Whenever you leave your home, whether it’s for an extended vacation or a quick getaway for the weekend, it’s important to take a few additional safety precautions to ensure the house keeps safe until you return. In most cases, you might think this means ensuring the house is protected from burglars looking to take your valuables, but true safety extends to protecting from on-site dangers too, such as electricity.
The following are five quick tips to keep in mind whenever you’re planning to leave your house for an extended period of time — say any period over 24 hours at a time.
1. Examine all cords for any kinks, frays or cracks along the way, such as on extension cords, holiday lights or power tools. You should do this regularly, in fact.
2. Don’t keep the lights on at home for the whole vacation to give the illusion of someone at home. The electric bill won’t thank you for it, nor would the environment. Instead, consider getting a light switch timer that can adjust the lights by adhering to an on/off schedule. Any criminals that might be monitoring your house for changing lights will assume someone is home when they notice the lights changing.
3. Unplug anything that doesn’t need to be kept on during vacation, except for the timers. By keeping most appliances unplugged, there is less of a chance of coming home to a power surge or electrical fire. Unplug things like the coffee maker, televisions, the toaster and anything else that doesn’t use a light.
4. Prune the trees near power lines in your backyard. Keep the trees trimmed where power lines reach the house, as well.
5. Set the thermostat to keep your electricity bill low. During the winter, setting the heat to 55 degrees will prevent the pipes from freezing. During the summer, setting it to 85 will prevent excessive heat from entering the home while still saving greatly on energy.