this makes sense if you are leaving your computer on during your vacation, since the hotter indoor temp won't help it cool itself too much. But if your computer is off, i don't think you are going to have too much of a problem.

Heck, your computer doesn't come shipped to you in an air conditioned truck... It travels for days, and if it is summer sits in hot trucks and storage areas.

None the less, i would say this rule is just a good general rule. Seems like most things in your house don't want to be over 90º, not just the computer.

I live in the Phoenix area as well, and I would *never* just turn the AC off in the summer. An apartment in the summer, when the temps hit triple digits...disgusting. It takes half a day to cool it back off to normal if you turn it back on again. Plus I have fish--they'd die.

jmorey, Yeah, the article should have said that the operating temperature should be between 50 and 95. But I live in the PNW and it hardly ever gets above 95 (maybe for a week out of the whole year), so no biggie.

This is important in the humid South, as well, to keep mold and mildew down.

Or you could insulate your homes, realizing that insulation protects against excessive heat as well as cold.. Adequate insulation (R30+) will keep your homes warmer in the winter, and cooler in the summer.. add in an attic ventilation fan with a timer and it will cool your home off at night, and keep it cool during the day. Much cheaper than leaving your AC on while away.

If it's a laptop, could you just leave it in the freezer while you're gone? Computers run really well in extremely cold environments. Of course, I don't see too many vacations these days where the laptop wouldn't come along. Just a thought though. You could bag it up like freezing jeans ;)

@flamingpeach

i really hope you are joking. the freezer would be horrible for your computer and your battery. just leave a laptop in your car in the winter and then try to turn it on. see what happens. Usually the battery will auto dump itself. Also you have to be careful with your screen LCD stands for liquid crystal display. Extreme cold is not their friend.

Even with bagging you would run into moisture problems, and probably the worst thing you want inside your computer, is moisture.

@ Green Geek - Please keep in mind that until you've experienced all environments, blanket statements such as this are more provocative than constructive.

Green Geek. You haven't spent much time in AZ have you? First off the only way to get some serious heavy duty insulation is to build your home mostly underground. There are a few people who do that and since you have only clerestory windows not a lot comes in or escapes. However, Phoenix has ridiculously hard soil so it is pretty tough to make it pay for itself. That's why we don't have basements. Also because we don't have snow most of the rooves here are fairly which means there aren't a whole lot of attics here.

Not sure about a home but a car in AZ heat can reach 160 degreees fairly easily in a summer afternoon. That's noo too difficult to accomplish considering saturday has a projected high of 115 which means parts of town where there are lots of asphalt and concrete will feel more like the high 120's.

Remember this when your AZ friends are sending you two pictures of two pairs of flip flops and asking which one they should wear in the middle of January.

Green Geek,

It doesn't get cool enough at night in a Phoenix summer to use a fan to cool off....not even close...

I love this comment thread. Grew up in the Phoenix area and now live in southern AZ... if you've never been here, you have no idea how awful it can be.

See what happens Unplggd/Apartment Therapy when we get even the smallest amount of attention? Just imagine what would happen if there was a Phoenix AT.

You could use the refrigerator portion, but definitely not the freezer. If you *do* refrigerate, you have to be very cautious about moisture from condensation when you take it out.

Given the extreme temperatures in AZ, setting the a/c to a *high* but still not destructive level (90-95 F) is probably wise.

isn't this the same blog that warned us not to run out dishwasher when we weren't home..?

I'm with Green Geek. Insulation makes any heating or cooling device work much less. You wouldn't buy a fridge or freezer with no insulation would you? Think of your house as a giant fridge in the summer, with only simple uninsulated walls, and you get the idea.

Speaking of fridges, why don't people put their PC or laptop in the fridge instead of the freezer, instead of wasting $$$$ cooling the entire house while on vacation? Most relatively new fridges & freezers have condensation reduction settings. Since you've hopefully eaten or given away any spoilable food, you can set the fridge warmer, still keep the computer cool, and save even more money.

I'm with Green Geek. Insulation makes any heating or cooling device work much less

Insulation won't make much difference in Phoenix with the air conditioning shut off, unless you put your house inside of a giant Thermos bottle 200 feet underground. It's 120 degrees by day, 100 degrees by night, and your house bakes in the sun 12 hours a day during the summer. No matter how much insulation you have, it's gonna get hot after about a day, and after two days it's gonna get really, really, really hot.

And not only is that heat bad for your electronics - yes, even batteries that aren't in use - it's also hard on many of the finishes in your home, and can lead to all sorts of chemical outgassing from particle board, carpets, insulation and other materials.

The solution is to leave your A/C on and set it to a fairly high temperature, like 90 degrees. Or to move the heck outta Phoenix which, given the fact they're not-so-slowly running out of water, a whole bunch of people are gonna be doing at some point in the not-too-distant future.

Speaking of fridges, why don't people put their PC or laptop in the fridge instead of the freezer, instead of wasting $$$$ cooling the entire house while on vacation?

Because when you take the device out of the cold fridge into the warm room, moisture will condense on it, ruining the device. I figured this one out when I was about nine.

Turn the computer off as well as the a/c while on vacation and nothing will happen to it.

I'm new to there area, so I had to do a lot of research. Can't quite wrap my brain around how to best insulate for this heat. As it turns out, there's a huge amount to discussion and dissent amoung the so-called pros. Here's what I found out. Anything metal transmits heat like a mug. Why they put aluminum windows and doors in out here is a mystery to me. 2nd Wood 2x4s also transmit heat. You can insulate the space between them and still have significant heat transfer through the studs. 3rd you need a pretty much complete thermal break between the heat outside and the cool inside. As I have been retrofitting my home. I had them put stucco on the outside of my home with a 2 inch layer of foam on the south and west sides of the home for a more significant thermal break. I replaced all the windows and doors with insulated vinyl windows with super low-e glass. As my attic space only had 4 inches of blown in insulation, and my least expensive alternative was to add more insulation, I had them add 12 inches of insulation to the attic space. I have to say, what a huge difference. Not only heating and cooling, but the noise level has been reduced significantly. My research indicated the best way is to go ventless in the attic by completely sealing the roof in foam and having zero insulation on the floor of the attic and actually cooling the attic space along with the house. I'm not sure about that and I'm not going to try it either.LOL If I was to build a house, I would use the sips (structurally integrated panel systems) panels 6 inch thick on the exterior walls and 12 inches thick on the ceiling. If I had the money, I'd put 12 inch walls up too. These are foam panels that are sandwiched inside and out with OSB boards. I would do the ceilings cathedral so there would be no attic space and then do a return air system to the air handler to ensure fresh air to the home. Makes sense to me to have that complete thermal break from the heat.