The stick vacuum cleaner has caught many of us by surprise.

Many of us have been using the same upright vacuum cleaner for most of our adult life. We bought a vacuum in our twenties and many of us still use the same machine. Obviously, we replace the bag when it needs it. But we also replace the brushes, and the belts, and the hoses, and the wands. If it breaks down, we have it serviced. and it has been.

Today, many of us move into a home that has two stories and a central vacuum. The central vacuum has a twenty-foot hose with wands and attachments. It works fine, and whenever we commit to doing a whole house vacuum, dragging all the equipment our and moving it from outlet to outlet doesn’t seem too bad. But in-between for quick cleanups or to refresh a carpet in a guest room, it’s too much. And lugging the old, heavy upright up and down the stairs isn’t exactly a joy either.

After a few years of that, we finally decide to shop for a new solution.

At first we find the new lightweight upright vacuums, but they still have many of the problems of the upright — a big tank, a power cord and an awkwardness when used on stairs. Then we discover the stick vacuum cleaner. At first, we may be drawn to the corded stick vacuums. They have many of the features we’re looking for, very light weight, easily moved, and works easily on stairs. But they still have a cord, and that keeps them from being truly portable.

Then we discover the rechargeable cordless stick vacuums, This is like a dream come true. Now at last we have a truly portable system. The come with excellent features. For example, the Electrolux Ergorapido has a detachable handheld feature. It works on stairs, in the car, behind and under furniture, and in all sorts of nooks and crannies. Best of all, stick vacuums are cheap enough that you can afford to have one for each floor or at each end of the house. Many are priced well below one hundred dollars.

You’ll probably still use the other vacuums. The central vacuum still works for heavy-duty cleaning and so does the old upright. You may want to assign one or the other to a particular floor to save moving it between floors. In between times, for quick pick ups, just grab your stick vacuum and let it do the job.

A stick vacuum isn’t for every situation. If you have heavy-duty requirements like a large floor space, plush carpets, or pet hair, you’ll probably need to use a heavy-duty vacuum system. But you won’t beat a stick vacuum for convenience and portability when you don’t want to commit to whole house cleaning.

A Plumber means one skilled in working with Lead, which until the twentieth century had been the preferred choice for moulding tubular conduits. After advances in medical practice led to the discovery that this seemingly innocuous base metal was toxic and responsible for dozens of different chronic and fatal conditions in humans through the process of ingestion, less harmful materials like copper and polyurethane became prevalent. Modern buildings depend on pipe-based services in the form of hot and cold water, gas heating, air conditioning and sewage disposal, and exceptionally out-of-the-ordinary facilities such as hydraulic/pneumatic power delivery and fire defence systems. In consequence, your real fourth emergency service is probably your local friendly Plumber. A large number of domestic calamities require the intervention of a person possessing the skill to work with enclosed pipe structures and fluid transportation systems.

Downside Legends: “The Plumber can’t come out on Sundays unless you are prepared to pay double rates plus the Sabbath premium”, “The Plumber’s diary is full ’till the third Tuesday of next month, when he has a free 20 minute slot at 7:45pm”, “I can take a look, but it sounds like it will need a replacement discombouvearator and they are out of stock till gone Christmas”, “Thirteen fags and a bacon sandwich later, and he charged me £260!”.

Actually, nearly all professional plumbers are sensitive to how stressful domestic pipework failures can be and seek to offer prompt, effective and reasonably priced service conforming closely to the customer’s needs and preferences. If the work does seem a little pricey, this is on account of the trade’s requirement for Professional Indemnity Insurance, should the work undertaken results in flood or explosion or some other misfortune that really could be nasty. Anyone who is charging you much less will certainly not have procured this contingency, which means that it is your loved-ones and property that are being exposed to hazard! Always look for Institute Membership, and do insist on knowing the Plumber’s VAT Registration Reference, as the good guys will always have this and the Cowboys and Chancers normally do not. Of course, there are some un-qualified people out there with the best of intentions and probably a lot of skill and know-how, but for every one such there are a hundred charlatans who are only interested in swindling you out of your money with the minimum possible stress to themselves; do beware.

While it’s easy to immediately think of gasoline powered generators when you think of emergency home power, you may want to consider some alternatives, and for several reasons.

Firstly, a gas generator for electricity in the home needs three things:

1. Fuel

2. Somewhere to vent the exhaust gas

3. Mechanical and electrical know-how

While you MAY be able to get fuel, the very fact that you’re using a generator means that there’s a good chance that other service and supplies (including gasoline) are unavailable. Add to that knowing how to connect your home power to the generator and where to locate it means that this is probably about the last type of home power you should consider.

You really need to consider what you actually use electricity for. Primarily, electricity for home power is for the following:

1. Heating

2. Entertainment

3. Computers

4. Lighting

Heating

To address heating first, consider that most homes aren’t heated with electricity, and those that are CAN be heated with other things, such as wood-burning stoves, natural gas, propane etc. Heating a house also uses a large amount of electricity, so it’s probably worth eliminating the idea of heating an entire house during an emergency.

Heating water is a similar issue; it takes a lot of energy to heat a lot of water, so it would be best to heat only small amounts at a time using something like a camping stove. You could then wash yourself (having a “navy shower”) and your ‘essential’ clothes in that. Full bathing and showering are out of the question of course, but power outages would probably only last a few hours (often called ‘brown-outs’) or days.

Entertainment

Entertainment comes in many forms and what is wonderful for some is a nightmare to others. For example, I hate game-shows, awards shows, reality shows and sports. In contrast to me, my wife despises science shows, documentaries, most comedy shows and most movies. If we both had to do without the shows we like, it would not be the end of the world (or our marriage). We would play board games, go hiking, bicycling etc. My point is, you do NOT need a TV for entertainment, and you can always get an mpg player (iPod etc.) which is very low power for your music “needs”.

Computers

Personal Computers and Macs are very low power devices, and with each generation actually do more using less energy. Powering one of these uses minimal wattage, and, while you may not have an internet connection if you rely on cable, you may still have a wireless plan that gives you internet wherever you are. In other words, it’s easy to power these things, and you might use them for your entertainment as well. You may not be able to print, but we ARE talking about EMERGENCY power.

Lighting

Lighting your home is BY FAR the most important and overlooked factor when considering emergency power. Without be able to see during the evening and nighttime, you really are in a pickle! Fortunately, lighting can be easily provided by using LED (Light Emitting Diode) lamps, which consume extremely low wattages and can illuminate rooms quite adequately. In fact, in just a few years time, LED’s will be the PRIMARY means of lighting your home.