There’s still plenty of summer left here in Northern Arizona, which means many of us may still have a summer vacation set to enjoy before long!
Whether it’s a drive up to Las Vegas—or finally travelling back east to visit family and friends—taking these five simple steps ahead of your travels will help lower your energy costs while you’re away. After all, who wouldn’t like a little extra money for dinners out, amusement parks, or a rental car upgrade?
Home cooling makes up about half your energy costs during the summer. Turning your air conditioning to 85º while away for more than a day will help to noticeably cut those costs. Keep the house from getting overheated while you’re gone by closing curtains and blinds—this helps to keep passive heating at bay, while insulating the current indoor temperature.
You can also set your smart or programmable thermostat back to your preferred temperature several hours before you return home, so things are nice and comfy upon your arrival back.
Did you know that most modern water heaters come with a vacation setting? This turns down the heater so it isn’t running as much while you are gone—but will quickly heat up when you reset it upon return. If your water heater does not have a vacation setting, set it to low. Heating water makes up about 20% of your home’s energy costs, so doing this can result in some nice supplemental savings.
Continue saving money when you get home by setting your water heater to 120˚ Fahrenheit rather than the manufacturer’s setting of 140˚. Your water will still be nearly as hot, but you can save up to 10% on your monthly heating energy costs. The lower temperature additionally reduces the risk of scalding.
What are energy vampires? Some of them are computers, TVs, media players, ovens, gaming systems, coffeemakers, toasters, multicookers, blenders, electric toothbrushes and chargers to name a few. They’re called energy vampires because they’re always sucking up energy, even when they’re not used. Unplug or power off any of these you can before you leave to keep from wasting energy while away from home.
If you are a Superior Propane, Inc. Automatic Delivery customer, let us know if you are going to be away from home for a long period of time (more than 3 to 4 weeks’ time). Your usage history is one of the things we factor in when planning when to deliver your propane—so notifying us ahead of time can avoid an unnecessary propane delivery.
Conserve energy by adjusting the thermostats on your refrigerator and freezer to higher settings while you’re out of town; 38°F for the refrigerator and 5°F for the freezer. If your planned trip is four weeks or more, you may want to consider emptying your refrigerator completely and unplugging it.
For shorter trips, you may want to keep the fridge and freezer full and tightly packed as opposed to emptying it beforehand—this actually helps to keep items colder! It doesn’t even have to be food; you can use water containers or ice trays to take up some of the empty space.
To enjoy even more energy efficiency in your home, you may want to consider switching to propane gas if you haven’t already! You can count on Superior Propane Inc. for the propane services you need for your local, Northern Arizona home or business. Contact us for more information about our Hassle-Free Switch to propane!
