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Snowbirds, I am curious how those who go south for the winter set the thermostat in their house while they are away. What temp setting do you use and how did you arrive at that setting?
Are there any other significant things you do for the house for the winter while you are away, like drain the water lines, just in case of a power outage and freeze up?
We set our thermostat here in Ohio to 55 degrees while away in February. I just recently installed a wi-fi enabled thermostat so that I can monitor the indoor temperature while we are away. I have our daughter stop in about once per week to check the house. I also turn off the water main.
I have severaL room lights set on a timer along with a radio.
Snowbirds, I am curious how those who go south for the winter set the thermostat in their house while they are away. What temp setting do you use and how did you arrive at that setting?
Are there any other significant things you do for the house for the winter while you are away, like drain the water lines, just in case of a power outage and freeze up?
Set at 55 and we have a freeze alert moniter that plugs into the telephone that will call whoever you program it for if the temperature drops below 45.
We do drain the water just for the extra benefit of not worrying about it.
We turn off our water at the 'street box', and since our 'heat' is a water fired boiler, the house goes stone cold. Our house watcher/mailman drains all the traps, pours in some RV anti-freeze, etc., after we depart.
The big window walls provide for some winter solar gain, but the house can be cold as a tomb on cloudy days, and at 5,000 ft elevation, the winter days can be brutal.
Other than a few mice sneaking in, we have never had a problem with having 'no heat'/ambient temps for 6 seasons.
GL, mD
57 degrees since our basement runs a crisp 10 degrees cooler. it really should all depend how much leeway you think you need to maintain the house above freezing in a power outage or to get time to get a repairman over.
motor david...a question.
We've considered the pros and cons of no heat at all.
The considered cons include damage to wood joints in furniture.
We stored some one time and had shrinkage that resulted in splits even though we 're-warmed' slowly.
The other is all the odds and end of containers with liquid in them .....canned & bottled food stuffs, bottles of lotions,colognes, etc.
None of this has been a problem?
I do hate spending up to $1000 to heat an unoccupied house.
Heat set @ 50 degrees. Water to toilets and washer shut off. Notify neighbors, hold mail, several lights set on timers. Neighbors check on house every couple of days, if heavy snow they make sure generator vent is clear, all valuables in safes. Mail can only be held for a month, so when it is delivered, neighbor puts inside house and we have it held for another month. All bills, statements, etc. are sent via email, banking is done online so rarely anything of any importance in mail.
We haven't noticed any furniture joint problem. My wife's C3 Yamaha conservatory grand is there too; just requires a tuning once per year, but it has always req'd one, anyway.
Our pantry is in a north side walk in room, and never a problem with any liquids freezing or even 'jelling'. Some stuff we do put in the fridge, set fairly low, as in not coldest.
When I said no heat, it is not like the house is an igloo: it's ~3400 sq ft, with several levels, but the house is sited SE to SW with window walls, so there is considerable solar gain from low angle of sun in winter. It is cool to cold during long periods of no sun, and zero to minus zero temps at night. We did 5 years there, full time, so we know how cold it gets...
The water pipes are drain and blown out, and the RV coolant keeps the traps covered. Other than the ubiquitous mice moving in, as we drive away, we have never experienced a prob in the past 6 seasons. Everything/all our junque just sits there in situ, and I really don't think/feel those cooler to occasional coldish temps have an detrimental effect on any of our stuff, including some art work. I suspect most 'things' do better at 40-60, than they do at 80 in our FL house, during its summer.
We run most of the ceiling fans on low to stir the air, the Generac wil come on and run what little is connected, (fridge, fans, security sys), if power is lost, which is frequent, and we really don't give that house, or its 'stuff', a worry. ~ Zone 5b/6a barely, at 5,000 ft altitude...
My 50Cts.
GL, mD
Quote:
Originally Posted by old_cold
motor david...a question.
We've considered the pros and cons of no heat at all.
The considered cons include damage to wood joints in furniture.
We stored some one time and had shrinkage that resulted in splits even though we 're-warmed' slowly.
The other is all the odds and end of containers with liquid in them .....canned & bottled food stuffs, bottles of lotions,colognes, etc.
None of this has been a problem?
I do hate spending up to $1000 to heat an unoccupied house.
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