10 Tips to Save Energy While on Vacation

If you’re planning a summer vacation, you have probably budgeted for it down to the last hotel room and dinner reservation.

But what about the cost to keep your home running while you’re away?

With some planning and preparation, you can keep those costs to a minimum so you can splurge a night or two while you’re away. Try these 10 tips to save energy at home while you’re on vacation:

1. Go “lights out” – Give your house a once over, turning off all lights and fans to save energy. If you want to give the illusion that someone is home, invest in a timer for lights in the most visible rooms.
2. Keep the vampires away – Any appliance in your home with a light on it draws current, even when it’s not operating – this is often referred to as “vampire power.” To keep the energy suckers away, unplug your TV, media players, cable boxes, computers, ovens, microwaves, and other appliances.
3. Batten down the hatches – Shut and lock all doors and windows to keep the summer heat out.
4. Keep your fridge stocked – A full refrigerator is more energy efficient than a half-empty one, so resist the urge to dump non-perishables when you leave town.
5. Turn up the thermostat – Why pay to cool your home if no one is around to enjoy it? Turn your thermostat up to 84 degrees before you hit the road, and set your fan for “auto” rather than “on” to prevent it from running 24/7. Just don’t turn your A/C completely off: it could cause a build-up of moisture that leads to a mold problem.
6. Get reflective – Close your reflecting blinds or curtains before you hit the road for your holiday; this will prevent the sun from overheating your space (which your air conditioner will overwork to cool).
7. Turn off your pool heater and cover your pool – Propane pool heaters are great, but they use a lot of propane gas to keep your pool warm. Turn yours off while you’re away – it will take only a few hours to reheat your pool once you’re back. If you want to retain at least some of the heat in your pool, cover it.
8. Turn off your water heater – If you have an electric water heater, shut it down at the breaker so it’s not keeping your reserve hot water warm when you don’t need it. Of course, if you had a propane tankless heater, you wouldn’t have to deal with this problem, since it doesn’t store any water (one of the many reasons to consider this energy-saving upgrade).
9. Contact our propane delivery team – If you are a Hocon automatic propane delivery customer, let us know you’re leaving town for a while. Your propane delivery schedule is based on an estimate of your past bills; if you aren’t around using propane, that estimate will be off, and you’ll pay for an unnecessary fill-up.
10. Take care of propane appliance repairs – If you have any problems with your propane appliances, take care of them before you leave for vacation – that way you won’t have to think about emergency interventions or propane appliance repairs while you’re away enjoying a little R&R.

Ready for a summer break? Enjoy it with a clear mind. Schedule propane equipment repairs before you go, and contact us to adjust your propane delivery schedule!