Quote:
Originally Posted by UpNorth
Not sure if "smart switches" will run if you downgrade your wifi internet to vacation (away) mode.
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Why disable your Internet while you’re gone for extended periods? You need the Internet to work if you have a smart irrigation controller, security system, unless it uses cellular, for a camera system, etc. Leaving a house unattended without being able to monitor your unattended house seems like a very bad idea to me. Monitoring your unoccupied home doesn’t mean staring at a video stream continuously for hours a day. Motion detectors cameras send you alerts, your security system could alert you, your remote control thermostat could alert you. All that gives you much more peace of mind about your unoccupied house, instead of being blind about what could be happening at your unoccupied home, and simply hoping for the best!
A lot of damage can occur to your unoccupied home if there’s a water leak. Damage could occur if your AC fails. Damage and loss could occur if someone breaks in. For the home in the snow belt, if the furnace fails without an alert, the water pipe can freeze and break. Your basement could flood with multiple layers, feet of ice. The ice breaks the house foundation and destroys the house as the water turns into a massive ice block.
It’s a compromise how much you should try to monitor remotely. But the technology is available today to be able to monitor your unoccupied home. That gives you much more piece of mind, instead of pretending that those risks don’t exist. The remote monitoring of the unoccupied home does require an Internet connection, in most cases. The Internet costs and costs to monitor the unoccupied homes is very tiny compared to the extra costs you have to own and maintain two properties that could be over a thousand miles apart from each other.
That’s my opinion about unoccupied homes. Some people don’t feel that way. They just lock the door and leave. To me, that’s way to risky living that way.