Snowbirds - closing up routine

[Luck_Club]

Don't be so cheap

To those of you who escape the cold weather for the winter... We are planning to leave our northern home unoccupied for the first time this winter. Up until now our son has been our winter live-in caretaker, but that will no longer work for us. I am curious what other northerners (we are in upstate NY) do about the heat, specifically. Can one safely leave a house without heat (we use natural gas) for 3 months, assuming the water pipes have been drained? If you are willing to share, I'd be interested in your shutdown check lists. Thank you.

Set the thermostat at like 50, and forget about it. Your energy consumption will be greatly reduced, without the risk of broken pipes, cracked plaster etc.

 

[rk911]

we also hire a snow removal crew to give the house a lived-in look. the neighbor also uses the driveway as needed. and we put a vacation watch in with the local police who come by now and then to walk the property and rattle the doorknobs.

 

[RAE]

I leave the heat on at 55 degrees for 3 months. Shut off the water and drain the pipes a little. I keep a thermometer close to an indoor IP camera so that I can see the indoor temp remotely.

+1, I do something similar for our house in Michigan. There is no way I would shut the heat off completely to the house for the winter here..........too many bad things can happen, considering how cold it can get here. We do shut the water off, and we do monitor the house temp. on my laptop or phone, using a home temp. monitor I bought from LaCrosse Technologies. I also have a neighbor that checks on the house periodically, and does some snow removal. If the furnace does go out and the house temp. starts dropping, I get an alert and the neighbor can call someone to check the furnace and repair if necessary.