Winter travel - leaving your house

[mary and bob]

Originally Posted by Byron Kinnaman

You have to careful with those type of alarms. From the last I heard they were not legal here for calling any of the emergency services, fire, police, medical.

Ours is not intended to call directly to any emergency service, only to notify us or a designated person to check the house. When I worked for a fuel company as a service tech many of our customers were "weekend people", city residents that had a second house here in the country, or citiots as the locals call them. Those houses that had hot water heating systems we could fill the system with antifreeze. It would at least save the boiler in the event of a failure or power outage. I've been on calls to frozen up houses, not fun. The cheapest alarm device, and it was sold by the company I worked for, was a temperature sensor that plugged into an outlet, plug a lamp into it and put lamp by a window that could be seen by a neighbor, and if heat went below the sent point it would turn the lamp on. This requires a trusted neighbor or someone that regularly drives by the house and will look.

[rgrugg]

Because we have geothermal heat, it relies on extracting heat from our well water. Winterizing it is not something a DIYer is likely to be able to do. I'd have to call a heating person which would be pricey. So the heat is left on. I put a lamp in the window with a sensor attached. When the temp drops below a predetermined sett ing, the lamp turns on alerting the neighbors. I'll set the thermostat to 55*. If I turned the heat off it would get very cold in the house. Geothermal is quite slow reacting so it would take hours to get the temp back up. I'll turn the water heater off and the mail will go to the neighbors. The computer goes with me. This will be the 18th winter this procedure has been used and all is good. Our house is all electric so vulnerable to power outages. Because of this, I have a 20000 watt automatic whole house generator. It works well and is provides a lot of peace of mind.

[cpaharley2008]

HHmm, don't let others know about your generator, they might want to use it on their fgrv for boon docking….
sounds like your system is set, except for well pump failure you are more or less self sufficient. I had a house with well water, once it goes, you have to deal with the first party that gets to your house because without water you are more or less SOL. I had to replace mine 3 times in 20 years, BTDT.

[mary and bob]

Originally Posted by cpaharley2008

without water you are more or less SOL.

We have a drilled well for our water supply. I keep a couple barrels and a couple 5 gallon buckets of water in my basement so we can at least use the toilets. Some bottled water for drinking. We also have a brook on our property, so an endless supply of toilet water at least.

[cpaharley2008]

I was not that fortunate, no pump, no toilet, spouse was not happy. Had to get it fixed that day. This was before camping started.

[John Linck]

Folks who worry about basement flooding during a power failure should consider a water powered back up sump pump. They use the flow from your municipal water service to keep your sump dry. There are lots of models at lots of price points. This one seems good at $170.00 on Amazon.

[mary and bob]

Originally Posted by John Linck

Folks who worry about basement flooding during a power failure

Interesting, never heard of them. However in my situation with my own well and pump it wouldn't work. Thanks for posting that John, we can learn something every day!

[Carol H]

Like others my insurance company requires someone to check on the house ever few days. I pay one of the neighbours children a small weekly fee for collecting up daily mail and stray flyers etc that get dropped off. I dont have mail forwarded - just pay the bills on line when away.

Have an monitored alarm system that dials a local security company that has a key to check the place should the alarm go off - I think they charge about $75 for each call out - which fortunately hasnt been often in the years I have had the alarm system. You can have the alarm dial the police directly but if its a false alarm you will get a big fine for it. My smoke alarms are hard wired to the alarm system and the system knows to call the fire department directly should one of them go off. The parents of the child who collects the mail also have a key and they will go into the house to check on it during a real cold spell as well or if they notice something doesnt seem right. I turn off the water to the house and leave the furnace set at about 45 when away. Actually had the outside water main burst while away one summer and it was noticed by the child who collects the mail that it was flooding my yard. He told his parents who called the fire department who came and shut off the water from the street main valve. The parents also went into the house to check there was no water damage inside so I didnt need to rush home and was able to deal with it when I returned.

It pays to be on good terms with your neighbours & their children.

[rabbit]

Linked material is very thorough, Raz. Some precautions I didn't consider and some I don't worry about such as p-traps.

jack

[Byron Kinnaman]

Originally Posted by Carol H

Like others my insurance company requires someone to check on the house ever few days.

I've tried to check on this, but so far all the information I've found is that US homeowners insurance covers us while traveling, including theft from the trailer or automobile and liability if somebody trips on the tongue of the trailer. I've seen nothing about requiring somebody checking on the house while we're gone. Is this a Canadian thing only, or do any of us US residents have the checking requirement?

[Glenn Baglo]

Byron - you would need to check with your insurance company, if you can't find it in the small print of YOUR policy. No point asking others with other insurance coverage.

[Carol H]

Byron, best to read the fine print on your policy. A quick google search showed its not just a Canadian thing.... seems a number of US insurance companies also have a Unoccupancy Clause that kicks in if the home is not lived in for more than x so many consecutive days.

[Sue and Henry]

Great ideas here! Our house in Eugene is heated - but we still got a call from our wonderful neighbor. Worried about the unusually cold weather, she checked and we have one bathroom where the water isn't flowing. I fly up tomorrow. :-) ah well. I guess I'll need a sweatshirt?

[Byron Kinnaman]

Originally Posted by Glenn Baglo

Byron - you would need to check with your insurance company, if you can't find it in the small print of YOUR policy. No point asking others with other insurance coverage.

I intend to check with my insurance co. and have since it was first mentioned. I have not found any reference to a concern on any of the RVing sites and was trying to determine how wide spread it is, if at all.

After Carol H's response I think there's some definition of terms at issue also. This all helps me ask the right questions. Example what does Occupied mean? What's the legal and insurance definition when it comes to a residence?

I'll find out a bit more when I talk to my insurance agent.

[Glenn Baglo]

Let us know. It's information that people need. Insurance companies are always trying to figure out how to get your money and then not pay out when that time comes. That's how they make money.

[Roger C H]

Post #21 says:

" Those houses that had hot water heating systems we could fill the system with antifreeze."

I hope you are speaking of an anti-freeze mixture. Pure Anti-freeze freezes at about 8 F degrees and the anti-freeze for anti-freeze is water. 50-50 mixture will be good to about 50 F below.

[mary and bob]

Originally Posted by Roger C H

Post #21 says:

" Those houses that had hot water heating systems we could fill the system with antifreeze."

I hope you are speaking of an anti-freeze mixture. Pure Anti-freeze freezes at about 8 F degrees and the anti-freeze for anti-freeze is water. 50-50 mixture will be good to about 50 F below.

It was not automotive antifreeze. It's been about 25 years since I did that type work so I don't exactly recall just how we did it, But I THINK it was a pre mixed solution that came in 5 gallon containers and was made specifically for that type application. With a hot water heating system, regulated water pressure is required to be fed to the boiler. A back flow preventer, (check valve) is required to prevent the antifreeze from getting back into your domestic water pipes. If there is a leak in your heating system water will be fed in and dilute the antifreeze, so it's not a 100% fool proof solution, but does provide an added level of protection, and would most likely save the heating system from damage. My hot water baseboard system is set up so that the circulator will run when the thermostat calls for heat, even if the boiler has failed and no hot water. This at least keeps the water in the system moving and less chance of freezing. I don't have antifreeze in my boiler.

[mary and bob]

On another note here, I received a PM from a member named Jim who has not posted on this topic. He sent a link to an alarm available from Amazon, and asked if that was what I have. Maybe unknown to Jim, he is set up to not accept PM's, so I can't answer by PM. So Jim, if you see this, yes, that looks to be the alarm that I have. It is set up in our living room in the house, away from an outside wall, plugged into a 110 outlet and phone line. I had to cut and extend the wires to the water sensor to get the sensor down to the basement floor. What I forgot to do before leaving home was to put new batteries in the alarm, as what's in there are a year old. Not the only thing I forgot, or can't find!

[Byron Kinnaman]

Originally Posted by Glenn Baglo

Byron - you would need to check with your insurance company, if you can't find it in the small print of YOUR policy. No point asking others with other insurance coverage.

Here's a copy of the email I sent to agent.

My name is Byron Kinnaman. I am inquiring about a possible clause in my home owners policy no. XXXXXXX. I'm on a couple RV web forums and the subject of unoccupied homes came up in reference to part time traveling. Some RVers travel for up to 11 months out of the year, then return to their residence of record (house). My concern is that what's my coverage if I should take say a 6 month RV trip to travel around the country? or a 2 month trip, or a 3 month trip?

Thanks for your prompt response.

Byron and Beverley Kinnaman

His response..
Hi Byron,

In review of your home policy it sounds like you would be okay. I have attached a copy of your policy for your review. Please refer to the Definitions section, page 10, section 31 "Vacancy or Vacant". Please let me know if you have any further questions or concerns.

Thank you!

Page 10, Section 31

31. Vacancy or vacant - means:
a. no one is legally using the dwelling as a principal place of abode; and
b. a predominant amount of persona property has been removed or is absent from the dwelling.


I would suggest that you might want to ask your rep. what your insurance company says about this problem.

[Glenn Baglo]

"It sounds like you would be okay".

That sure doesn't inspire confidence.