How to Heat Your Second Home (When You’re in Your First One)

  |  September 24, 2012

Flickr/glass_house

A reader asked about this last week, and we decided to look into it. Yes, let’s say you’re lucky enough to have a second home in upstate New York — what do you do about preventing the pipes from freezing during those times that you’re away?

Popular Mechanics suggests you leave the heat on, at 50-degrees, and close the valve to the main water supply of your house –make sure it’s an easily turnable valve, and, if not, replace it with one that is. And make sure you give keys to a trusted neighbor in case of emergency.

In the meantime, there are some alarm systems and apps that can do the job of your trusted neighbor of hired caretaker. Freeze-sensing systems, like Freeze Clik, monitor house temperatures remotely and let you know if it gets icy cold in there. The Freeze Alarm Dialer calls you if it gets too cold or too hot.

Read On, Reader...