When it comes to home comfort, the Comfort Bear would like to ignore strange noises coming from appliances in the home—but ultimately this would be a bad idea.

It’s easy to deny that something may be amiss with our heaters when they start making an odd sound, since fixing it can be a nuisance. But just like the Comfort Bear, you shouldn’t neglect these signs of furnace disrepair.

A rattle may be something as benign as an easy-to-fix loose panel, or it could suggest a cracked heat exchanger which can lead to a hazardous carbon monoxide leak. It’s important to protect your family—if you hear anything outside of the normal cycling of your furnace and air whooshing through your vents, please give us a call. We’ve listed below some of the common sounds you should alert us to.

Here are a few tips and tricks from the pros on how to get the best performance from your garbage disposal. We will also correct a few garbage myths out there.

1. Use plenty of water when using your disposal.
The fact is, most garbage disposal clogs could have been prevented by using more water while the disposal was in use.

2. Stage food waste in the sink basin before feeding in slowly
This allows you to ensure plenty of water is assisting the disposal while grinding food waste.

3. Feed the food waste slowly
The second leading cause of disposal clogs is overloading. Disposals do a much better job if we slow down the rate we feed the food waste into the disposal. Otherwise, you could find yourself facing the next problem on the list…

Plumbing issues might not arise too often in your home, so it’s natural to be a little in the dark when it comes to selecting a high-quality plumber.  We’ve put together a few tips you should consider when the day comes along that you need to call on a plumber.

Ultimately, now is the time to select your plumbing contractor.

STOP!  Read that last line again.  If you wait until an emergency plumbing situation where you need someone fast, you may let your guard down and sacrifice value for whatever contractor answered the phone first–a potentially expensive mistake.

If there’s any appliance the Comfort Bear doesn’t want to be without, it’s a water heater! Sure, I may have a lot of fur to keep me warm but let’s face it, chilly showers aren’t fun for anyone.

Plus, who wants to wash their dishes and clothes with artic water? Not the Comfort Bear, that’s for sure.

Unfortunately, many homeowners take their water heaters a bit for granted. Like the majority of their plumbing systems, water heaters are usually tucked away, out of sight in a corner of the garage or inside a storage closet. This means that when something goes wrong with it, it’s often missed until it’s too late.

It’s important to know the signs for when your water heater is in trouble, which we’ve highlighted below. Read on, and contact the Comfort Bear with any questions you might have!