When and how you know that Your Car needs fixing

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Car under repair

In this fast paced modern world, cars are a necessity. The importance of cars for ease of transportation cannot be overemphasized. Cars are also good for pleasure too. However, whether your car is for business or pleasure maintenance is the key. Good maintenance of your car will ensure that you use it for several years and still have good second hand value.

 How and when you know it’s time to fix your car.

Every component of your car is very important to ensure that your driving is very safe and comfortable. Don’t ignore any warning signs your car gives. Below are some warning signs your car can give if it’s about to get a fault and need fixing

Leakages

 If you notice a leakage of oil or water  under where you park your car you should have it investigated. If it is engine oil it’s probably there is a leakage of oil from your engine. If it’s brake fluid then either there’s a leakage or malfunctioning of your break or clutch. And if it’s a water leakage then check if the radiator is not leaking.

Unpleasant sounds from the wheels

Once you notice any unpleasant sounds coming from the wheels arrangements of your car, then have it checked by a qualified personnel at your earliest convenience

Overheating

When your car overheats on the highway, then it indicates that something is wrong with the car cooling system, so have the radiator and the cooling system checked by a qualified personnel.

Burning smell of rubber while driving

When driving are you noticed a smell like that of burning rubber then it’s most likely there’s a problem with your clutch, immediately have it checked by qualified personnel

Lights not coming on  or dim

Always check for malfunctioning of the turning/ signal lights, headlights, the car inner lights and so on.

Repair the faulty ones at your earliest convenience.

Smoking

If white or black smoke is coming out of your car exhaust, don’t take this for granted have the engine checked. This could mean a problem with the engine oil, engine itself or a component of it.

Tire pressure

Make sure your tires are at the correct  and same pressure. If you notice any tire is deflated, have it fixed or you can change to the spare. Don’t drive a car without a spare tire. You will never know when you will need it. Make sure your tires are in good condition, check the wearing indicators of the tire, that way, you will know how long your tires will last or whether they need replacement soon.

Overspeeding and over revolutions

Two important indicators you find in your car are the speedometer and the  engine revolutions indicator. Always subjecting your car to very high speeds such as over all the kilometer per hour and high engine revolutions will make your engine wear out faster/ increase your maintenance costs.

Performance of the brake,  clutch and gears

If you notice reduced performance of the brake, gears and clutch system. You must  immediately have it checked by a qualified personnel.

Indicator lights in your dashboard

If the brake, engine oil, temperature and service engine soon lights come on and doesn’t turn off, immediately and without any form of delay have it checked by a qualified technician.

Regular service every 3 months

Try to take your car for servicing every 3 months. What the mechanic will check and service will include;  the changing of the engine oil, checking of the brake pads, brake fluids,shock absorbers and other springs. That  the horns, doors and  windows are working properly. That the bonnet and boot  are working  properly. In all the mechanic should check that the car is still in fine shape and fix anything that is out of place or faulty.

How to care for your Electric Generator set

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Electric Generator

If you are like me that lives in an area where there is epileptic power supply from the national grid then you most certainly have an electric generator set.

Electric generating sets are very costly these days, most people cannot afford them but if you can afford one then you have to take good care of it so that it can last much longer for you.

Whether you are using your generator for business or at home, giving it good maintenance will make you get the very best out of it. Maintenance of your electric generating set starts even from the time you go to purchase it. Why did I say this, you must know your energy needs, before planning to purchase a generator. My safe rule is this;  buy a generating set that is  twice the capacity of your energy needs. For instance, if the energy needs of all your appliances is 2000 watts,  then buy a generator of around 4000 watt capacity. Don’t go and buy a generator of a 1000 watt capacity because no amount of maintenance will make that generator last because its capacity is too small for the load you are subjecting it to.

Should you purchase a new or fairly used generator

In the course of my life I have purchased several electric generating sets both new and fairly used and my verdict is this:

Don’t buy fairly used generating sets, it won’t pay you in the long run. Most of these type of generators have  lost their original quality value and they do have a problem that is why the owner decided to sell it. So by  buying it, you just inherited the problem.  You will most likely end up making several repairs on the generator and at the end of the day it becomes a burden. It’s not worth it. Just save up and buy a brand new generator, that’s the best, whether you are using it for business or for home use.

How to buy original electric generator

If you want to buy a good high-quality generating set then go for one that has a very original branding. The branding, the logo of the manufacturers must be engraved into the body parts of the generating sets not just pasted only. Sometimes it pays if you do a little research before you go and purchase. Ask people who have generator sets or those that repair them about how you can identify an original generator in the market. Read the information that is written on the body and packaging,  it can give you  useful clues as per the originality and capacity of the generator. Don’t always believe what the dealer tells you.

How to maintain your generator

All brand new generators come with a service manual that shows you when to service your generator and what parts you should clean, service or change. There are some forms of generator service you can do yourself and there are others you will have to contact a qualified technician.

Generator service you can do yourself

If you are using the gasoline generator then you can service these 3 things yourself

  1. Change or clean the air foam filter.
  2. Clean or change the spark plug
  3. Change the engine oil

The air foam filter can be cleaned after every 50 hours of use. Air foam filter purifies the air that goes into the generator and is usually located beside the carburettor. It is cleaned by washing the dirty foam  in a high flash solvent such as kerosene, then dipping in clean engine oil and squeezing out excess engine oil.

The spark plug should be serviced every 3 months or so. To service a spark plug just to remove it and clean any dirt that is inside of it then put it back. Spark plug ensures the smooth running of the generator. If your generator is experiencing hard starting or is struggling to carry electrical load that it normally does easily before,  then one of the first checks to make is that of the spark plug.

Change the engine oil of your generator  with a brand new oil of motor quality every month if you use it everyday or every two days. The function of engine oil is to clean its internal parts, give it lubrication and cool it down during use. When the colour of the engine oil has become dark or black then it is due for changing.

Also, watch out for nuts and bolts that may come off the body of the generator during use and fix them back. During normal working conditions, the generator can sometimes experience heavy vibrations which can cause screws, nuts and bolts to loosen over time.

Other types of service such as service of the carburettor or repair of engine parts should be done by qualified personnel.

Some Basic Computer Cloud Services

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Storage: one of the popular Cloud services is online storage. The popular Google Drive, Dropbox and  Microsoft’s Onedrive are all examples of cloud storage.

Email : email services such as Gmail, Yahoo mail, and other forms of webmail are cloud services.

Music & Video streaming: thanks to this kind of Cloud service, you do not need to be keeping physical collections of musical CDs or DVD videos all looking around town for a specific music or video. For a little cost you can always subscribe to a music or video streaming Cloud service and watch or listen to any music you want. Spotify and Netflix examples of music and video streaming service respectively.

GPS and Maps

Are you looking for a house or a recreation centre, or directions to a place, then Google maps is a Cloud service that can assist you.

Social media: the popular Facebook YouTube WhatsApp Instagram as social media services that are completely based in the Cloud. They are a type of cloud service.

Anonymity: it is possible to be anonymous and have a private Cloud service only for you.

Problems of Cloud services

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Cloud service is the ideal computing solution these days. Did you have some short comings. Below are some of the problems you may seldom encounter with a Cloud service provider.

Problems with your internet access: you still need internet access to access Cloud services. If it happens that your internet service provider is having problems, then you may not be able to access the internet let alone your Cloud service. Fortunately this happens once in a while.

Cloud service downtime: you may not be able to access Cloud services during upgrades, internet access problems, and repairs. However these situations only occurs once in a while.

Government access: if you have sensitive data, you should be informed that storing this data in a cloud-based service is risky because the government have the power to request for any data on the Cloud service for investigative purposes.

Higher cost overtime: when you register with a Cloud service at first the cost may be cheap but as your work becomes popular and your computing needs expands you may be  paying much more for the service.

Hacking: cloud computing is very secure but sometimes it can be hacked. On your own part,  you can use double layers of security at least to secure your account.

Help and support: it may be difficult to find specific help when you run into problems with your cloud computing.

Why You Should use Cloud Services

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Flexibility: cloud-based services are very flexible you can easily upgrade or downgrade anytime and anyhow you wish.

Regular updates/upgrades: for whatever Cloud services you are using the rest assured that you will be using the latest updates or upgrades of the software available.

Data recovery: One  the advantages of a cloud-based service is that the service provided take very good care of your data for you and they have many ways of helping you recover data should any problem occur.

Pay as you go: Cloud service providers use the pay-as-you-go model. You only pay for what you use. In the long run, you save cost

Team work: teamwork is easier on the cloud-based service. Computing changes reflects in the real time, moreover, team members can connect to the same project using different compatible devices

Security: your data on a cloud-based service  is very secure: They usually employ the best personnel to protect the database.

Access from anywhere: 

 One good thing about subscribing to a Cloud service is that you can access your data from anywhere in the world and from any compatible computing device such as a desktop computer,  a laptop or even your mobile phone/ tablet.

Don’t worry about data loss: now when you do your computing in the Cloud you don’t have to worry whether or not changes you make have been saved. Your work is saved automatically and seamlessly, your data cannot become corrupt. Issues about computer hardware and protecting your data is taking care of at the cloud service provider’s end.

Type of Cloud Services

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The cloud offers various types of services based on user demands. Services you can find on the Cloud in Cloud computing, networking, storage, gaming machine learning and so on.

Some type of Cloud services and acronyms

BAAS( backup as a service). You can back up some or your entire data in the Cloud

CAAS( communication as a service). Cloud-based Telecom, messages, and video conferencing solutions.

DAAS ( desktop as a service). Enables you to use your main desktop from any computing device anywhere around the world.

DBAAS ( database as a service). Cloud database service. Your database  can be fully managed by a cloud service provider.

HAAS (hardware as a service). It is possible to rent all your computing hardware from a cloud service provider.

IDAAS (identity as a service). Cloud-based identity and user management service.

IAAS (infrastructure as a service)

Your company can have all or part of its main network servers in the cloud.

PAAS. (Platform as a service). It cloud-based service of both hardware and software development.

SAAS. ( Software as a service). It cloud best access to a full service house in the cloud examples include Gmail, Netflix and so on.

STAAS. (Storage as a service). Cloud based  storage service. Examples include Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox and so on.