Should I water my lawn during the night?

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Do CFL bulbs really last as long as they claim?

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Keep Ants Out of Your Pets' Food with a Tray of Water

Just a few stray particles of pet food are enough to lead a parade of ants through your house. Before resorting to chemicals to get rid of them though, try using a pan of water as a moat to keep them away from the bowl.

Ants aren't particularly good swimmers, so a shallow tray of water will dissuade them from marching an entire colony through your house to get a few crumbs of kibble. If you feed your pets outside, this tip is even more important to keep them from getting bitten. Depending on how excited your pet gets about food, you may also want to set a towel underneath the tray to soak up any splashes.

Ants or not, the tray can also double as an extra large water bowl, saving you a few trips to the faucet. For some more clever pet tips, check out The Family Handyman's list through the source link.

Hints and Tips for Pet Care and Pet Safety | The Family Handyman

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How to Purify Muddy Water

Aluminium Sulfate

Aluminium Sulfate, Shortly known as Alum, when added to raw water reacts with the bicarbonate alkalinities present in water  and forms a gelatinous precipitate. This floc attracts other fine particles and suspended material in raw water, and settles down at the bottom of the container. The water over this sediment is almost clean other than some fine particles dissolved in it.

Alum is in a crystallized form which you can powder and store in a clean glass container.

Bleaching Powder Solution

Bleaching powder or chlorinated lime is used to disinfect the water from bacteria. The chlorine present in the bleaching powder solution kills almost 90% of the bacteria present in water.

Bleaching powder also known as Calcium hypochlorite is in a powdered form. Add one or two teaspoons of the powder in a glass bottle, add water and mix well. Use a metal cap for the container as it may corrode plastic cap.

Both Alum and Bleaching powder are commonly available in most of the grocery stores.

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Do I Need to Drink Filtered Water or Is the Tap Okay?

Dear Lifehacker,
We have so many kinds of bottled water and filtering options. While I prefer the taste over tap water, does it really matter? Does tap water pose any risk, or can I drink it without cause for concern?

Sincerely,
Water Boggled

Dear W.B.,
Generally speaking—in the United States, at least—you can drink from the tap without any risk to your health under most circumstances. If you choose to buy water, you should do so because you prefer the taste or because you fall into a small group of people who put themselves at risk by drinking tap water (more on this later). For the most part, the water from your faucet will serve you well.

S

To learn more about the differences between water types and their health benefits (or lack thereof), we consulted Dr. Carly Stewart—the medical expert over at Money Crashers. She explains:

There are three different types of drinking water to choose from: tap water, filtered water, and bottled water. However, the differences between each type are less distinct than you might think. For example, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council, approximately 25% of bottled water is nothing more than bottled tap water. Also, federal regulations that govern the manufacturers of bottled water are typically much less strict than those regarding tap water.

While most bottled water gets filtered, the water you drink may come from the tap in another location. Before you waste your money on what you already have in your home, check the bottle to learn how the water gets filtered. If it doesn't say, it might just come from the tap.

S

In general, tap water provides some health benefits. While minimal, if you don't mind tap water you might want to stick with it. Dr. Stewart explains:

In general, there are no major health advantages to drinking bottled water instead of tap. It's also interesting to note that bottled water may contain less fluoride than tap water, a chemical known to assist in good oral health.

That said, Dr. Stewart also notes that some of the stuff in tap water may prove harmful under very specific circumstances:

The only time it's generally recommended that you drink bottled water instead of tap water is if you're in a group at high-risk for infection such as those who are undergoing chemotherapy or HIV-positive or if you are pregnant. You should consult your personal physician to make the best decision.

Under most circumstances, tap water works just fine. Regardless of its origin, make sure you drink enough and you will have fewer health concerns.

S

When you don't like the way tap water tastes, but do enjoy filtered water in a bottle, you might think to turn to a filtration device. While it'll cut out many contaminants, Dr. Stewart explains that you can't get rid of everything:

Using a filtration device for your tap water can help if you don't like the taste of it, as this removes certain contaminants, such as pesticide and chlorine residues. However, there are some chemicals that a filter cannot remove, such as nitrates and most home filtering systems are not designed to filter out bacteria or viruses.

As a result, if a traditional filter doesn't do the trick (or you just find them frustratingly slow) you might want to try another solution. I love water, but the tap in my current apartment tastes so terrible I got a filtered water cooler (which costs a lot less than you might think). If you don't want to spend much money, you might consider buying water flavorings at your grocery store or getting discount water in bulk from stores like Costco.

You may also prefer a non-standard filter. If you like Dasani water, for example, you can filter your water the same way. Reverse osmosis filters tend to produce a taste preferred by more people. They cost a bit more than your average screw-on filter or filter pitcher and require a bit more work, but cost far less than buying bottled water in the long run.

Regardless of how you go about it, most people don't need to get water from any specific location. Drink what best suits your tastebuds and your budget.

Love,
Lifehacker

Have a question or suggestion for a future Ask Lifehacker? Send it to tips+asklh@lifehacker.com.

Photos by me.

Related Dear Lifehacker, I've heard you need eight glasses of water every day, but I've also heard that it might be more or less. Some say too much … Read…

Related After years of tap water, I'd finally had enough of drinking water that tasted like it had been skimmed from the pool of the local YMCA. Between … Read…

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Give Sliced Fruit a Quick Honey Water Bath to Keep Browning at Bay

Many people use a little lemon or citrus to keep sliced fruit like apples or pears from browning, but it turns out a mixture of honey and water is much better and keeps your fruit fresher longer. This video from our friends at America's Test Kitchen explains why, and notes that this trick works on veggies as well.

The tip is pretty simple—soak your apples, pears, or other fruit you don't want to brown for 30 seconds in a mixture of 2 tablespoons of honey and 1 cup of water. Your fruit will stay fresh and bright for up to 8 hours, perfect if you need to slice now and serve later. The video above explains why and how the process works, but ATK tested it with an untreated apple and an apple soaked for a few minutes in honey water, and the soaked apple was bright for well over 24 hours—way longer than you'd probably need if you're slicing fruit for a party or packing fruit in a container for a bag lunch or road snack.

If you're curious about the science behind it, there's a peptide compound in honey that stops the activation of polyphenol oxidase when it's exposed to air, or the enzyme responsible for the oxidation process in fleshy fruits and veggies like apples, pears, and potatoes. Give this one a try yourself, it works very well.

How to Prevent Fruit from Browning | America's Test Kitchen

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Extract Clean, Drinkable Water From Plants

Water is the most important thing if you are stuck in the wilderness. Sure, food is important too, but you can live for a while without it; you can't survive more than a few days without water. Unfortunately, in many environments there is either a lack of water, or the water is unsafe to drink. Fortunately, there are often plants. When plants absorb water from the ground they filter out many impurities, and you can extract this clean water from them. Plants transpire water, meaning that water vapor evaporates from the leaves, and this water can be collected. The great thing is, this process doesn't harm the plant and can be repeated over and over again on different branches, and works relatively quickly.- A plastic bag, preferably clear (check the bag beforehand to make sure it is free of holes. If not, seal them with tape.)
- String
- A plant (I will go over what types of plants work best in the next step)

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Water Rocket Release Mechanism

Water rockets are loads of fun to experiment with.
The following instructable shows the construction and use of a zip tie based release mechanism.

Materials needed:

Length of fluorescent tube protector (source TAP plastics)

Zip ties, enough for the circumference of the launcher

Duct tape

The photos should make the construction steps clear.

This is my first instructable. All work creating this instructable was done on my Android device.

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