I am familiar with most of them but as DW and I are mostly at home all the time the need for one is not there.
What I am looking for but not sure of the terminology is one that will warn/notify me when the actual temperature is x degrees off from the set temperature.
Yesterday for the 2nd time in the last year or so the a/c quit putting out cold air. As I was in and out of the house doing yard work I did not notice it until time to quit and clean up. By then the inside temp was 84 (normally set to 78) and it was after hours for repairs. I figured we could deal with it over night using fans and such rather than calling for emergency repairs. This morning everything seems to be working fine but that is another story, I would like some kind of notice when the system (heat or a/c) malfunctions.
I think what you’re asking for is a internet connected thermometer that has ability to send alerts to you when it sees the temp is outside an expected range.
I think there are a number of them available, and the features on them vary.
I would search for “internet thermomemter” or “wifi thermometer” and maybe add “alert” into the search as well.
They get used for low temperature alerts for preventing freezes in houses where the people are away for a winter vacation. And for high temperature alerts for greenhouses getting too hot.
What I am looking for but not sure of the terminology is one that will warn/notify me when the actual temperature is x degrees off from the set temperature. Yesterday for the 2nd time in the last year or so the a/c quit putting out cold air.
There are expensive temperature monitors which will send an alert to your phone, etc.
But given that you are home most of the time, there’s a very simple solution: an oven thermometer or similar. Less than $20.
And there are those for “indoor outdoor” with alarms; again, just leave the outdoor sensor part inside, on a table or wherever. This doesn’t need to be complicated or expensive. They will beep at you once the temperature has exceeded your setting.
We have a wifi enabled Honeywell thermostat, but the only alerts I get is if it loses the wifi connection, otherwise, once set up, it still continues to run the scheduled cutbacks, even without the wifi/web link. No A.C, but it’s handy if we leave in the winter for a long weeken, cut it back to the 50s, but then on the way home, bring it back to the normal schedule… Many models, Trane has one with their branding, likely others, but our furnace guy liked this one…
Thanks for the replies.
Goofy is right in that I do not want/need to spend a bunch on this but I do think an alert of some type is necessary. This looks like it would do the job at a reasonable cost https://www.amazon.com/Thermometer-Diivoo-Compatible-Notific…
I have one Google Nest (Learning). Like the Honeywell system you schedule temperature settings and it alerts you when the temp drops below/above your specified safety range or the app can’t connect to the thermostat. It also calculates energy efficient temperature settings and generates little reminders / feedback of when it’s been set well. Bright visual display, motion detection nearby can trigger a different temp setting, a few other nice to have settings.
I have just heat, no A/C. Ridiculously easy to install to a “two-wire” no A/C furnace.
Since last summers heat waves, we had our Heat & A/C guy install a heat pump A/C unit to the setup we had, American Standard, I think, but it linked right up to the Trane furnace, same Honeywell thermostat, a couple tweaks to add the Vooling to the Modes, I found, alto Brian my A/C guy didn’t set it up a way to add Auto to the Honeywell, so the switch from heat to A/C or back is automatic. Haven’t done it because of all the cold weather we had, so maybe I’ll just let that go for now. But the het pump heats as long as the outside air temperature is above 40°F, if it drops below, the NG furnace takes over. With all the rate shuffling, I’m not seeing any great savings so far, but we felt the heat pump option was best, long term. He was able to re-use an old electric oven 220vac breaker pair by doing a cut n splice in the attic, saving a nasty long run to another sub-panel. Also managed to get the refrigerant lines in the crawlspace so a nice clean installation… So we’ll see what this next sommer brings…
We just had a Mitsubishi mini-split installed, and it didn’t come with auto change from heat to cool or vice versa either. Since it’s just for our sun room which is cold in the morning and insufferably hot in the afternoon that was a feature I assumed would be standard, and which I missed.
The unit is triggered by a hand held remote, so I looked on Amazon and eBay to see if there were others, lo and behold for an additional $19 I got a remote which has that capability.
Surprised it didn’t come with that, love the unit except for the ugliness of it hanging on the wall, and the noise level is virtually silent - thanks to the board for recommending that brand.
The Honeywell thermostat is on my WiFi network, so its remote linkages is either from it’s “TTC” app on our iPhones or via a website… So when out wandering I can do a permanent Hold until near time to return home or wait until we’re home… To set up the Auto is a tad tedious need the dealer password, serial number before allowing access to its innards, at the time it went in I was more interested, but as time passes, not sure I need to mess with it… Will see in a few weeks as it warms up, maybe cold nights… So there has to be some +/- setups to determine when to flip… More research ahead…
Did your mini split unit come equipped with the WiFi Kumo controller option? We have 4 wall-mounted units in our house and the newest one came with that option. I’m not a HUGE fan of the Kumo app that you use to connect to the unit, but it does give you nice on/off features, and the unit settings can be managed remotely once set up.
'38Packard
love our Mitsubishi mini-splits - silent for sure.
Dunno. Came with a handheld remote which does everything except the one function I wanted (automatically switch from heat to cool & vice versa without having to be told to.) Found one on eBay for Mitsubishi which was not listed for our unit but took a chance, it works perfectly. So the set temperature is maintained from cold morning to hot afternoon plus or minus 2°.
One thing I really like is that you can get remote sensors to place throughout the home. The sensors collect information about the environment and also whether or not there’s motion in the room.
