Leaving house unattended

donn0128 wrote:
If its going to be cold, set furnace thermostat to 50 55. If not, turn off water heater, water, etc and head out.

Exactly what I do and if during warmer months I even shut the gas off at the meter. When not needed I also shut the water off at the street. During the growing season I have a enormous backyard planter with a drip system and have modified my home water system to allow me to shut off all other water to the house except for the one outside faucet connected to the planter and the shut off/diverter is within the first 3 feet of the main water shutoff valve inside the house.

Larry

If I'm leaving for more than a week:

Unplug and turn off everything except fridge. Also furnace if it's winter.

Shut off water.

Have the post office hold the mail until I get back.

Notify the one neighbor we have.

That's about it.

IMPORTANT:

This may seem extreme, but stop posting on Internet sites, especially social media like Facebook and Twitter, that you're leaving. Criminals frequently check these for people saying they're leaving for certain times. Then they rob them blind. Pics on your account often have locations embedded. And social media sites track where your posting from. A lot of criminals that didn't pass high school know how to figure out your location. Just a tip. I run across this weekly during peak vacation times in my job.

At least once a year in the Twin Cities metro, some snowbird flies South and leaves the water on but turns the furnace down too low. The result is a beautiful house covered with ice on the outside, looking like the Ice Castles they build up here for Winter events. The pipes usually break on the second floor.

We turn off the water and trip the breaker to the hot water heater. Depending on the time of the year, we either leave the heat on but turn the temperature down, or leave the AC 0on and turn the temperature up. We go to the post office and have them hold our mail. We put house lights on timers so it looks like someone is home.

Karenys wrote:
Thanks for all the tips! We are headed to San Antonio to see the Alamo!

Let us know what were your first impressions of the ALAMO were like? I was in the military for 2 years down there, and most everyone had that same first impression. ???

Two years back we ran into a couple from California who did not turn off there water. Broken pipe,2nd floor, for about 45 days the water ran, damage over $200,000 dollars.

We turn off the water heater and water. We have a larger house generator which runs on propane, so we're pretty well covered.

We are looking at installing a camera system in case of intruders.

We have a friend that lives in a small apartment who loves to stay in our home while we are gone. She waters the plants, collects our mail and keeps an eye on things. We also feel better about having someone in the house from a security standpoint.

We don't turn anything off when we leave. We do have either the DD or DS come over and check things daily for us though. We also have very attentive neighbors also. The DS is always coming over to do something so it looks as though someone is there all of the time. JMO

Also check your insurance policy. Some state that there has to be somebody in the house. Other policies may say that the house has to be checked on at least every 3 days. It might be worth a read to make sure your covered if something does happen.

We also call our local police department to let them know we will be gone. They do extra drives through the neighborhood to check on things. They have a list of who is allowed in the house, who has a key, how to get ahold of us, etc.

We know it works, because one time we forgot to let them know we had returned early and they checked up on us to see who was at our house.