Checking home/house temps while wintering away

[David T. Richelderfer]

I am wondering if people have a means to electronically check-in on their homes while away for the winter.  There are household thermostats that will WIFI connect and allow you to monitor and adjust your house heat setting from anywhere in the world.  You do it through your smart phone/computer/... with an APP.  The problem, as I see it, is your house requires a hot spot for the thermostat to connect to.  This means you will have two hot spots with two monthly charges - one in the coach AND another in your home.

Are there any thermostats that have a built-in hot spot?  (If so, then I suppose it would have a monthly charge anyway, eh?)

Maybe my best alternative is to impose on my neighbor to check on my house during the freezes, then call me if there's a problem.

[Karl Welhart]

David,

I have used with great success a dial-up home security system that will allow you to dial your home phone number (must have a land line) while traveling.  The security system answers the call and will tell you the inside house temp, humidity and power status.  It will adjust both heat/cool modes and temp setting via your keypad.  I am not sure if you can adjust humidity control if that is set up in your home HVAC system.

[Bob Jae]

I use the NEST thermometer to check and adjust the temperature while I am gone.

www.nest.com

[Dick Simonis]

We have a lady that stops in once a week to check on things and the temp is one of them...set to 85.

[Steve Huber Co-Admin]

Dick,
I picked up a Filtrete (3M) unit at Home Depot a few years ago when we got our place in Show Low to monitor winter temps and keep pipes from freezing. Think I paid about $100. It works great and even notifies you via email if router goes off line.
Steve

[Stan Simpson]

We are leaving home Saturday for 3 months. Although WiFi for a thermostat would not be a problem (we have a router with a cable ISP) we just have a friend stop in every couple of weeks to check things out. We have re-set our external garage door opener to a temporary code that she chose, so she gains access that way.

Safe travels all,

Stan