Back in the day, when you went on vacation, you simply turned your thermostat off. This also turned off your HVAC system. If you were gone for a long time, this left your home vulnerable to the vagaries of the surrounding climate. In summer, this not only made the inside of your home very hot but also encouraged the growth of mold. For homes in dry areas, this lack of healthy humidity dried out furniture and hardwood floors, causing them to crack or warp. Low humidity also caused the paint to peel. Those days are gone. Now you can control the indoor atmosphere of your home remotely.
Raise the Temperature
If your usual summer temperature is around 75 degrees Fahrenheit when everyone’s home, raise it to between 80 and 85 degrees when you’re on vacation. Raising the temperature saves energy and, therefore, money. If your house is the type that holds on to heat in summer, setting higher temperatures during your vacation also helps prevent mold and other problems caused by high humidity. If you have a whole-house dehumidifier, you can also program the thermostat to keep the humidity lower than 50%.
Use the Vacation Mode
Activating this mode allows the thermostat to tell your HVAC system to hold on to the higher temperatures mentioned until you come home. However, vacation mode doesn’t completely erase your thermostat’s usual summer programming. When you come home, you can cancel vacation mode and return to normal at the touch of a button. You might even be able to do this remotely.
Use Eco Settings
Some thermostats have an Eco setting or Eco Temperature. If you have this type of thermostat, take advantage of it. These settings not only control the temperature but also have sensors that can detect if people are in the house. This allows the thermostat to set the temperature accordingly.
Tell the Thermostat to Send Alerts
While you’re on vacation, you might also want to enable your thermostat to alert you if the temperature in your home is too high. You might need to reset the thermostat to Cool or Auto mode. If your device can tell you if the power to the HVAC system has tripped, you should check this as well. Fortunately, sometimes all that’s needed is to turn the thermostat off for a short while and then turn it back on.
Tell the Thermostat to Pre-Cool
When your vacation ends, and it’s time to come home, you can also tell your thermostat to resume its usual summer programming. This way, your home will be comfortably cool the moment you return.
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