It's Vacation Time: Plumbing and HVAC Tips
Leaving for vacation is one of the highlights of our year. The anticipation of getting away is half the excitement and walking out the door and leaving your day to day stressors behind is a wonderful feeling. Returning home to a problem that could have been avoided almost negates the fun you had on vacation. You can’t avoid everything, but some upfront preparation can help.
Before you leave for Vacation:
1. ALWAYS have someone check your house on a daily basis if possible. If there is a problem, like water leaking, it will be less of a problem if found in 24 hours then if it goes unnoticed for a week. Coming home to several inches of water anywhere in your home can be a vacation wrecker.
2. Turn off the water at the meter or pressure tank – if a water heater, toilet, or pipe break, you will have 5 -10 gallons of water on the floor instead of a potential 5,000+. Make sure you turn your ice maker off so it is not trying to make ice cubes.
3. You don’t have to turn your air conditioner off, just raise the temperature several degrees. It will run significantly less while you are away and take about an hour to recover from each degree that you raised the temperature when you left for vacation.
4. Close curtains to keep the sun from heating your house and keep your house safer and more secure.
5. Do a quick but thorough walk-through of your house to make sure in the hustle and bustle of leaving that nothing was left behind (suitcase), lights are turned off, and doors and windows locked.