Before investing a lot more into buying these vents (and if you haven’t already done so) it is worth researching what experts in the design of HVAC systems have to say about changing the vent settings in individual rooms of a home. As has been pointed out in a few other postings in this discussion, a forced air heating/cooling system is designed to work optimally exactly as it was installed. At face value it seems these adjustable vents could be a great idea, but in reality “adjusting” the air flow with these vents will usually cause more issues than it solves and will do nothing to improve the energy efficiency of your home’s heating and cooling system.[/quote]
I have to disagree. Whoever designed my home (Dr Horton) had no clue about even distribution of heat.
Huge master bedroom where the thermostat is in and 2 smaller bedrooms for the kids.
By the time the big bedroom is cooled down or heated up the small bedrooms are either oven hot or winter cold.
I will implement a logic and those vents for sure but I do agree to one point which is not to close all vents and have the pressure damage the system. Easy to control with logic so please don’t bash something which IS or WILL fix a common problem in this world.[/quote]
I agree as well. Typical residential HVAC systems are installed by amateurs that have no clue and to be an HVAC contractor you don’t need to know much, if anything, about compressible fluid hydraulics. In California you merely need to have another contractor attest that you have 4 years experience, do a little bit of studying and then take and pass an exam. The systems are not designed by a mechanical engineer based on principals of mechanics but rather by looking at tables that don’t apply to all situations. Oftentimes, especially in production tract work, the contractor is not even on the job site but rather has un-licensed crews do the work. This would be why some are looking into controlling the quantity of air delivered to different rooms based on the ambient conditions therein in the first place.
For example, in my house the Master Bedroom has a return air vent in the ceiling very near to the supply register. Cool air coming into the room is quickly removed and the room is not cooled. Other rooms get more supply than return as well. This system needs to be re-balanced on a room by room basis and this needs to happen in real time because in the summer it is too hot in the room and in the winter it is just right. These registers can be set to open and close based on what a combined temperature / humidity sensor is reading in the room. Do all the rooms need this? Maybe, maybe not; but this room does.
Just wanted to throw our hat into the smart vent (and then some) ring.
https://flair.co - we make both smart vents and the sensors you need (if you don’t have any yet) to accurately control temperature across a central system, minsiplit/windowac OR hybrid systems where you might have central/minisplit/windowac/portable heaters.
I can try and answer questions here although its easier on our forum (forum.flair.co). We are still running preorder prices and units will ship later this summer if you buy now. Pricing is quite competitive if you manage to nab preorder pricing (40/vent, 60/Puck). We also have some interesting plans for the Puck that will give it some pretty next level capabilities over the coming 6 months to year.
I think the MIOS component, and Z Wave in general, is something to address quickly, IMO. I have A LOT of customers that are coming around to the idea that paying monthly fees for automation and monitoring systems is nuts, they don’t want any more controllers (taking Keen out of the equation) and want to integrate into their existing, extremely flexible Z Wave systems. I imagine you have done the studies but I’m surprised you’re not chasing Z Wave options since no one else is tapping into it. Otherwise, looks to be a solid product!!! Now, if you do a Keen buy back program… I made the mistake of jumping into their system and am so frustrated and let down with the Zigbee setup.
I am interested in your flair product. I have a question though. Will I need a vent for each of the vents in a room. Most of the rooms have multiple vents in the walls. Also do I need to buy a puck per room. Do you have remote sensors. In some of the other vendor products like eco-vents they use remote sensors plugged into the wall. I would rather not have to depend on a sensor that was placed so close to the floor or that could be accidentally unplugged by children looking for a power outlet or the cleaning lady using the vacuum.
Hi all. I’m looking for some zwave controlled vents. It seems the much loved ecovents are no longer available. Their timer based models are on amazon for pocket change, but nothing zwave.
When this technology, either Flair or Ecovent, integrates with Vera, I will seriously look into it. My house is well balanced and comfortable but my office upstairs is a couple of degrees warmer.
Can you elaborate or provide some detail to allow others to determine if the trouble is worth the means? Or please provide a link which describe the steps that are needed to get these to work with vera. All information greatly appreciated.
I have some Keen vents working with my VeraPlus running the latest firmware. Well, working might not be 100% true.
I set them up using the Window Covering device as described and they paired with very little trouble. Manual control via the slider works well and they are fairly responsive. But programmatic control is a battle I’m still fighting because for some reason I can’t do anything other than fully open or fully close the vents using LUA.
It’s a little weird because you are actually manipulating dimmer load targets as a proxy for the vent position, but other than simple open or closed, I can’t make it work. Other than that, the vents are fine.
[quote=“bohemian, post:30, topic:185548”]I have some Keen vents working with my VeraPlus running the latest firmware. Well, working might not be 100% true.
I set them up using the Window Covering device as described and they paired with very little trouble. Manual control via the slider works well and they are fairly responsive. But programmatic control is a battle I’m still fighting because for some reason I can’t do anything other than fully open or fully close the vents using LUA.
It’s a little weird because you are actually manipulating dimmer load targets as a proxy for the vent position, but other than simple open or closed, I can’t make it work. Other than that, the vents are fine.[/quote]
That is strange… I set mine up through the house modes and use lua to program the housemodes differently depending on whether it is heating or cooling and have had no issues that way.
This ended up resolving itself for unknown mysterious reasons. The vents work great now. If I had the skills to create a Keen Vent plugin I would, but faking it out as a Window Covering seems to work for now.
I made the mistake of jumping into their system and am so frustrated and let down with the Zigbee setup.