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Ask Louise
Q Should I leave the a/c on in my villa while I am away for the summer?
A I would suggest that you do as the heat and humidity could damage wooden furniture and will encourage fungus growth. Set the AC units at about 27 degrees Celsius and if possible set it on a timer to come on roughly twice a day so that you do not use excessive amounts of electricity but at the same time this will protect your house and contents from damage.
During summer we were away for 2 months (May & June) and due to various annoying factors (mainly a power cut that automatically set the thermostat back to 18 deg!) we received an extremely high electricity bill so the next time we opted not to leave our a/c on. We own a 2 storey villa with little to no insulation (i.e. roof) so the dry heat is really bad. The only good thing we noted was that it was dry heat!
So… we kept no plants indoors except 2 large cacti (which survived).
NO other damages were noted ‘this time’ i.e. absolutely no signs of humidity / fungus / cracks / etc. Not sure if we were lucky or if it is safe to leave the aircon off afterall. A friend stopped by one a week but did not turn on the a/c!
Good luck!