The Department of Energy estimates that water heaters account for 14 percent to 25 percent of our monthly energy bill. Little wonder, since most water heaters are on 24/7.

Water heaters are often factory-set at 140 degrees Fahrenheit, hot enough to scald. The Department of Energy says most of us can live comfortably with 120-degree water. You can save 3 percent to 5 percent on your water heating costs for every 10 degrees of setback.

To save even more, you can reduce hot water use with low-flow showerheads and faucet aerators, jacket the heater and wrap hot water pipes to minimize stand-by heat loss.

Who says you can’t change the weather? While we can’t stop the snow flakes from falling today, we do alter the temperature inside our homes all the time with the press of a button or the turn of a dial on our thermostat. But what many of us fail to do is “teach” our thermostat how to save us money. You can save 10 percent on your winter heating bills by adjusting your thermostat 10 to 15 degrees cooler for the eight hours you’re at work, according to the Department of Energy. Cut it back an additional eight hours when you sleep and you might save 20 percent.

With Thanksgiving just behind us and the month of December full of holidays, the last thing you want is a clog in your toilet. People often flush materials down toilets without realizing that they contribute to clogs. These include facial tissues, wipes, napkins, paper towels, coffee grounds, feminine hygiene products, grease and other fats or oils, and diapers! As they sit in your waste pipes, they block other material you flush down afterward, until finally a clog is formed. We know it can be hard to determine whether a product should be flushed or not because many products are labeled flushable. To determine whether or not an item should go into your toilet drain, fill two bowls with water. Put toilet paper in one bowl, and the item you’re wondering about in the other. If you swish these around in the water and then leave them for about an hour, when you return, you’ should see the difference. Toilet paper disintegrates in water, so it easily goes down your drain and out through the waste pipes. Other items remain intact. If the material does not disintegrate in water, it is not flushable!

Thanksgiving is almost here! While we at Russo Bros. & Co. like to treat our customers like family, we know that you DON’T want us showing up at your house on Thanksgiving day! To keep your holiday as stress free as possible, here are a few tips:

• NEVER pour cooking oil or fats down your drain. Oil can solidify and clog your line. Wipe off greasy pans before putting them in the sink.
• Don’t treat your disposal like a trash can. Turkey bones and skin, potato peels, celery and other fibrous foods can clog and damage your drain and disposal. (Be good to the environment: start a compost pile!). When you do use the disposal, feed waste slowly and gradually to prevent overloading.
• Don’t operate the dishwasher if you think you have a disposal or drain problem.
• Follow the old adage; when it doubt, throw it out!

All of us at Russo Bros. & Co. wish you and your family a very Happy Thanksgiving. Remember if you do need us, be it Thanksgiving or any other day, we are here to help

150 years ago today, Abraham Lincoln gave one of the most well known and brief speeches in American history. The Gettysburg Address is just 10 sentences long, but its words are as relevant today as they were in 1863. When was the last time you read Lincoln’s iconic words?

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that this nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

As President Harry S. Truman said: “Our debt to the heroic men and valient women in the service of our country can never be repaid. They have earned our undying gratitude. America will never forget their sacrifices.” We couldn’t agree more. Thank you to all who serve.

October 6th – 12th is National Fire Prevention Week

Russo Bros. & Co. technician’s will be offering all homeowners during their service call a courtesy testing of their smoke detector and carbon monoxide detectors with a complimentary battery change.

Please read more about how to protect your home and family from a spontaneous fire.