Going Away This Winter? Some Tips to Safeguard Your Home

Many Corpus Christi residents will be going away this winter and holiday season for vacation or to see friends and family around the country and world. While a winter vacation can be enjoyable, it’s essential that you take all off the necessary steps to safeguard your home. In the winter months, that also means taking care of your HVAC system as the temperature outside starts to dip lower and lower.

• Leave a key with one of your neighbors or a designated home sitter in case anything goes wrong in your home. You’ll also want to leave the name of your HVAC maintenance contractor with your neighbor or house sitter in case of problems or if your HVAC unit goes off. If your HVAC unit isn’t working properly your home could be damaged by even mild cold weather.
•  Tell the Post Office in your area to hold your mail or ask a neighbor to pick it up and take it inside for you. Allowing mail to stack up on your front porch or in your mailbox is an obvious sign to burglars that you’re away from home. You should also have neighbors bring in any holiday packages or newspapers even if you stop your mail with the Post Office.
• Set a radio to go on using a timer. That way if anybody is casing your home to break in, they’ll think twice and likely move on to another target. Criminals rarely break into homes when there’s activity or movement.
• Set lights on a timer near your front windows. Don’t worry about the interior of your home – just make sure lights can be seen from the street where burglars could be watching.
• Take valuables out of your home and put them in a safe-deposit box before going away this winter. Jewelry, cash, electronics and guns are prime targets for most home burglars who are usually just looking for items that can easily be sold, pawned or used.

Contact CCAC, Inc. for more tips and information on safeguarding your home if you plan on going away this winter.

Our goal is to help educate our customers in Corpus Christi, Texas about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).  For more information about home safety and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.

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