Envision it: you are gathering up your things at the office and miles away at your home, the stove kicks 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 additional heat. When you arrive home the lights automatically turn on as you enter, dinner is prepared, and your home is at the ideal temperature.
That’s the dream! And also the kind of advanced home interconnectivity that is accessible now and 2017 could be a pivotal year for advancements in how your home’s heating and air conditioning system functions as part of the team.
“Smart phones revolutionized our lives in part because they permitted thousands of 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 focusing on more new apps that let all of your home’s systems and appliances interact opposed to 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 notifications to you about energy use and standard maintenance such as when it’s time to change the air filter. Future systems may even be able to determine a potential equipment failure before it happens and notify your HVAC repair company to contact you and set up a technician’s visit. The technician will arrive with prior knowledge about the problem and the necessary parts to repair it.
Another work in progress is the use of infrared heat sensing within the home that will decifer which rooms are in use by residents and actually direct heating and cooling specifically to those areas.
“Zoned heating and air conditioning systems have been one of the fastest growing parts of the HVAC industry for quite a few years, and that will remain a large opportunity,” said Haines. “Increasingly, systems will concentrate on heating and cooling specific regions of the home as needed to enhance comfort and energy efficiency.”
And yes, Haines adds, the millennials are driving the trends for at-home connectivity and more efficient HVAC systems. “As millennials buy their homes, they expect their home systems like heating and air conditioning to not only do what they are told, but to observe and adjust themselves and to proactively communicate with the homeowner. We also see that the millennials and Generation X are much more sophisticated about energy efficiency and those effects of their heating and cooling systems.”
While February 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 upcoming seasons. For the next several weeks many Service Experts centers are giving free or deeply discounted equipment when you buy 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 Parker Pearce Service Experts in Gaithersburg today to schedule a free in-home estimate or to set up a furnace tune up to make sure your system is ready to keep you safe and warm all winter long.