These Vacation Energy Saving Tips Can Keep Money in Your Pockets

Going on vacation can be an expensive proposition, but it’s something most people look forward to all year long. However when you go out of town, you don’t want to continue spending money at home while you’re away, and that’s exactly what you’re doing if you don’t take appropriate steps to reduce your energy usage. Before you go out of town, employ these vacation energy saving tips in your home.

• Turn your thermostat up to 85 degrees Fahrenheit in the summer and down to 50 degrees Fahrenheit in the winter. These are good temperatures to maintain so that your house won’t get too hot or get so cold that your pipes freeze in winter.
• Check your water heater to see if it has a ‘vacation mode’ setting. Newer water heaters tend to have one of these, and when selected your water heater won’t continue to keep warm water while you’re gone. Flip it back on when you get back home and you’ll have hot water again before you know it.
• Unplug your washer and dryer before you head out of town. Newer washers and dryers pull power even when they’re not in use and older ones are more likely to short out and cause a serious fire.
• Clean out your refrigerator and unplug while you’re away from home if you’ll be out of town for a week or more. Your refrigerator pulls more power than any other household device, so you can save a fair amount of money if you unplug it.
• Make sure all of your lights are off before you go on vacation. Of course, you’ll still want to leave a couple of lights on a timer to keep burglars away from your home. If a neighbor or friend will be checking on your pets or picking up your mail you can skip the timer and just ask them to flip on lights that are visible from the street in the evening.

Contact Pascal Heat, Air & Geothermal for more vacation energy saving tips. We have been serving Springdale, AR and surrounding areas since 1968 and look forward to serving you too.

Our goal is to help educate our customers in Springdale, Arkansas about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).  For more information about energy saving tips and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.

Image courtesy of Shutterstock