House Automation??? Call in to change Heat settings etc??

[Morelans]

This is our first vacation home that we have been renting out and we are learning more each day.

Our new problem is how to check remotely the gas in the propane tank and the temperature of the house.

Lately I have been having issues with the propane running short or worse running OUT with guests in the house. I have calculated how much gas each day should use, but temperature plays a big part. I got caught last week when the gas ran out on a family of 10 renting our place and it was 29 degrees outside. Lucky for me they were very understanding.

I had to make an emergency call and have the gas filled.. only to arrive on site a week later and 50% had been used already!!! This was due to the cleaning crew leaving the thermostats on 75 degrees.. therby running the heat all day and all night with no one there. Total WASTE of MY money!

I have looked and there are wireless Propane Tank Level Meters I can purchase which allows me to remotely check the tank level, average usage and last fill. You purchase the hardware and then purhcase a call block. The Unit calls HOME to the manufacture, I can go to their website and get the report and see how things are working. You can set the call in to Home to be every day, every week or whatever interval you like.

I have also seen thermostats I can call in and hit a code and it will tell me what the current setting is such as Heat set to 75, and I can then change the setting or change to AC etc. Of course these require additional wiring as well as hooking up to the phone system.

Does anyone have a better way to call in and remotely check and or change your house thermostats? What about the propane tank meters??

I would save my money and check personally but we are over too far away from our vacation home for daily visits.

Thanks
Shawn Morelan

[Mountain Goat]

Shawn, do you have broadband internet at the property? And if so, is it available continuously? I can probably come up with a solution if you have.

MG

[Morelans]

Actually I was just reading in the forums TO DSL OR NOT.. currently we do not offer Internet but I have been thinking about it.

If you have a solution that would require DSL I am open to hearing them and then putting in DSL as I would then have another use other than just for a guest.

PLUS when I visit I about go stir crazy as all of my business is done via Internet.. so to be without email and Internet has been a problem for me, plus if it is a deciding factor for guests it would be worth it.

Thanks for the reply.. anxious to see what you have.

Shawn Morelan

[Mountain Goat]

Shawn
I'm not an expert on this at all, but have been investigating the field of remote heating control and temperature monitoring for our own place, including temp. warnings for either v. low (below freezing when heating fails) or v. high (i.e. fire or overheat situations). It's all based on a simple CAT5 Ethernet network with no PC necessary, but incorporates a wireless router for guests' internet access.

It can be done via Internet or 'phone. If you want to control your thermostat remotely then it's essential that any supplier is aware of the full technical specs. of your thermostat. As I've found out, old analog gear is not easily compatible with any modern remote control solutions.

These two outfits will give you enough keywords to do your own Google research:

http://tinyurl.com/wmyyg

http://tinyurl.com/w7ejw

'Ethernet thermostat control' will give you the basics.

A couple of basic things to consider are (a) you probably don't want a PC running at the thermostat end - you want a system which will send and receive information independent of a PC and (b) what happens with power failure and whether your chosen system will reboot automatically when power returns.

Good luck!

MG