Summer vacation will be even more relaxing if you leave home, confident that you won’t return to any problems. Home security and safety mean protecting your home not only from burglars, but also from issues with your cooling system (or heating system during the winter).
1. Use a timer: For home security and safety, consider leaving your television and a few lights operating occasionally with a timer to make it look like someone’s home.
2. Let your neighbors know: Make sure to notify your trustworthy neighbors that you will be out of town for a brief while and let them know if you will have a house-sitter coming by.
3. Program the A/C for indoor comfort and energy savings: If you will be leaving pets or plants to be cared for by a neighbor or friend, make sure to set the thermostat of your cooling system to a comfortable level to protect your animals from overheating and keep your indoor plants from wilting. However, this doesn’t mean you need to leave the temperature at your own comfort level. Set the A/C several degrees higher to save energy.
4. Inspect your appliances: Before heading out on vacation, consider having an HVAC technician come and inspect your cooling equipment. You can inspect and replace dirty filters, while the technician can check A/C components for proper operation. If you already had a preseason tune-up on your cooling system, you probably don’t need to have this done again. Be sure to leave the HVAC technician’s number with your neighbor or house-sitter in the event of an emergency.
5. Unplug and shut-off appliances: While you should leave certain lights and appliances set on timers to deter burglars, you should unplug any appliances that you will not need – a few examples might be toasters, microwave, computers.
6. Check the water heater: Turn it down to an energy-saving temperature, either the lowest available or the “vacation setting.”
7. Temporarily stop mail and newspaper service: A large pile of mail is a beacon to any would-be burglar that no one is home. Contact the USPS to temporarily hold your mail.
For more summer home security and safety tips, please contact us at Mowery Heating, Cooling and Plumbing. We provide exceptional HVAC services to the Indianapolis area.
Our goal is to help educate our customers in Brownsburg, Indiana and surrounding areas about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).
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