Frozen – Don’t Let the Cold Bother You

August 18, 2014

This post comes to us from Chris Allen, President of Houselogix.

As I’m sitting here comfortably in my living room watching the movie Frozen for the 89th time with my two daughters, I’m reminded how much I enjoy the summer and do not look forward to the cold of winter.

For those of you spared from Disney’s latest princess craze, it’s a story about two sisters, Anna and Elsa, the latter of which has been cursed with the ability to create snow and ice on demand. She accidently sets off an eternal winter in the kingdom and retreats to an icy palace she created on the top of a mountain. So it’s up to her younger sister to bring her back and the song-laden adventure begins.

Since we live in a technologically-saturated environment, I’m now able to watch the Frozen movie and listen to the soundtrack at home, on the deck, in the backyard, in the car on the way to work, at the office, and in my head while I’m trying to fall asleep. At least one benefit of this same technology is that I can finally control my thermostat with those same devices. Now when the princess freezes the town, my Honeywell Smart Wi-Fi thermostat can chill the room to help my girls get the full effect.

As with any good animated story there is a comic relief so the parents keep some semblance of sanity. In this case, it’s the form of a living snowman called Olaf. He is enamored with the idea of summer, but being a snowman in a hot climate poses a bit of a conundrum. No problem, Elsa gives him his own personal snow flurry so he’s nice and comfortable, and alive.

Having a connected thermostat is like having your own personal snow flurry in the summer. With a little logic, you don’t even have to think about it—the temperature simply adjusts based on your habits. The big advantage of having it integrated into a smart system like Control4, however, is that you can immediately make adjustments for activities that aren’t in the normal routine. Plus, it doesn’t have to guess when you’re going to bed because you can press the “Good Night” button from your handheld device and have the system save energy right away.

Honeywell has long been the de facto standard when it comes to thermostats. The stylish new round Lyric not only looks good but has the ability to do geo-fencing (a feature that uses GPS to define geographical boundaries). Pair it to your phone and it automatically adjusts the temperature when you’re home. The RedLINK comfort system provides a solution for almost every HVAC system, including electric baseboard heaters! Combine any of these with a fully-featured Control4 driver from HouseLogix and you have a complete solution that even the HVAC installer will love.

In the words of the Frozen song—which will be forever engrained in my head—let it go. Get rid of the “dumb” thermostat, live comfortably in your castle, and save money in the process. You know you’ll need it for the next Disney fad.