[Sue Doe-Nym]

Originally Posted by Charlie T

If you are going to keep the house somewhat heated I strongly recommend some type of monitoring for power outage or heating system problems. I've used a "Freeze alarm" for years with pretty good success. It uses a "pots" telephone line to call up to 3 phone numbers if the inside temp falls below a level you set it up for.

This past fall after having multiple phone system failures, I purchased a $99.00 Motorola Multisensor. https://motorolanetwork.com/mc4000.html

This device uses a Cellular interface ($5.00 month cell charge thru ATT). to call you in the event of a low temperature situation In addition to the low temp it also gives you the following alarms



Shock Sensor (I set it sensitive enough to detect footsteps in the house)
AC power failure. The unit has a internal battery with several days backup
Flood sensor with optional water probe
Light sensor, It tells me if its daytime or night time. I suppose you could use it to monitor lights on a timer.
Relative humidity.

All this is reported via a cellular interface and the unit will send Texts, email's and voice alerts.

I've used this system thru this past winter with fantastic results. I now have redundancy for my freeze alarm and I'm not tied to having an active phone line or AC power.

One note of caution, If you are going to heat the house while you are not there, set the alarm point sufficiently high to allow a cushion before the house freezes and damages pipes. I set mine at 50 deg which I believe will afford me at least 24 hours before a hard freeze occurs, in that time I can either get a service contractor to the house or get there myself to repair any issues.

YMMV
Charlie T

For seniors who are challenged technologically, it would be so helpful if somebody could recommend a system that ‘s workable but not so technical that the average person is lost. We would like something that we could access via cell phone or computer that would let us know what the temperature is, whether there’s an obvious power failure, the furnace has quit, just that stuff. We probably don’t need cameras all over the place, but maybe that’s not a bad idea. I can’t live through what we’re going through right now another time, and relying on a human being to do the monitoring is not the answer. If any of you are in this business or can recommend someone or you can suggest a workable solution, we would be very interested and grateful. Thanks. Oh yes, we have a Generac.

Sue