Little Brother

We never seriously considered getting a full-service security solution after being robbed. Way too expensive and hopefully not very necessary. But we did toss around the idea of self-installing something. The serious self-rolled security systems involve setting up a server to record video along with several expensive cameras. Just too much money and hassle. Should we ever make our house part of the internet of things, we may install cheap motion sensors on the main entry doors and ground level windows with some kind of hub (this or whatever Apple does?). But there's too much flux and uncertainty about which system will win out. So that project is on hold.

Our main concern is that packages get left on our stoop. Since our street is so highly trafficked, we are always worried about something getting lifted. So some kind of video camera or still capture system would work. A super popular one is the Dropcam. But this works by streaming all of the video through your home internet connection to Dropcam. So should Russian or Chinese hackers compromise Dropcam, they could watch your home camera from the comfort of their desks. But worse, Google bought Dropcam. Which means that eventually Google will decide to use the video streams to figure out how to sell things to you. So we wanted something we had some control over.

My brother is using this camera to monitor his front door and recommended it.

Nothing fancy. 640x480 resolution. IR sensors for night vision. Wireless network connection. But what I liked about it was 1. it's really cheap and 2. you can log directly into it and control it. We have it setup to transmit photos whenever it detects motion to an email account. D-Link isn't involved at all. The camera can't be accessed from outside our network. So it is (sort of?) secure. 

I originally put it in our bay window but the IR sensors don't work through the glass and I couldn't get a angle on our porch. I did a little bit of googling and it seems that a bunch of people are using them outside without too many problems. It's really cheap, so I think it's worth a try. 

Our walkway. The camera was originally next to the potted plant in the bay window. Now it is behind the gray pot center right.

Shielded pretty well from the elements from the bay widow overhang and the pot. It's also right on top of the outlet. 

The capture photo resolution is pretty lousy. But better than nothing. I think it'd only be useful for a actual theft for capturing the time and a general description of the thief. Unless the thief had really distinguishing tattoos. Since the emails get sent a minute or two after it gets triggered, I could conceivably catch a robbery in action.

Unfortunately a spider has decided that this location is great. Apparently a little spider walking right in front of the camera is enough to trigger the motion detector. Each morning I have a dozen or so captures of this little dude walking around.

Here he is during the day. 

I've removed his web several times, but he is quite clever. He immediately drops to the ground and scrambles away when I touch his web. A few hours later, a new web appears. I guess I have to keep knocking his web down to discourage him. 

Aside from spiders, the camera seems to work fine. The resolution is terrible, but there's a fairly steep price penalty to get a HD camera. We plan on getting at least another camera to cover the basement entrance. 

Ducting

One of the advantages of the Carrier Infinity system is that it can calculate duct static pressure. Briefly, this has to do with the pressure of the air as it blows through the ducts. Like blood pressure, lower is better. The newer AC systems expect a reading of around 0.5 inches per water column. Our ducts are delivering a reading of nearly 0.9.

Why should we try to fix this? Well, the air blower is going to be working harder than it should, which is wasting energy and shortening its life span. Our installer told us for under $1000 they could add more returns to increase the amount of air entering the system, which should reduce the pressure. They also wanted to add some supplies to each room of the upstairs to help equalize the temperature in the house.

Before we had any energy improvements done the house, the temperature difference between the top and main floors was around 8 degrees. Afterwards it dropped to about 5 degrees. So doubling the AC vent numbers on the top floor should help!

Closet without the shelves, before any vent work

Where a return is going

Before the new supply was added

Cutting a hole in the closet to run the new ducts, which will connect with the existing duct, outside the wall

New return hole

Supply hole in the baby room

The return in the linen closet is the biggest problem. The air is being pulled from the hallway between the walls into the ducting. Only a couple of inches to fit a lot of air. So the plan is the put some proper ducts in. But we'll be losing quite a bit of closet space. Which is probably why the previous install ran INSIDE the wall. They are also adding a return next to the Chinese painting in our room. .

Results of the finished work:

New supply on the right

Much tighter closest. We lose a lot of shelving on the right

So, did we hit 0.50? Drum roll........

No we did not

Not even close. A bummer, really. From reading around the internet it seems that getting below 0.7 is just fine. So 0.73 is pretty close? Our AC guy says this is fine, but what would you expect him to say?  We are pretty disappointed but we have dropped way too much money on this project to do anything more now. It's not even clear what can be done - we are running out of space to install returns.

The system should be fine. I just need to stay on top of the filter cleanings to make sure the pressure doesn't build up too high. The doubling of the vents upstairs has also reduced the temperature difference between the top floor and main floor from around 5 degrees to 2-3 degrees. A noticeable difference.

Nesting our Home

How do you know when you're a grown-up? When instead of in addition to little-kid toys like video games, you get big-kid toys for the home. This year for Christmas, both of our sets of parents gave us awesome home-improvement gifts. The first was a Nest. (Stay tuned for the next one until our next update.)

The Nest is the hot new learning thermostat, designed by Tony Fadell - designer of the original iPod. Why is this thermostat $250? Well, one it looks cool with it's sleek steel ring and elegant design.

Two, it has a sensor to detect whether anyone is home - so it knows when to turn down the thermostat. Three, it connects to the internet allowing you to change settings through either a web interface or through an iPhone app. Four, other stuff.

Still, is it worth it? For people who never touch their thermostat, this device will probably save you a lot of money. Since we actually have programmed our original thermostat, the Nest makes less sense. Still, after a few days of ownership, I really like it.

The install is both easy and painful. Easy because it is super easy to hook up.

They even give you a screwdriver. Which seems totally unnecessary. Who does not have a screwdriver?

Why did I say it was easy and painful? Well it's painful because the Nest smaller than most of the old thermostats, so you will likely have to deal with some ugly wall. In our case we also have an additional problem: the hole drilled out for the wires is off-center from our planked wall.

So my brother drilled a new hole and threaded the wires into the new hole with a coat hanger.

The new hole.

What we should have done next is filled in the old hole, primed the wall, and repainted it. But 1. we were a bit pressed for time and 2. we do not have the original paint. So we took the easy way out and used the vanity plate.

The wires were super easy to install. You just shove them into little holes on the gray tabs - no screws needed. The Nest itself just snaps onto the front. The first thing it did, after powering up, was update itself. The Nest people apparently are continually adding features to the Nest. Which is awesome. After the update completed the fun begins!

First you connect it to your WiFi network (not required, but it makes the Nest a lot more useful). Now the Brave New Home is part of the Internet of Things! Next you tell it what kind of heat (or A/C) system you have installed (in our case, we have oil-powered radiator heat), then you can fill out a schedule, then some other bits like what the minimum or maximum temperature should be.

The scheduling is far easier than a traditional thermostat because you can use the web interface or mobile app to fill out the week.

For now I've re-created our old schedule - turn on the heat when we wake up, very low for the day, on again when we get home, and cooler for the night. What is awesome is that we can change the thermostat anywhere we have an internet connection. So if we are going out to dinner on Friday night, our iPhone can be used to tell the house not to follow the schedule.

What is nice is that the Nest is smart about heating (and cooling). It learns how long it takes to heat and cool the house so that it can reach the temperature by the specified time. Which is great, because with the old thermostat I had to fudge, by telling it to turn on the heat (or A/C) early.

Another great feature of the Nest is the motion sensor. When it doesn't see anyone walk by the thermostat for a while, it will stop running the heat or A/C. This is not too useful for use during the week because we leave and return on a regular schedule, but this will be useful on the weekends.

Because I love data, I like that the Nest records how long the heater or A/C runs and scores how energy-efficient you are with a leaf. So far, we are doing well.

Unfortunately they do not seem to make the data available in a text format, so I cannot play with the data myself. There's supposed to be a monthly email. Maybe that will have what I want?

So what is worst part about the Nest? I like it so much I am very tempted to get a second one to control our A/C!

The unfun part of snow

Our house has received a lot of snow this winter. It's been very pretty and we've been very fortunate to not lose power, unlike many of our neighbors. Unfortunately the gutters are getting hammered. The snow is melting, then freezing into, onto, and over the gutters.

The front of our house gets the majority of the sun and is suffering most acutely from the ice issue. I've been knocking off the snow and ice from the edge of the roof every day. It hasn't been too hard, since I can reach the roof with a shovel from the ground.

I haven't been worrying about the back of the house since it's perpetually in the shade and shouldn't get the snow-melt to ice issue.

Wrong.

I think the kitchen vent in the bottom of the photo may have contributed to the extreme melting. I knocked the ice off, but the gutter was "linear-ized". That is to say, the gutter has changed in shape from a "U" to a "I". That'll probably have to be replaced come spring. Unless it can be bent back into shape.

Unfortunately that wasn't all. 

This portion of the gutter toppled down when I tried to knock the ice off it. The screws just ripped out of the wood trim. When the snow goes away we'll have to evaluate whether it can be bent back and salvaged. Probably not, though.

Unfortunately, the gutter looks like a continuous piece, so the entire gutter for the back of the house may have to be replaced.