In winter, when people arrive at their country home for the weekend, they like to find it warm and comfortable. For several years, I  have owned a studio in a ski station, 100 km away from my « working days » home, in a big city. Each time I arrived, the heating level was at the minimum setting of 11°C, for energy savings. But I preferred a 20°C temperature level, which my heaters usually reached one day after.

By chance, I discovered a system which allowed me to control the level of heating by phone. I am already equipped with an X10 security console, and so I often receive adverts about the latest X10 products from this company.  One day, I discovered the “remote heating control” adapted to X10 security console owners. It consisted in a little heating thermostat, named the DigiMax 210, which allowed 2 temperature level settings : the “economy” level and the “comfort” one.

Now when I leave my studio after a ski weekend, while arming my security console, I automatically turn all the thermostats to the “economy” level. The day before I arrive at my studio, I can ask the security console to launch the “comfort” level, just by phone, with the press of a few keys !

When I lend my apartment to friends, it is so much easier for me to control the thermostats before their arrival and after their departure. I also disarm and rearm the security console by phone.

How does it work ? Depending on the information of the DigiMax thermostat, the security console sends a message to an X10 appliance module, in which the boiler is plugged, in order to control the heating level. 

And so, despite not actually being there, I can  keep a permanent contact with my home thanks to X10 security console.