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How to Protect a Home When Away in Winter?
kidMike writes "I have just accepted a new job in another state, requiring me to relocate. I'm going to keep my house in New England. As I watch the winter storm problems and electrical outages across the country, how do Slashdotters protect their houses (or cabins) when they are away in the winter? Is there a device that will call me if the temp in the house drops below a certain level? How about a broken pipe flooding the house? How can I keep advised of problems happening hundreds of miles away? (There will still be broadband at the house.)"
I know its not technical and nor does it have a wow factor or allow you to log into a web based control and monitoring page in the "interweb", but how about asking a friend / neighbour to keep an eye on it for you? That way if something goes wrong they may be able to help you sort out any problems without you coming back, plus they are more flexible, able to deal with the weather, any break-ins, any mail that doesn't get misdirected or anything else for that matter.
Obviously the issue here, and it a big one, is Trust.
Friend of mine uses:
X-10 devices
Panasonic IP cameras (steerable)
Airport base stations
Mac G4 (OS X)
The software that actually controls the cameras is a commercial package which puts up an internet server - you log into it, and you can check individual cameras, positioning them at will; check multiple cameras with the images tiled; check archived videos; capture a live stream and play it back at various speeds, etc..
He can then use the internet and his Blackberry to log on and live view any of the cameras around his home.
For real security, he uses a local home security contractor, which responds when various alarms detect certain issues, etc.
Not sure if this would help http://www.liquidbreaker.com/ but it has an internet connection, allows you to monitor the water from afar, as well as monitor temperature of water pipes
I highly recommend it for a multi-camera, web-based solution. Free download, runs on linux, integrates with x10, what more could you need?
Making sure you really know where the low point of the plumbing is.
As a followup, pour antifreeze into drains so that the traps don't freeze.
You need HomeSaver See http://www.qsystemsengineering.com/ Dr. Null
Contacting the county extension agent is a great suggestion! In most, if not all states, there are county agents affiliated with the state's main agricultural college. Usually there is a home agent and a farm agent. There may be a marine agent in coastal areas. They have pamphlets on all sorts of things, and access to the latest doctrine on how to do things from controlling bugs, to preserving food, to who knows what. The best part of it is that it is almost all free.
Interesting - most furnaces require an electric blower to move air through the ducts and won't fire, if the power fails. The BlueFlame models are vent free - no chimney and no blower. They have protection against oxygen depletion. However, they won't work in really cold areas, where oxygen depletion is guaranteed to happen.
Excuse me, but please get off my Pennisetum Clandestinum, eh!
OK, let me get this straight. A Stephen King novel... is better than a Stanley Kubrick movie starring Jack Nicholson pretty close to his prime. I find that hard to believe. I'll have to check it out some time. If it was better than finally seeing what Jack was typing, seeing REDRUM in the mirror, seeing that bolt open, and a generally bright setting made horrifying, then that book must be pretty good.
I have freaks! I did something right...
I spent a night in the hospital once when I was a kid because of a gas heater in the bathroom. It used up all the oxygen while I as taking a bath and I passed out.
This may be a silly question, but coming from an Australian climate where the weather doesn't go to really extreme 'extremes', why is it important to keep the temperature above a certain point? And why would an abandoned house need electricity in an outage?
I actually work in facilities management, and would like to point out an opportunity here for the smart Slashdot folks. There is a large company named "Honeywell" that handles a huge chunk of the automated building controls industry. They have some of the stuff you're looking for in this post - at a ridiculous cost, however.
If you go to their site and look into their products, you will quickly notice that building controls are WAY BEHIND the technological level present in most calculators and wristwatches. There has been very little innovation there. I'm depressed everytime I go to a meeting with the national Honeywell representatives and have to listen to a big long presentation about their latest thermostats, etc., and how they almost have connectivity with a Palm Pilot, but not yet, there's a few bugs, etc.
It would be SO great and relatively easy for someone to throw in some smarts and take the entire controls industry, as well as the HVAC mainboard industry (smart, CPU controlled furnaces, etc). Either that or just get something started and scare the big companies enough that they buy you out.