Hey folks! Is anyone here an HVAC professional that performs installations, service, or maintenance in the residential market in North America?
I’ve been using Home Assitant for many years and have built a few custom sensors and automations for my own HVAC system. It’s amazing how capable the system is - basically a DIY BMS for homes.
I also work in the world of residential HVAC and I have pondered many times of deploying the platform in customers’ homes to provide remote sensor readings and automations either along side or instead of smart thermostats. Theoretically, smart maintenance kits could be deployed with zigbee/bluetooth sensors, raspberry pis, etc as a part of a HVAC company’s membership program.
If you are an HVAC professional, I’d love to learn more about how you use the platform!
Genuine question - how would you support your installations? It seems to me that there would be a relatively high amount of ongoing support required (updates, fixes, customisations etc) and so is still mainly for the home enthusiast (rather than the general public).
WIth the right business model, it could be built into a viable solution. There are many pro-level sensor platforms that require maintenance (updates, battery replacements, etc) which are integrated into service plans (one example of a pricing model, one example case study).
These companies have realized that the customer satisfaction and additional work generated by the smart monitoring platform is worth the cost of maintaining the solution. Much of the maintenance can be fulfilled through a junior office staff member who reviews the data, alerts, and maintenance issues daily - which often becomes a revenue generating activity.
A fleet of Pis could be maintained through Balena, and custom plugins could be loaded specifically for smart maintenance purposes, connecting their data to the company’s fleet management solution.
That said, I don’t want this thread to focus on theoretical business models that use HA; I’d love to hear more about other HVAC professionals that have been tinkering with Home Assistant.
Has anyone deployed pro-style sensors - like in-duct sensors that sense airflow speed, enthalpy, or refrigerant line temperatures, etc?
Bumping this topic, since I the pleasure to interview @balloob on my Podcast recently to bounce some ideas off of him. You can watch on YouTube, or listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
tl;dr: The discussion revolves around the origin, development, and growth of Home Assistant, the importance of local control and privacy, the effect of open source contributions on the platform, potential implications for HVAC and building science, and the benefits of standardization in smart home devices.
Is anyone here an HVAC professional that performs installations, service, or maintenance in the residential market in North America?