I need a thermometer alarm!

November 18, 2020 9:15 AM

My husband leaves doors and windows wide open and forgets about them. in the middle of winter this is ESPECIALLY awful. Two nights ago he left the back door wide open (again) and luckily I realised it when I went down at midnight for a snack. He wants to exchange the air. That is his motivation. Is there a thermometer that will sound an alarm if it senses the temperature going below 21 celcius (for example)?
posted by flink to Human Relations (8 answers total)

Best answer: This is definitely a thing that exists! Many of them will be very much overengineered for your purpose (i.e. they'll want to dial phone numbers or have super-specific tolerances) but here's one: Winter Watchman - turns on a light bulb when the temperature gets below your setting. It's marked in fahrenheit, and presumably works on North American power supply, so I don't know if it would work for you but you know, that's the idea anyway.

If you want to do it in a "smart home" kind of way there are lots of smart themostats and smart sensors that you can hook up to the smart home hub of your choice, but again, that's overkill for this one particular use case.
posted by mskyle at 9:21 AM on November 18, 2020 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Yes! I am thinking something like the opposite of a fridge alarm. Even an alarm that could sound if the window has been open longer than 5-10 minutes might work. I am also not very good with technology so something that didn't need a lot of set up or programming would be great!
posted by flink at 9:22 AM on November 18, 2020

Well, you can easily put one together using a simple wall thermostat (the type that just closes a contact if the temperature drops below the setpoint), a doorbell (one that sounds really different from the one on your front door) and a power supply for that bell. Wire them together just like a normal doorbell, with the thermostat instead of the button.
posted by Stoneshop at 9:24 AM on November 18, 2020 [3 favorites]

Best answer: There are also switches that turn on/off based on a temperature (in either direction). You could plug anything you want into something like that (a light or a radio). We use this one to turn on/off heating mats for curing garden veggies.
posted by 10ch at 9:26 AM on November 18, 2020 [4 favorites]

This would require an extra action on your husband's part, but if he's aware that this is a problem, maybe it will work.

Get a simple timer - microwave, oven, phone, or even better, a mechanical timer you have to turn off. If he wants to open a door/window for air, he has to set the timer for X amount of time. When the timer goes off, he has to close the window/door.

I use this technique when my husband boils water to get some moisture into the air. I'm paranoid of the pot emptying. Granted, I'm the one that usually ends up setting the timer, but it still helps add that extra level of alertness.
posted by hydra77 at 9:36 AM on November 18, 2020 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: Thank you everyone! I was searching for temperature alarms and kept getting alarm clocks that show the temperature. But 10ch's idea and link was a few clicks away from a product with 2 sensors and a home base that would alarm when the temperature went out of a preset range. I am so excited! Thank you all!
posted by flink at 9:39 AM on November 18, 2020 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I am thinking something like the opposite of a fridge alarm.

Better fridge/freezer alarms have both high and low alert settings. Something like this Thermoworks model should work.

This would require an extra action on your husband's part

If he can remember to set a timer, he’d be more likely to remember to close a window.
posted by zamboni at 9:39 AM on November 18, 2020 [3 favorites]

On a whim, I bought a CO2 monitor a year and a half ago. It has been interesting to see how much the CO2 levels change in the apartment I'm in over time, and depending on how many people are in the room (which is just two since March, but you get my point).

Anyway, when CO2 levels go above 600 or 800 ppm, it starts to beep. This might be a nice alternative you could get for your husband, so he knows when it's time to open windows/doors, instead of knowing when to close them?
posted by Grither at 10:00 AM on November 18, 2020 [4 favorites]