Shutting it down

Tom,
One subject you haven't addressed is what those of us who flee to Florida for the winter should do with our homes. We can't use wood pellet stoves,nor many of your other energy saving suggestions. When we leave, we turnthe furnace thermostat down as low as we can. But last year, for example,our furnace used about 300 gallons of oil to heat the house minimally whilewe were gone for over five months. We intend to increase our atticinsulation this fall, but we are also considering turning the furnace offentirely and letting the house freeze up. What does this do to a realhouse, not a camp, with plasterboard walls and a basement? Some people sayletting your house freeze can crack the foundation. No doubt it would behard to drain all the water out of all the pipes and the boiler, somethingan plumber should be hired to do. What does freezing do to electronics? Tooriginal oil paintings? I've heard that even ballpoint pens can freeze andleak. It doesn't seem like a very attractive alternative, but on the otherhand, neither does paying well over a thousand dollars to heat your homewhen you aren't even here.How about draining the pipes but installing electric heat to keep the housejust above freezing? Or should we just bite the bullet and hope the oilprices go down somewhat eventually?If you do use parts of this letter in your column, please don't use ourname. We don't want to advertise the fact that our house is empty everywinter.
Thanks.
Dave & Helen Old Town, ME 04468

Hi,
I am not in favor of shutting the heat off entirely.It runs the risk of causing mildew issues and popping paint off of surfacesin addition to all the other more common freeze issues like heaving andcracking.
Foundations do not always crack, but obiviously there is more potential forthis problem.
I would suggest checking with your heating person about installing a freezealarm, adding insulation where you can and getting a lower temperaturethermostat.
The freeze alarm would alert the oil provider of an issue and get a serviceperson over there.I would not want to risk damaging valuable art and my home by leaving thehome with no heat.
Tom