Securing the house for extended trips - recommendations/tips?

[Sunset]

I know most/all of you are retired. We are still w*rking though we do take long vacations trying to use up those PTO hours.

I have a list of w*rk related items: Such as, store work Laptops, iphones in a safe corner because company policy prohibits bringing them overseas. Change their passwords before we leave, and store these in another safe place. One year, I changed my password but did not store them. Too confident in my own memory. But when I returned, I could not remember the new passwords. I had to call company helpdesk to reset them. It was a messy process.

When I was working I did this as well
Felt pretty stupid, so after that I always wrote it down before vacations.

 

[6miths]

Great list. Do most thinks for the cottage although don't have wifi there and after the first few years actually canceled the landline so that was the end of the freeze detector. Do have a couple of gas fireplaces though that backup the furnace so not a major thing and pipes are empty and traps have RV antifreeze so never been a problem. We used to pay a neighbour to come in and check on things but stopped a few years ago as didn't seem to be cost effective and he was starting to have trouble getting in because of snow. We kind of took the opposite approach and chose not to have someone plow and shovel figuring that the snow usually prevents anyone from getting any kind of a vehicle close to the place making it much more difficult to make off with things. This is an area where most places are vacant the entire winter so potential thieves know that four out of 5 places are vacant.

Thanks for all of the tips. Enjoying the thread.

 

[Ronstar]

..... We kind of took the opposite approach and chose not to have someone plow and shovel figuring that the snow usually prevents anyone from getting any kind of a vehicle close to the place making it much more difficult to make off with things....

I was thinking of allowing the snow to pile up too. But my luck the house would catch fire, the fire dept couldn't get to the house, and the insurance co wouldn't cover the loss because of lack of fire dept access.

 

[omni550]

Thought of one more thing. I replace the batteries in the thermostat a few days before I leave for the season. Would hate for them to crap out after a few months.

omni

 

[calico1597]

We have a safe in our bedroom closet and snowbird out of state each winter. I took a similar size cardboard box that toilet paper came in, cut the back and bottom off. I slide it around the safe, close the top flaps and wrote 'clothes for Goodwill' on the flap. Seems to disguise the safe pretty good.

We follow all the advice given here, shut off water, drain lines, lower heat, lamps on timers, etc......

We're also thinking about looking into ADT security but only interested in their services for the 3-4 months we're gone. Does anyone know if that's possible? From what I've read there is a two or three year contract that runs $40-50/month.

 

[harley]

We have a safe in our bedroom closet and snowbird out of state each winter. I took a similar size cardboard box that toilet paper came in, cut the back and bottom off. I slide it around the safe, close the top flaps and wrote 'clothes for Goodwill' on the flap. Seems to disguise the safe pretty good.

Security through obscurity is a cliché, but no less effective for that. I've got a safe in a box in a pile of other boxes. DW doesn't even realize it's there.

 

[brett]

We turn the water off, bleed the lines. Lower the thermostat. Take any small valuables to the bank safe deposit box. Convert or car insurance to fire and theft only. Unplug the garage door opener. Arrange a few light timers for night time. Have our son and/or neighbour check on the house every few days (for insurance purposes) and empty any mail from our mailbox and discard the junk (95 percent).

 

[Sunset]

Go with simplisafe , it works wirelessly and you buy the gear, but then only pay for the months you want them to monitor for $14.99/mo.

It's easy as sticking up stickers or pictures, all wireless on batteries, so put the parts where you want.

They use 2 different cell phone modules, the default one didn't work well with mine, so after a few months when I went to turn on monitoring, they tested and then I explained how the cell reception was bad.
They sent a new little card and I swapped them so it would use a different cell system.
Now it's great.
Others here recommended it, so I'm passing along the recommendation.

 

[meierlde]

Thought of one more thing. I replace the batteries in the thermostat a few days before I leave for the season. Would hate for them to crap out after a few months.

omni

Depending on how the thermostat is set up it may not need batteries. A quick check is if you take the batteries out does it still show the temp, if so the batteries are not needed, as the thermostat is powered by the furnace/inside air handler.

 

[spncity]

Has anyone had trouble with auto pay connected to their checking accounts? Am I being too cautious about this?

Thanks,

JP

No problems with checking, but I have alerts emailed to me for "every" transaction just to monitor. I have the same alerts set up with credit cards (which has allowed me to call the CC company on the rare times that someone tries to use it for fraudulent charges... and done so quickly that the perp doesn't get the merchandise).

 

[Senator]

Thought of one more thing. I replace the batteries in the thermostat a few days before I leave for the season. Would hate for them to crap out after a few months.

omni

Better yet, get a Nest thermostat. Internal rechargeable batteries and you can check and set the temperature remotely. The batteries recharge from the furnace power.

 

[Carpediem]

One year, I changed my password but did not store them. Too confident in my own memory. But when I returned, I could not remember the new passwords. I had to call company helpdesk to reset them.

My EX couldn't remember her password one time so she was convinced she had some type of medical issue going on. She went to the doctor and had a scan done.

 

[imoldernu]

Was just cleaning out some old electronics, and came across my "Winter Watchman".

Very simply, it's a switch that plugs into an electric outlet, and has a place to plug in a light or lamp. The switch has settings in degrees, that will turn on the lamp when the temperature drops below your predetermined furnace setting. We set our inside furnace temperature for 40 degrees when we went away for a period that didn't require winterizing... (turning off water, blowing out the water lines).

https://www.amazon.com/Honeywell-CW200A1032-E1-CW200A-Watchman/dp/B00099DG8A/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1509979773&sr=8-2&keywords=winter+watchman&dpID=41vmJDpL4kL&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch

You need a neighbor who knows that the "freeze" light means furnace failure.
Never had the problem, but the peace of mind was well worth the cost.

 

[Sunset]

Was just cleaning out some old electronics, and came across my "Winter Watchman".

Very simply, it's a switch that plugs into an electric outlet, and has a place to plug in a light or lamp. The switch has settings in degrees, that will turn on the lamp when the temperature drops below your predetermined furnace setting. We set our inside furnace temperature for 40 degrees when we went away for a period that didn't require winterizing... (turning off water, blowing out the water lines).

https://www.amazon.com/Honeywell-CW...pID=41vmJDpL4kL&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch

You need a neighbor who knows that the "freeze" light means furnace failure.
Never had the problem, but the peace of mind was well worth the cost.

The reviews say it gives false alarms a lot seems pretty bad.

Simplisafe has a freeze monitor and a flood monitor you can add to your system, and you can see your system online, or get alerts with one of their monthly monitor plans (which can be canceled at any time)

 

[imoldernu]

The reviews say it gives false alarms a lot seems pretty bad.

Simplisafe has a freeze monitor and a flood monitor you can add to your system, and you can see your system online, or get alerts with one of their monthly monitor plans (which can be canceled at any time)

Thanks... just read the reviews, and have tossed the "Watchman"... fortunately it's been years since we used it, and never had a furnace failure. Good thing, eh?