Smart Home Automation For Your Heating and Cooling Systems

“Alexa, make my living room 78 degrees!”

Smart home automation systems can increase the energy efficiency of your ductless heating and cooling system and other home comfort systems in just a few words. It’s amazing how far technology has come.

Manufacturers of residential ductless heating and cooling systems, like Mitsubishi Electric Trane HVAC US (METUS) have been expanding the IoT for a few years by introducing software that can automate your ductless mini-split, heat pump, central air conditioning, and furnaces. You can also make it compatible with smart home devices like speakers, Amazon’s Alexa, and Google Nest.

“We definitely have those capabilities to tie into,” said Michelle Robb, senior marketing director at Mitsubishi Electric Trane HVAC U.S. (METUS). “You can just simply talk to Alexa and tell her to turn the temperature up or down in a specific zone.”

Robb was referring to the Kumo cloud’s mobile app that puts enhanced control of your home’s heating and cooling right at your fingertips, no matter where you are. Adding Kumo station to your Kumo cloud system now permits you to control up to two stages of supplemental heating, humidification, dehumidification, and ventilation equipment all from the app. Hydronic heating provides efficient comfort and precise control to select zones with cost-savings benefits and a decreased environmental impact.

“We’re really trying to make this as easy to control from wherever you are,” said Jose De La Portilla, national training manager at Samsung HVAC.

With the Kumo cloud® service, you can monitor and control your Mitsubishi Electric mini-split system anywhere and anytime. The Kumo Cloud service gives you total control over your home, whether you’re there or not. It lets you cool it down or warm up as needed and can even be adjusted outside the house. Set schedules, view alarms, and much more all in your app.

With the help of the Kumo cloud app, you can integrate your heating and cooling system with Alexa or Google Home. The app is also compatible with IFTTT, so depending on what you do, it can help make things easier.

Ductless heating and cooling technology lead to significant energy savings – up to 60% in some cases, according to the U.S Energy Star program. To take advantage of this smart home system, hire a licensed HVAC professional to install the Wireless Interface and pair it with your wireless router.

Smart Tech Equals Smart Heating and Cooling.

A Samsung digital inverter outdoor unit for a ductless mini-split system can heat or cool up to five zones. Samsung offers the SmartThings platform to control its HVAC products. (Courtesy of Samsung HVAC)

Programmable thermostats existed before smart thermostats, but experts say the latter is much more advanced. They make scheduling a breeze and can help to reduce energy consumption.

• Users can remotely turn the temperature up or down while at work or on a trip via an app on the phone.

• Geolocation features — or geofencing — on smartphones can signal the app to adjust the temperature for energy savings (dial it down in the winter, up in the summer, for example) when no one is at home, then readjust it to the desired comfort level during the occupants’ commutes home so it will be at an optimal setting by the time they start to arrive.

• Some systems also have occupancy sensors that consider how many people are in space when adjusting the temperature.

• Artificial intelligence (AI) features that learn occupants’ routines — such as when they’re home and when they’re not, and what temperatures they like at specific times or in specific zones — can adjust heating and cooling accordingly for optimum efficiency.

Even irregular routines can’t throw off an AI feature, said De La Portilla at Samsung.

“It just continually records that data to the cloud” to use the information to refine comfort and efficiency, De La Portilla said. “Every day, every hour, every minute, it’s learning.”

“Apps that are granted access to your mobile phone’s location can automatically relax cooling and heating temperature set points when you leave your house — based on your geolocation — which helps minimize energy use when you are not at home,” said Barnard.

With voice-activated hubs, you never have to worry about controlling your home’s ductless system. These hubs also allow manufacturers to make their HVAC automation software compatible with different ones for added convenience.

If you have a central forced-air system, you’ll want a smart thermostat, like Honeywell, Nest or Ecobee, instead. WiFi Thermostats like the Honeywell Home T9 Smart Thermostat bring you helpful, connected products to enjoy optimal comfort in your home.

“The main benefit of using popular hubs is to group different devices from different manufacturers, create combination routines, and issue voice commands,” said Barnard at LG Electronics.

“Sometimes you have customers who are more comfortable with one or the other,” said De La Portilla. “They don’t have to learn a whole new system” of automation as they add various smart products.

Ductless systems can make for easier installations, De La Portilla said, because technicians don’t have to work with heavy pieces of metal ductwork or crawl around in tight spaces such as attics.

“It can actually reduce the installation time and the cost of goods,” such as sheet metal, he said.

To be sure, smart ac controllers are a temporary solution in the interim period between old appliances not contending with new technology.

Eventually, new appliances will not be uncommon to ship with WiFi and smart controllers. This will reduce the need for standalone WiFi setups.

These are especially good for homes with limited cooling options. They are, however, slowly being replaced by more modern technologies. If you haven’t already upgraded to more sophisticated systems in your home, they’re worth considering, as they help make your home smarter and might be cheaper than buying all-new tech.

Smart Home HVAC Installers

Hillside installs, maintains, and repairs all major brands of central air conditioning, including ductless mini-split systems, and can connect your smart hub to these heating and cooling systems.

With Hillside, you can enjoy a worry-free summer while they install, maintain, and repair your central air conditioning system. These times can be a hassle, but with Hillside’s technicians, you won’t have to worry about any of it.