Get a Honeywell thermostat that will keep the temperature at 10 degrees whilst you are away and you can set it so that it comes back to normal comfort temperatures on your return.Turn off the water and drain any outside taps. Get a neighbour to keep an eye on things and enjoy your holiday and remember to bring them back a present.

interesting question as I was wondering how folks manage a long time abroad. How does that work for house insurance? What do you do about post? I know royal mail do keep safe but surely you can miss important post?We also have a lot of glass in my front door so I would aware about an accumulation of junk mail. I've tried telling the free newspapers that I don't want any delivered but they just ignore that.
When I have gone away even for a short time over winter I have always kept my heating to go on every day. I turn the thermostat down of course. A neighbour a few doors down came home after just a fortnight away, opened the front door and a torrent of water greeted them. Their water tank had burst and they ended up with just a shell of a house left- all the ceilings collapsed.
Do folks have someone who can keep a check on their house? I would love to hear how long termers keep their homes safe.

I haven't had the opportunity (yet!!) to spend more than 3 weeks away- however, an ex work colleague of mine who has a place in Tenerife, goes away for ~ 3 months just after Xmas. He drains down all the water in the house, both hot and cold tanks, and all radiators, having shut off the mains water at the stop cock, Bit of a major job when he comes back, to refill the system and get all the air out, but he was an engineer!!
Turns off the gas at the meter. He deals with the postal issues by getting a neighbour to go in ~weekly and gather up all the mail. He leaves his burglar alarm on, leaving the codes with the same neighbour. He used to tell the local bobby but since they don't have one now, he depends upon his neighbour. He actually removes the battery from his car to reduce the chances of it being stolen, and makes sure that the coolant system is topped up well with anti freeze before he goes away.
All his relatives and close friends have his mobile number and the addy of his apartment plus he stays in contact via email/Skype whilst he is away. Don't know what he does about insurance -suspect he has to find a specialist because normally home insurance has a "30 days away at one time" clause. I'll ask him next time I see him!!

Get a neighbour/friend to call weekly to check the place over. I leave the boiler on with the room thermostat set on about 8 degrees. The boiler itself has a frost stat. Leave timer plugs around the house so that lights are going on and off.

You will need to get special travel and home insurance. The length of time you're away is more than any standard policy will cover.

We put a large kitchen bin behind the door to collect post and the weekly visitor sorts it out. We pay direct debit on everything so no bills to worry about. Having said that, my car tax expires whilst we're away and I'm not sure how to deal with that yet.....more research needed!

Keep in touch with the weekly visitor by e-mail and phone to put your mind at rest.....don't worry and enjoy yourselves!

I agree with Roma for the most but being in the Heating business I would take time to check the system will be ok if left running while your away. Not all boilers have frost thermostats fitted.
Yes leave it set at a constant (always on) 8deg as this should keep things running and warm enough without wasting too much energy.
I would check that all exposed pipework is lagged. Any outside taps are isolated and drained.
This goes for condensate pipes for the boilers as well.

I would never advise fully draining the system as you will never get everything out and this will freeze if it gets too cold. but you also run the risk of letting components (pumps & valves) stick because they are not being used.

I would also get someone to check periodically as you never know you may have a power cut while your away and this may delay or interrupt timers

Thank you everyone for your help
I hadn't realized until now just how much there is to consider when you are leaving your home empty for months at a time
I've sorted the house insurance,
I've given relations and friends our Goa address/ telephone number they have our e-mail and mobile number
I've sorted repeat prescription medication with doctors
I've bought a solar trickle charger for our car so the battery doesn't go flat
Just had car serviced so anti freeze is fine.
Asked window cleaner to do them once a month until further notice and paid him in advance for 4 months (he a honest local lad so I can trust him to do them)
Will cancel papers

And will take on board all the advise given from members if anyone can add to the above I would be very grateful

Thanks
Tush

We have a condenser boiler and when we had heavy snow the other year the outside pipe from the boiler froze as it was too narrow ( British Gas tut). My husband has since lagged the pipe & covered it in waterproof tape

Empty your fridge/freezer and leave the door propped open -can't think of many worse things than coming home to the smell of rotten fish!!!! Unplug everything electrical that can be left off eg oven

PS Make sure your bank /credit card provider know that you are away

A combi boiler will have a frost control which will protect the boiler but not the pipes and radiators - so leaving the heating on a low setting is safer.

The best way to prevent freeze ups is to keep the water moving in the pipes - so draining everything is not a good idea.
Get a friend to pop in once a week turn the taps on for a few moments and flush the loos.

I have just seen this thread and must say I never thought of seeking advice when in 1999 we went 300 miles away from home for 2 years.
We went to look after our grandchildren while our daughter did a degree.
We came home in school/college holidays to check on our house..My neighbour kept an eye on the house and we gave her my brother-in-laws phone number as he had a key.
We just unplugged everything,shut the blinds and set the alarm.
I suppose we were only 5 hours away should anything had gone wrong but reading this makes me think we were lucky everything was OK.

I've done the same as you, Jaytrip, and think that the best solution is to make good friends of your neighbours! When I was a student myself I only got back to my flat one weekend in four at the most - I couldn't afford the train fare more frequently. I also had to do the same for a 3 month period when I needed to take over my mother's caring responsibilities for an elderly relative whilst she recovered from surgery. I made sure the flat was physically secure and left the heating once that it would tick over and unplugged everything that could be unplugged. Emptied the fridge but not the freezer and never had any problems.

On the other hand a colleague went away for 3 days for Hogmanay and came home to chaos because despite leaving their heating on a froststat setting, the mains water supply pipe into the house had frozen and burst. Water at mains pressure had been cascading through the house for 24 hrs. These things can happen to empty houses whether they are empty for 3 days or 3 months and good neighbours that you will do the same for when needed are the best Plan B. Worked for me on my last trip to Cuba - they noticed a slow leak in one of the radiators, called a local plumber to shut the radiator off and placed the washing up bowl under the drip. Protein solved until I got home and sort out a permanent repair.

SM

Hi Max

I take your point about the boiler thermostat, so do you leave the system running continuous on the low setting?

Thanks
Tush

tush wrote:

Hi Max

I take your point about the boiler thermostat, so do you leave the system running continuous on the low setting?

Thanks
Tush

The frost stat. on the boiler only switches on the boiler to heat up the water in the boiler - to prevent catastrophic damage if the boiler freezes. It does not control the pump.

we simply leave the central heating set as normal but drop the thermostat temperatures.
Unplug all electric (except the water bed heater)
Freezers are left as they are, fridge emptied and turned off.
Outside taps isolated and emptied.
Burglar alarm on.
timer switches on lights etc
post left to gather but door is not see through
leave keys with a neighbour with contact details and alarm codes etc

I did see somewhere that there is a timer and light which imitates a TV picture (sort of a blue flickering light) rather than just a simple reading lamp etc. but can't remember where..
Don't tell many people we are away if we can help it.

This should do.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hydreon-FTV10-Fake-Burglar-Deterrent/dp/B001R4NXZC

Best way to keep things in order is to go away on your own and leave the other half at home !

del949 wrote:

Don't tell many people we are away if we can help it.

Let's hope the pikeys in Withernsea, East Yorks, don't read this then.

One of the problems of living in a small place is that everyone knows everyone else ...and all their holiday dates etc.
hopefully the pikeys (not very PC!) don't visit this forum