Get Wiser
Leave Your Worries at Home This Summer: How to Save Energy and Boost Home Security While You’re on Holiday
Off on a trip soon? As well as the welcome change of scenery, your thoughts might also be on your home while you’re away, ensuring you’re not paying for wasted energy and hoping you won’t fall victim to crime. We’ll explain how a simple smart home system by Wiser can help you save energy, boost security, and let go of worry on your holidays.
Save Energy On Holiday with Away Mode
This isn’t the time of year you’d expect your heating to turn on, but if you prefer higher setpoints and a bout of mild weather causes a drop in temperature, your thermostat could cause your boiler to fire unnecessarily while you’re away.
Smart Heating
To prevent wasted energy and money while you’re on holiday, Wiser’s Away Mode reduces all heating setpoints to a chosen minimum level. Simply toggle on Away Mode in the Wiser Home app anywhere, any time via a connected smart device.
Smart Plugs
If you have Wiser Plugs, you can also configure whether Away Mode triggers these to turn on or off when Away Mode is enabled, so you can take devices off standby to save electricity while on holiday.
Geofencing and Away Mode
For even more convenience, Wiser allows Away Mode to be triggered automatically via geofencing and IFTTT whenever you (and your smart device) leave the home. Your usual settings will resume when you return. That’s one less thing to remember!
Deter Criminals by Scheduling Devices
Unfortunately, criminals are active during summer holidays, in fact a study by Aviva found 48% more burglaries are committed between July and September, with burglars taking advantage when households leave for a trip. You can reduce the risk of burglary while you’re on holiday by making your home appear occupied, including scheduling lamps and other visual devices like televisions to turn on, if only briefly, during the evenings.
Setting up manual timers can be fiddly and time-consuming, but smart plugs makes it quick and easy to boost security when you go on holiday. Simply plug in, pair and configure via an app. Set up a schedule quickly and remotely for each device, or a group of devices like living room lamps. You can check and change these settings at any time via the app while you’re away. Mix up the scheduled ON times each day using the app so it’s less predictable and more effective at deterring burglars.
How To Save Energy on Holiday with App Control
The Wiser Home app brings all your smart home system’s clever features together in one easy-to-use interface. Available anywhere with an online smart device, connect to your smart home system to check and control your heating and electrical devices, and get energy use feedback via the Heat Report and Insights.
Smart heating systems by Wiser give you the control, even on far-flung holidays, to protect your home from rising heating bills and devious burglars. Try our Product Selector today.
More Tips to Boost Efficiency and Security While on Holiday
- Close all windows.
- Lock your doors.
- Close the curtains.
- Take valuables off display.
- Make sure all lights are off or on timers.
- Take devices like display screens, PCs, printers and games consoles off standby.
- Unplug chargers and kitchen appliances not being used.
- Let trustworthy neighbours know when you’ll be away, and they’ll keep an eye on your home, and ask if they’ll park their car outside your home to make it look like someone’s there.
- Avoid advertising on social media that you’re away, the information could fall into the wrong hands.
- Move objects outside the home that could be used to climb up and access the house, like bins or garden furniture.
- Secure away any tools accessible from outside that could be used to break in.