My smart thermostat went offline for 3 days during that heatwave last week and my landlord just shrugged

I had to program the thing manually with the wall panel like a caveman, and that made me realize how fast we forget how to do basic things when the tech breaks, has anyone else had a moment where a simple gadget failure made you rethink how much you depend on the cloud?

3 comments

3 Comments

karencampbell20d ago

I keep a little notepad taped to my boiler with the manual override steps written down in plain English. My internet went out during a snowstorm two years ago and I spent an hour fumbling through menus trying to figure out how to make the heat come on. Now I also save the setup instructions for anything connected to wifi in a folder on my phone, just in case. That thermostat was probably a newer model than mine but the landlord should have shown you the basic tricks before you moved in.

the_terry20d ago

@karencampbell you're smarter than me, I never thought to save those setup pages offline.

susansingh20d ago

Oh man, I've been there. After my smart lock bricked during a freeze I printed out the manual pages and taped them inside the battery compartment.