You may be leaving for a well-deserved break to the coast or abroad, but your home is not going on vacation! Water, electricity, gas, and heating oil use continues to rise.
During vacation, the various appliances in your home continue to consume electricity. Before you pack up, take a look at this energy savings checklist to help you reduce your hidden consumption while on vacation!
1) Your Fridge Needs Some Holidays Too
Buy the amount of food you need only the week before you leave. That way, you won’t have leftovers before you go, and you can turn off the refrigerator. Make sure to leave the refrigerator door open to avoid musty smells and black mold.
Does it seem like a mission impossible? Even if your refrigerator is full, you can still reduce power consumption. How? Place empty plastic bottles or boxes in the fridge to keep it full. That way, less energy is needed to cool the refrigerator, and therefore less is consumed.
Also, make sure there are adequate ventilation openings in the back of the refrigerator. This is where the condenser (the black grid at the back of the refrigerator) is located and generates a lot of heat. To improve the ventilation of the condenser, move the refrigerator forward a bit. This will reduce heat generation and, therefore, power consumption.
2) Stop the Production of Hot Water
During holidays, no one needs hot water in the house. Therefore, the hot water boiler can be safely shut down. This means that the boiler will not be switched on regularly to keep the hot water at the right temperature. This is something you may forget to do before you go to work during the holiday season, so be sure to put this on your checklist. Also think about the boiler under the kitchen sink!
3) Turn Off The Water Valve
Before you leave, shut off the main water valve that provides water supply in the house. This way, you don’t have to worry about water leaking while you are away.
Because there are so many homeowners that have water leaks that go unnoticed since they are away. However, there are solutions to detect leaks.
Did you know that the number of reported water leaks increases when the weather is hot during holidays and weekends?
4) Set the Heating to Summer Mode
There is no point in heating unnecessarily, especially if you are not home. So, set your heating to summer mode to avoid using gas or heating oil. Another trick is to open the thermostat valve all the way. If you turn it off, when you turn the heating back on in the fall, the faucet may clog, and you may lose hot water.
5) Beware of Appliances on Standby!
Many appliances consume a small amount of power, even when you think they are turned off. Which ones are they? TVs, set-top boxes, computers, WiFi, printers, laptop chargers, alarm clocks, etc.
In a typical home, 15 to 50 devices are on standby, consuming 100 watts at any given time. 2 weeks can result in about 5 to 10 euros of wasted power consumption. This amount could easily be saved if all devices were unplugged before leaving on a trip. To reduce the consumption of standby appliances, unplug everything before you leave. This is a surefire way to reduce standby power.
With these tips, you can enjoy your vacation with peace of mind. After all, everything is under control, so relax! If you have any other tips, don’t hesitate to share them with us in the comments below!