What do YOU leave on when you leave the house?

[shinysparklybubbles]

Ok, I do leave my dryer, washer, or dishwasher on when not at home..but after coming to this thread I am scared ! Maybe I will be re-thinking this.

Me too! Or in bed! I normally do wash after my son goes to bed, so the dryer or normally going when I go to bed and the dishwasher too.

 

[herdtoDisney]

I have no problem leaving on the crockpot, washer, and dryer. But I unplug the coffeemaker (to save energy) and turn off tvs and stuff. I will leave the oven on too and the dishwasher.

In the rental we lived in before we bought this house, the stove had a feature where you could set it to turn on the oven at a certain time-I could pop frozen food in there in the morning and it would turn on and bake while I was at/coming home from work! I loved that feature, but when I got a new stove for this house, apparently no one has that feature anymore

There just aren';t enough hours in my day for me to only run stuff when I am home.

 

[AnnaS]

Toaster is always unplugged - mainly because of location but would probably leave it unplugged anyway.

Washer and dryer are not left running when we leave the house or go to bed.

My son's friend's house burned down because of the dryer. My dryer broke and never stop turning (I was home and realized after a while why isn't it stopping) and the hose burst from the washer many years ago. Ever since these incidents happened - they are now off if we are not home or going to bed.

 

[ssawka]

DW drives me crazy with this! She always wants to start the dishwasher right before we leave the house for weekend trips. You would think she would have learned when we came home once to an overflowing washing machine. Granted that was a fluke because we had lost power and water due to a hurricaine and the water came back on and started filling the washing machine, but without power the machine couldn't turn off the water.

 

[mhsjax]

Sorry, but I have seen way too many fires on the news, that were started by dryers. There is no way I would chance the lives of my family or pets by leaving dryers running while asleep or gone. The way houses are built these days, the vents mostly go up and out, and it causes dryers to over heat because of clogged vents. OUr vent does go directly out, but I still won't leave it running. Also coffee put is unplugged when going to bed or leaving the house. I will leave a crock pot on, but only if I am gone for a little while. I don't work outside the home, so no real reason for me to do this. I have had plastic fall on the heating element in the dishwasher, and bought it because of the smell, don't know if left unchecked if a fire would start or not, again, won't chance my family or pets t find out.

After several fires on the news started from dryers, they were talking to firemen and they said to NEVER leave a dryer running when not at home or asleep.

 

[Swimalie]

The only things I will leave on while gone is the crock pot and bread maker. I won't leave the house if anything else is going. The risk of fire is too much. While on vacation, everything is turned off and unplugged except the timers on the lights.

 

[Pipperdoodle]

Not only would I never leave with the dishwasher, washer or dryer running, but when I'm finished with the laundry, I shut the water off behind the washer. It takes no effort at all, but I personally know several people who have had their houses flooded because either the hose burst or just came out of the wall. I will leave a crock pot on while out and I guess I should be unplugging the toaster.

What really concerns me is the water line at the fridge. My girlfriends entire ranch was soaked in 4 hours when the line became disconnected. Short of cutting the house water off, I guess I have to chance that one!

Pip

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

I never run the dryer when I am not home. Even though I am picky about keeping the dryer vent clean. I vacuum down inside the dryer it every other month and have my husband clean the dryer exhaust hose when we turn the clocks ahead and back. It increases the efficency of the dryer and reduces wear and tear on the dryer
Dryer fires are the #1 causes of house fires.

I do use my crockpot when I am not home. I mean you don't unplug the fridge when you leave home so why not use a crockpot!

We also turn off our main water valve when we leave home for vacations. I heard of many people coming home to flood basements because of busted pipes. Or kids who know you are out of town will turn on the outside faucet and leave it run while you are gone This happened to a neighbor when I was growing up and their water bill was over $500 and they had to pay it.

We unplug TV, microwave, computers, and the washer when we go on vacation.

 

[torinsmom]

I never run the dryer when I am not home. Even though I am picky about keeping the dryer vent clean. I vacuum down inside the dryer it every other month and have my husband clean the dryer exhaust hose when we turn the clocks ahead and back. It increases the efficency of the dryer and reduces wear and tear on the dryer
Dryer fires are the #1 causes of house fires.

I do use my crockpot when I am not home. I mean you don't unplug the fridge when you leave home so why not use a crockpot!

We also turn off our main water valve when we leave home for vacations. I heard of many people coming home to flood basements because of busted pipes. Or kids who know you are out of town will turn on the outside faucet and leave it run while you are gone This happened to a neighbor when I was growing up and their water bill was over $500 and they had to pay it.

We unplug TV, microwave, computers, and the washer when we go on vacation.

Mine was so high one month that the town told me I used more water than the Burger King Only thing we could figure is someone was stealing my water while I was gone, because no leaks were found. For a month, I turned my water off at the main switch every morning before I left and I checked the meter every evening.

 

[punkin]

Mine was so high one month that the town told me I used more water than the Burger King Only thing we could figure is someone was stealing my water while I was gone, because no leaks were found. For a month, I turned my water off at the main switch every morning before I left and I checked the meter every evening.

I had the same thing happen with our electric bill one month (yes, we were on vacation that month). The Electric Co. would not even investigate. We had to pay. Since then, DH has disabled all our external plugs, and this has not happened again. I think I know which neighbor was stealing the electricity.

 

[KennesawNemo]

I am so glad I read this thread.

We constantly have dish washer, dryer, washing maching on while we are out. I will stop doing that from now on. We never leave them on while sleep, mainly because of the noise. I will also start to unplug my toaster.

I also leave the crock pot on while away or asleep. We also almost never ever turn off our computers at home. They did go to hibernate mode after a while.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

Nothing is left on when I'm not home even if I just running errands.

I have even started turning off the water to the house when we go on vacation after my friend had a flood in her basement because of a leaky pipe while she was on vacation.

 

[cheap traveler]

I will leave on: crockpot, washer, dryer, and dishwasher. (Not after I am in bed, but when we are gone.) My water heater and furnace also might come on, though both are set pretty low so they run less often than most people's.

I'm also not going to stop for fear of fire - I don't have any in-door animals and if one of these things is going to catch fire, I would rather be gone than risk me or my kids being injured. Sure, I have a fire extinguisher, but there is still a good chance I would be hurt trying to put out the fire.

Like other people said, I have insurance to protect my "things." And one other little measure of protection I guess, I have most of my pictures backed up on my work computer, so that does put my mind at ease about those.

**I might start unplugging that toaster oven though. I think about it once in a while, but always forget**

 

[valee]

When I go off on vacation, I unplug those things I don't have to reset (fans, electric toothbrush, toaster, hairdryer), but the only clock I'll unplug is my alarm clock that has a halogen bulb, which has a higher than usual fire risk.
As for turning off the main water - I did that once, and had to call an emergency plumber (Big $$$$) when I turned it back ON because the pressure regulator valve started leaking and flooded the basement. The plumber told me that it's not uncommon for that to happen when the main is turned back on. So much for good intentions!

 

[girli565]

I leave the washer, dryer, sometimes the oven, crock pot, and dishwasher running when we're either sleeping or out. The oven is only when we're running out to church or a meeting and want dinner ready when we get home.

 

[Zhoen]

I leave the washer, dryer, sometimes the oven, crock pot, and dishwasher running when we're either sleeping or out. The oven is only when we're running out to church or a meeting and want dinner ready when we get home.

I prefer to start the dishwasher either at bedtime or right before I leave for work, it makes me feel good that something happens without me. I'll run the laundry any time of day or night, as needed, but almost every morning before leaving, for sure. Heck, if the floor is un-cluttered enough, I'll even set my "roomba" to vacuum while I'm away (although with my kids, there's usually too much random toy mess around to do that.) In a life where I usually feel like Cinderella, it's nice to have the machines take care of some little things without me. I remember having a lovely nap once, years ago, to the sound of the roomba vacuuming, the dishwasher and laundry machines humming and the breadmaker whirring while the crockpot made dinner. It made me smile to nap while the "servants" did all the work

I always unplug the iron, because it's scary, and the toaster is only out when I'm using it due to our tiny kitchen. The microwave and fridge that we never use on the wet bar are unplugged unless we're entertaining and I'm expecting to need them, but that's a waste issue, not from fear of fire. Now if only we were better about turning all the lights off!

And I LOVE to set the crockpot and bread machine (on a timer) in the morning and come home to dinner being ready. But then, my husband works shift and is frequently home (sleeping) in the daytime and there's nothing in our house that is irreplaceable but the people.

 

[girli565]

I prefer to start the dishwasher either at bedtime or right before I leave for work, it makes me feel good that something happens without me. I'll run the laundry any time of day or night, as needed, but almost every morning before leaving, for sure. Heck, if the floor is un-cluttered enough, I'll even set my "roomba" to vacuum while I'm away (although with my kids, there's usually too much random toy mess around to do that.) In a life where I usually feel like Cinderella, it's nice to have the machines take care of some little things without me. I remember having a lovely nap once, years ago, to the sound of the roomba vacuuming, the dishwasher and laundry machines humming and the breadmaker whirring while the crockpot made dinner. It made me smile to nap while the "servants" did all the work

I always unplug the iron, because it's scary, and the toaster is only out when I'm using it due to our tiny kitchen. The microwave and fridge that we never use on the wet bar are unplugged unless we're entertaining and I'm expecting to need them, but that's a waste issue, not from fear of fire. Now if only we were better about turning all the lights off!

And I LOVE to set the crockpot and bread machine (on a timer) in the morning and come home to dinner being ready. But then, my husband works shift and is frequently home (sleeping) in the daytime and there's nothing in our house that is irreplaceable but the people.

I love turning the dishwasher on before I go to bed because it's doing work while I sleep And also because my husband (who works late shifts) will come home in the morning/afternoon and empty it for me It's great!

I also like turning the crock pot on in the morning and leaving dinner cooking while I'm working. It's also a plus for my husband who has a hot meal for lunch/dinner if I'm not home. Makes me feel like i did my wifely duty lol.

 

[Colleen27]

The crock pot and my computer are the only things I'll leave on when I'm out, and sometimes the light over the kitchen sink if I know it'll be dark before we get home.

I'm totally paranoid about my dryer. I won't let it run if I'm out or asleep or even in my gardens. My mother's house burned down in '08 and while it wasn't the dryer in her case I've developed a ridiculous worry about fires since then, and the dryer is an obvious risk.

Most everything else is on power strips that are turned off as needed. The coffee pot, toaster, and microwave share one that is only on if one of those things is in use, not because I worry about fire but because it seems so wasteful to have 3 appliances all pulling power for always-on displays. I don't need three clocks on one wall of my kitchen!

When we go on vacation even the power strips to the TVs and computers are unplugged. We had a lightning strike last summer that fried one computer's motherboard and one TV despite their surge protectors, so we don't leave electronics plugged in if they aren't going to be used on a day to day basis.

 

[MissManda]

When I'm leaving the house for work or to run errands, I normally don't leave anything on with the obvious exceptions (heat/air, fridge, etc).

-I only do laundry (wash and dry) while I'm home and awake. I don't want the washing machine to get off balance and get messed up and I don't want the dryer to catch on fire when I'm not there.

-I will turn the dishwasher on when I go to bed, but don't normally use heat dry when I do this (I had a small lid one time work its way to the bottom of the dishwasher and land on the heat element. It didn't catch fire, but it smoked up the place pretty bad and the smell was terrible). Only thing I worry about here is if it floods for some reason I wouldn't know about it until the next morning and a lot of damage could be done by then.

- I don't use my crockpot either if no one is home

- I don't leave fans on either. For one, I had a fan catch fire in my bedroom when I was little. I woke up to my room on fire. Ever since then, I've been paranoid of fans. So when we aren't home, the fans go off.

-Just to not waste electricity, I make sure all lamps and lights are off. The only exception is we leave kitchen light on, but we use energy saving bulbs.

Really, I try to keep as much turned off as possible. Not just to mitigate fire or flood risks, but also to save electricity.

The one thing that has always bothered me is that we do not turn off our water when we go on vacation. When we are gone for a week, we usually have some one come in every other day and take care of our cat. We need to have the water on so that this person can water the cat and wash their hands after cleaning the litter box. I prefer to leave several gallons of water in the fridge to be used for these purposes, but DH insists that I'm being paranoid and so we usually leave the water on. (Yikes!). To help mitigate any chance of a leak, I do make sure my icemaker is turned off, I make sure that all the toilets in the house are not running when we leave the house. Our washing machine has a drain beside it and is in the basement so I feel okay about that one. I really hope one day this doesn't come back to haunt us one day!

 

[pixiewings71]

To each his own. I have seen dryers catch fire and appliances short out. IMHO it is a big chance leaving these items on when you are not around and a definite concern to leave them running when you go to bed. I suspect a lot of people do it but i would not. I can't imagine how hard it would be to replace your stuff and restart your lives if something happens. To answer your question...everything is off when we leave the house and when we go to bed.

In the grand scheme of things, it's really not all that difficult to do.

I prefer to start the dishwasher either at bedtime or right before I leave for work, it makes me feel good that something happens without me. I'll run the laundry any time of day or night, as needed, but almost every morning before leaving, for sure. Heck, if the floor is un-cluttered enough, I'll even set my "roomba" to vacuum while I'm away (although with my kids, there's usually too much random toy mess around to do that.) In a life where I usually feel like Cinderella, it's nice to have the machines take care of some little things without me. I remember having a lovely nap once, years ago, to the sound of the roomba vacuuming, the dishwasher and laundry machines humming and the breadmaker whirring while the crockpot made dinner. It made me smile to nap while the "servants" did all the work

I always unplug the iron, because it's scary, and the toaster is only out when I'm using it due to our tiny kitchen. The microwave and fridge that we never use on the wet bar are unplugged unless we're entertaining and I'm expecting to need them, but that's a waste issue, not from fear of fire. Now if only we were better about turning all the lights off!

And I LOVE to set the crockpot and bread machine (on a timer) in the morning and come home to dinner being ready. But then, my husband works shift and is frequently home (sleeping) in the daytime and there's nothing in our house that is irreplaceable but the people.

for us it's the people and the fuzzy pets that are irreplaceable.

The crock pot and my computer are the only things I'll leave on when I'm out, and sometimes the light over the kitchen sink if I know it'll be dark before we get home.

I'm totally paranoid about my dryer. I won't let it run if I'm out or asleep or even in my gardens. My mother's house burned down in '08 and while it wasn't the dryer in her case I've developed a ridiculous worry about fires since then, and the dryer is an obvious risk.

Most everything else is on power strips that are turned off as needed. The coffee pot, toaster, and microwave share one that is only on if one of those things is in use, not because I worry about fire but because it seems so wasteful to have 3 appliances all pulling power for always-on displays. I don't need three clocks on one wall of my kitchen!

When we go on vacation even the power strips to the TVs and computers are unplugged. We had a lightning strike last summer that fried one computer's motherboard and one TV despite their surge protectors, so we don't leave electronics plugged in if they aren't going to be used on a day to day basis.

We have most everything on power strips as well, the strips get turned off nightly. I don't go crazy and unplug everything and we have 3 fish tanks and a terrarium that are always on, even when we are gone. The "laundry room" in our house is in the garage so I never worry about flooding or dryer fires all that much. I leave the crock pot on when I'm at work and we will run the dishwasher at night or while we are gone as well. I do unplug and put away the iron, the flat iron or curling iron but that's more because I don't use them very much so I don't like to leave them sitting out. I let them cool off before putting them away of course, but I do unplug them when I'm done using them.
We had a house fire about 7 years ago, it was electrical but not appliance related, it was a difficult time but we made it through without the loss of human or furry pet life, the cats and dog made it out, the family was fine, you realize pretty fast that the "things" you lose aren't all that important.