I have only seen one solar water heater, used for horses. It worked OK. Downsides were it did not hold a lot of water, like 20 gallons. Good for one horse, not for multiples. It has a floating ball cover, which got frozen when horse dripped on it. Some vegtable oil is supposed to help prevent the freezing problem. It also was pretty expensive for a plastic unit. The person who owned it, was satisfied, only had one horse. Another idea to consider would be a propane water tank heater. Also rather expensive, but appears to be a well thought out idea in several designs. Do a search for sellers. Lots of cattle and sheep owners who pasture animals where there is no electric available. Those who owned them were pretty happy with the heaters. You could resell it when you didn't need it anymore, probably get most of your money back. Not sure how fast heaters go thru fuel. The livestock owners did protect the fuel tank and heater unit, so animals could not reach or rub against it. Cows are so ready to break things rubbing on them, that good protection would be important!! We insulate our tanks inside wooden boxes. This does hold in the heat, keeps water from freezing quickly. We have electric heaters, so it saves us money not running heaters all the time.

Hi, We are dealing with an issue similar to this one, only the HVAC closet is on the ground floor - the lines were cloged and the emergency line was also not working. The water not only backed up to the pan, but also drained into the pedestal box and one of the HVAC lines that hung below the unit. In our experience, it is never a good thing to have the AC off. Regardless of how dry it seems, mold can grow in humid areas. I would recommed you get the pan installed and have your HVAC guy out to keep it running. In the meantime, I agree with another posting on getting the dehumidifier in. Regarding the insurance company. They are basically trying to save the company money only and do not have your best interest at heart. I haven't heard of any insurance company painting whole rooms or casing not damaged by the incident. In your case, it might be better just to either do the rest yourself or have whomever painting finish the rest - via an additional quote - so you know exactly what they want to charge. I hope you get good sincere workers in there. On another note, the home we are working on also had window leaks. Everything went unchecked and the maintenance person that did painting and caulking simply covered and filled rot up. The house now has primary and secondary termite colonies, not something to take lightely and a true lesson for the absentee owners (vacation home). I would seriously think about visiting your vacant home periodically - make sure your windows are not leaking, weather stripping on doors is in good shape, your HVAC will need monitoring. You will also want to think about a few other things. When a house is vacant, the sewer line does not get flushed out - there's a trap (elbow) at each fixture - sink, toilet, tub, etc. I believe this would be the case with your own septic system, so please ignore if you are on some city or county sytem (unless someone corrects me there). To continue, your best bet is to flush the toilets and run water in your sinks and tubs - not for long, just a few seconds. It just simply puts water back in the elbow, preventing sewer gases from coming into the house. Prevention can go along way. As they say, "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" Good luck, I hope you can sell. Remember curb appeal also - make sure the yard is taken care of - it does go along way and when someone stops by if they see its taken care of outside, they will assume it has been inside. Small details will also get noticed. Go room by room and just check small details, do cabinet and regular doors hang and shut correctly, what about drawers - these are things that people will look at, minor yes but if they can't pull apart your house, it may satisfy them with what they see first hand. Another HVAC tip - even though the house is not getting used, make sure to change the filters. You could get the reusable ones or just use the paper ones. At our house we purchased reusable and vacum and then rinse the extra dust out (they have a plastic frame with washable screen). Check around the perimiter of your home outside also - keep it clear. If there's a moisture issue, try and get it diverted or fixed, termites love moisture. Well, hopefully I have been helpful. - Rachael

I'm not an HVAC pro, but I have been working on my own new furnace installation. For me my furnace is on the 2nd floor and is positioned over a drain pan. This is only here for if ANYTHING in the system fails and condesate starts overflowing (This way it doesn't leak downstairs and ruin the ceiling drywall!!) But in a real failure this pan may only buy you time and it too could overflow. So in my pan a float switch is installed to kill power to the furnace if the water in the pan reaches a certain level. The idea is that if the unit turns off you'd definitely notice it and go up to investigate it. Otherwise the unit would quietly be pouring water into your ceiling. For my case this is a safety measure only in the event of an emergency. I'd expect a HVAC company to install this for about $100 - $200. The part is relatively cheap ( less than $40) and you might be able to do it yourself if the switch has good wiring instructions. Shade

@slogan3561 The cotton on the market today is fine. We have Mele washers and whites come out white. Keeping them white means you need to have the following: 1. If your water is hard (lots of minerals) a water softener should be used. 2. Heavily soiled whites should be pre-treated and soaked to loosen soil before the main wash. Use the washers soak cycle or a pre-wash. 3. A good detergent with the proper amount. Not the cheapest thing you find on sale. 4. A good Oxygen bleach. Make sure to use a water temp of 140F (60C) or higher to get the maximum effect from the oxygen bleach. If you have a clothes line, use it. The UV light from the sun works great to bleach whites and it's free! Many of today's washers are not built with the consumer in mind. They are built to get the maximum rebate from the government for their eco-friendliness.