Dampers are fine for a static balance, but the whole point of the smart dampers/vents is that it responds to the humans in the house i.e. I don’t need the AC in the bedrooms during the day, and I don’t need the AC in the kitchen between 12am and 5am, so why pay for that? If the AC unit is not having to cool the whole house, but just the rooms you are in it is bound to cost less than cooling the whole house to 77°f.
BTW My power bill is $400 in the summer and $210 in the winter, and my house has new double glazed windows and 6 inches of fiberglass in the attic.
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In my case, I have an undersized AC unit that struggles in the summer to keep the house 78°. The bedrooms furthest from the unit are always 10° warmer than the rooms next to the unit. I have a booster blower halfway to the bedrooms, and that does help some (noisy though), but It seems like there should be a better solution.
Adding smart registers to the thermostat package would help keep your home at comfortable temps no matter what room your in
Then need to add Keen smart Vent compatibility.
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I agree. I learned the hard way that if you restrict air flow to much in a Heat Pump or A/C the coils will ice and the whole thing shuts down. Furnaces have high temp sensors to shut them down if they get to hot.
It would be nice to be able to use the Wyze thermostat in my home with one system but two thermostats one on each floor. The thermostats control dampeners that direct air when activated.
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Badly need vent dampers (in a variety of sizes) to be able to control temperature in houses that don’t have a separate damper system to control airflow to individual zones. Flair has a nice system (expensive and vent sizes are too limited).
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I have been looking at smart vents since I bought my house in May. I have rooms that are too cold and rooms that are too hot and a single system in a Tri-Level house. The smart vents I have looked at seem too expensive for my taste and I have trusted Wyze for a long time now. I would love for Wyze to come out with a smart vent and include round vents as well as rectangular. I have rectangular vents on my living level and lower level but round ceiling vents in my upper floor/bedrooms and I have not readily seen round smart vents.
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I think this is a great idea for Wyze.
I was looking at another brand, but the whole time thinking this would be a perfect next item for Wyze to work on.
I love Wyze products, and somehow am unlucky enough where I seem to buy a smart device such as a Robot Vacuum, Smart Plugs, Outdoor Smart Plugs, etc. 1 month before Wyze announces they are making one. I am now looking into adding Smart HVAC Vents to my home to have climate control of my entire house. I would love if Wyze would make this product as it would seem right up its ally with the thermostat, and current products seemingly being expensive enough where Wyze could produce a cheaper version and corner the market on them. Please let me know if this is something I should hold out on buying or if this is something that Wyze could develop in the near future.
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I agree this would be awesome, they could add be temperature and motion sensor so rules could be made to control the room better.
This is an obvious yet hugely untapped market. Keen, Flair, and Alea. Try and buy any of them. They are all out of stock despite high prices and poor reviews.
All you “HVAC pros” preaching air pressure doom, guess what? The manufacturers of these products thought of that. Simple pressure sensor and it’s solved. Safer than people manually closing vents which everyone else does all the time.
Omg Wyze just make this already and take my money!
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As one of those HVAC Pros, I should probably thank you for continuing to request a product that will damage your compressor and ECM blower motors so I can continue to profit from the self-inflicted damage.
I truly have no other intentions of warning potential buyers of such a product that they may cause themselves damage to their equipment and their wallets.
Closing off vents- yes people do it all the time. They also end up with the damage I’ve mentioned and water stains in their ceilings.
Hmmmmm, poor reviews of the existing devices. That’s a bumfoozler right there, I wonder why? Dunno but perhaps Wyze has looked into to this and said Hail No, too problematic and we don’t want to ruin our good reputation with a half-baked idea of a device just because people that don’t know any better keep asking for it.
Please tell me where to get these magical pressure switches that will reduce the CFM/static pressure within your duct work as they reduce the compressor capacity at the same time. I’ll take 100 of them to start with!
Heck, what do I know having done this a bazillion years? I’m sure you are much more informed than myself about these things. Go ahead, put them on every supply drop you have but you’ve been warned…Put your AC guy on speed dial and save up some cash for the repair costs while your at it.
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Hi Dave,
I’m sure you know more than me and many of those who have been pushing for this. That said, perhaps you can explain to us how balancing multi zones using a Honeywell Low Voltage Damper system differs from what we all think we need (i.e. smart vents). Is there a bypass that would need to be created/installed to make sure we don’t need your services once “it” is set up??? You know what we’re trying to accomplish – please tell us how to get the outcome we need.
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Go back to my original post in this topic from Oct 4, 2020. It’s pretty lengthy so I’m not going to repost it as this one will be long enough on its own.
To answer your specific question, yes- you need a bypass loop or dump zone to bleed off the excess air you are not putting into the area with the closed vent OR a variable capacity system that reduces not only air flow but BTU heat removal. That’s the physical issue.
The annoyance issue is that closing the grills at the ceiling will cause them to become cold and sweat as the humidity condenses on them. A real zoned system will have those dampers upstream in the ductwork to prevent this from happening.
You can test it yourself- close the grill off in your bathroom, turn on the cooling, and take a shower. Let me know how long it takes before it begins to rain from the grill.
Yes, extreme example but quickly confirms what I’m saying is true.
Trust me, if I thought I could effectively, reliably, and inexpensively zone a house with a product such as this, I’d be the first in line to buy them!
Perhaps I’ll be proven wrong and Wyze will at some point offer a “smart vent” but I sure hope not. 2 words: Product Liability
If they do their due diligence and consider the potential lawsuits regarding failed compressors, failed blower motors, water damage, and MOLD associated with saying “Hey, Johnny Homeowner, install these grills they’re fantastic”- they’ll NEVER do it.
Here’s a good example of exactly the above statement- American Standard/Trane came out with a new series of air handlers several years back. Their Hyperion series, specifically the TAM7 and TAM8’s came pre wired for a water safety or float switch designed to shut the system down in the event the condensate drain line became clogged. Just before product launch their lawyers said NO WAY! They were afraid of being sued for any damages relating to that water switch failing to prevent water damage. They left it up to the installing company to use an aftermarket product to do the job absolving them of any liability.
Every single one of those air handlers has an unused pigtail in them for a non-existent factory water switch. Funny thing is often times when the air handler is installed horizontally instead of vertically, that pigtail can fall into the drain pan causing the thermostat to throw a condensate error code. Lots of fun watching the inexperienced techs figure that one out 
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I just got the Wyze thermostat and now need Wyze smart vents for my house. Please 
add me to the Beta test.
Dave,
Keen, Flair, and Alea have all done extensive studies on back pressure risks and have innovated solutions to the concerns through built-in pressure sensors or safety limitations. Do I need to Google this for you? I don’t suppose basic critical thinking about your flawed existing wisdom is something they teach in HVAC school.
Regardless, this is a concern Wyze would and could take into consideration. Duh. We are imploring them to do so. Whether or not you can change your mind is of no importance. Just get out of our way.
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While you’re busy googling, check this out. You’ll see everything I said echoed and then some: Can You Save Money by Closing HVAC Vents in Unused Rooms? - Energy Vanguard
This will be my last post on this subject. Again, I’ve had no intentions other than to help prevent folks from becoming victims of unintentional costly repairs by buying into a modern day snake oil product. You can take my advice based upon real-world experience, facts, and science or not- your choice.
Bottom line is they are offering a bandaid for a poorly designed system that will not fix the true underlying problems. It won’t be until several months after you’ve purchased their product you’ll find you’ve wasted your money, actually increased your power bill, and possibly cost you repairs to your HVAC system as well.
You can’t change physics and you can’t fix stupid. I can however fix the AC you killed using these products. So I guess I’m the one that actually benefits from them other than the knuckleheads that sold it to you in the first place, so there’s that. Guess I’ll just sit back and enjoy the show…
Here’s another funny little tidbit for your consideration- FACT: The HVAC trade is full of under qualified, often times incompetent hacks. Unfortunately those of us that are not are usually considered such anyway. Even more fun? I work in the heart of Earth’s techno-geek society, Central Florida home of the Kennedy Space Center and all of the supporting companies and agencies. I have customers that are truly rocket scientists, astronauts, engineers, and physicists. Can’t count the times I’ve had to play the “I’m an engineer, what could this lowly AC guy tell me I don’t already know?” game. Good times.
So confident in their intelligence, they don’t need the benefit of experience. I absolutely LOVE when they give up on trying to solve their HVAC issue, break down and call only to find they horribly over thought the situation, spent hours trying to solve the problem, half disassembled the equipment, wires everywhere, for me to step in and say, “well hail, there’s your problem right there. Clogged drain line. Lemme fix that for ya. Want me to put all this back together?” Fun to watch their heads explode at that point.
Point is even the most intelligent of people could benefit from having experience in any task they are trying to accomplish or problem they are trying to solve. I’m not gonna build a rocket in my backyard anytime soon, I guess I could, just need some propellent, a nozzle, and an ignition source. How hard can it be, right? Maybe it’ll fly, maybe it’ll explode in my face.
Please stop screwing with your HVAC system if you don’t know what you’re doing unless you’re willing to risk it “blowing up in your face” so to speak.
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Hi Dave - How about instead of just smart vents… temperature sensors or thermostats in the rooms you are trying to balance or control, smart dampers that could be installed upstream of the actual vents, and a pressure sensor with a smart vent that could dump excess air (when the pressure reaches the trigger point to maintain the right pressure)? If this would work, the benefits over a more traditional multi-zone system are the smart aspects, cost, and ease of installation. Maybe I’m trying to beat a dead horse but I would appreciate hearing your opinion please. Thanks.
Jerry
You kinda just described a traditional zone system. Tstat/sensors in each room/zone, dampers upstream in the ducts, and a way to monitor duct pressures and deal with the excess air (bypass/dump zone). The only additional item would be supply and return air sensors that monitor the air temperature shutting the condenser off in the event the evaporator coil gets close to freezing.
I’m trying to think of some type of advantage that could be applied to a “smart” zone system that isn’t already available or a way to reduce costs. Adding wireless control technology to the dampers/stats won’t really help as they’ve gotta get power some how. Batteries or wires? I pick wires.
If you have a “legacy” wired HVAC system meaning switches/relays/tstat controlling the equipment as opposed to a communicating system, pick your favorite smart tstat to control each zone. 10-15 years ago there were only a few companies offering residential zoning equipment and it was expensive. Now, not so much. A 4 zone Honeywell zone controller is only a couple hundred bucks where they used to be much more. There’s other players in the game now with even cheaper parts but I can’t speak to their reliabity or support. In theory, you could pick up a complete 4 zone system probably around $1500-$2000 in parts, depending on which tstats you go with, number of zones, etc. Now someone has to hop up in your attic/under your house and install/wire all that stuff, so the end price will probably be doubled and then some of the parts costs.
If you have a communicating system, chances are the manufacturer already has zone controlling that can be integrated. These are typically the most expensive systems as each manufacturer uses their own proprietary comm protocol that doesn’t work with anyone else’s equipment. You’re stuck with what they offer and price it at. I know there were some aftermarket companies trying to figure out a workaround for these but I’m honestly not up to date on that.
Is it expensive? Yup, sure is. Can a FUNCTIONAL, non-equipment damaging smart zoning system using WiFi connected dampers be created? Absolutely. I’m not sure there would be any benefits. You’ll be able to eliminate the zone controller but you’d have to add a wireless module to control the HVAC equipment. I can’t see the zoning parts being any cheaper by adding wifi controllers to the dampers, and you’d still have to run power to each or change out batteries.
No offense intended to the folks at Wyze, but I don’t think they nor any other company not in biz will create a revolutionary cure all for zoning. Think about it for a second, residential zoning is a tiny fraction of what the commercial market is. Office buildings, hospitals, and pretty much any other large commercial building use some sort of zoning/building management. The residential zoning is a bit more simplified version of what they do for commercial.
If the big players such as Honeywell and Johnson Controls haven’t come up with a way to make it easier, more cost effective, and reliable so they could corner the market, I’m not sure anyone else will. Just turning off the air to the room is horribly over-simplifing what really needs to occur. If it were that easy, these smart vents would have been on every Lowes, Home Depot, and WalMart shelf years ago next to their thermostats. If someone actually does pull it off, they’ll probably get gobbled up quickly by one of the big players.
I just don’t see it happening CORRECTLY due to the number of things to be addressed, the variation from one equipment manufacturer to the next, and the scope of changes to be made are probably not in the average homeowner’s experience toolbox.
I keep hearing, “look at their websites, they’ve got all the tests” for these smart vents. Problem is, this info is coming from the company selling this garbage. Look at the abundance of car related useless “tech” out there promising better gas milage by simply plugging in a module to your OBDII port (not to be confused with code scanners, skip shift eliminators, stop/start eliminators- those are legit). The ones promising improved MPG are nothing more than a few blinking lights. They do NOTHING. Yet they’ve got some slick websites, all the amazing reviews you can stand, and people keep buying them.
So there, my 2 cents. Do with it as you wish.
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