remote temperature control for residential rentals

Adk1guy

I have been looking for years and still cannot find a good solution to controlling in apartments where the landlord is paying for the heat.
I have two types. A. one thermostat controls the whole building.
B. Where I have zones and the tenant has control of the thermostat
Everyone knows when someone else is paying tenants are not conservative.
The best solution I have found is refrigeration controls that have a sensor you can lengthen with t'stat wire.
What I would like is sensors in every apt I can look at and control on the internet or at least from the boiler room.

ratio

A Honeywell 8000 series Redlink (Honeywell's wireless solution) or WiFi stat can be managed via an app or website, & the controls can be locked out (not 100% secure), you can check & see if the setpoints've been changed; also you can configure email alerts if the temperature exceeds a number. The Redlink model call also use one or more wireless (1..5 IIRC) remotes, with the stat temp itself able to be included in the average. Both models can use wired remote sensors.

pecmsg

My summer rental has a main stat that I can monitor. 

All 3 controls have min and max set points. 

Honeywell T-6’s

Long Beach Ed

I've been operating many rentals for many years. I pay for the heat, so obviously the tenants have no control and no access to thermostats.

The smaller rentals (2 - 5 family buildings) use remote sensors. Tekmar makes several types that are compatible with most professional high end thermostats bought through heating distributors. Retail stores generally carry special models that do not accommodate remote sensors though they may share the same model numbers.

The Tekmar sensors are available camouflaged as a blank switch plate, which I install with tamper proof screws or as a one-inch round plug which gets buried and hidden under a thin layer of joint compound. You can install several sensors and wire them to average temperatures of different apartments.

I wire them with switches that permit me to exclude sensors that I may believe are subject to tampering or chilling.

On the larger buildings, I use HeatTimer controls that offer wireless temperature sensors. I install several in representative places and they average the readings.

When a prospective tenant complains that they have no control over the heat settings, I don't rent to them. In fairness, I keep the temperature set to 70 degrees around the clock. Lowering the settings would result in minimal savings and happy tenants are good tenants, well worth the few extra dollars.

In decades of renting to hundreds of tenants, I never received a heating complaint except, of course, from family members.

Adk1guy

ron said:

Adk1guy said:

Everyone knows when someone else is paying tenants are not conservative....

don't doubt there are may tenants are out pushing over statues and protesting alongside greta for climate change all the while having the heat on max at their apartment for when they get home... or did i take your c word out of context

Yes I used the c word out of context. That is quite amusing.. The word “conservatism” is rooted in the verb “to conserve.” Yet “conservation,” or environmentalism, is not considered a right-wing, “conservative” cause today. By: Katey Castellano
SubStance, Vol. 40, No. 2, Issue 125 (2011), pp. 73-91
The Johns Hopkins University Press

Adk1guy

Some good ideas. I will look into the helpful posts. Thank you.