Leaving the heat on??
Hi; We are leaving for the Southwest United States for 6 months from Oct. to April & we have a question; we plan on turning our hot water down to the vacation mode (someone will be here at least once...
Forum Discussion
Hi All...first post :)
This is my wife and I's first winter heading south. Am trying to decide between leaving heat on at a moderate temp (50 deg F) or doing a complete shutdown.
We consider a complete shutdown of heating system for the following reasons:
1) cost saving on heating oil
2) have had frozen pipes after furnace went down while being going 1 week in Feb ( no damage thankfully)
3) cost savings on having a long driveway plowed to give access to fuel trucks
4) cost savings on having someone come and take care of snow on the roof (ice dams that occur around skylights)
I have read that some folks leave the heat on out of concern with hardwood flooring buckling, tile cracking, drywall/paint cracks. I have read the concerns, but haven't read any actual accounts of this happening (with the exception of the campingman's post above, but that was related to a leaking pipe) - accounts of could be out there, I just haven't come across them yet. If there is another compelling reason to leave heat on, I am all ears.
Being a professional woodworker, I am keen to the changes that happen with moisture changes, but temperature changes....I have not experienced anything adverse...that is to say that I haven't really had the chance to experience anything adverse.
Here in New Hampshire, we are hitting pretty dry levels by November when we plan on leaving and will be back in late March, before humidity kicks in....so humidity will be fairly stable. We are inland quite a bit (in the White Mtns in NH), so I don't believe that mold/mildew will be much of a problem.
We have hardwood flooring throughout much of our house, as well as some exposed beams, tongue and groove on some of the walls....some tile and of course, plenty of sheetrock.
Thanks in advance for advice and thoughts for this first time snowbird :)
This is my wife and I's first winter heading south. Am trying to decide between leaving heat on at a moderate temp (50 deg F) or doing a complete shutdown.
We consider a complete shutdown of heating system for the following reasons:
1) cost saving on heating oil
2) have had frozen pipes after furnace went down while being going 1 week in Feb ( no damage thankfully)
3) cost savings on having a long driveway plowed to give access to fuel trucks
4) cost savings on having someone come and take care of snow on the roof (ice dams that occur around skylights)
I have read that some folks leave the heat on out of concern with hardwood flooring buckling, tile cracking, drywall/paint cracks. I have read the concerns, but haven't read any actual accounts of this happening (with the exception of the campingman's post above, but that was related to a leaking pipe) - accounts of could be out there, I just haven't come across them yet. If there is another compelling reason to leave heat on, I am all ears.
Being a professional woodworker, I am keen to the changes that happen with moisture changes, but temperature changes....I have not experienced anything adverse...that is to say that I haven't really had the chance to experience anything adverse.
Here in New Hampshire, we are hitting pretty dry levels by November when we plan on leaving and will be back in late March, before humidity kicks in....so humidity will be fairly stable. We are inland quite a bit (in the White Mtns in NH), so I don't believe that mold/mildew will be much of a problem.
We have hardwood flooring throughout much of our house, as well as some exposed beams, tongue and groove on some of the walls....some tile and of course, plenty of sheetrock.
Thanks in advance for advice and thoughts for this first time snowbird :)
