What Would Be a Cheap Method of Monitoring House Temperature When Gone?

[PastTense]

I am worried about my furnace going out in extremely cold temperatures when I am away on a trip.
Can anyone suggest a cheap method for monitoring house temperatures in this situation?

Thanks.

 

[VirtualLarry]

"smart home" thermostat, with remote-access? Note that if anyone hacks in, or there's a mfg backdoor, then criminals might be able to see that you're not home.

 

[lxskllr]

Maybe something like this...

https://www.amazon.com/Jepeak-Therm...=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B009YRP906

You could also monitor the mb temp of a computer, and if it drops much it could be inferred that the heat stopped working. That would be fairly easy to do in gnu/linux I think.

 

[boomerang]

AcuRite used to market exactly what you need. They still do, but the low cost setup looks like it's gone by the wayside. I had one of their base stations and two temp/humidity sensors set up at our northern home while we snowbirded. No ongoing monthly fees and you could monitor through an app, the web and could also set up alerts. You could set it up to notify you by email or text if the temperature went below (could also be above) a set temp.

The link below appears to be the least expensive system they have. It has three sensors and the base station. The base station has been completely redesigned from the system I was using. The sensors are available separately for $12.99 but I don't see the base station offered separately.

https://www.acurite.com/environment-system-with-temperature-and-humidity-01059.html

I don't know your definition of "cheap". My recollection is that I paid slightly less than $100 for the base station and two sensors.

 

[dphantom]

I also have the Acurite basic system. Have it at pour lake house so we can rest a little easy when we are not up north. It works ok, but I found the sensors can lose contact with the base station occasionally - even when the sensor is right next to the base. Also, I had the base station cease reporting and it required a hard reset. AcuRite is replacing my basic base with an upgraded model I just got a couple days ago. Will replace my old station with the new one. Hopefully, the reliability is better.

 

[Greenman]

Why not use a web cam pointed at a thermometer?

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Define cheap.

I have temp sensors in every room in my house (and some exterior ones) and also have them in my refrigerator, freezers, and under sinks which have pipes on or near the exterior walls. I can monitor them anywhere in the world via SmartThings. My thermostat (ecobee) also has its own set of sensors and I can control and monitor that anywhere in the world.

 

[boomerang]

Why not use a web cam pointed at a thermometer?

The downside to that is not getting alerts of any kind. If you have your thermostat dialed down low in the dead of winter as we did, the place could easily get dangerously cold in between taking peeks at the cam.

I did a trial run of a web cam and a thermometer and it was kind of touchy to set up believe it or not. Too close and you couldn't read it, too far and you couldn't read it, changing light conditions during the day, night time viewing, it comes down to how much do you want to spend on the cam. In my case I wanted a temp monitor in both the upstairs and the basement which meant dedicating two cams for monitoring. That's when the cost becomes a factor.

 

[nitsuj3580]

I have used my Ecobee thermostat for this exact purpose. Such a worthwhile purchase.

 

[Rifter]

Why not use a web cam pointed at a thermometer?

Came here to say this, you beat me to it.