It’s almost time to spring forward! Daylight Saving Time begins every year on the second Sunday in March. (So this year it is March 9th) Clocks are set forward by one hour in most of the United States, except Hawaii and most of Arizona. With Daylight Saving, we have more daylight in the evening and less in the mornings.

When you change your clocks, check the batteries in your smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors. Batteries in smoke detectors should be replaced yearly, and there should be smoke detectors on every floor of your home (including the basement) and outside bedrooms or sleeping areas.

Cutting back on unnecessary energy is easy and can help keep your hard earned money. Run your dishwasher only when it is full. The same is true for your clothes washer. Using the cold water setting when washing clothes when possible can also help you save as it can reduce your washer’s energy by seventy five percent! Before you throw those clean clothes in the dryer, make sure that the lint trap is clean and use the moisture-sensing automatic drying setting if your dryer has one.

Save Yourself a BIG Headache, take a few minutes over the weekend to make sure everybody in the house knows exactly where the main water emergency shut off valve is located. This should be tagged so it’s easy to located in an emergency. You could be in BIG trouble if you get a burst pipe that starts spraying everywhere and you’ve got no way to turn it off quickly! Make sure you’re always prepared! Russo Bros.& Co. has waterproof tags if you need them. Please email and we would be happy to send you some.

While a shelf over the toilet or the top of the tank itself may seem like a handy place to store items such as deodorizers, soaps, ornaments or brushes and combs, they actually increase the risk of clogs. These items can be easily knocked into the bowl and fall down the drain without you noticing until it’s too late. By keeping the area around the bowl clear of items that might fall in and slip down the drain, you decrease the risk of a major clog or damage to your toilet.

The Earth has somewhere in the neighborhood of 326,000,000,000,000,000,000 gallons of water on the planet! (Yes, that’s 326 MILLION TRILLION!). Roughly 98% of our water’s in the oceans of the world, and therefore is unusable for drinking because of the salt content. So that leaves only around 2% of the planet’s water as fresh. But out of that 2% of water, 1.6% is locked up in ice caps and glaciers. Another 0.36% is found in very deep, underground sources. That means only about 0.036% of the planet’s total water supply is found in lakes and rivers (which are our main supplies of drinking water). Think about that the next time you pour yourself a tall glass of water!

It’s been brutally cold out there!

The Daily Record recently ran an article where they interviewed a wide variety of experts about the cold and how it effects many different aspects of our lives. Our very own Matt Russo was on hand to discuss cold weather and plumbing:

www.dailyrecord.com/article/20140106/NJNEWS/301060033/Time-chill-again-Morris-County

Santa may like to come down your chimney, but something more costly is going up: heat!

Although your chimney probably has a working damper, it’s unlikely to be airtight. Poke your hand up inside the flue and you’ll probably feel the draft. A majority of damping systems in fireplaces do not adequately seal off air infiltration from outside

Masonry retrofits can be costly and chimney caps are cumbersome during fireplace season, many homeowners may opt for fitted glass fireplace. Some homeowners also leverage their fireplace by installing a heat exchanger, insert or woodstove to bring more heat into the room. Either solution can save you money and keep your heat where you want it during the cold winter months: in your home!