Vacation season is in full swing, and families from all over are preparing to leave their Broken Arrow home for a few days to enjoy some sun, fun and relaxation. Before leaving, most homeowners take the necessary precautions to ensure their home is locked up safe and sound. However, few think about saving energy while away from home. Ensuring you don’t waste energy while on vacation is just as important as stopping your mail delivery and locking your windows and doors.
Water Heater
Water heaters can be energy wasters if you’re not home to enjoy the comforts of warm water. Fortunately, most models feature a vacation mode that you can simply switch to. For gas models without a vacation mode, turn the setting to pilot. For electric models, you can either switch the water tank off at the breaker or turn the temperature to the lowest setting.
Heating and Cooling
There is no sense in running your air conditioner while you are away, and doing so is simply wasting energy. Saving energy while away from your home will require either turning the A/C off or turning the thermostat up to about 85 degrees during the summer. If you are vacationing during the winter months, set the thermostat to about 50 to 55 degrees. This temperature is warm enough to keep pipes from freezing.
Electronics
Televisions, computers, radios, blu-rays, coffee machines and many other small appliances and electronics are energy vampires that continue to drain energy even when they are turned off. Saving energy while on vacation will require unplugging these items from the outlets. Before you leave, take a walk through your home, unplugging any items that won’t be in use while you’re away.
Saving Energy Tip
Keep drapes, blinds and curtains shut to help prevent the sun's rays from heating your home, while making your house more energy efficient.
For more information about saving energy while you're away on vacation, contact the experts at Air Assurance. We have provided heating, air condition and plumbing services to the Broken Arrow area since 1985.
Our goal is to help educate our customers in the Tulsa and Broken Arrow, Oklahoma area about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).
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