Anyone own a smart house?

[herbivor]

So about a week ago I had a dryer fire that burned everything in the house. We lost everything in the house including my 2 dogs. The house is fine structurally, but everything will be gutted to the studs. While this is a bummer, I am looking forward to converting my old 1941 house into a house with all the modern bells and whistles, new insulation, windows, wiring, etc.

I was wondering if anyone has a "smart" house, one that manages it's energy, and is connected entirely to a smart phone/ IPad device. I am looking into LED lighting, Solar hot water, energy recovery ventilation, and Iphone controlled entertainment and HVAC system.

[z31maniac]

So about a week ago I had a dryer fire that burned everything in the house. We lost everything in the house including my 2 dogs. The house is fine structurally, but everything will be gutted to the studs. While this is a bummer, I am looking forward to converting my old 1941 house into a house with all the modern bells and whistles, new insulation, windows, wiring, etc.

I was wondering if anyone has a "smart" house, one that manages it's energy, and is connected entirely to a smart phone/ IPad device. I am looking into LED lighting, Solar hot water, energy recovery ventilation, and Iphone controlled entertainment and HVAC system.

Sorry to hear that, that's devastating, especially the dogs.

I don't have a smart house, but I'm very interested in anything we can do to lower our bills/conserve more.

[randomtask37]

Holy shit man! That is terrible. Loosing your house/possessions / dogs must be devastating. Sorry for your loss.

I own a green certified house. It doesn't have all the bells and whistles your talking about, but it does have things like a tankless water heater, superior insulation, low energy appliances etc

I am glad made the choice to go green when I was looking for houses. My electric bill is less than half what I was paying when I lived in a 1940 house... And my new place is easily double the size.

Do you know the specifics of the dryer fire? Was is a malfunction overheat, lint buildup in the filter or exhaust tube? Maybe a bad plug? That makes me nervous.

Anyway, glad you survived. Good luck with insurance and the rebuild.

[10Toes]

I live in a smart house, can control all lights, heaters, security and entertainment with my phone. Most of the system is all Z-wave outlets and switches with a MiCasa controller. All the switches and stuff are as easy to add to any building, you just swap out the existing switch or outlet for the z wave switch and programming it.

Before you put up the new sheetrock you should layout the room and make sure you have all the wire you need for what you want now and any thing you might want in the future.

[M-technik-3]

Wow sorry to hear of your misfortune. I have a few smart items in my house but nothing to that extent. My concern about setups like that is that when the POWER or Network goes down you can't do certain things.

I have a tri-powered generator on order, will be installing it next spring. Runs off street natural gas and can run on propane or gasoline.

[Todd Black 88]

Unless your house is very large, don't bother with the hrv stuff. It's not worth it.

The company I work for just completed a project for a guys house, like this. 10400 square foot house, with it's own ip address and web access page. He can turn the bath on from his office, set the temp at 102 degrees and when he gets home it's waiting for him. Same with the steam shower.
The air con part of the project was 500,000k alone

Money.

[herbivor]

Do you know the specifics of the dryer fire? Was is a malfunction overheat, lint buildup in the filter or exhaust tube? Maybe a bad plug? That makes me nervous.

They aren't 100% certain (still investigating) but I think it was likely the flex duct behind the stackable. It had at least 3 turns in it before it even made it's way to the rigid duct in the crawlspace. I never cleaned it or thought about cleaning it but it is likely that lint built up there. We ran the dryer on high, which we never do, to kill some lice in my daughter's bedsheets. My wife saw 2 lice in my daughter's hair the night before and took the day off to decontaminate the house. She left to run an errand and 30 minutes later the fire department was there. It was a smoldering, smokey fire, so mostly smoke damage to everything. But lesson learned.
1. Never leave your house with the dryer running and
2. To effectively kill lice, burn your house down.

[M-technik-3]

Wow that truly sucks.

That being said we try to clean the thing twice a year. Have seen the damage it causes. We have a natural gas powered drier, so I can only imagine the damage that would cause.

[z31maniac]

1. Never leave your house with the dryer running and

This goes for any major appliance really.

Washer hoses can break and flood. Dishwashers can flood or catch fire. Etc

[mrsleeve]

HOLY HELL HERBIE


You have my condolences for the pets if you guys are like us, then they might as well be another kid. I feel for you having to go though this kinda thing at this time of year as well.

As far as smart houses, I cant offer too much help on that, though I would be interested in keeping up with what you are up too on a project like this. At some point we will either be building or renovating a place, and would like to integrate some smart type stuff into it.

[Exodus_2pt0]

2. To effectively kill lice, burn your house down.

Win.

Seriously though, I am so sorry to hear about the dogs. My bud is sitting next to me now, I couldn't imagine going through that. Property can always be replaced, while life...

[Stanley Rockafella]

Wow Herbie, terribly sorry to hear this.

[pureaudio]

That really sucks man, hopefully everything works out.

I looked into the smart house idea about 5 years ago and pricing was just too high for me at the time. It is absolutely something I will do at some point and if I build a house, it will happen for sure. Sounds like this is the perfect time to do it for you.

[MattAvino]

It really hurts me to hear about the dogs. Were you able to find their remains? I hope they didn't suffer too much.

[herbivor]

It really hurts me to hear about the dogs. Were you able to find their remains? I hope they didn't suffer too much.

Yeah, they died of suffocation from the smoke, not fire. It is probably the best way to die other than being out down. I had to bury them in the back yard in front of my 4 year old daughter while we all cried. I didn't want her to see them but she had to go through the grieving process.:-( That was the hardest thing. Losing possessions didn't phase me a bit.