Hi experts. I'm a licensed electrician with only rudimentary HVAC knowledge. I also do maintenance for a small group of rental properties, both long term and vacation rentals. My HVAC provider is a one-man shop and a good friend. He's by far the most capable and reliable provider I work with, but I hate that we're always chasing problems from behind. A lot of his work for the long term rentals is emergency calls, after something has broken. The vacation rentals are a different kind of risk; they are all in wild corners of the mountains in Colorado, where a heating failure during a vacancy could easily break every pipe in the house.
Furnace filters are always a problem. I can tell long term tenants they have to replace filters, but they mostly don't, and I don't have time to keep up with it. The real problem is that they clog at unpredictable times. Sometimes a filter will last for months, and other times the furnace will start starving after a few weeks. This sometimes happens at a single property.
I am therefore anxious for my HVAC guy to set up some kind of remote monitoring at every house. He hasn't gotten into this sort of stuff yet, but he's willing to start. My needs are pretty simple. I mostly just want to be alerted to heating and cooling problems. I also want to know when air filters are getting clogged, whether that's by air handler temperature rise or pressure differential.
The vacation rentals have internet access that I or my HVAC guy can use for monitoring. The long term rentals do not, since internet access is arranged and secured by the tenants.
We definitely need remotely controllable t-stats for the vacation rentals, and some landlords have expressed interest in limiting the temperatures set by tenants in the long term rentals as well, in order to protect the A/C units in particular.
I'm willing to pay for good equipment and a solid installation, and my HVAC guy is willing to invest the time to learn.
What do you recommend? What brands and systems are a good fit for simple residential remote monitoring, with duct temperature, pressure, diagnostics, and smart-ish t-stats?
Furnace filters are always a problem. I can tell long term tenants they have to replace filters, but they mostly don't, and I don't have time to keep up with it. The real problem is that they clog at unpredictable times. Sometimes a filter will last for months, and other times the furnace will start starving after a few weeks. This sometimes happens at a single property.
I am therefore anxious for my HVAC guy to set up some kind of remote monitoring at every house. He hasn't gotten into this sort of stuff yet, but he's willing to start. My needs are pretty simple. I mostly just want to be alerted to heating and cooling problems. I also want to know when air filters are getting clogged, whether that's by air handler temperature rise or pressure differential.
The vacation rentals have internet access that I or my HVAC guy can use for monitoring. The long term rentals do not, since internet access is arranged and secured by the tenants.
We definitely need remotely controllable t-stats for the vacation rentals, and some landlords have expressed interest in limiting the temperatures set by tenants in the long term rentals as well, in order to protect the A/C units in particular.
I'm willing to pay for good equipment and a solid installation, and my HVAC guy is willing to invest the time to learn.
What do you recommend? What brands and systems are a good fit for simple residential remote monitoring, with duct temperature, pressure, diagnostics, and smart-ish t-stats?
source https://hvac-talk.com/vbb/showthread.php?2226666-I-need-some-advice-on-remote-HVAC-system-monitoring&goto=newpost
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