Change your filters

[rebeccmeister]

I remember having a conversation one morning with KM while out rowing on Tempe Town Lake. She's a realtor, and commented on the handful of things she always checks when starting to evaluate the condition of a house she's about to sell. One of the things is the air intake filter. For all the people who remember to change them regularly, there are far too many who don't, and it's such a fast way to burn out one's heating and cooling system.

So, in working to improve the indoor air quality in the Sour Milk House (official house name now), I hied over to the awesome neighborhood hardware store* and bought a fresh filter. For better or worse, I bought one of the expensive, fancy ones this time around. It can't hurt to tackle this situation from as many different angles as possible, eh?

Boy was the old filter disgusting. When I asked the rental manager about the filter, she had remarked that they have been putting in the three-month filters, so she asked if I would save the previous one when replacing it with the allergen-removal model. Well, I left the old filter sitting by the furnace, though I don't know what good it will do anybody at this point.


*It's "just" an Ace Hardware. But have I mentioned lately how much I loathe the big-box businesses that have pushed out this style of hardware store? As an example - I also needed to replace a shower knob, which is something I had to do at the Villa Maria house, too. For the Villa Maria house, my only option from the big-box stores was an ugly, chintzy plastic thing. The big-boxers in B/CS drove the True Value store out of business. For the Sour Milk House here, the Ace had exactly what I wanted. I cannot beat this point over the head enough.

Comments

[randomdreams.livejournal.com]

What HD has that Ace doesn't: drywall, plywood, chandeliers.
What Ace has that HD doesn't: tubing, metric taps and bolts, machinable aluminum stock, v-belts, bearings, quick-disconnect crimp terminators, complete array of cast iron, brass, and copper plumbing bits.

In general, if I'm doing major upgrades of home infrastructure I end up at HD, but almost everything else, Ace will have all I need in one stop, at a slight premium. But it's also within walking distance, whereas HD is barely walking distance from the lumber section to the checkout line.

[rebeccmeister.livejournal.com]

The walking distance aspect is HUGE. Nothing was within walking distance in TX. The most bikeable location was a Lowe's, which likes to encase useful items in plastic "sets," which is a markup in terms of unwanted junk and packaging.

I believe my nearby Ace has got plywood, actually. I think that may vary from location to location.

[randomdreams.livejournal.com]

Mine's tiny so they don't have room for sheet goods.
That's okay. I couldn't haul them home on foot.