Do you have carbon monoxide detectors in your house? If you do not, you are in violation of the law. Effective January 1, 2007, Illinois Public Act 094-0741 required carbon monoxide detectors in all buildings that contain sleeping units. In Sun City that includes single family residences and each living unit of a multiple family residence.
Carbon monoxide detectors must be approved units that comply with all requirements of the rules and regulations of the Illinois State Fire Marshall, must bear the label of a nationally recognized testing laboratory, and must comply with the most recent standards of the Underwriters Laboratory and/or the Canadian Standard Association.
The carbon monoxide detectors required under this act may be battery powered, plug-in with battery backup, or wired into the home’s AC power line with a secondary battery backup. There should be one approved unit outside each sleeping room and mounted on the wall or ceiling within 15 feet of the door.
Willful failure to install or maintain in operating condition any carbon monoxide detector/alarm required by the above-mentioned act is a class B misdemeanor. The bigger penalty happens if one of your natural gas powered appliances should malfunction and fill your house with carbon monoxide. This results in a trip to the hospital or worse.
Most homes in Sun City need two carbon monoxide detectors/alarms, one outside each bedroom. Please, before you finish reading this paper, put these two items on your shopping list.
Washing machine hoses
The leading cause of water damage in most residences is failure of the flexible rubber hoses that connect the washing machine to the hot and cold water. Unless you turn off the water after every use, you are holding full line pressure in these rubber hoses 100 percent of the time. Over the years, the rubber deteriorates until one day they fail and flood your laundry room. Let’s hope you are home or the flood will be devastating.
It has just come to our attention that there is a high quality hose available that is guaranteed for 20 years. This hose is called FloodChek. For more information on this hose plus a video, go to:
www.creativelaundry.com/products/floodcheck-hose/
You can order these hoses from several sources online at prices from $25 to $46.
We have written in the past about the metal braided hoses available in big box and hardware stores. These are considerably better than the rubber hoses that come with a washing machine but are not quite as good as the FloodCheck hoses. In any case, you should not be trusting the rubber hoses to hold the relatively high Huntley water pressure.
• If you have suggestions for future tips or have questions about maintenance around your home, submit them to ask.the.woodchucks@gmail.com
