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Do you need help? Before asking Dr. Pollina ➔
House, Apartment, Condo...
doesn't matter WHAT you live in, you NEED to know this stuff
one day when you have your own place, you will have to fix one of these ON YOUR OWN
but don't fear! most are easy fixes
all of these systems have a spot to go IN to your home and a spot to go OUT of your home
(some of these spots are the same!)
NATURAL GAS
a combination of these flammable gasses: - methane, propane, ethane, butane, and carbon dioxide -is pumped into your home in a GAS PIPE for heating appliances like your dryer, oven, and others.Once the gas is burned, it is converted into other less flammable gases that eventually gets filtered and exhausted from the home with HVAC
HVAC
Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioningyour HVAC system circulates, filters, and:heats up (GAS OR ELECTRIC FURNACE)orcools down (AIR CONDITIONER)
the beathable air in your homekitchens and bathrooms have exhaust vents for smoke or fumes
WATER
tap water comes from the city main line and splits into a cold water line, and then to your GAS or ELECTRIC WATER HEATER for the warm water linefaucets combine these water lines to create different temperatures for your sinks, showers, dishwashers, clothes washers, and refrigerators
after the water is used, it is sent to a sewer to be cleaned, disinfected, and reused
ELECTRICITY
electricity runs into your home through conduit into a BREAKER BOXfrom there, 120 Volts runs through wires in the walls to get to your normal electrical outlets for electronic devicesor, 240 Volts runs through tougher wires to bigger outlets to power your washer/dryer and oven.Electricity needs to run in a circuit, electrons move from a HOT wire into the device, and then run out into a NEUTRAL or GROUND wire.NEVER WORK WITH HOT AND NEUTRAL CONTACTS WITHOUT RUBBERIZED GLOVES/TOOLS
when you go home tonight, see if you can find each of the items listed in RED
most of these items are probably in your basement if you have one
ask whoever fixes things in your home to show you
TV/INTERNET
an Internet Service Provider (ISP) like Comcast, AT&T, or WOW, run internet and Cable TV into your house through a Coaxial Cable or Fiber into a MODEMfrom there, you can connect to the internet directly through an Ethernet or wirelessly through a ROUTERrecently, MODEMs and ROUTERs have combined into 1 device
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