Reply to When you go away in travel do you shut the water off?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]For a weekend - I don't turn off the water (probably should). For a longer trip I do. I had a pipe randomly burst on me (yes - literally on me in the bathroom) and it would have flooded the basement if I hadn’t turned off the main immediately. I’ve known others who had burst pipes while away on vacation and it wasn’t pretty. I really don’t want to come back from vacation to something like that.

I used to adjust the heat/ac but don’t anymore. First, we have a pet. Second, I wonder what the break even is for lowing heat/raising AC. [b]It’s easier/less expensive for your home to maintain the temp then to get back to where you want it to be.[/b] I’ve seen arguments for both methods, but am not sure what the right thing to do is.
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This is totally false and checking any reputable web site (DOE, the National Labs, etc) will demonstrate this.

If I shut off my heater or air conditioner when I'm gone from the house, doesn't it cost more to heat or cool the house back to the right temperature once I return?
The rate of heat transfer from the house to the outside, or vice versa, is dependent partly on the temperature difference between the house and outside. More heat is transferred when the difference is greater, so it takes more energy to keep the house at 72°F when it is 40°F outside than to heat the house back up to 72°F after you return.
With air conditioning systems, the equipment runs at peak efficiency when it operates for long periods. Cooling the house back to the comfortable temperature will use less electricity than the unit would use cycling on and off for short periods to maintain the set temperature. 
http://www.hes.lbl.gov/consumer/faqs#h7

A common misconception associated with thermostats is that a furnace works harder than normal to warm the space back to a comfortable temperature after the thermostat has been set back, resulting in little or no savings. In fact, as soon as your house drops below its normal temperature, it will lose energy to the surrounding environment more slowly. The lower the interior temperature, the slower the heat loss. So the longer your house remains at the lower temperature, the more energy you save, because your house has lost less energy than it would have at the higher temperature. The same concept applies to raising your thermostat setting in the summer -- a higher interior temperature will slow the flow of heat into your house, saving energy on air conditioning.
http://energy.gov/energysaver/articles/thermostats[/quote]

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