HOME COMFORT ZONES, INC ANNOUNCES INTEGRATED SUPPORT FOR RESIDENTIAL ECONOMIZER
Home Comfort Zones Has Added Important Energy Savings Technology to MyTemp’s Suite of Energy Management Tools
Portland, Ore. – (September 12, 2008) – Home Comfort Zones, Inc., manufacturer of the MyTemp® energy management and temperature control system, announced today the release of integrated support for economizers.
MyTemp delivers both energy savings and improved comfort by providing room-by-room temperature control for residential forced-air HVAC systems. It saves energy by conditioning occupied rooms only as much as needed and by reducing conditioning in unoccupied rooms. The system is unique because it provides wireless monitoring of the temperature in every room and individually controls the airflow to every vent. MyTemp is designed to work with most HVAC systems and it has specialized control logic for more advanced HVAC configurations.
An economizer monitors the difference between the outside and inside temperatures and when appropriate for energy savings, automatically switches from using the air conditioner to using outside air for cooling. MyTemp can control a wide variety of duct configurations and dampers or off-the-shelf economizers to pull in cool outside air while exhausting the warm inside air, including control of a whole house fan. Since the outside air is directed through the air handler, MyTemp can continue room-by-room temperature control using outside air. MyTemp can also automatically lower the cooling set temperatures to take full advantage of low cost cooling with outside air. The integrated economizer function is controlled through MyTemp’s graphics touchscreen. Everything is automatic, and windows can be kept closed.
“Economizers are great energy savings technologies, especially for the low humidity climates of the western United States where they can reduce A/C use by up to 50%,” said Hal Alles, chief technology officer. “The architectural features and contents of today’s homes are driving an increased need for air conditioning, while security concerns discourage people from opening their windows. The A/C continues to run through the night while the outside temperature drops many degrees below the inside temperature. Higher energy prices make this an increasingly expensive waste, and needlessly running A/C increases the household’s carbon footprint. The benefits of economizers are well documented from their extensive use in commercial and industrial applications, and are given credit by many green building programs. It just makes sense to encourage economizers for residential use.”
“MyTemp’s industry leading software platform, combined with its configurable wiring and communication terminals, makes it easy to integrate and control a wide variety of HVAC equipment and configurations,” added Josh Gray, vice president of engineering. “In addition, our room-by-room temperature sensing and control open up new opportunities for how this equipment is ultimately used. Our economizer support represents a significant demonstration of this capability, and we look forward to releasing additional integrations over the next year.”
About Home Comfort Zones, Inc.
Home Comfort Zones, Inc. designs, manufactures and sells residential temperature control and energy management systems. MyTemp® began shipping in 2004 and delivers energy savings and improved comfort by providing room-by-room temperature control. MyTemp features a proprietary combination of software, sensors, electronics and mechanics. It can be designed into new homes or easily retrofitted into existing homes with forced-air heating and cooling. For more information about Home Comfort Zones, visit www.homecomfortzones.com.