2021 Update: This solution and the company ultimately proved to be a complete failure.
These days, many homes have smart thermostats, but what about smart vents? During colder months, I had trouble keeping the nursery warm without making the master bedroom too hot. And since Florida’s climate during the “winter” months can require heating at night and cooling during the day, I quickly got tired of opening and closing air vents. Keen Home Smart Vents maintain the desired temperatures throughout the house and save energy while doing so.
The Keen Zoning System comprises Smart Vents, a Smart Bridge, Temperature Sensors, and the Keen Home smartphone app. Thanks to the integration with my ecobee3, I was able to use my existing room sensors instead of theirs.
I initially started with their bridge and 4 vents. After seeing the potential, I ended up ordering 3 more. This covers all the main areas and bedrooms. I no longer have colder or hotter areas in the house; everywhere is usually within a one-degree difference.
Installation was straightforward, but the awkward side-heavy weight of these, along with my high ceilings, made this a minorly challenging job for a one-man show on a ladder. Once they were in place, adding them to the app was quick and simple.
Foibles
The first “issue” I’ve had with Keen Home Smart Vents so far is the noise they make when closed, and the HVAC is running. It was loud enough to be a distraction at first, but I think I’ve grown accustomed to it. The other would be the actual noise it makes when opening and closing. The one in the nursery has woken the baby at least once. The last thing would be the smart bridge range. It took me a while to find a central location to place it so that some of the vents would stop periodically blinking yellow, indicating they were experiencing a signal or range issue. With all my wireless devices in the house, this is the first to have such an issue.
Overall, this does a great job at keeping the temperature consistent throughout the house. It would be nice to set different open/close points for heat and cool modes, though…
Check out the gallery at the top of this page for a screenshot of the app as well as a couple of shots of the vents.