What To Unplug And Turn Off When You Go Away For Christmas

What To Unplug And Turn Off When You Go Away For Christmas

You’re all set to leave for your well-deserved Christmas holiday when you realise you haven’t prepped your home at all. Here’s a list of all the energy vampires you should disable (or adjust) before you head out.

[referenced url=”https://www.lifehacker.com.au/2013/11/the-10-household-things-to-check-before-you-leave-for-a-vacation/” thumb=”https://img.gawkerassets.com/img/1968kuo47fylwjpg/original.jpg” title=”The 10 Household Things To Check Before You Leave For A Holiday” excerpt=”Leaving for a holiday is often a stressful time as you run around the house and get everything ready. Before you hit the road, it’s worth running through Apartment Therapy’s checklist of 10 things you need to check before you leave the house.”]

Turn Off:

  • Air-conditioning: Your home doesn’t need to be a comfortable 24C if you’re not going to be there. If you have pets that you’re worried about, or you’ll be gone for an extended period of time, just raise your thermostat temp to about 29C so your A/C isn’t cranked on max the entire time you’re gone.

  • Water heater: Your water heater uses a lot of energy to keep a lot of hot water shower-ready. If it’s gas, switch it to the “pilot” setting. If it’s electric, turn it off at the breaker switch. If you don’t want to do that, at least turn the temperature setting down. Make sure you turn it back on (or back up) at least an hour before you try to shower when you get back.

  • Main water supply: This won’t save you money initially, but it could save you some if there’s a potential leak. You’ll also avoid a lot of grief. It doesn’t take long to turn off and then back on, so you might as well be better safe than sorry.

  • Lights: Leaving the lights on the entire time you’re on holiday is a waste of energy. If you’re worried about security, put a couple lamps on a timer.

[referenced url=”https://www.lifehacker.com.au/2017/07/take-photos-of-stove-dials-before-you-leave-for-a-holiday/” thumb=”https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/t_ku-large/ncylc75dc0ydpo57jiao.jpg” title=”Take Photos Of Stove Dials Before You Leave For A Holiday” excerpt=”If you’re the kind of person who spends the first 10 minutes of the Uber ride to the airport worrying that you accidentally left the oven on — even if you didn’t even use the oven that day — you can quell your anxious brain with a quick smartphone precaution.”]

Unplug:

  • Electronics with external power supplies or “power bricks”: Laptops, video game consoles, stereos, smartphone chargers, and other similar devices constantly draw power into their power supplies. Unplug all of your chargers, whether it’s for a tablet or a toothbrush.

  • Electronics with standby or “sleep” modes: Desktop PCs, televisions, cable boxes, DVD/Blu-ray players, alarm clocks, radios, and anything with a remote control is never truly “off.” If the item has an “instant on” feature or has LED lights glowing when it’s off, it’s always draining small amounts of power. If items like this are all plugged into a surge protector — which they should be — you can just turn off the surge protector itself.

  • Modems and routers: These are literally always on and using power. Unplug them and you’ll not only save some energy cost, but you’ll avoid having your Wi-Fi hacked into while you’re gone.

  • Small appliances: Toasters, blenders, rice cookers, coffee machines, food processors, microwaves, and so forth. Anything with a clock is a culprit. Space heaters and fans should be unplugged as well.

  • New washers and dryers: If you have a fancy new washer/dryer set with lights, digital timers, and the like, they’ll drain power while they’re “off” just like a computer or TV will.

If you’re wondering about your refrigerator, there’s no need to do anything with it unless you’ll be gone a month or more. Most fridges cost around $10 to $25 a month to operate, so going through the process of removing food and tossing things out isn’t worth the few dollars you might save if you’re only going to be gone a week.


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