As you’re getting ready to pack up for your vacation, there are many different tasks that you need to complete around your home. One of the most important is how you’re going to set your air conditioning unit while you’re away. If you’re like most homeowners, you’re likely thinking about just turning it off. That would be a very bad idea.
Why Leave It on at All?
It’s absolutely crucial that you leave your air conditioning unit on while you’re on vacation. Anytime there’s a large amount of heat and humidity outside, it’s going to travel inside your home. Without having an air conditioning unit to remove these adverse conditions, they can wreak havoc on your home.
Relative humidity levels above 40% create the perfect environment for biological growth inside of your home. It can also cause damage to any wood furniture or objects throughout your home. Your air conditioning unit does not need to run non-stop while you’re on vacation. However, it should run a couple of times a day to help keep the inside of your home safe.
What Temperature to Set?
Once you realize that you’ll need to leave your air conditioning system on while you’re on vacation, the next question is what temperature you should be setting your thermostat at. The answer is that it truly depends on your home’s location and what the weather is like.
It’s a good idea to pull up the weather forecast for the coming week to determine what the average temperatures are going to be. You’ll want to program your thermostat to be a few degrees colder than the daily average temperature. This will help to ensure that your air conditioning unit kicks on at least a couple of times each day. This will remove any excess humidity inside of your home and prevent unwanted biological growth.
Using Auto Mode
Your air conditioning system’s thermostat has a designated auto mode. When auto mode is turned on, your thermostat will constantly be monitoring the actual temperature of your home and the desired temperature that you have set. Whenever the actual indoor temperature reading reaches above what the desired temperature is set at, auto mode will turn your air conditioning system on.
Your air conditioning system will cycle through and run until the indoor air temperature reaches what your desired indoor air temperature is. Your air conditioner will then turn off until the indoor temperature rises above your set temperature again. By setting your air conditioner on auto mode, you can ensure that it will turn on by itself without you having to manually do anything other than setting your desired temperature.
Having a Smart Thermostat
We all know that the weather forecast is not always correct. Since you’re basing your thermostat settings on what the weather forecast reads, it’s helpful to have a way to adjust your settings if the weather changes. You don’t want to be at your vacation destination for a couple of days and then realize the temperature back home is well below what you set your thermostat to. This would prevent your air conditioning system from running at least a couple of times a day.
A smart thermostat can solve this problem and provide you with more flexibility for your air conditioner throughout your day-to-day life. This particular type of thermostat can easily be controlled from your smartphone or other mobile device. You’ll simply connect your smart thermostat via an app on your mobile device. This can be extremely helpful for allowing you to alter any temperature settings that you have from your vacation destination without having to manually be at home.
Check Your Unit Over
Before you head out of town for your vacation, it’s a good idea to take a half-hour or so and check over your entire air conditioning unit. You’ll want to look for any signs of damage or malfunction so that you can remedy them before you leave. You should be concerned with making sure that water is actively draining from your system. You can do this by pouring some water down the drain and into the drain pipe. Make sure there’s no bubbling noise coming from it as that could indicate an oncoming clog.
Take a moment to remove any loose debris that is around your outdoor condenser unit as it can impede the airflow of your system. Also, pull out your existing air filter and see if it needs to be replaced, or simply cleaned if it’s the reusable type of filter.
Trustworthy AC Service Professionals Available
Travis Crawford Heating & Cooling is your trustworthy air conditioner service professional for the Charlotte region. We also offer our loyal customers heating, cooling, plumbing, ducting, and air quality services. Just give us a call today, and our helpful staff will be happy to assist you. We look forward to hearing from you.
