Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
In addition to a light or two on a timer, I'd put a radio (tuned to a talk station) on a timer as well, to simulate someone in the house watching TV in the evening hours. Play it in the same room as one of the timer lamps, just loud enough to be faintly heard from outside, but not loud enough to be obvious/obnoxious.
I know I always add this to these type of discussions - if it’s winter and you live in a snow area, make arrangements to have your driveway plowed if it snows. Or at a minimum have a neighbor come over and drive up and down the driveway a few times to put some tracks on it. That unbroken drift of snow on your driveway just screams “nobody home.”
Wow! I'm 67 years old and never seen that much done before leaving. I always did the same as my parents did. Get the neighbors to get our newspaper and mail for us. They also fed our dog. I learned from my mother to always make sure the dishes are done, even if it's a dirty coffee cup. If something happens to you and somebody had to go in the house (neighbors have a key to our house and we have one for theirs), there wouldn't be dirty dishes in the sink. As far as the piece of wood in the sliding glass door, my dad had a cut off broom handle for ours every night. Water was never shut off.
Never had any problems.
I agree.
Granted, I live in Honolulu, so that changes things somewhat, both in terms of what I don't have to do compared to those who live in certain other areas and in terms of what I have to do living in Hawaii.
I live in a high rise condo with a fairly large balcony. When I am away (I'm away for up to weeks at a time generally), there are the things I generally do:
-Make sure my cat has enough food, water, and litter boxes to last the duration. I generally set 3 litter boxes for that time period, leave him ample food and water in bowls, and leave the faucet on a drip.
-Set up my kitty camera.
-Make sure my balcony doors are closed as I never know what storm is going to swing through.
-Water the plants and fill up the plant bulbs to ensure they have enough water to last the time away.
-Make sure I take the trash out and that I didn't inadvertently leave on the stove.
-Make sure that the refrigerator is cleaned out of things that will expire while I'm away so I don't have a rotten, stinky mess to clear out on my return
I don't get much mail so don't do anything on that front.
Depends on home and community. When I lived in a trailer park with questionable neighbors I shut off the breaker to the outside outlets and closed the valve to the outside faucet.
The water heater issue is a waste of money because it will constantly turn on and off to maintain temperature. Turn off for electric. Some gas water heaters don’t have a pilot light while some do. Figure out what you have and how to best shut it off or set to pilot only. If leaving in summer, don’t set the AC too high. Set high enough to reduce how often it runs. Breaker panel on s a great way to reduce unwanted energy use while away. Another option is to turn off multi-plug power strips. We have an automatic dusk till dawn front porch light and a motion sensor carport light. We have a digital timer with a random setting for a lamp. Set the on and off time for the random mode.
We don't shut off all the individual water valves... we turn water off at the main.
We stop the mail.
We put AC/furnace on vacation mode (we do not turn off).
We unplug major electric appliances (in case of a spike).
And the house is clean when we leave.... I really don't like coming home to a dirty house. There is enough to do upon return without worrying about that!
We also call local police to report that we will be gone (they ask for contact numbers and who has keys to house). It's refreshing to see on Ring and security cameras that cops are checking our doors and windows.
In the summer, we are gone for several weeks and I have a garden drip system on a timer. So the water to the house is on and actually my garden water is supplied by a hose. I have all sorts of risk for a leak.
We are gone most of the winter and I shut the water off at the main valve inside the house but not at the outside meter because that valve hasn't been used for many years.. My risk is a leak in the buried water tube that goes between the meter and the house. Any leak after the main water meter is my problem.
So.. I have a Flume setup for monitoring water flow https://flumewater.com/. Cell phone app allows checking from anywhere No monthly subscription fee, you just need an active wifi/internet in the house. If I detect a leak in the winter, I have to get back to the house. In the summer, I will likely just ask a neighbor to turn off the garden drip system since this is easy and most likely where a leak would happen.
Flume setup is easy to install and works great. The module at the meter is battery powered and the single battery last for about six months. You have to pull the box from the meter pit, buy a specific battery from Flume and reinstall. Ie, a little bit of a hassle. Last winter, the battery went out while I was gone so this spring, I converted the module at the meter to solar power. Not something a lot of people should attempt but what I did with the solar power mod has so far working well. I documented it here solar conversion
The Flume box comes with a a single battery but it has room for two batteires. I think two batteries likely last about a year so the other option is to just plan to replace both batteries once per year.
Last edited by waltcolorado; 07-19-2023 at 08:14 AM..
Last time we were gone for a month and a half, I shut off the water heater and shut off the water at the meter, set the AC on 85, and walked out the door. No problems. We had a neighbor pick up the mail.
Wow! I'm 67 years old and never seen that much done before leaving. I always did the same as my parents did. Get the neighbors to get our newspaper and mail for us. They also fed our dog. I learned from my mother to always make sure the dishes are done, even if it's a dirty coffee cup. If something happens to you and somebody had to go in the house (neighbors have a key to our house and we have one for theirs), there wouldn't be dirty dishes in the sink. As far as the piece of wood in the sliding glass door, my dad had a cut off broom handle for ours every night. Water was never shut off.
Never had any problems.
Best way to figure out when neighbors are gone is when they prepare their homes to go away. Lights are going off and on all over the house that never do when they're home.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
