What is the obsession with Smart home solutions?
- Thread starter phatboy
- Start date
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They sell themselves on saving energy but I think that in fact you will use more because you are inclined to turn the heating on when you leave work so that it is toasty for when you arrive after heating an empty house, so wasting 1 hour of energy, but without the tec you turn it on when you get home
The tec I really want is house "global locking" like a car that when the windows are open and you press the remote to lock the doors, all the windows shut automaticity, that's what I want for my house, in the summer if I have to nip out for half hour, as I am security conscious it takes me (exaggerating ) longer to go around shutting all the windows than the trip out takes.
R
rules&rulers
so maybe a good idea not to install them remote wifi thermostats and keep the cash ready for future energy price hike's,they are on their way.
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Electrically powered windows for anything other than sash ones seems like a non-starter. If you didn't mind inward opening ones you might be able to do what you want with external motorised roller shutters over each window.
Still - good of you to think of burglars. Before they'd have to get physical access to force open a locked window, now all they'd need would be to crack the security of the transmissions which operates the shutters, and given the attitude to security displayed by home automation vendors so far, that wouldn't be difficult.
Not worried about burglars cracking the code because the poison darts will get them
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I have just finished getting mothers central heating up and running, one of the problems was where to monitor the temperature in order to stop boiler cycling, the EvoHome would have worked, but looking at not buying that much kit, so the only room if you can call it a room for the wall thermostat is the hall, however the hall has a door to the outside, when that door is opened the hall cools down, so the hall has a massive radiator to compensate, this means if the radiator has no TRV as normal when there is a wall thermostat then hall will warm up too quick and shut off central heating before rest of house is warm, turn down the lock shield valve and then hall does not recover when front door is opened.
The cure was to fit a TRV and to carefully set temperatures on the wall thermostat and the TRV to match, the TRV allows the radiator to warm up quickly when cooled with door open, but as it approaches the target temperature the TRV turns down the radiator so that last degree is slow to achieve, so boiler runs long enough to heat the rest of the house.
For this to work the hysteresis for the TRV needs to be more than the hysteresis on the wall thermostat, which it is, i.e. the TRV starts to close and finishes closing over a range of around 2°C and the thermostat works between on and off of around 0.5°C. If the standard TRV was swapped for a eTRV it would not work, as the eTRV is too good, and down to 1°C between starting to open and being fully open.
So although a full blown EvoHome would work, if I wanted a programmable thermostat in the hall it would only work correct at one temperature, as a frost protection using say 12°C well as long as house is above freezing it does not matter, one room could be 4°C and another 14°C that's OK, but only at the 18°C where I have set the TRV to match will the house have rooms all at the set temperatures. The whole idea of different temperatures through the day will not work with the main thermostat.
However move to my own house, there is no hall, just a double front door, the two rooms down stairs have a large arch between them and the wall thermostat is mounted between the two rooms, there are three radiators in the two rooms one with a circulating fan, now in this case, the programmed thermostat works well and has done for years.
So in my own house if I fitted a simple hive or nest it would work OK, but in mothers house they would be a waste of time, simply down to design of house, and this is where the automated systems fall down, people fail to realise the system has to match the house. This includes heat up and cool down times, I was really surprised to see how long it takes for mothers house to cool down.
Seen the same with other automated systems, for some reason my father-in-law decided to fit a motorised garage door, the unit has two remote controls one was kept in the car, the other in the house. When I first saw it, I had to call the fitters back, the consumer unit was in the garage and there was no personal door, so with power failure you could not get into garage to reset it. There seems to be no safety features, so pressing the button in the house, you can't see if anyone is under the door, fair enough with remote in car you are watching the door, but for remote in house you are not. In fact many times I would ring him up to say the garage door was open, he had not pressed the button for long enough to start it closing so many a night it has stayed open all night long.
Last week my wife called me, they could not shut the door, only the battery gone flat in the remote, I pressed the manual button in garage and it worked OK, so it was a case of press button then quickly duck under door before it closed, then get new battery. Although there is an emergency release fitted now, it is emergency only, it allows you to pull out a pin so you can with a lot of effort open the door. After this once you have repaired what ever stopped it opening with remote, you have to manually put the release pin back in.
I really can't see why he had it fitted, the up and over door worked well, he said the electric was more secure, well not when left open. I no longer use a "Smart" phone, the mobile I used now needs charging once a week, it is small in size, and I can carry a spare battery. I do have a "Smart" device, it could be used as a phone if I put a SIM card in it, but it is simply used in and around the house using WiFi to operate the devices which will not work from the PC. And to set house alarm, not intruder alarm. Since my Samsung "Smart" phone failed and I have started using a cheap standard mobile phone I realise how much better the cheap mobile phone is. The big thing is it works, it is rare that I come to use it and it has a discharged battery.
The cure was to fit a TRV and to carefully set temperatures on the wall thermostat and the TRV to match, the TRV allows the radiator to warm up quickly when cooled with door open, but as it approaches the target temperature the TRV turns down the radiator so that last degree is slow to achieve, so boiler runs long enough to heat the rest of the house.
For this to work the hysteresis for the TRV needs to be more than the hysteresis on the wall thermostat, which it is, i.e. the TRV starts to close and finishes closing over a range of around 2°C and the thermostat works between on and off of around 0.5°C. If the standard TRV was swapped for a eTRV it would not work, as the eTRV is too good, and down to 1°C between starting to open and being fully open.
So although a full blown EvoHome would work, if I wanted a programmable thermostat in the hall it would only work correct at one temperature, as a frost protection using say 12°C well as long as house is above freezing it does not matter, one room could be 4°C and another 14°C that's OK, but only at the 18°C where I have set the TRV to match will the house have rooms all at the set temperatures. The whole idea of different temperatures through the day will not work with the main thermostat.
However move to my own house, there is no hall, just a double front door, the two rooms down stairs have a large arch between them and the wall thermostat is mounted between the two rooms, there are three radiators in the two rooms one with a circulating fan, now in this case, the programmed thermostat works well and has done for years.
So in my own house if I fitted a simple hive or nest it would work OK, but in mothers house they would be a waste of time, simply down to design of house, and this is where the automated systems fall down, people fail to realise the system has to match the house. This includes heat up and cool down times, I was really surprised to see how long it takes for mothers house to cool down.
Seen the same with other automated systems, for some reason my father-in-law decided to fit a motorised garage door, the unit has two remote controls one was kept in the car, the other in the house. When I first saw it, I had to call the fitters back, the consumer unit was in the garage and there was no personal door, so with power failure you could not get into garage to reset it. There seems to be no safety features, so pressing the button in the house, you can't see if anyone is under the door, fair enough with remote in car you are watching the door, but for remote in house you are not. In fact many times I would ring him up to say the garage door was open, he had not pressed the button for long enough to start it closing so many a night it has stayed open all night long.
Last week my wife called me, they could not shut the door, only the battery gone flat in the remote, I pressed the manual button in garage and it worked OK, so it was a case of press button then quickly duck under door before it closed, then get new battery. Although there is an emergency release fitted now, it is emergency only, it allows you to pull out a pin so you can with a lot of effort open the door. After this once you have repaired what ever stopped it opening with remote, you have to manually put the release pin back in.
I really can't see why he had it fitted, the up and over door worked well, he said the electric was more secure, well not when left open. I no longer use a "Smart" phone, the mobile I used now needs charging once a week, it is small in size, and I can carry a spare battery. I do have a "Smart" device, it could be used as a phone if I put a SIM card in it, but it is simply used in and around the house using WiFi to operate the devices which will not work from the PC. And to set house alarm, not intruder alarm. Since my Samsung "Smart" phone failed and I have started using a cheap standard mobile phone I realise how much better the cheap mobile phone is. The big thing is it works, it is rare that I come to use it and it has a discharged battery.
Mine has a current sensor, so it reverses if the door meets any obstruction. Does his?
I chose one because it takes up less space, is much easier on my back than the manual door, it fits more closely, and is insulated.
R
rules&rulers
Maybe thats why the energy companies promote them,just a maybe thou.
Built in obsolescence is also an issue.
The room thermostat in my current property is a honeywell this model has been around for 25 years plus.same design. works a treat.
I think its a legal requirement in uk, with mine i can hold my hand under it halfway and the pressure makes it cut in, I think mines some sort of clutch and you can adjust it
Reminds me of when I spoke to the screen company once, he said someone jumped over the counter and the Abbey National staff hit the button, the shutter went up and trapped the bloke against the bulkhead, but there is a legal maximum pressure, the police came pulled him back and the thing raised a bit and it gripped his neck, they then released the screen and he fell to the floor.
He said apparently Australia don't need the pressure limit.
And in France they sharpen the lower edge...
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