We’re off to Florida this morning. It’s been 3 months since we visited our new vacation condo.
I’ve never traveled so carefree before. We drove our SUV down on Memorial Day weekend – with a big load of things. This time, I don’t have anything to bring. We went to the airport without a suitcase.
We’ll only be down there a few nights. The purpose of the trip is just to “check on things”.
Since we haven’t been down there in 3 months, I started wondering if everything is OK. I just want to make sure the mailbox isn’t overflowing, the refrigerator isn’t leaking (it’s new), and no Florida critters have snuck in.
I talked to friends that have vacation places and most of them said they check on them every calendar quarter. it seems like a good plan.
How often do you check on your vacation place / cabin / cottage?
Image: Pixabay
MrFireStation 
I don’t have a vacation place, but wish right now I wish I had one at very high elevation for about the past four days. Yesterday, the average temperature over 24 hours was 97.5 with a high of 106.2 degrees. There is about a week out of every year where Santa Anna winds cause the weather to reverse direction and come from the desert instead of the Pacific Ocean. The air quality is also horrible. My four legged personal trainers are bumming because they are not getting their morning hikes.
Regarding checking in on your place. A lot can happen in three months, so I recommend putting electronic monitoring in place. For water leak detection and automatic shut-off, I am using StreamLabs. It installs at the main entry to your house and alerts you and automatically shuts off in the event of any leaks. I once had a refrigerator water fountain come on overnight due (I think) to an ant crawling on a circuit board and shorting it. It flowed hundreds of gallons of water overnight, as we slept. A lot can happen, even if you are around.
If you have a whole house water filter, it can very easily be installed between your water main and the water filter inlet.
https://streamlabswater.com/pages/streamlabs-control
This product line is actually owned by Chubb Insurance who offers discounts on the device purchase and to their home owners policy holders, which is a strong endorsement. They have one of the best technical support groups I have ever worked with and I have worked with a lot from my work as an electrical / computer engineer. I also like that the device does not restrict your water flow and installation was easy from a plumbing fitting perspective.
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The weather in Florida isn’t as hot as you are facing, but incredibly tropical. The high temperature topped out at 90 today, but the dew point was a whopping 77. That’s Florida in the summer!
Everything was in good shape at our condo. Our biggest issue is just getting something to address the musty smell from being locked up. No issue with bugs or overflowing mail. We had the water completely shut off, so no issues with that.
I’m going to “sensor up” when we are down for the winter and have time to get everything ordered, delivered & installed. We are just here for a few days right now and it’s hard even to get stuff delivered from Amazon. Appreciate the recommendations. Some I can use on my MN house, too!
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To avoid musty smell, you need to increase air turnover in your house and/or dehumidify. Consider adding an air-to-air exchanger that brings in air from the outside while retaining the inside temperature. You would want this running even while you are out of the house.
https://home-energy.extension.org/choosing-an-air-to-air-exchanger-system/
You could also set your HVAC system so it allows it to cool a little by setting it at a higher temperature to dehumidify the air. Set it at 80 degrees or so.
By sure to add a condensate overflow cutoff switch to your HVAC unit if you start running it while you are away. Condensate overflow can make a real mess, if your air handler is installed centrally within the condo in a closet.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005D4RFEM/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1
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Just back from Florida yesterday. We were there such a short period of time, I didn’t get a chance to look at our set up. We have an air-to-air exchanger already, but I’m not sure how it is running.
We had the condo AC set at 80, but our friend said that is too warm – that could be causing the mustiness. He suggested 76. I’m not sure, but it cleared out in about 48 hours.
We have a back up pump thing to clear the AC condensate line and I flushed it with some hot, hot water. I’m not sure we need a shutoff valve, or if the pump serves that purpose. Will figure out this winter when I have more time.
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Chief,
I wasn’t expecting you to reply that you already have HRV (Heat Recovery Ventilation) Air-to-Air exchanger in place. Something must not be right with your setup, as it should just about take care of your musty smell issue by itself while using less electricity than running your AC to dehumidify. Here’s a short checklist:
The Safe-T-Switch serves as a fail-safe for your condensate drain line in case it gets clogged or your pump fails. It is a simple float switch that shuts off your AC unit if the condensate pan gets overfilled.
I was the first person into an office on Monday morning once and a condensate pump had failed over the weekend. It was a real mess with water all over the ceiling tiles, draining onto desks and soaking the carpet.
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Like I said, it may not even be running! The unit is 17 years old and everything HVAC is original. Will figure it out when we spend more time there. I’ll look at the Safe-T-Switch as a back up option.
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