CES 2016 (2 of 2): A real life example

A few weeks ago, someone I know well was telling me about an incident at a condo she rents in Miami. The renter had left for a few weeks during Christmas and upon their return had found that the HVAC system was off. It’s unclear how long it had been off or what had shut it down, although it was probably a power outage. The end result was that the system had not turned itself on when the power came back so the condo had been without AC for an undetermined amount of time.

In Miami that can certainly be an issue. If it had happened during the hot, humid months (most of them) there could have been mold formation. So the big question to me was if there is something I knew of that could remotely turn on an AC system. I thought about it for a moment and then launched the iOS app I use to control my own Honeywell thermostat. I had never used it to turn on (or off) the AC, only to change the temperature setting. However, in exploring the app a bit further I realized that I could indeed turn the system off or turn it to Cool or Heat. It was news to me, and this on a system/app that is already several years old.

At CES 2016 Honeywell announced a new and improved version of their Lyric thermostat, at least two generations better than what I have. So in addition to letting the owner remotely turn the system on or off, it also sends the owner, or better yet, the home watcher, an alert if it detects an extreme temperature. With this kind of system, a home watcher would be notified first that there is a problem. Second, they would be able to take immediate action like checking if the system was off and then turning it on. Finally, they could check a bit later to see if the situation was normalized and if not, they would know that it was time to go do a physical inspection. This is obviously much better and less costly than finding mold on a walls when doing a monthly inspection.

Home owners are going to expect this level of service and it behooves the home watchers to stay abreast or ahead of this tech wave.