Let it be a warning story for you, regarding smart home solutions.

Two years ago we have bough a house. Together with the house came a thermostat for controlling the gas boiler. The one from the smart kind.

Since the very beginning it was clear to me, this particular solution is a crap. The only way to control it was by login to the external web page and set the schedule and temperatures there, and the device at home periodically has checked if there is a change to fetch. Also, this particular device has only volatile memory. So, when power is turned off, the device needs to fetch the settings from the server.

I've tried to replace it with another smart solution, but failed at it (and I have wrote a little bit about that as well).

So, I am still using the one which came with the house.

And the servers went down somewhen during last two weeks. So far the device is still working, with recent settings. So, I am not in dire needs. However, the first power failure means I am being left without heating.

And what is the lesson for you? If you want to buy any kind of smart home solution, please make sure it will work decently without internet connection.

The very basic check you can do is to open https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/, find if there is available support for the device you want to buy, and check its IoT class. If this is local push or local polling, it would rather be OK. If this is a cloud push/cloud pulling, then further research is needed, as without the internet (or servers) available, the device's functionality will be degraded. Sometimes slightly, sometimes severely. And it is up to you to decide, if it is OK to be stuck with device having degraded functionality.

PS. To make this clear - I have a backup plan, so no advice is needed. Unless you have a recommendation of a smart thermostat with temperature zone control, which works fully locally. Then I'd be glad to hear.

#smart #smarthome #smarthomes #heating #thermostat #thermostats