A home needs a daily ventilation to refresh the house air. While the home is closed it is possible to turn ON frequently and for few minutes the air intakes, kitchen and bathroom fans in the house to allow fresh air into the house. The schedule can be set automatically in any of the local my home gateways, but it is easier to change remotely using an applescript program in the iCal and Reminder Apps. It is also possible to set up Mail rules in one of e-mail accounts to run an alarm or script that operates the fan for few minutes every time an email with the appropriate wording is sent and received.
Automation is of great help to control the water flow for the plants, house, and laundry. Water in a closed house can cause damages when a pipe burst. It is important to irrigate the plants according to season schedules, keep flushing the toilets and sinks frequently to avoid bad odors caused by dry syphons.
In this section we explain how the home automation system may be used for water management. The water flow can be monitored using impulse water meter, impulse sensors, and a Color Touch Screen to display the water usage. The water flow is controlled by solenoid and motorized valves. Solonoid valves are energized when the water is flowing, therefore, they are used for short flow durations. Motorized valves are energized to change their status between open and close.
The iirigation system is divided into two zones: garden(57) and serra (59). The garden is enable or disable by the rain sensors. The serra is also used to irrigate inside the WC inside the house to avoid the syphons to dry. Automations in the MH200N turns ON the irrigation motorized valves during the time the solenoid valves are ON.
Rains Sensors. There is a rain sensor (on-lin) that disable the activation of the garden electrovalves when the rain sensor switch is opened. There is also an additional sensor that can be monitored to find out if there is rain.
It is interesting to analyze the hourly water usage, it shows clearly the hours the people is asleep because the bathroom is the a must stop place before going to bed and after getting up from bed. The quantity of water usage is part of the wellbeing monitoring research to identify activities as waking up in the middle of the night, water spent to shower, …
Intake
Ventilation Sesto Terrace . The air in the home changes daily. The ventilation daily schedule is managed by iCal.