Las Vegas, NV – January 7, 2018 – Today at CES 2018, Alarm.com (Nasdaq: ALRM) unveiled a new smart thermostat that can uniquely protect property owners against costly home emergencies including HVAC failures, floods, water damage, and mold. In addition to offering advanced energy-saving capabilities long available from Alarm.com and other connected thermostats, it is the first to proactively detect and respond to common home maintenance problems before they cascade into big-ticket home repairs.
“Alarm.com applied the same approach that we pioneered with our home security technology to make sense of anomalous conditions throughout the home environment,” said Dan Kerzner, Alarm.com’s Chief Product Officer. “By applying machine learning to various inputs from our broad ecosystem of devices and sensors, we created a new category of capability that extends peace of mind beyond traditional security. Now, our smart thermostat technology can help property owners prevent or mitigate some of the most common repair and maintenance costs they face.”
Enabled by advanced cloud intelligence and an ecosystem of connected devices and sensors throughout the home, Alarm.com redefines the smart thermostat with new layers of protection for homeowners and their families:
- Protects the HVAC system: Machine learning proactively monitors the HVAC system, alerting service providers and homeowners to trouble conditions before they cascade into complete system failures, requiring expensive emergency repairs or system replacements.
- Protects the home environment: By intelligently balancing both humidity and temperature set points, the thermostat can help prevent health risks and cleanup costs caused by mold while maximizing comfort. Winter Freeze Protection alerts homeowners before pipes can freeze and burst.
- Protects the homeowner’s wallet: Whole-home intelligence helps save on monthly energy costs by automatically adjusting to real-time activity and occupancy changes, open windows or doors, and the homeowner’s geo-location.
- Protects the family’s comfort: Remote temperature sensing makes it easy to optimize the home’s temperature to any room at a specific time: the master bedroom at night, for example, or the nursery at nap-time to ensure comfort and better sleep.
Common Home Repair Emergencies
“The longer these issues go unaddressed, the more damage they can do and the more expensive they can be to fix,” Kerzner continued. “By adding a new layer of protection to our smart home systems, Alarm.com empowers homeowners so they can prevent or address problems before they escalate into aggravating system failures, more costly repairs, and health problems, in the case of mold.”
HVAC Safeguards: A faulty HVAC system or furnace is the most common emergency home repair.* Systems typically fail when homeowners need them most and when technicians are at their busiest. Alarm.com provides an early warning so homeowners can avoid cascading equipment failures, a freezing home, or costly off-hour emergency repairs.
Mold Prevention: Mold can form in a range of climates and can cause health issues, particularly among children. The typical clean-up cost exceeds $7,500 and is often not covered by home insurance.** Alarm.com intelligently balances various inputs to help property owners maintain a home environment that is comfortable for their family but inhospitable for mold.
Freeze Protection: A flood caused by burst pipes can cost thousands to clean up and repair.** Winter Freeze Protection instantly alerts property owners to dangerously low temperatures, which can be caused by furnace failures or power outages. Remote temperature sensors installed in vulnerable areas like the basement or attic extend protection throughout the home.
Advanced Hardware
The simple and elegant design unobtrusively blends with any décor and includes a new user interface and hardware innovations that improve the overall ownership experience. For easier installation, it automatically detects HVAC wiring and configures settings to the home’s system. Near-universal compatibility with 24 volt HVAC systems, and two dynamic terminals for controlling humidifiers, de-humidifiers, and external air baffles, ensure broad system integration.
Alarm.com’s second-generation smart thermostat was designed and engineered in partnership with Building 36, a subsidiary of Alarm.com with a deep history of first to market innovations in energy management solutions and smart thermostats. It will be available May 2018.
* Source; HomeServe ‘Biannual State of the Home’ survey 2015
** Source; HomeAdvisor
