VELUX ACTIVE in our Smart Home

Bet ya didn’t know that we have a smart home eh? Well, not quite “think for me and control every aspect to perfection” smart, but at the very least we have a smart home system throughout, integrated with smart thermostats, and now, our VELUX ACTIVE. When we installed the VELUX Skylight as part of our Retro Glam Kitchen Renovations, we also received a VELUX ACTIVE system, so I thought I’d tell you about it!

*VELUX Canada sponsored this post, but all thoughts are my own. Thank you for supporting the brands that make PMQ for two possible.

What is VELUX ACTIVE?

“VELUX ACTIVE with NETATMO is the easy way to a healthier indoor climate. Smart sensors continuously monitor the temperature, humidity and CO₂ levels in your home and open or close your skylights and blinds to create a healthier indoor climate.”

So basically, we have a hub in the kitchen that controls all our VELUX products through an app. We have the VELUX ACTIVE Starter Kit, which includes the gateway, indoor climate sensor, and departure switch. When your system is installed, you’ll download the VELUX Home App, and follow all the prompts to an easy installation.

Why the Active is part of our Smart Home

When discussing product options with our installer, we really liked that the sensors and gateway would automatically do a lot of things for us to ensure a healthier indoor climate.

We now have sensor based ventilation, daily ventilation, and smart heat protection.

• Smart sensors continuously monitor temperature, humidity and CO₂ levels and open or close your skylights to ensure a healthier indoor climate.
• The system proactively ensures that the room is ventilated at least three times a day for a fresher, healthier  indoor climate.
• The smart sensors proactively closes our solar-powered blinds based on local weather forecast information to prevent overheating of the room.

It doesn’t get much smarter than that! Which means that on the occasional sunny day, if it gets too hot, we don’t have to worry about heating an already warm part of the house. Our skylight is right next to the oven and range, so that corner can quite get hot in the summer if we don’t monitor things.

I mean, I like things toasty, but not enough to maintain tropical plants in our kitchen. That’s too much for me.

Using the VELUX ACTIVE Smart Phone App

Much like any well designed app, there are tons of great features included with the system. We have the option to program shortcuts that will open or close all the blinds (if we had more than one – which we will eventually).

We can also program security functions into the protocol to lock the skylights upon departure, or vent at different temperatures/moisture. Once we start adding more skylights and sun tunnels to the house, we’ll be able to add them to the gateway and access them through the app.

Gotta love a system that makes life a little easier!