Picture it: you are collecting your things at work and miles away at your home, the oven powers on to cook dinner. The air conditioner is notified and makes adjustments to deliver more cool air to balance out the oven’s extra heat. When you get home the lights automatically turn on as you enter, dinner is ready, and your home is at the ideal temperature.
That’s the dream! And also the type of advanced home interconnectivity that is available now and 2017 could be a pivotal year for advancements in how your home’s heating and cooling systems function as part of the team.
“Smart phones radically changed our lives in part because they enabled numerous apps to make our lives simpler and richer,” said Rob Haines, Marketing Manager for Service Experts Heating & Air Conditioning. “We anticipate that in 2017, developers will be centering on more new apps that let all of your home’s systems and appliances interact versus being siloed, and this will include breakout new advancements in how your home’s heating and cooling systems work.”
Smart thermostats and newer, updated HVAC systems can already send notifications to you about energy use and standard maintenance such as when it’s time to change the air filter. Future systems might even be able to identify a possible equipment failure before it occurs and alert your heating and air conditioning repair company to reach out to you and set up a technician’s visit. The technician will arrive 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 in the home that will decifer which rooms are in use by people in the home and actually send heating and cooling specifically to those rooms.
“Zoned heating and air conditioning systems have been one of the largest growing parts of the heating and air conditioning industry for several years, and that will remain a big opportunity,” said Haines. “Furthermore, systems will focus on heating and cooling specific rooms or groups of rooms as needed to upgrade comfort and energy efficiency.”
And yes, Haines adds, the millennials are helping to drive the trends for at-home connectivity and more efficient HVAC systems. “As millennials purchase their homes, they require their home systems like HVAC to not only do what they are told, but to monitor and adapt themselves and to proactively provide feedback to the homeowner. We also see that the millennials and Generation X are much more sophisticated about energy efficiency and those implications of their HVAC systems.”
While right now is an ideal time to look at trends for the year, it’s also a good time to benefit from savings that will pay off in the future. For the next several weeks many Service Experts centers are offering free or deeply discounted equipment when you buy a qualifying item, such as a free furnace when you invest in an AC system. Heating tune-ups are also deeply discounted just in time for the coldest season of the year. Call BW/Cook Service Experts in Elkhart today to schedule a free in-home estimate or to set up a heating tune up to make sure your furnace is ready to keep you warm and cozy all winter long.