The HVAC industry is battling with homeowners, home security and home automation companies to determine who has the authority to install thermostats as a part of "smart home systems."
The issues has taken on new heights with several HVAC industry organizations pushing for legislation to prevent home security and other non HVAC companies from replacing thermostats with products that communicate with security and home control systems.
HVAC companies claim that HVAC systems use exclusive protocols and special communicating thermostats to control equipment that don't follow standard thermostat configurations, protocols or wiring.
According to Dominick Guarino, the CEO of the National Comfort Institute, this approach to this issue has little substantiation, as many home security and home automation companies have their employees complete extensive education to be able to install this technology. However, the issue that should be at the forefront of this battle, is who is responsible if the technology is incorrectly installed.
Guarino recommends that instead of fighting this issue on a government level, HVAC companies should fight this battle in the marketplace through education. Let your customers know that having a third party install an intelligent thermostat could have negative consequences.
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