powder can be used.

Use the Synthetic detergents used for dishwashing leave the sinks clean and free of incrustations of grease to clean the sink. Flush the drain of the kitchen sink with plenty of hot water and put little soda down it one in a month to keep the drain from sluggish.

See the manufacturer's instructions base on the model of the dishwashers. Use the proper amount of detergent to avoid heavy suds. Use mild cleansing powder to wash the removable parts.

2008年3月5日星期三

Water Heater Applications

Heating of water is considered the second largest cost of energy next to heat/air conditioning systems in the home and whether your home uses electricity, gas, or liquid propane gas, water heaters are designed to help you meet the hot water demands of your household. Water heaters are gas, oil or electric-fired devices that heat water for residential or commercial use with gas heaters tending to be more common for larger flow rates.

The function of the water heater is to raise the temperature of water and They come in a variety of sizes for different applications, such as a whole-house water heater, a hot water source for a remote bathroom or hot tub, or as a boiler to provide hot water for a home heating system. Energy is transferred into the body of water in the heater just as if someone put a flame beneath a pan of water on a stove.

Gas released from the bowels of the earth with crude oil contains a lot of energy, some of which is harnessed to run a water heater. The energy stored up in propane and electricity can also heat water under certain conditions. The scarcity of propane and the cost of electrical energy generation neutralize their cost effectiveness in powering water heaters compared to natural gas.

Gas is burned and releases heat that passes through the burner under the tank of the water heater and eventually warms the water. The wall holds a valve that opens and shuts to control the flow of gas into the water heater. Devising a means by which the temperature in a heater is controlled by the aid of a thermostat was a good idea of the manufacturers.

The ignition is done by a pilot light. The device known as the gas grill is a fair enough illustration of how this works. It is imperative to have a vent system installed as part of the heater to relieve it of burnt up fumes. To complete the vent is the PVC pipe seated firmly on the roof, receiving and discharging the used up fumes.

The heater is now improved to such a point that a fan that forces fumes out through the wall supports its venting system. Gas is not the only non solid component that works with a gas water heater; water does too. Appliances receive water from the cylinder shaped tank through the pipe network and water valve system attached to the water heater after the water has been heated.

Mainly for the purpose of variety, there are also versions of the water heater without a tank. When you turn on the hot water tap of a tankless water heater, the water you get has journeyed through a number of burners and can now be used with a washing machine or a dishwasher. The operation of a tankless heater is different from that of the regular gas water heater.

One such difference is that this design enables it to supply heated water endlessly. Being an improvement on the old prototype, manufacturers made it a prerogative to save energy with the new heater. The one flaw of this design is the length of time it takes for the water to heat up as heating does not begin until the tap is opened. Water is stored in the tank of a gas heater, meaning that a tankless heater does not have the means to do so. Heating of water is all that a tankless gas water heater does, in addition to passing the heated water along to appliances for consumption.

How to Flow with Hyper Change

Without bothering to ask for our consent, globalization and technological innovation has rapidly created a new world. In today's demanding work environment, there are few personal skills more valuable than being able to flow with the accelerating and unremitting changes which are driving our workplaces and defining our time.

As we move through the twenty-first century, it's important to develop better coping skills and to build much needed resilience to the unusual scale of today's changes. For example, over the next ten years we will likely undergo more change than has occurred in all of previous human history.

Through a process called homeostasis, every body-mind has an in-built tendency to resist change, no matter whether the change is good or bad. It's an amazingly complex system that wants to stay within narrow limits and return to that state whenever it is forced out of it. Our body-minds evolved over many thousands of millennia knowing that in order to survive, stability was needed.

This need for equilibrium is a natural mechanism that wants to keep things as they are. We experience this automatic resistance to change in ourselves and we see it in our organizations. The resistance is generally proportionate to the size and speed of the change, making the unusual scale of today's changes especially demanding on every body.

There is a pressing need for people to overcome their natural resistance to change and become more flexible and open towards it. Rosabeth Moss Kanter, the former editor of The Harvard Business Review, described "flexible" as the most important essential skill for organizational survival in the new work world, along with becoming more "focused, fast and friendly". But just telling people to become more flexible (and focused, friendly, etc.) is like telling them to go fly.

To devise a strategy to enhance flexibility and focus you must first understand that resistance to change expresses itself in the body-mind as an arousal state commonly called stress. Over time, the wear and tear of too much stress plays a significant role in making us sick and impairing our performance. It keeps mentally and physically rigid and inflexible and especially resistant to change.

That's why one of the most important skills for our time is what Harvard Medical School has labeled the "relaxation response". The relaxation response is a measurable state of profound rest which, when regularly called upon, permits the body-mind to effectively unwind from the chronic strain that adaptation stress imposes. Within minutes, it achieves a state of rest that would normally be achieved after four or five hours of sleep. All of the complex and interrelated systems of the body respond by letting go of the excess stress and afford a tired and straining body-mind a much-needed chance to properly rest, recuperate, and repair.

It's a total response of the body-mind. The heart beat becomes slower, as does one's breathing rate. Blood pressure and blood sugar levels drop. Brain waves slow down. Even skin resistance changes. The entire body-mind system becomes quiet and has an opportunity to rebalance and replenish itself. Measurable self-healing occurs. Every system in the body-mind has an opportunity to regenerate and renew itself. It goes beyond the advertising hype and produces an actual experience worthy of the expression, "the pause that refreshes".

Decades of medical research has proven that everyone can be more in control of themselves by learning simple ways to properly unwind. By releasing stress on a regular basis, we have a natural safety valve that keeps it from building to harmful levels. Almost everybody who uses the relaxation response discovers that they are much better able to withstand the on-going and inevitable strains of modern life. They can absorb so much more without negative side effects. They are able to flow more easily into the new structures as they emerge, adapt to new ideas, and creatively respond to new challenges.

Those hoping to steer their organizations (or themselves) through the white water that is clearly ahead would be wise to provide their workers (and families) with the "how to" of body-mind self-regulation, the relaxation response. My bet is that the greatest success in the new wireless world will come to those organizations and individuals who have learned best how to effectively let go and flow better with change.

2008年1月5日星期六

Warming Up Your Car The Mazda Way


Over the years, Mazda has produced more than 100 models in certain car categories. Just two years ago, it started to produce 800,000 vehicles a year, rising above other Japanese, the European, and North American markets. Mazda has also garnered a lot of awards and recognitions through its automotive technological advancements.

It is not only technological advancements that made Mazda an authority in the industry, but the satisfaction provided to its loyal patrons. The recognitions Mazda has received are all just bonuses for the hard work. Much more than these is the quality of work and materials applied to the Mazda vehicle parts. One living proof of Mazda's quality work is the Mazda Thermostat.

In order to fully digest why Mazda puts such effort into thermostats, one should learn to understand its operations and functions. Cars naturally need a warming-up period before taking off and that is exactly what a Mazda Thermostat does it controls the engine's warm-up stage. It is responsible for allowing the engine heat up quickly to reach the appropriate degree needed. At the same time, it keeps the temperature at a fixed degree. It is nestled between the engine and the radiator and remains closed during the engine warm-up. This is because the coolant should not escape the engine and circulate the radiator, not until the desired temperature is attained. However, this spring valve would begin to open once the coolant reaches 180-195 Fahrenheit, allowing the liquid to flow through the radiator to be cooled. At 200-218 Fahrenheit, the Mazda Thermostat should have opened all the way.

With the significant function that a Mazda Thermostat has to fulfill every time the engine is turned on, Mazda has made it a point that it would serve its owners for a long time. Mazda's promise then is longevity in service; that should the Mazda Thermostat fails, it would be due to old age. When that happens, replacement is the only solution. But it must be remembered with a knot on one's finger that Mazda Thermostats should be bought only from trusted aftermarket parts dealer.

2008年1月4日星期五

VW Cooling Basics

An engine cooling system is an important component when a internal combustion engines used in vehicles. Early VW engines, particularly the early incarnations of the iconic VW Beetle, used an air-cooled system. In a nutshell, the system works by dissipating thermal energy into the air directly. However, after the second World War, most VW vehicles have adapted liquid-cooled principle and continue to do so at present. This is due to the fact that air-cooled engines have fallen out of favor for most car manufacturers, because minimizing emissions and engine noise has proven to be too difficult in air-cooled system. Air-cooling is still used in airplane engines, however, wherein the disadvantages are not that noticeable. The difference between the two applications goes beyond the medium in which heat is dispersed. In fact, the liquid-cooled principles borrows an application from its air-cooled counterpart. Liquid-cooled engines of VW vehicles use coolants (commonly a mixture of water and antifreeze, but other liquids have been known to be used), air is still needed in the process to cool the liquid itself. Another main difference is in the weight, with VW radiators, as well as other radiators of different makes for that matter, liquid-cooled engines are a lot heavier compared to air-cooled engines. One the other hand, the liquid-cooled principle has noticeably higher specific heat capacity, density and thermal conductivity. This is due to the fact that liquid, particularly water, can transfer heat farther and with less volumetric flow. At the heart of liquid-cooled vehicles is the radiator, which are obviously absent in air-cooled vehicles who use metal fins covering the outside of the engine's cylinder to increase the surface are for air to flow through. Radiators, typically located behind the car's grill, acts as heat exchanger and is connected to channels that traverse through the cylinder head and the engine. A device called the thermostat allows the coolant to circulate at a certain temperature by opening valves that releases the heated liquid to the radiator. At this point in time, the heat in the liquid is spread out via the air drawn in by the forward motion of the vehicle, augmented by a fan. It is important to note that VW radiators vary in size, this all depends on the model and size of the engine and vehicle, which in turn affects the ability of the radiator to handle extreme conditions that will the engine in question will undergo. This does not however, mean that the radiator is exempt from damage over time or use. Coolant leaking can cause the cooling system to be less effective or fail entirely. As with any other car component, proper maintenance and care is highly encouraged, as overheating problems can cause more damage to the engine itself, prompting for a more expensive endeavor. At the event of the worse case scenario, VW radiators are readily available in various shops that specialize in VW vehicles. The world wide web has also become a reliable source for such transactions, with the added security brought about by latest technologies. Either way, the necessity far outweighs economy when considering radiator replacements.

Cleaner Cars from Volvo


Environment consciousness in the global community is growing as a result of unrelenting campaign of environmentalist for the people to protect Mother Earth. In connection with this, car manufactures are in a position to help alleviate the problem with pollution, one of the primary reasons of which is the emission from vehicles.

Different companies have been developing ways to decrease the emission of their cars and at the same time lower fuel consumption. Lowering the amount of fossil fuel based products consumed by automobiles will greatly help in preserving the worlds fossil fuel reserve. Car manufacturers, most notably Toyota and Honda, have come up with hybrid vehicles which use electricity to power their car but the fuel savings is not nearly enough to protect our natural reserves of fossil fuel.

Volvo has come up with a way to help in the protection of the environment by using alternative fuel on some of their car models. FlexiFuel models are now being produced by the Sweden-based car manufacturer. These are the Volvo C30, S40, and the V50 models. These cars use an alternative fuel called E85 which is a combination of ethanol and petrol. The combination of which is 85 per cent bio-ethanol and 15 per cent gasoline. Use of the E85 alternative fuel reduces emissions of fossil carbon dioxide which is harmful to the environment by as much as 80 per cent compared to cars using gasoline only.

The models equipped with the FlexiFuel technology are equipped with a four-cylinder engine which can produce 125 horsepower. The usage of the alternative fuel does no harm to the engines performance. The bio-ethanol and gasoline combination is stored on the models 55 liter tank. To accommodate the corrosive properties of ethanol, changes have to be made to the engines construction. Fuel hoses, valves, and gaskets have been modified and fortified to take on the corrosive nature of ethanol. Injection valves have also been modified and made larger since a larger amount of fuel needs to be injected to the combustion chamber. This is due to the fact that ethanol has a lower energy content compared to pure gasoline. Aside from these changes, the engine is basically the same just like the Volvo spark plug wires which will not be affected by the corrosive nature of the fuel.

The development of the technology is just a small step but a significant one in terms of protecting our environment for future generations. Since ethanol is a renewable source of energy, the use of it as a fuel will decrease the worlds dependency on the fossil fuel reserves all over the world. Ethanol can be produced from a wide range of biomass source such as corn, wheat, sugar-beet and cellulose among others. And with increasing number of facilities that produce ethanol, the technology developed by Volvo may soon be used all over the world. Aside from using ethanol as fuel, there are also a range of renewable energy resources that are waiting to be enhanced for possible use as duel for automobiles.

2008年1月3日星期四

The Healing Effects of an Appropriate Acid Reflux Diet

Acid reflux can become very serious if it is not appropriately treated and can even lead to severe complications. The factors responsible for causing acid reflux are multiple: low pressure in the region of the esophagus, inappropriate activity of the lower esophageal sphincter (a muscular valve at the union between the esophagus and the stomach), excessive production of digestive acid or physiological abnormalities of the esophagus.

Acid reflux may also occur due to inappropriate diet, stress and unhealthy lifestyle. The best way of controlling the condition is through the means of a good acid reflux diet. An appropriate acid reflux diet greatly contributes in preventing and controlling the condition. Due to the fact that excessive production of stomach digestive fluids aggravates the condition, an appropriate acid reflux diet should contain only foods that dont add to the stomachs acidity. A good acid reflux diet should exclude: foods that are rich in fat, citrus foods, tomato products, milk, caffeine-based products, spicy foods, fried foods, peppermint, alcoholic beverages and cigarettes.

First of all, avoid eating large amounts of foods that contain fat. By restricting the amount of fat in your acid reflux diet, you help normalize the activity of the stomach. When large amounts of fat-rich foods are ingested at once, the stomach cant manage to digest it properly and attempts to dissolve it by secreting more digestive acids. Exclude spices and other irritants (preservatives, colorants) from your acid reflux diet and replace fast food with home-cooked meals. Although it is believed that dairy products have a calming effect on the stomach, milk can eventually increase the amount of gastric acid. Milk has a rebound action on the stomach, neutralizing the levels of digestive acid at first, only to increase the amount of digestive acid further on.

It is very important to avoid smoking and the consumption of alcohol. These factors are proved to increase the production of gastric acids inside the stomach and therefore can aggravate acid reflux. Also, try to reduce the consumption of foods and beverages that contain caffeine (coffee, cola, black tea, cocoa, chocolate). Although it is not exactly known how caffeine affects the normal activity of the stomach, it is best to exclude it from your acid reflux diet.

Foods considered to be appropriate for people who suffer from acid reflux are: apples, bananas, cabbage, carrots, beans, peas, potatoes, rice, low-fat meat, bread, pasta and cereals. Include more foods that are rich in carbohydrates in your acid reflux diet (price, pasta, bread, cereals, potatoes) and try to reduce the intake of protein. You may eat light meats such as chicken or fish, but try to place meat products on a secondary level in your acid reflux diet.

Follow a good acid reflux diet and you will quickly improve your condition. In some cases, an appropriate acid reflux diet can even be a substitute for medication.