Vacation tips for your home
Before you start a vacation, invest a few minutes in turning things off. By giving your appliances
and electronics a vacation, you'll be saving energy and avoiding safety hazards. You can use the money you save
to help pay for your trip.
- If it's a cool part of the year, turn down your thermostat to 50 degrees. If it's summer and you have
air conditioning, turn off the AC or turn the temperature setting up to 85 degrees.
- Turn off the water heater at the electric panel box if you are going to be gone for more than 3 days.
It will take only a few hours to reheat your hot water. Leave yourself a note to turn it back on
when you return.
- Turn off all lights. If you leave on any household lamps for security reasons, attach them to a
timer, and use energy-saving
compact fluorescent light bulbs.
- Unplug all instant-on or standby power electronic devices, such as TVs, DVD players, stereos,
computers and coffeemakers with a clock. These items that use
phantom power can account for as
much as 10% of home energy use. You can plug multiple devices into a power strip or surge protector,
and then turn all off with the press of one button.
- Unplug all chargeable electronics such as cell phones and battery chargers.
- Close curtains and blinds to help keep the heat in during cool weather and the hot air out during
the summer.
- Refrigerators operate more efficiently when full, so fill the refrigerator with beverages that won't go bad
while you're gone. Water jugs work well.
- Turn off the hot tub, or lower the temperature setting and reduce run times.
- Turn off outdoor decorative water fountains, features and pumps.
- Check the garage and outbuildings (such as wood shops and studios) to make sure all unused electric
devices are off or unplugged.
- Read the meter when you leave and when you get home, so you will know how many kilowatt-hours were
used. This is a smart way to detect hidden energy wasters such as electronic devices that appear
to be off but are really on standby or phantom power.
Download a copy of EWEB's energy tips for vacations (PDF)
