Using Your Smart Phone To Control Your Home
If smartphones were the biggest step in terms of tech development in the 2000s, the advent of smart homes should represent the most notable leap of the 2010s.
Although controlling the appliances in your house right from your phone sounds a lot like science fiction for most, it’s now possible to tap into high-tech functionality that wasn’t readily accessible in the past.
All you need to do is learn how to use one app on your phone/tablet, and you’ll be able to control a handful of functions throughout your home.
This option has provided homeowners with the option to decrease their energy costs while increasing their comfort. Who could argue with that?
Remote Climate Control
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A typical thermostat allows you change the temperature in your home using a control panel. But if you’ve had a hard time with conventional programmable thermostats, then you’ll appreciate the new generation of devices — they just work! With a smart thermostat, you have a more user-friendly control platform for your home’s heating. While functionality varies across different models, most devices work using 3 basic components, including:
- Module: These devices come with a module that plugs directly into the boiler.
- Thermostat: This is the in-home device that acts as the main control unit.
- An app: Users download this to their smartphones/tablets, from where they can adjust their homes’ heating.
This is the basic makeup of the most common smart thermostats. Some advanced models offer extended functionality. You can find units that can detect when your smartphone is in the house. Others detect when you’re on your way there. These devices can start warming up or cooling down the home to your desired temperature. Temperature automation aside, there’s a whole host of benefits to using a smart thermostat.
Benefits Of A Smart Thermostat:
Saving Energy:
Entrusting a smart thermostat with your home’s climate management could save you money on your heating and cooling bills. This, of course, depends on your household’s heating and cooling habits.
Eliminate Human Error From The Equation:
Letting your smart thermostat handle the raising and lowering of your home’s temperature makes it easier to be energy-efficient. This is especially true for units capable of learning their users’ preferences and schedule.
Track And Analyze Energy Usage:
Some devices track your energy consumption and provide the data in an easy-to-study monthly report. This will tell you how much energy you’re using compared to other users. This can be helpful whenever you’re curious about how much heat you ran on a particular month.
Re-think Your Home’s Lighting
Have you ever wished you could be able to switch off that light you left on from the comfort of your bed? Want the lights on the minute you arrive home? Or do you want the ability to turn them on and off, based on a preset schedule? Smart lighting solutions make all these possible. It offers the possibility to control and customize the lighting in your home. It even does this with just a few taps of your phone. And you don’t have to overhaul your current electrical network; there are units that just need snapping into existing switches. Most of them will not interfere with the standard phone-free operation of these switches.
This allows you to turn off lights in multiple rooms. You can also alternate lights so that your house appears occupied when you’re away. There are many ways you could benefit from these advanced systems. Smart lighting systems make it possible to save energy by creating settings for different rooms in your house. This way, you can save money on your energy bills, while reducing your carbon footprint as well.
You might have to pay more for the initial investment. However, you could save close to $40 per year for every light fixture in your home.
Smart Home
Smart home automation has been around for quite some time. However, the fact is that most people can now afford smartphones. This means the technology is more convenient because it is more available. Although the day when the dishes do themselves is yet to come, the reality is that you could make your life much easier. You can do this by taking advantage of these technologies. So, if you’ve been dreaming of connecting your home’s systems through a single interface, it is now easily available to you!
For heating and cooling services, contact R.F. Ohl. We specialize in air conditioning, heating, plumbing and many other types of home services. If you are interested in having a smart thermostat installed in your home, our NATE certified specialists will be able to do it for you. Additionally, they will be able to find ways to enhance your home’s energy efficiency so that you can pay less for your heating and cooling costs. For a complete list of our home services, click here.
Contact us today or give us a call at (610) 377-1098 if you have any questions.