Resideo Brings Artificial Intelligence to HVAC
Controls firm aims to help HVAC pros manage time, sell indoor air quality
NEW AND OLD TECHNOLOGY: Resideo, a Honeywell spinoff, offers everything from the traditional round, nonprogrammable thermostat to programmable digital thermostats, like the one on the left, that can be controlled via an app on a smartphone. (Courtesy of Resideo)
Resideo Technologies Inc. is applying artificial intelligence — AI — to the world of HVAC.
The Honeywell spinoff is touting two data-dependent products in its new Pro-IQ line. One is designed to help HVAC professionals manage maintenance demands, and thus their time; the other helps technicians turn information about their customers’ indoor air quality (IAQ) into sales of IAQ products.
The Pro-IQ line addresses two of the biggest current challenges in HVAC: time management, given the labor shortage in the industry, and increasing concerns about IAQ, according to Levi Bouwman, a Resideo sales manager. Pro-IQ products were prominently displayed at the Resideo booth.
The Pro-IQ LifeWhere product allows contractors and technicians to remotely monitor their customers’ HVAC systems and, using predictive analytics, forecast a system’s problems and maintenance needs, allowing professionals to better schedule service calls and smooth out labor demands.
LifeWhere “tells you if you're going to have a problem with your heat exchanger, if you’re going to have a problem with one of your igniters, you’re going to have a problem with the gas valve,” Bouwman said during the Expo. “It actually measures the energy current in the unit.” Based on how the energy signal changes, he said, LifeWhere can spot a problem months ahead of time.
Bouwman referred to the typical winter deep chill in his home state, Minnesota, to explain how Pro-IQ LifeWhere might help contractors there save time and deploy workers in a way that better meets demand.
“So we know, right, that you're going to have a lot of calls when it’s 35 below zero in Minnesota,” he said. “But if you knew that you were going to have a furnace issue, say in the next six months… you could then schedule that work to do when it’s, say, 45 degrees outside.”
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The other Pro-IQ product, AirCycle, is an air quality monitor that can analyze the air in a home and identify IAQ needs, such as humidification, dehumidification, or better filtration. Linking it to a smartphone, a laptop, or another internet-connected device, a technician can use the AirCycle monitor to illustrate to IAQ issues to the consumer and suggest solutions, Bouwman said.
“So it's all about educating the homeowner,” Bouwman said. “And it's one thing to talk about temperature, because we all know what temperature is: I’m hot or I’m cold. But it's a different thing to talk about the number of particulates that you have in your air in order to sell better air filtration.”
Resideo is also meeting the needs of HVACR professionals with the recent launch of Resideo Academy, a series of online training webinars. The webinars can be found on the Resideo website and can also be accessed through another HVAC company’s learning management system, if needed.
“We want to do what we can to train the next generation of technicians,” Bouwman said.
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