Showing posts with label cell. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cell. Show all posts

Friday, January 18, 2008

How To Reduce Mold And Stay Healthy

Reducing the amount of mold growth in your home usually starts with removing the existing growth from the property. This growth is typically located in the moist areas of your home like the kitchen and bathroom, but what if you do not already have mold in the house and you want to prevent it? There are a few different ways that you can do this, but one of the most helpful is the HEPA filter.

HEPA filters are specifically designed to remove particles from the air that we breathe indoors down 0.03 microns in size. Believe it or not, this means that it removes everything that is down to one third the width of a person’s hair. Dust mites, mold spores, hair, pet dander, pollen, and just about anything else that you can think of gets removed by these filters, so you can imagine the help it must bring to people with respiratory conditions like emphysema, asthma, and allergies. This is a great addition to the fact that it takes the mold spores out of the house before they have a chance to land on anything wet and start growing.

Vacuum cleaners that have HEPA filters are the only kind that should really be used in your home, since other types of vacuums may extract all of these particles from your carpet’s pile, but toss them right back into the air that you breathe. In reality, you might as well not have vacuumed at all, since it will just settle back down on the carpet.

If you decide to purchase an air purification system for your home, you should only get one that has a HEPA filter, since the other types simply do not work as well. This is the best kind of system that you can get, as long as you get one that can handle the square footage of your home. Air purification systems are often used by more expensive businesses who have employees that spend a lot of time indoors in a particular space, since the air needs to be circulated and kept from being stale, but at the same time needs to be clean of particle debris that can cause illness. The less employees are sick, the less sick days they take, and the less insurance is claimed. You may not work in a building like this, but it is a fact that people spend more time indoors these days and to stay healthy, breathing the cleanest air possible is a must.

Cell Phones and Water Trouble

Dropping a cell phone or other electronic device into a body of water is the worst nightmare of those people who must constantly be connected, like people who work in changing markets like real estate or finance, but it does happen. There are a number of things that you can do to both prevent this and have the appropriate response once it does eventually happen.

The first thing you should to is purchase a holster for your phone that you can attach to your pants or your purse, so you do not accidentally drop it. This along with purchasing a headset for it will give you a hands-free option when you are doing the dishes or are by the pool. It means that you will no longer have to rely on your hands to hold onto the phone, since the holster is probably going to be much more reliable.

If you do happen to drop your phone into water, the first thing you need to do is unplug it from the wall, if it is connected to its A/C adapter. This will prevent you from being electrocuted. If you can get the phone out of the water in under 20 seconds, this is best, since most phones are waterproofed just enough to keep water from getting inside it for that length of time. As soon as you get it out, dry off the exterior quickly and remove the battery pack and SIM card (if you have one). The SIM card contains all the contacts and other information on the phone and some people would consider this card more valuable than the actual phone itself.

After you have all the components of the phone dried off, place the phone itself into a bowl of uncooked rice. Leave this overnight at least or longer, if you can do without your phone. Just make sure that you have no doubt whether there is moisture still in the phone, since trying to turn it on while it is still wet inside can do the damage that you were trying to prevent all along.

Most cell phones these days are also equipped with stickers that change color when they are exposed to water or even just high humidity. This works for the manufacturer, since there are a number of people making false warranty claims and stating that something is wrong with the phone, when actually, the phone was water damaged. Most warranties do not cover water damage, so this sticker gives a technician a heads up that there might be water involved with the problem.

Cell Phone Water Trouble

We all know that water and electronics do not mix, but the fact is that many people end up letting these sensitive items come into contact with water no matter how careful they are. Most people have dropped something into the sink or the bath tub that did not belong there, but dropping a cell phone into one of these is a nightmare, especially for those of us who have our social lives strapped to them. If you kill our phone, you do away with all those contacts, since most of us do not have rolodexes anymore.

Having one of the new cell phones that are on the market today brings a lot of perks to the table, such as being able to save pictures, music, numerous ring tones, the ability to watch videos, surf the internet, check e-mail, and a number of other things, but all this can be completely done away with if the phone becomes soaked with water. Fortunately, there are a few things that you can do to save your phone should this happen.

If the phone is connected to its A/C adapter and plugged into the wall, unplug it before reaching into the water to fish it out. Do not reach into the water while the phone is still plugged in, but try to get it out of the water before 30 seconds, but 20, if possible. After retrieving it from the water, remove the battery, SIM card (if your phone has one), and set them aside. Dry off the exterior of the phone and its components with whatever is handy.

Put the phone in a bowl of uncooked rice and leave it there overnight to dry. The rice will pull the moisture out of the phone. If you can stand to, leave it there a day or two until you are sure that no moisture remains in it. Trying to turn the phone on prematurely will do exactly what you are trying to prevent.

You should also be aware that there is a water damage indication sticker on the inside of the phone located around the battery pack and deeper into the phone on the circuit board. These are in most cell phones these days to stop consumers from making false warranty claims and stating that their phone is defective, when actually, it was water damaged. Water damage is not covered under most cell phone warranties.