- Home
- Away plan
Closing the house up, without coming back to a problem
What to leave the cooling set to, what to check before you lock the door, and why switching everything off is the expensive option on this coast.
The plan
These are the settings commonly recommended for unoccupied houses in this climate, not a rule. If your insurer, your association or your builder specifies something different, theirs is the one to follow. It runs in your browser and nothing is sent anywhere.
What to leave it on
78°F with the fan on auto, running as neededFor a short absence the aim is simply not to let the house drift. Normal settings, a degree or two higher, are enough.
- Change the filter before you go — a loaded filter is the easiest way to lose a system while nobody is watching.
- Close blinds on the sun side; it reduces the load with no equipment involved.
- Leave interior doors open so the air moves through the whole house.
Over weeks, humidity is the thing to manage rather than temperature. The setting above is warm enough to save energy and cool enough that the system still runs and dries the house.
- Have the condensate drain cleared and the float switch tested before you leave. A blocked drain while you are away is the classic Lee County claim.
- Change the filter, and leave a spare out for whoever checks the house.
- Turn the water supply off at the main unless an irrigation or fire system needs it on.
- Empty anything that will spoil, and leave the fridge open if you switch it off.
For a full season the house has to be treated as a piece of equipment rather than a home. The setting above keeps it dry without running the system harder than it needs to.
- Book a service before you leave, not after you return — the drain, the coil, the charge and the electrical connections all get checked while you can still discuss what they found.
- Turn the water off at the main and drain what you can. Most large indoor claims here start as water, not as heat.
- Arrange for someone to enter the house, not just look at it from the street. A closed house tells you nothing from outside.
- Leave the key and our number with whoever checks it, and tell us who they are.
Without a humidity setting, temperature is your only control. That is why the figure above is not higher: the system has to run often enough to dry the house. Leaving it at 85°F saves a little and lets the humidity climb, which is the trade nobody intends to make.
Use the humidity setting. With one fitted you can let the temperature sit a little higher and let humidity call for cooling instead. Around 55 to 60 per cent is the usual target for an empty house.
A whole-house dehumidifier changes the arithmetic. It can hold the house dry at a higher temperature than cooling alone, which is the most reliable arrangement for a long absence — provided its own drain is clear before you go.
Watching it remotely is worth more than any setting. Set an alert for indoor temperature above about 85°F and, if the thermostat supports it, for humidity above 60 per cent. That alert is what turns a failure into a phone call rather than a discovery.
Nobody checking is the real risk. Equipment fails quietly, and a house that is not entered for three months cannot tell you anything. If no one can visit, remote monitoring is the substitute — not a better thermostat setting.
Four things to do on the first day
- Look before you coolWalk the house for water stains, smells and anything growing before you change any setting. What you find in the first ten minutes decides the rest.
- Do not drop the thermostat to 70Bring it down a few degrees at a time. A cold coil in a humid house sweats and can freeze, which starts its own problem.
- Check the drain and the panSix months of intermittent running leaves deposits. It is easier to clear now than in August.
- Book the start-up serviceCharge, coil, drain, electrical and safety checks, done once, before the season of hard running starts.
