2 Smart Home HVAC Sensors Mistakes to Avoid

Homes are getting smarter, and who knows what the typical consumer’s home will look like in 30 years?

Many consumers can easily afford smart home sensors that control their HVAC system. And since you can do this installation yourself, that makes these sensors all the more accessible.

However, as with anything, you can make mistakes when installing these sensors. And those mistakes can be quite costly because they can cause inaccurate information to be sent back to your HVAC system.

And then, that can run the system a lot more than is necessary, which could wipe out most of your savings.

So, here’s a few types of sensors and common installation mistakes to avoid so you truly reap the energy savings you want:

1. Temperature Sensors

Just like your thermostat, the biggest thing to watch out for is installation location. You want to install your thermostat in a room that accurately represents the temperature of your entire home.

So, you want to stay away from humid areas, like your kitchen. Instead, a hallway, living room, or dining room makes much more sense.

But even in those areas, keep away from possible heat sources like vents, space heaters, or electronic equipment.

Humidity sensors are typically installed in the same location as temperature sensors, so you get a nice 2-for-1 there.

As long as you do that, you should be fine.

2. Air Ventilation Sensors

Yes. These do exist. They’re a newcomer to the market. But, you can absolutely install them into every room of your home and control the temperature on a room-by-room basis.

These sensors can also double their work and test your air quality.

Anyway, you’ll have to think on a room-by-room basis of the location that most accurately represents the temperature and humidity of the specific room you want controlled.

For example, in your kitchen, you’ll want to stay away from your coffee maker and oven. In your bathroom, you’ll want to stay as far away from your shower as you possibly can.

In your laundry room, keep a good distance from your washer and drier and any vents which heat or cool that room.

And when it comes to air quality sensors, you have to look out for areas like your pantry, where you might store cleaning chemicals that emit VOCs.

It’s not as simple as it seems at first. You’ll have to think this through, test locations, and create a chart of tested and final locations for these sensors.

However, if you get a smart HVAC system, and you decide to install your sensors yourself, you now have a beginning idea of what to look out for so you get the most savings out of your system.