Cleaning Frenzy!

Top 4 Air Conditioners

CleanFreak — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 19:46:59 +0000

When the summertime heat starts to roll in, nothing cools a home down faster than an air conditioner. Today’s air conditioners are light and efficient, and there are many great models on the market. When it comes to air conditioners, shopping by price alone may not be the best option. Instead, look for a machine that has received rave reviews – such as the machines listed below.

1. Haier CPRBO7XC7 Portable Air Conditioner With Remote Control

Pro: this machine will cool of any room in record time. Also, the Haier Air Conditioner does not have to be emptied on a regular basis, so you can leave it running for a long period of time. Many consumers also enjoy the fact that this portable air conditioner has a remote that can be used at a distance.
Con: the Haier unit is not as efficient as a window air conditioner, but it will cool down a small room quickly.
Star Rating: for what it was built to do, this unit gains a 5 star rating.

2. Frigidaire Window Unit Air Conditioner (FAX052P7A)

Pro: this unit is highly efficient at cooling down large rooms and small spaces alike.
Con: this air conditioner is slightly louder than most other units.
Star Rating: the Frigidaire Window Air Conditioner earns 4 stars.

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3. Frigidaire FAA055P7A Compact Small-Room Air Conditioner with Remote

Pro: this air conditioner is affordable, and it also includes many different settings.
Con: the medium and high settings cause the unit to make a loud noise.
Star Rating: this unit earns a 3 star rating.

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4. SPT SF-608R Portable Evaporative Air Cooler

Pro: this unit is easy to clean and portable.
Con: this unit does not make a room extremely cold.
Star Rating: this unit gains a 3 star rating.

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img c/o kevindooley

Top 4 Air Purifiers

CleanFreak — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 19:37:59 +0000

Achoo!

If you’ve having trouble breathing, you might want to consider investing in an air purifier. Not only do purifiers remove all kinds of air debris, but these machines also make indoor breathing quality much higher. Whether you want to remove cat box odors or clean the air around you, a good air purifier will do the trick. Below, you’ll find some of the top air purifiers on the market.

1. Honeywell HHT-011 Compact Air Purifier with Permanent HEPA Filter

Pro: not only is the Honeywell Compact Air Purifier quiet, but it can also be moved to any small space. In addition, the permanent air filter can be cleaned with ease, so there’s no need to buy additional filters. This unit also comes with a notification light that alerts users when the filter needs to be cleaned.
Con: some users have reported that this unit can become noisy after excessive use.
Star Rating: all things written above considered, the Honeywell Compact Air Purifier earns 5 stars for a compact body and intelligent design.

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2. Honeywell 18155 SilentComfort Permanent, True HEPA Air Purifier

Pro: this machine is entirely quiet.
Con: this is not a compact machine, so a bit of extra space is required.
Start Rating: the Honeywell 18155 deserves 4 stars.

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3. Vicks UV 99.99% Germ Free Humidifier

Pro: this unit can hold a good deal of water (two tanks).
Con: the machine has a bright LED light, which may cause sleep interruption.
Star Rating: the Vicks UV Humidifier deserves 4 stars.

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4. Hamilton Beach 04383 True Allergen-Reducing Air Cleaner

Pro: this machine includes three useful speeds.
Con: the permanent filter must be vacuumed (not washed).
Star Rating: this quiet and efficient machine deserves 4 stars.

Top Carpet Cleaners/Carpet Steam Cleaners

CleanFreak — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 19:33:27 +0000

Dog-shaped carpet stain?

When you have a carpet stain that won’t budge, a reliable steam cleaner will get the job done. While there are lots of steam cleaners on the market, only a few of these machines are worth the price. Below, you’ll find some of the top carpet cleaners available.

1. Hoover SteamVac Carpet Cleaner with Clean Surge

Pro: this carpet cleaner not only cleans carpets, but it has the ability to vacuum any space too. Due to its rugged 12-amp motor and two separate water tanks, this product is the number one carpet cleaner on the market.
Con: there are only two drawbacks to this product: the price tag ($138.95 is a lot to spend if you already have a general vacuum cleaner), and the 1 year warranty. Otherwise, the Hoover SteamVac is the best steam cleaner for your hard-earned money.
Star Rating: this carpet cleaner earns 5 stars.

Editor’s Note: “I own this! It rocks.”
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2. Wagner 905 1,500 Watt On-Demand Power Steamer and Cleaner

Pro: this steam cleaner comes with an excellent price tag ($79).
Con: the water tank is not easy to empty or fill.
Star Rating: this carpet cleaner earns 4 stars.
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3. Hoover SteamVac Dual V Widepath Carpet Cleaner

Pro: this product is extremely effective at removing debris.
Con: the Hoover SteamVac is difficult to clean (requiring attaching and detaching various hoses).
Star Rating: the Hoover SteamVac earns 3 ½ stars.
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4. McCulloch MC-1275 Heavy-Duty Steam Cleaner

Pro: the steam that comes from this cleaner is long-lasting.
Con: due to its suction power, this machine can be very loud.
Star Rating: the McCulloch earns 4 stars for efficiency.

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Give Your Home a Yuletide Aroma with Homemade Christmas-scented Cleaner

CleanFreak — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 14:24:55 +0000

click for source

Hey folks – I was shopping at Marshall’s the other day and I noticed a novel little bottle of all-purpose cleaner. It was the same ol’ cleaner you’d find off the shelf anywhere else, except it had some red coloring and was infused with Christmas-scented essential oils. The idea is that for the wintry months, all you had to do to give you home a holiday atmosphere and aroma was to clean your house using your Christmas-scented all purpose cleanears, I almost picked it up, but it cost $10. Plus, I would probably only use it for one month.

I figured I could just make up a version of it at home, using the standard homemade all-purpose cleaner recipe with a few drops of my own essential oils.

For a mild cleanser, just mix up half and half white distilled vinegar and hot water in a spray bottle. Add about 20 drops of pine scented essential oils
(or 10 drops cinnamon and 10 drops orange scented essential oil) and shake it up. Use this to clean wood, counter tops, even windows.

For a bit of a stronger solution, add 2 teaspoons of washing soda or castile soap.

If you don’t already have a couple jars of essential oil, you can pick some up cheap at Amazon (I’ll put some links below). It’s expensive at first, but since you only need a few drops, it lasts for a very long time.

Try it and let us know if you come up with any lovely scents!

Sweet Orange 100% Pure Essential Oil -10 ml

Pine 100% Pure Essential Oil- 30 ml

Cinnamon Scented Oil – Bonus Size 120 ml

Clear Out Condensate Lines

CleanFreak — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:23:59 +0000

So filthy

Have you ever heard of the Gallo Gun? This thing is pretty simple – it’s a CO2 gun (compressed air) that blasts out your clogged condensate lines (on a fridge or A/C) without the nasty chemicals or mess. I’m pretty impressed with it – and I’m sad to report that I found out that it existed when the HVAC technician charged me $65/an hour to use it on my clogged condensate line. Why is that so sad? Cuz the dang thing only costs $50 to own.

Anyway, you’re supposed to clean out your air conditioner condensate line once a year. If you don’t, your a/c drip pan is going to be filled with slime sludge that creeps up into the condensate line to clog it. When your condensate line is clogged, one of two things will happen:

Your air conditioner will stop working
Your house will flood

For a truly bizarre (yet educational) video, check out HVAC (Condensate Drains).

“CONDENSATE! CONDENSATE! CONDENSATE!”

There are a couple ways to fix this without paying a pro. The best way is to use a wet/dry vac. Just go outside and find where the condensate drain is. Sometimes it’s out in your backyard near your air conditioner unit. It’ll look like a little white PVC pipe poking out of the house. It could also be poking out of the ground like a little periscope.

For some reason, mine is inside in my basement and just routes around my laundry room into the sink. Some people have the condensate pipe running out of their attic.

Once you locate it, hook up a wet/dry vac and suck all the gunk out into a bucket. Let it suck for a couple of minutes and get all that sludge out.

Oh, by the way, don’t use your old Dirt Devil for this job – get a REAL wet/dry vac. A 6-gallon Shop-Vac only costs $55 so there’s no reason to break your real vacuum to clean out your condensate line.

If you can’t figure out where you can hook up your wet/dry vacuum, you can post a video response of your air handler unit and you’re A/C unit and Dr. Zarkloff will help you figure out what to do. (This person really is strange and wonderful.)

Some people recommend putting bleach in the drain pan to prevent clogging – I really don’t recommend this. Chlorine will make it rust super fast and will eat away the aluminum fins on the coil. If you want to prevent condensate lines from being clogged, get some specially made tablets specifically for this purpose, such as ActabsTM Jr. Tablets.

Anyway, if you’re like me, your condensate line was so clogged that a wet/dry vac wouldn’t do the trick. If that’s the case, you need to blowout your condensate line with some compressed air. You can pick up a compressed air gun at your local A/C supply store – or you can pay some dude an arm and a leg to do it for you (nice guy, just EXPENSIVE!).

I got a Gallo Gun so I don’t have to call this guy anymore. It’s really easy to use – you just hook it up to your condensate drain line and blast it OUTWARDS. That is, shoot it from where it comes out of the A/C – not where it exits your home. Otherwise you’re blasting all the sludge into the A/C.

The Gallo Gun is better than other condensed air guns because it uses plain ol’ CO2 instead of propellants that are bad for the environment. You can get it at AZ Partsmaster.

Here’s a video on how to use a Gallo Gun.