As you prepare for your summer vacation, in addition to planning your trip, packing your luggage and making care arrangements for your pets, don’t forget that you need to prep your home as well. It’s important to make sure that your home will be energy efficient and safe while you’re away. Here are some simple things you can do to prep your home for your vacation:
Turn the air conditioning off or set the temperature on the thermostat to about 85 degrees F. By turning up the temperature in the house you will save money by conserving energy. If you have a programmable thermostat, you can set it to have the house cool down on the day your return. If you expect extremely hot weather while you’re gone, don’t turn off the A/C all the way. Your home and its contents could be damaged by excessive heat, and your cooling system will have a difficult time recovering when you get back.
Change the air filter in your A/C system. If you leave air conditioner on while you’re away, the system may malfunction if the filter is clogged, which could leave you with a big problem when you get home.
Turn off the water heater to conserve energy, or else turn it down to a lower setting (120 degrees F). Some water heater have an energy-saving “vacation” setting.
Unplug your electronics and appliances. Many devices continue to use energy even when they’re not turned on for use. Unplugging them saves energy and money. Use a power strip to turn off multiple devices at the same time.
Have maintenance done on your HVAC system before you leave on vacation, if you haven’t had it done recently. You should be getting regular maintenance done on the system to prevent any problems. This maintenance should include:
- Checking thermostats
- Checking smoke detectors
- Checking wire connections
- Replacing filters
- Checking all safety devices
- Cleaning indoor and outdoor coils
- Checking the refrigerant charge
- Checking fans and motors
Please contact us at Donald P. Dick Air Conditioning for more advice to prep your home before you go on vacation. You’ll not only save time and conserve energy, you’ll also have peace of mind knowing that you’ve made all of the appropriate preparations before you depart on vacation.
Our goal is to help educate our customers in the greater Fresno, California area about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about vacation preparations and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.
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