My sister has a smart thermostat in her house.
When she had it installed a few years ago, it was all she could talk about.
She was so excited about saving energy plus heating and cooling her house more efficiently. At the time, I ignored her, however, last weekend, she asked me to stay at her house while she was away for a couple of days. As her sister, I obliged. After a few minutes of lounging around, I realized how freezing it felt inside, so, I found the nearest air vent, but didn’t find any air pushing through it. I assumed the thermostat was off, so I in search of it. Normally, I wouldn’t change the temperature control settings in someone else’s home, but this was my sister and I was pretty sure that she wanted me to be comfortable. When I found the thermostat, I tried to raise the temperature, but it wouldn’t let me. Her thermostat was locked! I texted her and asked if she would please unlock the thermostat so I wouldn’t freeze, but, instead of unlocking it, she turned the furnace on. Apparently, her smart thermostat was programmed to shut off her heat when she wasn’t home. It would come back on 45 minutes before she was due to return home. This way, she wasn’t heating an empty house. The concept sounded intriguing, although I genuinely didn’t care about the hassle of having to alter the temperature through the phone. I wish I could’ve just turned the darn heat on myself, rather than asking permission like a small child..