Ask HN: Smart” Heat Pumps?

12 points by lsiunsuex 3 years ago | 9 comments

I'm curious, are there any smart AC / heat pump units for residential in the USA? AC died Saturday, leak in the heat pump coil. 3k USD part and out of warranty, and it's a rather cheap builders grade unit so just going to replace it all. Looking at a Trane but I'm curious - are there any smart heat pumps?

Not talking a Nest thermostat or Ecobee. We keep the house at 70F all the time (in Florida) so don't care for the constant heat / cool during random hours of the day.

Thinking along the lines of those Smart breaker panels I've seen that can notify you of high usage and etc...

thedougd 3 years ago |

If you're looking to get fancier, I would suggest looking at variable speed compressors, namely inverter driven compressors like the ones used in minisplits. Mitsubishi has the most popular: https://www.mitsubishicomfort.com/residential/products/ducte...

I know these have more advanced electronics that a traditional split system, but I'm not sure if they can be networked or accessed in an intuitive way.

lsllc 3 years ago |

The higher end "smart" models tend to use proprietary thermostats so you can't use your Nest/Ecobee. Kind of annoying ... I just replaced an old system with a Trane XR15 heat pump with aux heat incl. new air handler ($6K all in, incl. install and permits) but want to stick with Nest because I'm already invested in that ecosystem.

Too bad there isn't a common standards based protocol (e.g. something like MODBUS) for interfacing across climate control devices ... instead of either the std. 6 conductor 24v thermostat wire or a proprietary interface as I don't think this supports features such as variable speed fans on the air handlers.

flaviut 3 years ago |

For energy monitoring; I've worked on open source firmware for the Emporia Vue 2 energy monitor: https://gist.github.com/flaviut/93a1212c7b165c7674693a45ad52...

If you don't want clutter inside your breaker panel, you can install just the relevant clamps (1 heat pump clamp, 1 air handler clamp)

As far as smart heat pumps/air handlers go; I've wanted that too. It's not too technically challenging, depending what functionality you want. But I have a lot of stuff on my list of cool projects I want to do.

toomuchtodo 3 years ago |

http://sense.com for energy consumption monitoring, EcoBee for smart thermostat (which can log compressor and air handler runtime data). Don’t get the Span load center, too expensive and hard to know what longevity and long term maintenance looks like. Make sure your replacement heat pump is high efficiency and can both cool and heat (uses a reverser valve).

Szpadel 3 years ago |

I have LG DC24RH and it is possible to get current power draw and energy consumption. I'm using unofficial integration with home assistant to log energy consumption and to start different cycles depending on readout from other equipment (eg start dry mode when humidity is too high and stop it when it's back to acceptable level)

mberger 3 years ago |

I'd also be interested in this. I have a unit that is not controlled by a thermostat except at the head. It would be nice to see how often it runs and how much it draws and when. I would have to go with a power monitoring solution which takes up too much space in my breaker panel.

pcdoodle 3 years ago | |

Question for this demographic: do you have ethernet near your electrical panel?

lsiunsuex 3 years ago | | |

I can - easy enough to get a cable there.

giantg2 3 years ago |

Why not just use a smart breaker, similar to the smart panel you're talking about?