Articles · Topic
Articles about Maintenance
33 articles across 4 sections
Section
Self-Reliance
Home Repair Basics
The home repairs every household encounters. Plumbing, electrical, drywall, weatherization, and knowing the line between DIY and calling a professional.
Vehicle Readiness, Your Car as a Preparedness Tool
How to keep your vehicle ready for everyday disruptions. Monthly four-point vehicle check, the glovebox vehicle file, seasonal transitions, one-car household planning, the replacement decision, and the overlooked who-else-can-drive scenario.
Fire Extinguishers
Which fire extinguisher class to buy, where to mount it, the PASS technique for using it, and the decision that matters most: when to fight and when to leave.
Automotive Basics, Skills
Everything a household should know about its vehicles. Vehicle literacy, hands-on maintenance, tire care, fluids, battery and jump-starting, warning lights, troubleshooting, and knowing when to call a
Battery Banks for Off-Grid Solar
How days of autonomy translate into bank capacity, why usable energy sits well below nameplate capacity, and how lithium and lead-acid reach the same usable figure at very different sizes. Includes the cold-weather charging limit that quietly damages lithium banks.
Build a Two-Bucket Gravity Water Filter
Step-by-step two-bucket gravity filter build: drill, install elements, spigot, red dye test. Element selection, flow rate, troubleshooting, maintenance, and clear limitations.
Choosing a Turbine
Head and flow narrow the choice before preference enters into it. Impulse against reaction machines, the application domain chart that sorts Pelton, Turgo, cross-flow and propeller turbines by site, why part-flow performance matters more than peak efficiency, and the case for running a pump backward.
Ground Mount, Roof Mount and Tracking
Choosing between roof mount, ground mount and tracking for a property array. Tilt and azimuth, the winter bias that favours December over annual yield, snow shedding and airflow, and why adding panels usually beats adding moving parts.
How to Read a Lease Before Signing: What to Find and What to Ask
Read a residential lease before signing. Find the rent, term, deposit, utilities, maintenance duties, insurance requirements, renewal, termination, and move-out rules.
HVAC Maintenance, Maintain, Skills
Basic HVAC maintenance, filter changes, condensate drain clearing, outdoor unit care, and seasonal checks. Level 1 and Level 2 tasks with specific thresholds for licensed HVAC technician work.
Intake, Penstock and Winter
Where the head you measured either survives or does not. Self-cleaning Coanda screens, the four jobs an intake performs, and pipe sizing worked at four diameters on one site, where a single size increase is worth 38 percent more power. Plus what actually freezes in a hydro system, which is less than most people expect.
Landlord Communication
What needs your landlord's permission and what does not. How to request preparedness modifications, document maintenance issues, and keep a communication trail that protects you.
Run-of-River Micro-Hydro
The standard micro-hydro configuration: divert part of a stream, run it down a pipe to a turbine, return it immediately. The eight-component chain from intake to transmission, why the penstock rather than the turbine is most of the project, what constant output feels like to live with, and the six sites where it is the wrong answer.
Simple Owner Maintenance, Automotive Basics
Six vehicle maintenance tasks any owner can do safely with basic tools: wiper blades, exterior bulbs, cabin air filter, engine air filter, fuses, and topping off fluids. Step-by-step procedures with n
Solar at Property Scale
The Solar track of the property-scale Generation section. Seven guides covering what changes when an array has to carry a whole property rather than supplement a house: worst-month sizing, storage measured in days, mounting, code, and winter. One worked example runs through all seven.
Solar Through Winter
Cold weather helps panels and hurts everything else. Short days and low sun angles, snow cover and shedding, the charge cutoffs that take a cold bank offline, and the compound run of grey days an off-grid property has to survive on storage alone.
Systematic Troubleshooting
A structured five-step method for diagnosing household problems before reaching for tools or calling a professional. Define the symptom, check the simplest cause, isolate the variable, consult the manufacturer, and decide whether to fix, wait, or call.
Tool Maintenance, Maintain, Skills
Tool maintenance basics, rust prevention, sharpening chisels and plane blades, replacing circular saw blades, cleaning power tools, and the quarterly audit that keeps every household skill working.
Towers and Maintenance
The tower decides how much a turbine produces and most of what it costs to keep running. Guyed, self-supporting and tilt-down structures compared, the land each needs, what a foundation actually resists, and the maintenance arithmetic across a twenty year life.
Transportation and Vehicle Ownership
Maintain reliable everyday transportation by matching vehicles to household needs, keeping them legally documented and mechanically serviceable, monitoring recalls, controlling costs, and protecting passengers.
Vehicle Maintenance, Maintain, Skills
Basic vehicle maintenance, tire pressure, fluids, battery, jump-starting, and the monthly walk-around. Level 1 and Level 2 tasks with specific thresholds for professional repair.
Well Water Preparedness: Solving the Power Dependence Problem
43 million American households lose water when the power goes out. Generator sizing, hand pump backup, solar options, annual testing, and shock chlorination for well owners.
What a Vehicle Really Costs: The Complete Guide to Total Cost of Ownership
The definitive guide to what a vehicle really costs. Purchase price, financing, insurance, fuel, maintenance, repairs, depreciation, registration, and the total cost of ownership calculation that tell
When Your Apartment Stops Working
No hot water, broken AC, failed refrigerator, pest problems, laundry down. What to do when the building fails before the grid does.
Wiring, Disconnects and Code
What an off-grid system demands electrically and why the work is licensed. DC arc behaviour, battery fault current and interrupting ratings, voltage drop, disconnects, and the permit and inspection path. Explains the requirements without publishing conductor sizing or installation procedure.
Wood Heat Safety and Maintenance
The three stages of creosote, what to do during a chimney fire, carbon monoxide safety with CPSC data, NFPA 211 clearances, ash disposal, and the complete annual maintenance schedule.
Section
Gear and Buying Guides
Energy Books
The best books for household energy resilience, backup power, home systems, and keeping small gas equipment running. Buy a copy, or find it at your local library.
Filter Bottle Replacement Cartridges
Replacing the cartridge on schedule is the one maintenance step most people skip. Why it matters, how to match your brand, and how many spares to keep.
Small Engines and Outdoor Power Equipment
Step-by-step care and repair for generators, chainsaws, snowblowers, and every small gas engine your household depends on. Library Journal starred review. Why we recommend it, what readers say, and ho
The Complete Do-It-Yourself Manual
The standard American home repair reference since 1973, updated by Family Handyman editors. Covers electrical, plumbing, HVAC, and all major home systems. Why we recommend it, what still holds up, wh
Zinn & the Art of Mountain Bike Maintenance
Lennard Zinn