Long Trips - S&B Shutdown
We're planning to hit the road starting next year for trips that last anywhere from 2 to 4 months with short 3-4 week stays back at our home in Alabama. I know a lot of people just go full time, but we have a lot of reasons to keep our home, even though we'll be gone much of the time.
I've been working on how to shut down the house properly during these long absences.
So far, it seems like I want to keep the heater on at the lowest possible setting to ensure that pipes don't freeze solid. I want to turn off the circuit breakers to almost everything else. I imagine that I also want to either purge the hot water heater, or turn it to its lowest possible setting.
I'm going to ditch the cable/internet (they don't have a vacation plan in my market) and rely on over-the-air TV and our wireless phones' internet when we're home. It doesn't even seem worth it to get DSL if it's going to go unused 9 months of the year.
I need to make an arrangement for my mail as I think USPS won't hold for longer than x amount of days or times per year.
I need to arrange with my lawn guy in advance to keep it mowed and edged, and I need to leave the sprinkler system running during the growing season to keep the grass from dying. I have a contract with the sprinkler people to come out twice a year to purge/reactivate my sprinklers.
I found a cellular-based security system that only costs $15/mo for monitoring after the initial purchase. That means I won't need to keep a land line phone going.
I think I can work with a neighbor to keep papers and such from accumulating on my driveway.
Does anyone have suggestions or experience they can impart?
I've been working on how to shut down the house properly during these long absences.
So far, it seems like I want to keep the heater on at the lowest possible setting to ensure that pipes don't freeze solid. I want to turn off the circuit breakers to almost everything else. I imagine that I also want to either purge the hot water heater, or turn it to its lowest possible setting.
I'm going to ditch the cable/internet (they don't have a vacation plan in my market) and rely on over-the-air TV and our wireless phones' internet when we're home. It doesn't even seem worth it to get DSL if it's going to go unused 9 months of the year.
I need to make an arrangement for my mail as I think USPS won't hold for longer than x amount of days or times per year.
I need to arrange with my lawn guy in advance to keep it mowed and edged, and I need to leave the sprinkler system running during the growing season to keep the grass from dying. I have a contract with the sprinkler people to come out twice a year to purge/reactivate my sprinklers.
I found a cellular-based security system that only costs $15/mo for monitoring after the initial purchase. That means I won't need to keep a land line phone going.
I think I can work with a neighbor to keep papers and such from accumulating on my driveway.
Does anyone have suggestions or experience they can impart?
