Electrical Safety When You Are Away | Teems Electric

Ahead of a vacation or work trip, your to-do list is likely pretty long. You have to clean, pack, stock up on supplies, plan for someone to take care of the pets, schedule someone to get your mail—the list could go on and on.

Along with preparing yourself and your family, you should also spend some time preparing your home. You may already make a note on that ever-growing to-do list to take out the trash and close the garage, but there are a few other things you should do in order to keep your home safe while you are away.

Before You Leave

As you start getting ready to be away from home for a while, take some time to walk through your house and identify any potential electrical hazards you can address before you leave.

If you have a day set aside to clean your home ahead of your trip, use that time to also start unplugging as much as possible. While unplugging as many electronics as you can will save you a little bit of money on your electric bill, it can also help prevent electric fires.

Dust is another potential fire hazard, and when your home is unoccupied, it can really pile up. Clean around outlets and HVAC vents so that you not only come home to an unharmed house, you also come home to a clean one!

Check your smoke detectors to ensure that batteries are fresh before you head out the door. If you have a home security system, look into connecting your fire system so that you can be alerted if a detector goes off.

Set your thermostat to a temperature that will be similar to outside. It’s important to maintain a steady temperature in your home even while you are gone to prevent the buildup of moisture and potential mold growth.

Choose a high temperature for the summer and a lower one in the winter. Take a look at what the weather is going to be like while you are gone, and don’t go below 55 to protect your pipes when it is cold out.

While You Are Away

One of the major reasons our to-do lists are so long before we leave home is that we want to rest assured everything is safe while we are away. Securing things ahead of your trip can offer a lot of peace of mind, but you may still want to have someone stop by periodically to make sure everything is OK.

When your neighbors check your home, ask them to turn different lights on. It can be tempting to turn one light on before your family heads out the door, and while it is important to keep your home from looking empty, leaving one light on can be both a fire hazard and an indicator that no one is home.

If you aren’t going to be gone long or don’t have anyone that can stop by, invest in a few smart switches or timers. Timers are an inexpensive way to turn lights on and off, while smart switches give you control of your home no matter where you are.

A WiFi-enabled thermostat is another smart investment if you travel often. Not only will this give you the opportunity to change the temp in your home when the weather swings unexpectedly, but it also means you can make things more comfortable for your return.

Securing your home from an electrical standpoint not only means you have taken every step to prevent fires and power surges, it also means you can come back to a lower energy bill. Enjoy your time away—then come home to a clean, safe and energy-efficient home.

Need to make some electrical upgrades for a safer home, or want to learn how to be more energy-efficient? Contact us. We’ve got you covered.