Believe it or not, a Christmas tree won't stay upright on its own. Instead, you need a stable Christmas tree stand that can accommodate the type and size of tree you have. We researched dozens of the best Christmas tree stands to help you find the right one for your needs, whether you have a real tree, an artificial tree, a small tree, or a behemoth. The stands in our guide have a track record of durability, performance, and easy setup. We also outline the size and type of tree each stand is meant for. Check out our guide to the best Christmas tree skirts once you've chosen the right stand for your tree. The best Christmas tree stands in 2022 Best Christmas tree stand overall: Krinner Tree Genie Christmas Tree Stand, available at Amazon, $82.79 The German-engineered Krinner Tree Genie Christmas Tree Stand is easy to set up in a couple of minutes and keeps trees up to 12 f...
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Stop Putting Dryer Sheets in Your Vents
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Photo: Mike Fig Photo (Shutterstock)
While dryer sheets are often touted as being versatile odor absorbers, they really only belong in the dryer. It might seem like a simple and cost-effective way to cut down on smells coming from vents in your HVAC, but that’s a bad idea. Some claims have even been made that dryer sheets will extend the life of your air filters, but this is sadly not the case. There are several reasons you shouldn’t be using dryer sheets in any of your HVAC vents.
The chemicals in dryer sheets can negatively affect your health
According to the National Institute of Health, chemicals used as scent in laundry products can cause asthma attacks and migraines, as well as eye, skin, and throat irritation. Because dryers vent to the outdoors, these scents travel mostly out of the air supply in your home. However, if you’re intentionally circulating them inside, they will be present in higher concentrations. Manufacturers aren’t obligated to reveal the ingredients in scented products, so you wouldn’t necessarily know which irritants, some of which are classified by the EPA as hazardous air pollutants, are present in your dryer sheets.
Dryer sheets pose a fire risk when used in a heating vent
If the medical risks don’t dissuade you from using dryer sheets in your HVAC, consider that constricting the air flow in a heating vent can cause a fire hazard. Anything blocking the vents in your HVAC system can cause the fan to eventually overheat due to overworking the machine. This can cause a fire and ignite anything in the vents, including dust and debris like dryer sheets that have been sucked into the vents. The National Fire Protection Association names heating equipment as the number one cause of house fires, so keeping yours clear of hazards and obstructions is very important.
They will cause higher utility bills and repair costs
Even if you don’t cause a fire, obstructing your HVAC vents in any way can cause your utility bills to rise, as the fan will need to work harder to push air through the system. Your electric bill will go up, and the efficiency of the fan unit will go down, making your system cost more to do less work. Increasing the load on the air circulation system can also shorten the life span of your HVAC system, causing it to need to be repaired or replaced sooner. If a dryer sheet gets sucked all the way into the air filter, it will stay there until you remove it, obstructing air flow and potentially damaging the fan. One of the best things you can do to keep your utility bills low is to keep your vents clear from everything, including dryer sheets.
What to do about HVAC system smells
If the air from your HVAC system smells bad, that could be a sign that maintenance is required. Having your vents cleaned and inspected and making sure that there’s no moisture build-up where it shouldn’t be is a better fix than using a dryer sheet. Mold and mildew can be bad for your health, so covering up the smell rather than addressing the cause can be dangerous. Keeping the vents clear, you can use some essential oil mixed with water sprinkled on the vents to improve the smell in your home without damaging the system–just make sure your essential oil doesn’t contain lung or eye irritants.
I recently watched “ the greatest film of all time ,” and the most boring one. In retrospect, the title alone should have been a sufficient warning: Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles . Alas, I’m old enough to be a bit nostalgic about massive telephone address books. And massive it is. Clocking over 200 minutes, Chantal Akerman's 1975 dreary drama follows three days in the monotonous routine of Jeanne, a widow, a mother, and a prostitute. I watched Jeanne’s autopilot existence, until, staring at her back as she washes dishes, I decided to fast-forward a couple of minutes, only to discover she was still at it. And Jeanne is equally thorough when she’s busy baking, cleaning, folding laundry, or shining her son’s shoes. She speaks so scarcely and mechanically, that it’s impossible to detect any emotion or volition beyond her carefully controlled chores . Watching Jeanne Dielman is what the word “painstaking” was invented for. Chantal...
Stored procedures: like functions for your SQL. A stored procedure is a batch of SQL statements created and stored on a database. You can reuse a stored procedure over and over again. A stored procedure can accept parameters, run a query, and return results. Many users can call a stored procedure and different applications can call it with different parameter values. What Are the Benefits of Using Stored Procedures? Apart from allowing multiple users and applications to reuse it, a stored procedure has other benefits. It is easy to modify. You can change a stored procedure when necessary and these updates will be reflected for all users. Furthermore, you don’t need to redeploy your application when you modify the stored procedure. It reduces network traffic because the server only passes the procedure’s name over the network and not the entire query. It improves database security since users don’t have direct access to tables. To make...
Believe it or not, a Christmas tree won't stay upright on its own. Instead, you need a stable Christmas tree stand that can accommodate the type and size of tree you have. We researched dozens of the best Christmas tree stands to help you find the right one for your needs, whether you have a real tree, an artificial tree, a small tree, or a behemoth. The stands in our guide have a track record of durability, performance, and easy setup. We also outline the size and type of tree each stand is meant for. Check out our guide to the best Christmas tree skirts once you've chosen the right stand for your tree. The best Christmas tree stands in 2022 Best Christmas tree stand overall: Krinner Tree Genie Christmas Tree Stand, available at Amazon, $82.79 The German-engineered Krinner Tree Genie Christmas Tree Stand is easy to set up in a couple of minutes and keeps trees up to 12 f...
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