This Winter: Save Energy to Save Money

Saving energy always means saving money. That's a no-brainer. Yet there are a few habits we get into that are not as efficient as we wished they were. Check out these 11 winter energy saving tips that are sure to save you a few dollars this winter. Maybe quite a few. 

Go to the Home Warranty of America website to check out these 11 tips.

Winterize Your Vacation Home

With the arrival of our first winter snow (winter technically arrived yesterday), comes the reminder that our Cape vacation homes need to be winterized. Winterization can be intense, or not so intense, depending on how much you plan to use the home over the winter months.

For maximum energy savings, and minimum winter use, the house should be completely shut down. This will include draining the pipes, and turning off the electric.  Before my Eastham home was my primary residence, we kept it at 50 degrees during the winter months, allowing us to come out frequently for weekends.

By far the most important thing you can do to prevent serious damage to your vacation home is to shut off the water at the pump before you leave for an extended period of time. This can be done by shutting off the electric wall switch for the pump and/or turning the master water valve off.

Check out this article at wikihow.com (no, it's not wikileaks!) on how to winterize your home.

Battery Operated Thermostats - Winter Trouble?

One thing we often forget to change are the batteries in is our fancy programmable thermostats. They, eventually, just go dead. They don't beep, they don't flash lights, they just stop working.

Unfortunately, the consequences for closed up seasonal homes can be disastrous. They are one of the causes of very expensive home freeze-ups. Thermostat batteries should be changed when you close up your home for the winter. Of course, if you drain all the pipes this is a non-issue. But many folks just turn down the thermostats to 50 degrees, or so. These folks should ensure that their thermostats are operational and have fresh batteries.

To keep life simple, I generally recommend old-fashioned mechanical thermostats (i.e. without batteries) for seasonal homes.

Summer Home - How To Prepare For Winter

Owners of summer homes need to prepare their homes for the colder weather. The worst case scenario is a pipe burst that allows water to flood the inside of the home. Water can run for days and weeks undetected. We see a few of these ugly situations every year. The damage can run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

There are a number of must-do items as well as a few 'best practices' for winterization. The Wellfleet Fire Department has prepared a checklist that could be very useful in preparing for winter. Check out the checklist...Here.