Sorry for breaking the flurry of on-topic OM-D traffic but I have some
home automation/security questions for which I know someone here has the
answers.
I have two (I think modest) goals I'd like to achieve for when I leave
the house in the winter for warmer climes.
1) Right now I have a simple set of timers that turn a few lights on and
off that simulate the activity in the house when it's occupied. Some of
these timers have a battery backup so they can survive power outages.
However, by the time I return in the spring, sunset and sunrise are
radically different than when I left. Also, daylight savings time has
gone into effect further throwing the timers off. Also, one of the
lights I'd like to control (but don't now) is operated by a wall switch
where control is not amenable to a simple plug-in timer.
I think I can solve these lighting problems with fairly simple Insteon,
Z-Wave (or similar) devices. But I don't know all the ins/outs of these
things and what's best or worse. Nor do I completely understand the
need for or how to completely cover communicating over both phases of
the AC power lines of the house. That leads to a question of should I
use radio transmission devices only?
Whatever the solution here it probably gets complicated (cost wise) by
goal #2...
2) When I leave the house for the winter I have the plumbing winterized
with anti-freeze by a plumber right after I leave and de-winterized just
before I return. I also have the town turn my water off outside the
house just in case my own inside shut-off valve should start leaking.
The town turns the water off for free but the winterizing/de-winterizing
costs me $200/year. What I'd like to do is get rid of the precautionary
anti-freeze requirement for the plumbing. But that requires that I keep
a close watch on the temperature of the house in the event the furnace
should fail. Right now I have a simple temperature sensor that turns on
a red light in the window to warn the neighbors if the temperature drops
to 40F. But if they don't notice or don't respond the antifreeze in the
pipes will protect the plumbing. With no anti-freeze in the pipes I
don't dare count on the neighbors noticing that all is not well with the
furnace.
If I want to spend lots of money and use a smartphone (not!) I can get
instant alerts via smartphone on some systems. But I don't want to go
there. I normally have my internet/cable/phone shut off when I'm gone
but can leave internet only communications running for about the same
amount of money that it costs me for winterizing/de-winterizing. That
allows for a freeze/temperature sensor communicate with me via the net
but I don't know exactly how to do that at modest cost. A warning
e-mail would be best but even having to log-on daily for a status check
would be OK if it's the only way to do it cheaply.
These are the functions I'm after. The questions are how to do it
cheaply but also reliably. If there's no built-in freeze protection the
system has to work. Probably best to take the answers to this off-list.
Thanks much,
Chuck Norcutt
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