PACKING PEACE OF MIND: Automating Your Home for a Stress-Free Vacation
The plane tickets are bought, the resort rooms are booked, and the kids’ activities are scheduled. You’ve picked out the perfect location for your family vacation. But have you thought about what could happen at your home while you’re away? Wouldn’t it be great if you could pack some peace of mind on some of the largest home investments you left behind?
If a critical home system unexpectedly stops working while you are away, the consequences and expense can compound. Even a small problem can become a large problem over time! With a little help from technology, smart home solutions are available to help monitor your home’s critical systems. Smart home automation solutions may not only detect home system issues, but the technology can be programmed to send out a notification to your smartphone or even respond accordingly. Imagine being able to handle a problem before it turns into a major catastrophe! Now, doesn’t that give you peace of mind!
Indoor Comfort Solutions
Wireless-enabled thermostats and HVAC control systems allow you to monitor your home’s temperature remotely. Certain smart control systems may be set up to send out instant alerts that identify pre-set temperature adjustment opportunities and critical care issues. Depending on the model installed by your licensed professional heating and air conditioning dealer, these notifications may alert you to:
- Change your air filter
- Schedule maintenance
- A-typical indoor temperature readings
If the temperature in your home reaches outside of pre-set levels, you may be alerted about a situation with your HVAC system. Imagine being able to schedule an HVAC service call before you arrive back home to a hot house!
Temperature sensors are wireless devices that connect to your thermostat or HVAC control system. These sensors allow you to customize the indoor temperatures using temperature/humidity level readings from particular rooms. Based on the readings, the indoor temperature automatically adjusts to meet your set preferences.
If you have more than one thermostat or control system, a series of wireless sensors can communicate to a particular zone.
Energy Solutions
How many times have you left the house wondering if your lights, coffee pot, or flat iron was still on? It happens more than you think! Smart home automation solutions may allow you to check the status of these plugged in devices through an app on your smartphone.
Smart energy switches allow you to turn any power outlet in your home into a smart outlet. There are even “heavy duty” smart switches for appliances that require a substantial electricity load, such as an air conditioner.
But what if you could intelligently monitor your home’s energy usage in real time — seeing exactly how much you spend on energy in your home at any given point in the day or night. Smart home energy meters may give you that capability. In fact, some energy meters offer a complete home energy breakdown profile of where you’re using energy, when you’re using it, and how much it costs you in real-time. And let’s face it, saving more energy at home may mean saving more money on your monthly utility bill.
What would you do with a little extra cash every month? Maybe you could start planning your next vacation! And this time when you travel, you will have the peace-of-mind knowing that you intelligently control your home with automated solutions that fit your lifestyle.
This article was included in the 2018 summer edition of Just Comfort™ Magazine