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Living in MA I hear people talk about leaving the heat on at 55 degrees if we leave the house to go on a winter vacation. This is common sense - you don't want the pipes to freeze. However, I'm wondering if the opposite is also true in the summer. I plan to leave my house vacant for about 3 months this summer and want to know if I should leave the A/C on to a keep the house from overheating. I'm afraid the heat and humidity might cause mold/mildew to grow in the walls or attic.
Most houses in MA do not have central AC and they are fine. I wouldn't worry about it. I spend my weekends at the Cape, and shut off my AC one weekend. When I came back it was in the 90's and it took a long time to get the house temp back to normal. I now leave it on 75 when I'm away and turn it down remotely a few hours before I get home. If I was away for 3 entire months I would definitely shut it fully off though.
Most houses in MA do not have central AC and they are fine. I wouldn't worry about it. I spend my weekends at the Cape, and shut off my AC one weekend. When I came back it was in the 90's and it took a long time to get the house temp back to normal. I now leave it on 75 when I'm away and turn it down remotely a few hours before I get home. If I was away for 3 entire months I would definitely shut it fully off though.
That's funny. I don't mind the heat and I actually leave my A/C on at 78 when I'm in the house to keep the humidity at bay. I set it to 85 when I'm on the Cape. Good point about many houses not even having central A/C.
Mold needs water. Leaks...intrusion is the most common source but also, a temperature difference across walls/windows will promote water sticking to the coldest object. If the system is off, there will be less of a temperature difference, less chance. If the system is on, and you have intrusion, the system operation will dry out the air.
3 months is a long time. I've gone away for a week and left mine at 80 degrees just to avoid over-working the fridge, and so it doesn't take a long time to bring the temp back down.
But with you leaving 3 months, I'd probably turn it off and just run some dehumidifiers with the discharge into a drain if you can. Of course, you'd have to do an ROI to see if the cost of 2-3 dehumidifiers plus the electric cost to run them is cheaper than running the A/C set to 80-85 for the summer.
Lot's of houses in MA don't even have A/C...but I'm sure they also don't go 3 months all sealed up with every window closed shut either.
Living in MA I hear people talk about leaving the heat on at 55 degrees if we leave the house to go on a winter vacation. This is common sense - you don't want the pipes to freeze. However, I'm wondering if the opposite is also true in the summer. I plan to leave my house vacant for about 3 months this summer and want to know if I should leave the A/C on to a keep the house from overheating. I'm afraid the heat and humidity might cause mold/mildew to grow in the walls or attic.
We leave the heat in our primary residence (Alaska) at 45 degrees when we leave for the winter. We the A/C in our winter house (Arizona) at 85 when we go home for the summer. No problems with either house, although Arizona has low humidity.
Living in MA I hear people talk about leaving the heat on at 55 degrees if we leave the house to go on a winter vacation. This is common sense - you don't want the pipes to freeze. However, I'm wondering if the opposite is also true in the summer. I plan to leave my house vacant for about 3 months this summer and want to know if I should leave the A/C on to a keep the house from overheating. I'm afraid the heat and humidity might cause mold/mildew to grow in the walls or attic.
I didn't know a house could "overheat"....but your mold/mildew statement isn't too far off...I didn't have A/C for 2 months, and it got a little moldy in the house.
Do you have food in your refrigerator? Will you leave the refrigerator running? You should consider raising the thermostat to 78 or 80 while gone. With the central air off the home can become hotter inside than outside due to insulation. The Refrigerator will run more frequently in high temperatures and the compressor will run longer trying to get the inside cool. The AC serves another purpose of helping to remove humidity. Depending on where you live and the weather conditions, your home can become very humid and begin developing mold inside. I suggest you invest in either a basic automatic thermostat or an internet capable thermostat. With an automatic thermostat you can set a heat setting and a cool setting (must be at least 3 degrees difference between the two) and leave it in the auto setting. If gone for 3 months then change the heat setting to a much lower temperature and the cool setting to a much higher setting. If an internet capable thermostat, you can make changes from an app on your phone as well as monitor the room temperature in your home while you're away.
-on but set to 80F makes sense, for the reasons stated above
If humidity is low you leave the house empty and hot for several months, water in drain traps may evaporate, allowing sewer gas in. Filling the traps with RV antifreeze works in summer as well as winter.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TAZORAC
I didn't know a house could "overheat"....but your mold/mildew statement isn't too far off...I didn't have A/C for 2 months, and it got a little moldy in the house.
Just like the inside of a car, a house can get warmer than the outside temperature. At high temperatures materials outgas, plastics soften, etc.
I once left the heat off for a long weekend, came home to find the decorative candles on my dining room table puddled on the tablecloth.
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-on but set to 80F makes sense, for the reasons stated above
