If you’re planning a trip away to escape the sweltering Twin Cities summer, don’t make the mistake of thinking your home conserve energy while you’re gone. Conserving energy while on vacation is just as important as conserving it while you’re home.
Prepare the Cooling System
If you have pets and want to keep the house cool for them, install a programmable thermostat. This will allow you to run the air conditioner in the energy-saving vacation mode while you’re gone, and then return to your normal settings when you get back. Otherwise, just turn off the A/C. It takes less energy to cool a hot house than to keep it cool while you’re away.
Check the accessible parts of your duct system to ensure the duct joints are tightly sealed and ducts in unconditioned spaces, such as the basement, are insulated. Ducts with insufficient seals or insulation waste energy, so have yours maintained by an A/C technician before you leave.
Save Energy Around the House
If you plan to leave the air conditioner on while you’re away, check for air leaks around doors, windows, exhaust fans, and pipe and wiring penetrations. These let in heat, humidity and air contaminants. Sealing them with caulk or weatherstripping will help you with conserving energy while on vacation and protect your indoor air quality.
Putting lights on a timer can help ward off would-be intruders, but before you do this, upgrade to more efficient bulbs, such as compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) or LED lights. As a bonus, these lights burn cooler, so they add less to your home’s cooling load.
Electronics and appliances in standby mode use small amounts of energy even when not in use. Unplug or completely shut off anything that doesn’t need to be left running. To make the job easier, put groups of electronics, such as your computer and peripherals, on a power strip. This lets you shut them all off at once.
To get more help conserving energy while on vacation, contact us at Marsh Heating & Air Conditioning in the Twin Cities metro area.
Our goal is to help educate our customers in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about conserving energy and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.
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