Preparing House for Extended RV Trip

[washbob]

I'll be heading out in about a month, for the winter season and was wondering about preparing my house to be vacant while I'm gone. I've never left the home vacant for months at a time and I'm not sure what preparation may be needed. I have taken several 2-3 week trips and basically all I've done is turned of the water supply to the washer. I was considering turning off the main water supply before leaving just in case a leak would develop while I'm gone. Thinking of setting the furnace at 50 or 55 to keep a chill out of the home. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

[Rodneykrantz]

I would turn off the water to the whole house for sure I would keep the heat at 55 and have someone go by and check every couple of weeks
How about Mail and paper delivery
maybe some lights with timers on them to make people think you are at home have an safe and fun trip

[djhinds]

We have a mountain cabin that we heat all winter in Grand Lake, Colorado at about 8600' elevation. It will get -20/-30 sometimes. It is left for 1 to 2 months at a time. I found a machine that monitors temp in the house and calls my cell phone if the temp drops to a preset temp. It also calls me if the power goes off or more than 1 hour as that could explain a temp drop. It called once when some little part broke on the furnace and I had to go up and get it fixed. I was sure glad I had it hooked up..

Dave

[Clifftall]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rodneykrantz I would turn off the water to the whole house for sure I would keep the heat at 55 and have someone go by and check every couple of weeks How about Mail and paper delivery maybe some lights with timers on them to make people think you are at home have an safe and fun trip

In addition, we empty fridge and leave the doors open, turn off breakers to all major appliances, unplug tv and computer, notify the police and inform them of our expected return( they do frequent house checks at no charge) and notify the fraud division of major credit cards that we'll be in different states.

[KSDP_PA]

If you do turn off the water to the house, don't forget to turn off the water heater.
If a leak happened in the house and the water heater ran dry, you don't want it to possibly heat an empty tank.

[jillie]

We also put a cup or two of RV antifreeze down the sink and shower drains and toilet. During the winter the water will dry up in the traps and the antifreeze keeps sewer gases from getting into the house.

[jillie]

We drain the water pipes in the house in case the heat is off for a while. Our preparations the morning of departure take about an hour.

[Engineer Guy]

All good tips above. We bounce between several Houses, including one above 9,000'.

Among the horror stories I've read are a pre-stressed Toilet Tank breaking because of a hairline crack. It ran non-stop and flooded the House. The WH advice is a good one. Then, I had Compression Fitting blow loose, although that was after re-pressurizing the Mountain House after a -20 F Storm. The Sons of the House Builder didn't know what they were doing. And, THAT is why I use only soldered fittings myself. In any case, Mister Murphy and his Law can get you, so shut off all House Water if you can. Draining House Pipe Water to a low point at least puts Air in the System and this provides expansion space for freezing Water. We leave all Taps and Faucets open.

I unplug our Garage Door Opener. I've had a older Model open several times by itself. One episode in the Mountains never made sense. I assume someone drove by while using an interfering Radio, etc.. That was bad because the Garage Cisterns froze solid in February and really messed up the entire Water System when one cracked and tipped over. At another House, we believe a fellow messing with Radio-based Robot 'Fighters' nearby was the root cause in that Garage Door event. Other Neighbors had the same, occasional issue.

A horror story from years ago were some folks near toasty Bakersfield CA paying their Utility Bill on their way out of Town. It never was received, and Electricity was shut off. Their Freezer on a upper Kitchen level in a Tri-Level thawed, and the side-of-Beef juice ran down and into the Walls. The Owner came back to stench and Maggots crawling out of the Drywall. They couldn't even let the Kids in the House; it resembled some Slasher Horror Film. Ouch! The $$ Remo was 'substantial', as you can imagine.

So, when it doubt, shut it all down. We set our Furnace way back, but open all lower Cabinet Doors and leave the Toilet Seat up so that Water sees Room temps. We've lived and learned...

[Ronnie Bledsoe 2006 Dutchstar 43']

Open any cabinet doors with water lines, turn down water heater, place a couple of lamps on timers (start this before leaving), give a neighbor a key just in case and your phone number, place insulation on any outside water lines, drain hoses, have a neighbor pick up papers/advertisements from drive/porch, and lock up doors and cars left in the garage.

[jzick]

We leave our winter home for 6 months or so every year. We do have someone come by to mow grass and take care of the pool (in your case maybe shovel snow?). He checks the house from outside and will let us know if things look amiss. We do not shut water off at the main because the sprinklers need it, but we do turn the water off at each line. We pretty much empty the fridge and freezer of food but fill with milk containers full of water and leave them on. Instead of anti freeze in the drains, we fill plastic bags 1/2 full of water and put them on top of the drain openings, including inside toilets.

One very important thing to do is check with your insurance agent and make certain all homeowners insurance coverages stay in effect if you are on an extended trip. Most companies do, but some reduce vandalism and water damage coverage if home is unoccupied. Check to make sure.

Enjoy your trip.

[DutchStar38]

Here in Florida we do nearly all the same except the air conditioner is set to keep the house dehumidified not really cool. Water main is turned off. Toilets are covered with glad wrap (keeps unexpected little sewer creatures out). I also unplug everything like cordless phones, alarm clocks, internet router, TV and accessories, lamps, etc. I close, lock and unplug the garage door motors so they do not accidentally open or get opened by a drive by. DW wants timed lamps but this fools no one. We also have a neighbor who watches for those stupid local news flyers that get thrown onto the driveway. We call them house markers. Our mail is forwarded to a P.O. Box. We have 2 very large Oak trees and they drop plenty of leaves so we have a lawn person come by once a week and blow the leaves off the driveway. Don't have any grass, yard is all wood chips for no maintenance. But no matter what we do there is still nothing like a neighbor keeping an eye out just like I do when our neighbors leave and we are at home. I also check our home voice mail while traveling.

[washbob]

Thanks everyone for the great suggestions. I had most things covered, such as mail stopped, neighbors checking, and I'm fortunate with my security system, I can control lights, monitor thermostat, and view interior & exterior images via cameras. I'm also fortunate that my neighborhood is a gated community, so I do have to deal with the nuisance problem of flyers left on door step. I will shut off the water and apply some of the other suggestions. The home is not located in a real cold climate, so I'm not concerned with extended periods of freezing temperatures.

[frankdamp]

We have a hot water recirc system, so that the hot water is at any faucet within a few seconds of turning it on. There's a pump that does this function, with a hot-tocold valve at the most distant user of hot water.

We made the mistake of turning off the outside water valve when we went on a 3-week trip - it seemed reasonable. When we got back, the recirc pump was almost glowing red-hot and the impller was completely destroyed.

After about $450 for a new impeller module, we now have an extra step in the checklist - 24. "recirc pump OFF' - 25. "turn off mains water valve." Turning off the water heater gas burner is the next step.

[MJFZ]

In addition to what has been mentioned a couple things we do--
1. empty refrigerator of anything that can spoil
2. fill the traps in the sink, tub, and shower and cover the drain out's -- awful smell if the trap dry's out
3. Unplug as many appliances and electronics
4. Make sure trash is out
5. leave a couple automatic mouse traps-- just in case one find their way into the house while your gone


Mike