Tips for Leaving House and Car for long period of time

I'm leaving the country for about 6 months for my job soon and need some advice on preparing the house and car. I have a plan, but could use some advice.

House
I'm planning to leave the A/C set to about 82 and the heat set to 50 (The house in in Florida). I have a well for my water which I'm planning to leave powered on and leave the water on to the house, just shut off the valves for the toilets and washing machine. I'm also planning to shut off and drain the electric water heater.

Car
Changing the oil tomorrow n(synthetic) and will wash and wax the car and then cover it up. I don't have a garage, but do have covered parking under my house. Other than adding stabil to the fuel, was not planning on doing anything else. The tires have nitrogen in them, so I don't expect they will loose too much pressure while I'm away.

Any suggestions or advice?

Scooch

Re: Tips for Leaving House and Car for long period of time

Sounds like you have a plan. Do you have any friends that could check the house and fire up the car every few weeks? If not, worse thing you would have is a dead car battery!

Re: Tips for Leaving House and Car for long period of time

I would turn off the well and drain the hot water tank... unless there is a reason to keep water on?
Humidifier? I doubt it - in FL!
When we leave for the summer we put plastic wrap over the toilet seats to retard evaporation and put a little RV antifreeze in all the traps and toilets. This "pink stuff" does not evaporate as quickly and will block sewer gas from getting in the house. Works from May to Nov. for us.
If you have an ice maker in your refrig., be sure to turn it off.

Car sounds OK... expect low air in tires when you return.

Re: Tips for Leaving House and Car for long period of time

dont for get to have the post office hold your mail ,and stop the news paper if you get one

no better advertisement that nobody is home than a pile of news papers on the step
have some body look after the yard work (mow grass,trim bushes)
tell the police your plans to have them give it a check walk around every so often (at different times as to not set a pattern)

woosterken

Re: Tips for Leaving House and Car for long period of time

Second the hotwater tank.

Also if you have an exterior tap, definitely turn that off. We've had kids turn it on as a prank.

Re: Tips for Leaving House and Car for long period of time

I have one of my neighbor's coming to walk through the house every once a week or so to make sure everything is good.

I was thinking of leaving the well on so my neighbor could run the water in the sinks and showers monthly so the traps would stay wet and the septic system would at least get some additional liquid to deal with. I figured the chance of busting a pipe inside other than the toilets would be pretty low, so it seemed OK to leave the well on. I do like the RV antifreeze idea to keep the traps wet, so I may do that instead.

Have the mail forwarded to my parents, so that isn't an issue, and the neighbors will get the free junk newspapers that are thrown in the driveway weekly.

Thanks for the advice.

Re: Tips for Leaving House and Car for long period of time

I would not drain the water tank. They are better full of water than air/humidity.
I would leave the pump off, and show the neighbour how to turn it on for filling traps.

Re: Tips for Leaving House and Car for long period of time

Jack the car up and put blocks under the frame, to keep the weight off of the tires. Letting the car sit in the same position for months, is not a good thing for the belts in the tires.

If your "sneaky" about how you do this, you can use blocks that just get the weight off of the tires, without making it too obvious that the car is jacked up. A side benefit of jacking the car up, is that 99% of the world's morons, who might attemp to steal it, will be frustrated by the fact that they can't drive it away!

Another thought on the car, if its possible in Florida, is to find a gas station that sells ethanol free gasoline. If you can, run the tank down to nearly empty and refuel there, just before leaving. Since ethanol content seems to play a role in gasoline degredation, this should help the stability problem.

I agree with those who advise having a trusted neighbor check on the house periodically, especially if you are going to do things like leave the water pressure on.



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Re: Tips for Leaving House and Car for long period of time

my homeowner's insurance policy only allows 72 hours unattended.

some policies are 48 hours.

Re: Tips for Leaving House and Car for long period of time

My tip....

DO NOT ADVERTISE that you are leaving for 6 months....... That is the equivalent to inviting a theft incident!

Re: Tips for Leaving House and Car for long period of time

Dang Bob! Now you messed it up! I was gonna sneak on over to Kiss-i-mee and ask everyone if they know a boat luvin dude by the name of Scooch, so I could take his boat for a ride!



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Re: Tips for Leaving House and Car for long period of time

Jay, The boat is your's while I'm away. Please change the impeller and rebuild the carbs before you take it out please!