4 ms·

>I witnessed "smart" houses when my parents' blinders died in "down" position and had no manual override... or when the electricity was down and they couldn't s

>I witnessed "smart" houses when my parents' blinders died in "down" position and had no manual override... or when the electricity was down and they couldn't start their wood stove because it needs electricity to work... Are you saying you have a stove that doesn't have an electronic starter? Are you on a digital or analog thermostat? Does your home heater work without electricity? New technology will always have an early adoption phase. Smart blinds suck now but there is no reason why they cant be as reliable as an automatic garage door. It's a motor with RF control. It's not a complex thing.

joe_the_user 5y ago
Are you saying you have a stove that doesn't have an electronic starter? Are you on a digital or analog thermostat? Does your home heater work without electricity? Historically and mostly today, a wood stove is a cast iron container you fill with wood mostly to heat a house. There have been innovations in shape, airflow etc to make them more efficient but they generally haven't used an electric lighter. Electric-light gas stoves normally don't need electricity to function - in a outage you can light them with a match or sparker. There have been gas heaters that don't require electricity but not central gas heaters, this true. Eastern California, where I currently live, has experienced a half-dozen days-long electrical outages in the last year alone. A the time two months, when I spent four days snowed-in, with it 45-40 degrees inside my apartment, is notable. What does or doesn't work without electricity is an important question.
- NegativeLatency 5y ago
  There are also pellet stoves (not generally considered a wood stove) the burn compressed sawdust and have an electric auger, blower and igniter
- nouveaux 5y ago
  "Historically and mostly today, a wood stove is a cast iron container you fill with wood mostly to heat a house. There have been innovations in shape, airflow etc to make them more efficient but they generally haven't used an electric lighter. Electric-light gas stoves normally don't need electricity to function - in a outage you can light them with a match or sparker." Does your parent's wood stove work work without electricity? As in, can you light it with a match or sparker? "Eastern California, where I currently live, has experienced a half-dozen days-long electrical outages in the last year alone. A the time two months, when I spent four days snowed-in, with it 45-40 degrees inside my apartment, is notable. What does or doesn't work without electricity is an important question." Yea this totally sucks and you make a good point. You parents' blinds needs a manual backup, just like how automatic garage door systems have a manual override. One of the things I try to focus on is to have my home still function if the server is down. My light switches all work without a server or the internet, but my sunrise lights will not. I think that's a good compromise.
  - joe_the_user 5y ago
    Does your parent's wood stove work work without electricity? As in, can you light it with a match or sparker? My parents didn't have a wood stove but the last house I lived had one and it lit only by a match. The Gp's description is literally the only time I have even heard of a wood stove didn't require hand lighting, that's normally how they work. (Your tense seems to indicate you're confusing me with the original commenter you replied to FYI - who's parents did have an unusual wood stove apparently requiring electricity. It doesn't offend me but I thought I'd note it in case there was some confusion to clear up).
lm28469 5y ago
> Are you saying you have a stove that doesn't have an electronic starter? Yes, during the same trip (to my parents') I visited an old friend and his parents' house had a good old wood stove, ie: a metal box with a chimney and a door to put wood in it > Are you on a digital or analog thermostat? analog (I use my body to determine if I'm cold or warm and my brain to act accordingly) > New technology will always have an early adoption phase. Fortunately lots of tech die in that phase and are never seen again, looking at "the house of the future" of the 40s, 50s, 60s I'd say most of it never goes mainstream > Smart blinds ... no reason why they cant be as reliable ... It's not a complex thing. Adding even a bit of complexity to an extremely simple system makes it much less reliable and less durable. You need PCBs, antennas, motors, software (with their updates ?), electricity, all of that to do something you could do with your arms in two seconds. Not even talking about the amount of e-waste generated and the fact that no one will be able to source spare parts by the end of the decade. And we all know these things aren't even built to last in the first place (motors with plastic gears, &c.)

joe_the_user 5y ago

Are you saying you have a stove that doesn't have an electronic starter? Are you on a digital or analog thermostat? Does your home heater work without electricity? Historically and mostly today, a wood stove is a cast iron container you fill with wood mostly to heat a house. There have been innovations in shape, airflow etc to make them more efficient but they generally haven't used an electric lighter. Electric-light gas stoves normally don't need electricity to function - in a outage you can light them with a match or sparker. There have been gas heaters that don't require electricity but not central gas heaters, this true. Eastern California, where I currently live, has experienced a half-dozen days-long electrical outages in the last year alone. A the time two months, when I spent four days snowed-in, with it 45-40 degrees inside my apartment, is notable. What does or doesn't work without electricity is an important question.

NegativeLatency 5y ago
There are also pellet stoves (not generally considered a wood stove) the burn compressed sawdust and have an electric auger, blower and igniter
nouveaux 5y ago
"Historically and mostly today, a wood stove is a cast iron container you fill with wood mostly to heat a house. There have been innovations in shape, airflow etc to make them more efficient but they generally haven't used an electric lighter. Electric-light gas stoves normally don't need electricity to function - in a outage you can light them with a match or sparker." Does your parent's wood stove work work without electricity? As in, can you light it with a match or sparker? "Eastern California, where I currently live, has experienced a half-dozen days-long electrical outages in the last year alone. A the time two months, when I spent four days snowed-in, with it 45-40 degrees inside my apartment, is notable. What does or doesn't work without electricity is an important question." Yea this totally sucks and you make a good point. You parents' blinds needs a manual backup, just like how automatic garage door systems have a manual override. One of the things I try to focus on is to have my home still function if the server is down. My light switches all work without a server or the internet, but my sunrise lights will not. I think that's a good compromise.
- joe_the_user 5y ago
  Does your parent's wood stove work work without electricity? As in, can you light it with a match or sparker? My parents didn't have a wood stove but the last house I lived had one and it lit only by a match. The Gp's description is literally the only time I have even heard of a wood stove didn't require hand lighting, that's normally how they work. (Your tense seems to indicate you're confusing me with the original commenter you replied to FYI - who's parents did have an unusual wood stove apparently requiring electricity. It doesn't offend me but I thought I'd note it in case there was some confusion to clear up).

lm28469 5y ago

> Are you saying you have a stove that doesn't have an electronic starter? Yes, during the same trip (to my parents') I visited an old friend and his parents' house had a good old wood stove, ie: a metal box with a chimney and a door to put wood in it > Are you on a digital or analog thermostat? analog (I use my body to determine if I'm cold or warm and my brain to act accordingly) > New technology will always have an early adoption phase. Fortunately lots of tech die in that phase and are never seen again, looking at "the house of the future" of the 40s, 50s, 60s I'd say most of it never goes mainstream > Smart blinds ... no reason why they cant be as reliable ... It's not a complex thing. Adding even a bit of complexity to an extremely simple system makes it much less reliable and less durable. You need PCBs, antennas, motors, software (with their updates ?), electricity, all of that to do something you could do with your arms in two seconds. Not even talking about the amount of e-waste generated and the fact that no one will be able to source spare parts by the end of the decade. And we all know these things aren't even built to last in the first place (motors with plastic gears, &c.)