Imagine it: you are collecting your things at work and miles away at your home, the oven powers on to cook dinner. The AC system is notified and lowers the temperature to deliver more cool air to offset the oven’s extra heat. When you get home the lights automatically turn on as you enter, dinner is prepared, and your home is at the perfect temperature.
That’s the dream! And also the kind of advanced home interconnectivity that is available now and 2017 could be a crucial year for advancements in how your home’s heating and cooling systems function as part of the team.
“Smart phones revolutionized our lives in part because they permitted countless apps to make our lives easier and richer,” said Rob Haines, Marketing Manager for Service Experts Heating & Air Conditioning. “We forecast that in 2017, developers will be centering on more new apps that allow all your home’s systems and appliances to interact instead of being siloed, and this will create breakout new advancements in how your home’s heating and cooling systems work.”
Smart thermostats and newer, updated HVAC systems can already send alerts to you about energy utilization and regular maintenance such as filter changes. Future systems may even be able to recognize a possible equipment failure before it happens and alert your heating and cooling repair company to contact you and schedule a technician’s visit. The technician will get to your home with the knowledge about the issue and the necessary parts to repair it.
Another on-the-drawing-board vision is the use of infrared heat sensing within the home that will determine which rooms are in use by family and guests and actually direct heating and cooling specifically to those regions.
“Zoned heating and cooling systems have been one of the largest growing parts of the heating and cooling industry for several years, and that will remain a big opportunity,” said Haines. “Increasingly, systems will center on heating and cooling specific regions of the home as needed to improve comfort and energy efficiency.”
And yes, Haines adds, the millennials help drive the trends for at-home connectivity and more efficient heating and cooling systems. “As millennials purchase their homes, they want their home systems like heating and air conditioning to not only do what they are told, but to observe and modify themselves and to proactively communicate with the homeowner. We also notice that the millennials and Generation X are much more aware about energy efficiency and those effects of their heating and cooling systems.”
While February is a great time to look at trends for the year, it’s also a good time to look into savings that will pay off in the upcoming seasons. For the next several weeks many Service Experts centers are giving free or deeply discounted equipment when you purchase a qualifying item, such as a free furnace when you invest in an AC system. Furnace tune-ups are also deeply discounted just in time for the coolest time of the year. Call Donelson Air Service Experts in Nashville today to schedule a no-charge in-home estimate or to set up a heating tune up to make sure your system is ready to keep you comfortable and safe all winter long.