Power Down Your Home on Summer Vacation

Summer vacations are a time to relax and unwind from the daily hustle and bustle. Unfortunately, while you’re vacationing away from your home, your energy bill is still higher than expected. No one is home and the appliances are off, so why is your energy bill the same amount as the previous month? Although you’ve stopped working, your home’s utilities and electronics have not. So before you start your summer vacation, make sure your home is on vacation mode, too.

Avoid Vampire Power

Before leaving your home, set aside some time to walk through your home and make sure all unnecessary electronics and appliances are unplugged. Although you may not be using them while you’re on your vacation, vampire power will still run up your electric bill. Any unnecessary electronic devices including lamps, floor fans, game consoles, TVs, and computers, should be unplugged while your house is vacant. These devices can also be plugged into a power strip that is then switched off. Whichever method you choose, the risk of vampire power is avoided.

Controlled Cooling

Unless there are pets in the house while you’re away on your summer vacation, you can really take advantage of increasing your thermostat to cut energy consumption. Setting your thermostat between 85 to 87 degrees will show a drop in your next energy bill. Programmable thermostats can also help with maintaining energy use while you’re gone. If you choose to turn off your thermostat while you’re away, you can program your thermostat to turn on the day of or the day before your return so that your home is comfortable to come back to.

Maintain Major Appliances

On longer summer trips, it is a good idea to clean out your refrigerator and turn it off. Refrigerators are a major culprit of using large amounts of energy; they are the Hummers of automobiles. If the trip is shorter, you can raise the refrigerator and freezer temperature to the highest temperature it can go without spoiling the food inside. You can also power down your water heater if your summer vacation is longer than just a weekend getaway. Before shutting down or adjusting the settings on any major appliance, be sure to read the product manual to avoid issues.

Close Your Blinds

There are many things you can do to save energy in your vacant home during your summer vacation. Besides unplugging and turning off different appliances, you can also do simple, yet effective tasks, like closing your blinds and curtains. This helps maintain your home’s temperature by blocking the heat so that your AC doesn’t run more frequently than necessary. If you have window film on your home’s windows, that will provide an additional layer of protection from the sun’s rays and also help prevent fading of your window coverings. Your home’s windows provide the easiest access for cool air to escape and warm air to enter. Covering your windows also provides a level of privacy while you are away. So on your next summer vacation, be sure to follow some of these energy saving tips so you can worry less about your bills and more about relaxation.