Thermostats - Landlord Forum thread 359696

Thermostats by Brendan on September 9, 2019 @16:23

Thermostats used to be easy. Now with so much being super programmable and WIFI telephone controls, I have lost any ability I had to install home thermometers, program them, and instruct a tenant. The NEST thermostat --which they are installing now--we have it in our home and oh, boy...
Are you folks installing fancy thermostats? Preferences.

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Re: Thermostats by lpadave on September 9, 2019 @18:11	[ Reply ]

generally in middle market units and below i will replace as necessary thermostats with old fashioned sliders using bi-metalic coils that are manual with no clock or calendar controls. it makes it idiot proof. I have no real desire to educate tenants on the complexity of technology or the internet. its just a recipie for problems and late night phone calls. on higher end units I use the basic / NON INTERNET CAPABLE Honeywell electronic units with a seven day repeat calendar and two or four set points per day. I give new tenants a copy of the honeywell user manual and they're on their own. I STILL GET CALLS. the honeywell units have proven to be pretty reliable, easy to use and well under 50 dollars each. change batteries with your periodic inspections. use lithium. upper end tenants wishing the smart gizzmos may contact my hvac guy for products and install at the tenants expense. to interface with smart home / internet systems that the tenant wishes to install,...its their internet guy working with my hvac guy. at their expense. NOBODY BUT MY GUYS TOUCH MY HEATING OR AC SYSTEMS. I recently had a new upper end tenant move in with a refrigerator that scanned, kept track of and actually automatically created a shopping list and ordered products as they were used up. gotta love this world we live in,......even as a luddite

Re: Thermostats

Re: Thermostats by Darryl on September 15, 2019 @08:54	[ Reply ]

For a thermostat that sets the in home temperature, we just use the old mechanical ones, pretty much as basic as you can get - with NO batteries! (dead batteries just seem to throw another monkey wrench into the equation). Now on the subject of thermostats, we have found an awesome "thermostat temperature monitor" (that sends notifications to your cell phone for user-set temperature rises/drops, and it has an app where you can view all your properties one by one and see hourly temperature updates), very easy to set up and easy to use, $140 total cost includes the thermostat / lockbox enclosure / usb outlet. As an aside: I am in no way affiliated with this company! I just happened to stumble across this thing when I was looking for something to fulfill this purpose, and its been a godsend. Here is a link to the review I wrote on the companies website (it includes links to a lock box enclosure I found on amazon that is 'just' the right size to fit the unit, as well as photos of what the finished product looks like). https://watchman.online/testimonials#7339703a-35d4-4e76-88f6-03ffecbc008b In our lease, we have added a clause that states: 47. TEMPERATURE MONITORING Tenant will allow landlord the usage of their WiFi network (internet) for the sole purpose of temperature monitoring. Landlord agrees that he/she will not share wifi credentials with any third party: additionally, landlord agrees that he/she will not use the network for any reason other than purposes directly related to temperature monitoring. Tenant agrees not to tamper or alter the temperature monitoring device in any way. Also they have a version of this device that not only monitors temperature and humidity, but it also does "butane, propane, methane, carbon monoxide, alcohol, hydrogen, and smoke.".. I was a little hesitant to buy this one, as I am thinking it might pop constantly for nonsense dinner time smoke alarms.. But the most recent monitor we bought had this option, and I'm going to test it out. Im most interested in the carbon monoxide detection. In any case, for all landlords out there, we highly recommend this. The app and the notifications are the most amazing part of the whole thing. You open the app, and are immediately presented with your list of property addresses that you can click on, and search by date/time, and see a full history of temperature checks. you select the presets for the monitor, and if the temperature goes above/below that preset, you get an alert on your phone. Same if the power or internet goes out. We love it!

Re: Thermostats