Imagine it: you are gathering up your things at the office and miles away at your home, the stove powers on to make dinner. The AC system is notified and adjusts the temperature down to deliver more cool air to balance out the oven’s added heat. When you arrive home the lights automatically turn on as you walk in, dinner is prepared, and your home is at the ideal temperature.
That’s the dream! And also the sort of advanced home interconnectivity that is obtainable now and 2017 could be an essential 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 allowed thousands of apps to make our lives simpler and richer,” said Rob Haines, Marketing Manager for Service Experts Heating & Air Conditioning. “We forecast that in 2017, developers will be concentrating 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 HVAC system works.”
Smart thermostats and newer, updated HVAC systems can already send alerts to you about energy usage and routine maintenance such as air filter replacement. Future systems could even be able to recognize a likely equipment failure before it occurs and alert your heating and cooling repair company to call you and arrange a technician’s visit. The technician will get to your home with advance knowledge about the malfunction and the required parts to repair it.
Another feature in the making is the use of infrared heat sensing in the home that will conclude which rooms are in use by family and guests and actually send heating and cooling specifically to those regions.
“Zoned HVAC systems have been one of the fastest growing parts of the heating and cooling industry for quite a few years, and that will remain a large opportunity,” said Haines. “Increasingly, systems will center on heating and cooling specific areas 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 heating and cooling systems. “As millennials purchase their homes, they require their home systems like heating and air conditioning to not only do what they are told, but to track and modify themselves and to proactively send notifications to the homeowner. We also find that the millennials and Generation X are much more sophisticated about energy efficiency and those consequences of their heating and air conditioning systems.”
While early 2017 is the right time to look at trends for the year, it’s also a perfect time to look into savings that will pay off in the coming months. Currently many Service Experts centers are offering free or deeply discounted equipment when you invest in a qualifying item, such as a free furnace when you buy an air conditioning system. Heating tune-ups are also deeply discounted just in time for the coolest time of the year. Call Stark Services in Fort Worth today to schedule a no-charge in-home estimate or to set up a Precision tune up to make sure your furnace is ready to keep you comfortable and safe all winter long.