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Comment by sunsu | Hacker News Reader

I would buy one today if it were available. One thing I don't understand is how the vents control when the AC turns on or off. If it can't do that, then I don't see how it will work well.

Edit: It would be easy to do if you replaced the thermostat, but interfacing with legacy ones (or running wire) would be a pain.

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You would certainly want to interface with the thermostat but you don't necessarily have to, for instance, you could just open all vents when the AC kicks on except the one by the thermostat and have each room close off when it gets cold enough and open the thermostat vent so that it kicks off around when every other room is cool enough.

Hey man, I'm dip, one of the co-founders of ecovent. You're absolutely right, we need to control the thermostat to maximize the utility of the system. Our plan is to integrate with any wifi thermostat.

If you're interested in joining our beta program, please email me at: dp [at] ecoventsystems [dot] com.

How do you ensure enough air flow? If I blocked off three rooms with my A/C, it would be continually freezing up. I like the concept, but worry about causing strain on the blower because it is trying to push too much air through.

In systems that automate flow to zones using actuated vent dampers, there is always a bypass system that allows extra air flow to cycle back to the intake.

For a system like EcoVent to work with central air, it, ideally, would integrate with the thermostat so that it has context and control to ensure the system does not cycle too much and that that heat exchanger doesn't freeze up.

Easy enough to do but yeah no mention of a thermostat on their page.

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