The Deluxe FreezeAlarm is Perfect for Monitoring the Temperature and Power at Your Home

Remotely Control the Temperature of your Home via a Phone Call with a Deluxe FreezeAlarm

By Mark J. Donovan

I installed a Deluxe FreezeAlarm this weekend at my vacation home. I installed another one several years ago on another home and loved it. This neat little box calls you if it detects the temperature in your home is too cold or hot, if there is a power outage, or if the backup battery is too low. In addition, it can support a couple of additional sensors, e.g. water, motion and contact sensors that can trigger it to call you. It can be programmed to call up to three phone calls in the event of an alarm condition. You can also call it to get a temperature and power status of your home.

What I really like most about the Deluxe FreezeAlarm is that it can be used to remotely control the temperature of your vacation home or cabin via a simple phone call. The Deluxe FreezeAlarm can accept two thermostat inputs and output a signal to activate the heating furnace. Consequently you tie your existing thermostat into it and wire up a secondary thermostat that feeds it as well. You then set the existing, or primary thermostat, to say 70oF, and the secondary thermostat to say 50oF. When you’re not at the home for an extended period of time you set the Deluxe FreezeAlarm to operate off of the secondary thermostat so that the home stays at a cool 50oF. Then, an hour before you get home, you simply make a phone call to the box, which has a phone jack that plugs into the back of it, and tell it to switch to the primary thermostat. When you arrive at your home, your house is toasty 70oF warm.

At the time of this writing the Deluxe FreezeAlarm costs under $200. Consequently it pays for itself in very short order, compared to what you’d pay for with a monthly home monitoring service. It’s also simple to plug in and install. All you need is a power outlet and a phone jack nearby. If you want to wire up the device to control the temperature of your home, then you’ll also need to feed it two thermostat signals and connect up a signal wire between the box and the heating furnace.

The Deluxe FreezeAlarm is manufactured by Control Products Inc., and can be found at various home improvement centers and online stores.