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Seven Tips to Protect Your Home from the Coronavirus Threat

The spread of the Novel Coronavirus pandemic has led to millions of people
being told to shelter in place in their homes and avoid going into public
as long as possible. However, is your home truly prepared for what could
be a fairly long period of extended use? Are you truly as safe at home
as you should be during this time? In this blog, our crew will discuss
seven tips you should follow to help you better prepare for the Coronavirus
threat and how you can make life at home better and more enjoyable.

Plumbing Preparations

Consider Investing in a Bidet or Sprayer

One of the things that have been downright crazy to watch is the insane
panic that this pandemic has caused when it comes to buying household
goods, and perhaps the craziest of all has been toilet paper. Stores of
all shapes and sizes everywhere are sold out of the stuff, and many are
quickly selling out again as soon as they manage to re-stock. That means
there’s a good chance you may run out of the stuff at some point,
so it’s important to have a plan for what will happen if you do.

Don’t start flushing paper towels down the toilet—that will
only lead to nasty clogs. However, purchasing a bidet attachment or sprayer
for your toilet can help you clean your backside with the natural power
of water. It’s safer for your plumbing, eco-friendly, and severely
limits the need for toilet paper, potentially even eliminating it altogether.

Have Your Water Heater Maintained

The last thing you want to deal with when sheltering in place is a hot
water supply that gives out on you. Water heater maintenance can help
you avoid that. Maintenance includes draining and flushing your tank to
remove built-up sediment, and also includes inspecting your tank for signs
of wear and tear. This helps you avoid costly energy bills and could even
help you avoid a disastrous emergency water heater replacement. When cleanliness
is so important, you can’t afford to go without your water heater
for even a single day—a proper maintenance and tune-up service can
help you avoid that.

Don’t Ignore Water Treatment

Water bottles are becoming harder and harder to find with the panic-buying
trend, and many grocery stores have seen their supplies dwindle away almost
as quickly as toilet paper and hand soap. At this point, investing in
a water treatment system may prove to be lucrative. A whole-home water
treatment system gives you clean, safe, and great-tasting water from every
tap in your home, while a smaller reverse-osmosis system gives you pure
drinking water from a small tap on your kitchen or utility sink. In either
case, these systems are far more affordable than you may have imagined,
and a professional can take care of your installation needs in around
a day in most cases.

Heating & Air Conditioning Preparations

Maintain Your Air Conditioner to Prepare for Warm Weather

Warm weather is coming everywhere, so it’s time to start preparing
your air conditioner. A well-maintained and tuned-up air conditioner is
one that is more energy-efficient, reliable, safer, and better at helping
you clean the air and enjoy a more comfortable home. We encourage you
to schedule a tune-up service now, before the heat really starts to turn
up for the late spring and summer, and get your air conditioning system
prepared for the long months ahead. We also encourage you to use this
opportunity to purchase new air filters and stock up on them so you can
have them ready when the time comes to replace your filter. For the average
home, you should be replacing your air filter every three to four months,
but some homes may need it more often than that.

Scrub the Air with an Air Scrubber

UV germicidal air scrubbers are lights that blast the air coming through
your HVAC system’s return vent with harsh ultraviolet light. Why
would you want to do this? Because microbial organisms, like germs, bacteria,
viruses, and even mold spores can’t live with too much of this radiation.
These lights scramble the DNA of these microscopic life forms, rendering
them inert and making them essentially harmless and incapable of reproducing.
They can even kill the pathogens outright with a long enough exposure.

However, these lamps are not a be-all, end-all protection against airborne
diseases and illnesses. Most of these lights can only successfully sterilize
about 60% of viruses and bacteria at the most that pass through them.
High-output lights are better in this way, but there is no substitute
for doing your due diligence, cleaning the surfaces in your home, and
regularly changing your air filter in addition to using one of these lights
to ensure better-quality air. Cleaning your home regularly also helps
improve indoor air quality substantially.

Electrical System Preparations

Install Whole-Home Surge Protection

With more and more people spending time at home, your electrical system
is likely going to see increased usage demands. Increased power drain
could lead to a power surge, and power surges can cause a truly immense
amount of damage to your home in an extremely short amount of time. Whole-home
surge protection is designed to prevent that from happening, keeping your
home safe, your most important electronics protected, and even preventing
serious component damage.

Protect Your Family with Smoke & Carbon Monoxide Detectors

Smoke and carbon monoxide are both silent threats that could cause serious
health problems or even be fatal for your family. Smoke and carbon monoxide
detectors can both be purchased from home improvement stores for fairly
low prices, but the best detectors are the ones that a professional can
install for you. A professional smoke detector is wired directly into
your house so it will run reliably for years, but still has a battery
backup to help in the event of a power outage. These are by far the best
solution to keeping your home and your family protected from these unseen
threats throughout the Coronavirus crisis.

Schedule a service for your home’s most important systems by
calling My Plumber Heating Cooling & Electrical at (844) 294-8999 today.

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