Vacation: What to turn off
 

Hey all, so we're heading away on vacation soon for 3 weeks and I'm trying to figure out what to turn off, or if I should turn off certain things. We live outside the city and have a water softener that recharges every night. I'd like to turn that all off, but is it ok to do so (as in, will turning it off wreck the softener?), and if so, is it hard to do? Also we have a gas hot water tank. Can I shut the water off to this? Will that wreck anything?

I want to leave the water on to the outside water hose as I want to set the timer for watering my garden.

Looking for advice on what others do, have done. Thanks.

Is your water softener on a timer, or does it run based on useage? I can't see any reason why unplugging it would hurt it. If its on a timer you'll just have to reset that probably.

For the water tank I'd just shut off the gas to the heater. No need to let that pilot burn constantly.

Other than that I'd just unplug any/all electric stuff you can. Turn your A/C off completely. Close the curtains/blinds.

Most water heater thermostats have a "vacation" setting.

I would turn the breaker on the furnace off, I found that mine draws around 16 watts 24 hours a day all summer long, the guy that services my furnace said that turning it off will also increase the life of the controls.

Unplug any electronics that have a remote or a clock of course.

Wouldn't turning off any air circulation in the house cause mold or mildew? Especially since we've been getting lots of humidity lately. Wouldn't it be better to keep the HRV the fan on so that it just circulates air?

It shouldn't. You won't be adding moisture to the house by living in it. The moisture comes from you living there, showering, cooking, breathing, etc.

Most houses that don't have central air conditioning don't have the furnace fan run at all in the summer, if you are worried about humidity then get a dehumidifier that turns on at a set humidity and place it in the most humid part of the house, chances are it will never turn on when you are gone unless you have something like a basement that gets damp when it rains.
The place I work is always damp in the summer but no one has been there for the last two weeks and when I went in today it was cool and very dry, while I was there the temp went up by 4 degrees and the humidity went way up as well.

Flip off the breakers. All of them.
Before you leave eat everything out of your freezer and fridge. If a few items are left ask the neighbors if they can take care of it (either by stowing it away, or eating it). No reason for the fridge to be adding heat to the house.

Dude...I'm not a garburator. ;)

Yeah, I'll be flipping off as much as I can. It was more the softener and watertank I was unsure of.

Thanks guys.

If you aren't having anyone check on the house from time to time; Don't forget to shut off the water and gas... Last thing you need is a flooded home or one that burnt down then receive a huge bill as a kick in the stomach while you are down.

Turn off breakers but keep the fridge and freezer on (food is expensive compaired to the electric to keep it cold) and any outside lights. If the outside lights aren't automated consider a timer or a motion detector retrofit or just replace them with light/motion sensing models.