Hacks Archives | Page 4 of 1459 | The Cool Down

A generator outside a home.

Home

Running central air on a portable generator? A 'soft start' can cut the size in half

A series of makeshift homes surrounded by a fence, with solar panels on rooftops and litter in the foreground.

Tech

South Africa rooftop solar kits light 2,000 shacks, create resident repair jobs

A person showing their emergency kit supplies.

Home

Prepper shares their 'grid down power plan' for outages, from candles to a hand-crank radio

Pipes and wires in a mechanical space with visible rust and discoloration on the surfaces.

Home

Homeowner gets $13,000 quote to replace 3-year-old AC over drain clog, then hears fix may be $1,000

A smartphone displaying the word "Copilot" with an abstract AI circuit background.

Tech

'CoSnitch' flaw let researchers trick Microsoft Copilot into leaking data, poisoning memory

Condensation on windows.

Home

Humid summer outages are forcing homeowners to rethink the 'open the windows' backup plan

A person carries a Honda generator and a coil of electrical cables outdoors.

Home

New Honda generator owner asks how long it can sit, gets told to drain fuel and store it dry

HVAC equipment.

Home

Homeowner told DIY HVAC replacement was 'reckless,' replaces failed 30-year-old AC anyway

A staircase.

Home

Minnesota homeowner's 100-year-old house shows why the AC never keeps up upstairs

Pipes and fittings of a mechanical system with visible bolts and some tape on a surface.

Home

Customer pays $90 for AC maintenance, then gets a $9,000 replacement pitch days later

A person uses a tool to work on a mechanical unit mounted on a wall.

Home

UK homeowner faces $600 boiler repair after missing fuse damages 17-year-old system

A digital CO2 sensor displaying a level of 1305 PPM with a red indicator light.

Home

Homeowner opens windows to cut CO2, learns central air may be sending it right back