Zigbee Vents (Keen Home): pre-order now with 10% savings for your multi-zoned heating/cooling solution

Devices & Integrations Connected Things
24

@AMZ, like I said earlier in this thread:

You can start with a few vents to focus on the warmer/colder rooms (1 or 2 rooms for example) in your house, and grow from there.

So, if you’re not happy, then it’s a minimum investment.

P.S. I’ve been actually beta testing the product with my smartapp described above, see my links at the beginning of the thread) and athough there are still some issues (it’s a beta product after all), I truly believe that the end result will be awesome (especially combined with my smartapp).

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I didn’t see this section of the blog. What I can say on my end, it’s that I’m actually beta testing the product, and it will deliver added value to anybody who has colder/warmer rooms in her/his house. They need to iron out some issues, but after all, that’s what beta testing is all about.

And, BTW, you can also use my smartapp with other types vents such as the Z-wave EcoNet vents (see http://www.smarthome.com/econet-ev100-4x10wh-z-wave-controlled-air-vent-4-inches-x-10-inches-white.html) or EcoVents (although it’s is a much more expensive option, see https://www.ecoventsystems.com/your-system)

26

So you are using the automated vents? I’m not really getting the value prop, maybe someone can explain why it is easier than zone management or just opening/closing vents? They of course are battery powered, so you have to swap out batteries annually or whenever, maybe more frequently. And just changing which vents are open or closed as seasons change would seem just as easy. At least in the West Coast where mutli-story is common, heat always rises and its pretty simple to adjust vents. So what’s the real advantage to automating and dealing with purchase price, battery replacement and managing devices and range issues? Thanks

27

Hi @jah,

Yes, I’m using the Keen Home smart vents and they work great!

The value prop is the following:

(1) My smartapps (see the link below) can not only open/close the vents automatically, they are in fact controlling the opening level (just like a dimmer switch) based on the temp differential between the actual temp and the desired setpoint.

(2) A warmer room (exposed to the sun) would then get more cooling air flow in the Summer and the opposite in the Winter, so that you are more confortable throughout your home and save money at the same time.

(3) The smartapps re-evaluate the vent settings every 5 minutes…

I don’t know about you, but I don’t usually adjust my vents for the optimum air flow during the day (as it’s too much work to walk all over the house to do it),and not every 5 minutes for sure!

(4) The smartapps that I’ve developed create zones inside your home so that you can heat/cool only some selected rooms/zones. For instance, you may not want to cool/heat your whole house at nights, just the upstairs bedrooms. My smartapp would then close (partially) the downstairs vents, and, by doing so, direct more air flow to the upstairs bedrooms automatically for you.

Such multi-zoned systems exist on the market, but they require professional installation and are costly (around $10-15K)…

Smart Vents combined with my smartappswill cost you much less for some similar capabilities (but not exact functionalities).

I hope that you understand the value prop better.

See this thread for more details on my smartapps:

Bye for now.

P.S. According to Keen Home, the batteries will need to be changed every 2 years or so…

28

Given the KeenHome folks are here, I wanted to see if I could get an answer to a purchase question. I have a bunch of 4x14 vents in areas that I’d really like to control, however - apparently they aren’t available (only 4x10, 4x12, 6x10, and 6x12) per the folks processing my pre order.

Has anyone heard of, or is there an ETA on other sizes? I can’t really commit to a vent system, that visually will be different on the floor of some rooms, along with no ETA for sizes that will make the house uniform.

29

Thanks for the info, that is interesting. The app is key - great job on that and the zone management also. No I certainly don’t adjust midday, its more alike 2x a year in fact. But this house is sort of a ‘stacked’ 3 story and not spread out and subject to different temps. Its largely just cool below and warmer above, and that’s why I was sort of struggling with the value prop at least for this house. But if you are more spread out with different sun exposures, and also subject to a lot of heating and cooling needs (which I also don’t have much), then it is a cool concept for sure!

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I would describe it as a cheap and dirty solution for what is normally a very costly setup (multi-zone system). And what I mean by ‘dirty’ is described pretty well here.

This is not something you want to do unless your system was designed for it. Down the road it may end up costing you a lot more than just the price of the vents.

31

Oh boy. Closing manually is not good either then, at least for many or most systems. I personally tend to try to use less central heat and air, and more localized when possible (space heaters). In the dead of winter at my mountain retreat, the furnace needs to run along with the gas fireplace, to get it close to 60. Thanks for the info on this

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Hi @jah,

Both Ecovent and Keen Home have pressure sensors and monitor them to avoid too much pressure on your HVAC. To my knowledge, the z-wave Econet vents don’t have this feature…

(1) Here is what Keen Home says about this issue:

http://www.keenhome.io/faq

Can I replace all of the vents in my home with Smart Vents?

Yes you can. We recommend replacing at least 1/3 of the vents in your home with Smart Vents, but if you do replace every vent, be sure to leave at least one Smart Vent open to keep air flowing through your heating and cooling system. If you don’t replace every vent in your home with Smart Vents, we suggest leaving your standard vents open at all times.

Will closing vents harm my heating and cooling system?

Our Smart Vents have built-in pressure sensors to give you insight into the health of your system and ensure completely safe operation. As a general rule, we recommend never closing more than 50% of your total vents (smart or otherwise).

(2) And, what Ecovent says about it:

https://www.ecoventsystems.com/faq

Can’t closing vents hurt my system?

Yes, when vents are blindly closed off in a home, air pressure and temperature can rise and definitely break a furnace or an A/C. Ecovent is different. Our vents are smart and they monitor the pressure and airflow conditions in the ducts. The system will optimize your comfort, but will not put your home in a position where your furnace or A/C will get damaged. The system knows your home’s limits and will not put it in an unsafe operating condition.

In brief, the idea is not necessarily to replace all your vents, only those in rooms that are warmer or colder than other rooms, and leave the others open.

On top of it, if you look at my smartapps’ code, they will not close all the smart vents at any time during a schedule run. The smartapps will leave them open at a minimum level.

Regards.

33

My experience has been that, even in a multizone system, closing only one register had resulted in the melting down of a primer motor within 18 months. This, in a zone where there were 5 registers. That’s akin to constricting 20% of your car’s exhaust, and that is more than enough to impact fuel economy, catalytic converter failure, exhaust manifold failure, and even burnt exhaust valves.

These systems are designed and installed to flow at a certain rate, and restricting that puts back pressure on the system that can exacerbate duct leakage, as well as premature fan motor and heat exchanger failure.

It is not a matter of avoiding closing them all down. Closing one down can do you in.

I’d be interested in seeing what thresold these vent’s sensors use to determine what pressures are to be avoided, and how accurate they are (and which ones are opened when that pressure is sensed). Again, in my case, 20% volume reduction resulted in a $1200 repair within about 18 months. This was in new construction.

I know of NO HVAC professional that recommends closing any registers in a properly designed system (the system is designed based on the size of each register as well as the volume deliverable from the supply side - and changing either side without the other causes the imbalance). Perhaps you can dig up something supporting your use of these things from a more appropriate source than the seller’s marketing FAQ?

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Hi @scottinpollock,

In my house, I have more than 20 vents and I’ve been using a dumber version of the Keen Home Vents for a while in my house built in 2003, and I haven’t experienced any issue.

I use a mix of standard vents and “wiser” vents on a timer such as those (which have been on the market for a while now):

If you read my previous posts, I have never recommended to replace all vents inside a home.

And, like I said earlier, my smartapps will not close all the smart vents.

Anyway, if you’re not interested by the product, it’s up to you, I’m not trying to convince you.
Cheers.

35

Hi Nate. A quick question. If I have a ST hub, can I just buy the vent, or do I still need your hub as well as the vent to have my ST control it?

36

Ok. We are moving into a new home and I desire to get my heating and cooling system to work for me and make my house as comfortable as possible. So I have a question about these vents and which thermostate to use.

So with your code you are saying that you can achieve the same zone type control with or without a specific smart thermostat. However is there value in putting these vents with the ecobee3? That’s a pretty impressive piece of hardware, but if it doesn’t add to the experience then it doesn’t make it worth it.

Your thoughts?

37

Hi,

For any comparison between a smart thermostat like ecobee vs. the dumber z-wave or
zigbee thermostats, please refer to the ST community wiki:

http://thingsthataresmart.wiki/index.php?title=My_Ecobee_Device#Why_ecobee_vs._other_connected_thermostats.3F

Regards.

38

Keen Home asked me to develop a smartapp for controlling the vents.

See this thread for more details:

Regards.

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Here is a referral link to get the Keen Home Vents for $25 less:

Enjoy!

1 Like
40

Anyone ran into issues resetting Keen Vents? I have one that has been successfully reset (double blinking green light). But no matter what I do will not include. Put it on top of the hub, changed batteries, etc and nothing, no success. I have 9 others that included with no major issues (one of the 9 gave me troubles but was able to make it work). Any suggestions, thoughts? I am thinking that the vent is just dead (although was working fine before I replaced my hub).

41

Hi @SBDOBRESCU,

I had one vent (out of 16) that had a similar issue for a while.

I did the following (recommended by support) :

Power cycling Smart Vents - How to

  • Completely remove the battery cartridge by pulling down on the black lever above the LED.
  • While the battery cartridge is out, press the black button at the back of the Smart Vent six times quickly. This completely discharges any remaining power and ensure that the vent is fully powered down.

Regards.

42

Thanks for your quick response, I was clicking 5 times. I must have hit 6 times accidentally on the one that gave me troubles but was able to include. I’m trying now hitting 6 times on the stubborn one and will update.

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No luck, but I have a theory that I’ll be testing shortly. I am going to get a new one and see if I can pair that one…