leaving for 2 months??

Duck wrote:
I would suggest turning off the water to the house. I had a neighbor who had a toilet problem that let the water run continuously. It flooded the whole house and started running out the front door while he was gone for the summer. I turn my off now but we are only gone for 1 month at a time.
Don

Our road trips several times a year are from 1 to 3 months and we also turn the water off generally at the street for the same reasons. During the summer I also shut off the gas at the meter.

Larry

I would suggest turning off the water to the house. I had a neighbor who had a toilet problem that let the water run continuously. It flooded the whole house and started running out the front door while he was gone for the summer. I turn my off now but we are only gone for 1 month at a time.
Don

You are kind of the opposite of us when we leave our Florida home during some of the summer months. We leave the air set on 80 and worry about too much humidity instead of not enough.

I'm not sure I would shut the air off. My BIL lives in Arizona so we know how hot those daytime temps can reach. Not sure I would want the inside of my house to consistently be getting up to 100 or 105 degrees.

We put just a little bleach in our toilets and put siran wrap tightly over the bowls. It keeps the water in them and stains/mold from forming.

We leave our winter home secure while we are gone. That said, we leave a 5 gallon "Homer" bucket of water in each room. We have a security system that I can access with my smartphone. When the buckets need refilling, I call a neighbor and he refills. This keeps some moisture inside the house so the furniture doesn't get dried out in the Az heat....mineral oil in the traps and saran wrap on the toilets..a bottle of peroxide goes in the water heater to clean it when we return in the winter....Dennis

Golden_HVAC wrote:
You do not need to keep the house at 90 when you are away. Even if you set it at 95, it would still use a lot of energy.

The drains will not dry out in 3 months, even in 100F air. If you are 'really' worried about them, then a tablespoon of cooking oil in each trap will float on top of the water and keep it from evaporating.

Do you have any friends who can watch your place for you? Turn on a few lights now and again? I guess you can put a few lights on timers to go off at 10 pm, and keep the house looking lived in.

If your air conditioner is on the ground, wash it once in a while. It will keep working better that way. If on the roof, get someone much younger to wash it each spring, before the HVAC techs become to busy, and change the air filter about 3 times a year.

Good luck!

Fred.

good idea about the cooking oil, that i will do.. have no neighbors here. just moved here and have about 4 acres so no one is near us to ask for help watching the place.

what are u recomending about the A/C? not to leave it on at all?

Yes, use the cooking oil in the drains and toilet to keep them from drying out. I use about a cup in my basement floor drain about twice a year to keep the smells from coming back up.

Bill

I've never had to do it, but I've read on here of a few different ways.

One is to pay the neighbors kid a small fee to come in once a week or two and flush all the toilets and run the water in the sinks and tub for about 5 seconds each.

Other people pour a little mineral oil down all the traps to keep them from drying out.

Others do the oil and also stretch saran wrap across the toilet bowl. Just don't forget to remove the wrap when you get home.

That's all the tips I remember.

You do not need to keep the house at 90 when you are away. Even if you set it at 95, it would still use a lot of energy.

The drains will not dry out in 3 months, even in 100F air. If you are 'really' worried about them, then a tablespoon of cooking oil in each trap will float on top of the water and keep it from evaporating.

Do you have any friends who can watch your place for you? Turn on a few lights now and again? I guess you can put a few lights on timers to go off at 10 pm, and keep the house looking lived in.

If your air conditioner is on the ground, wash it once in a while. It will keep working better that way. If on the roof, get someone much younger to wash it each spring, before the HVAC techs become to busy, and change the air filter about 3 times a year.

Good luck!

Fred.