Flair Smart Vent Review: A room in every home is either too hot or too cool. That doesn’t mean you have to make the entire house uncomfortably cluttered. Alternatively, you can install room heaters or fans in the attic, which are expensive, time-consuming, and not guaranteed to operate (which cost less but never seem to work as well as you need them to).
Individual room temperature may be controlled using Flair’s whole-house solution, which eliminates the need for HVAC maintenance and clutter in your home. Switch out your old A/C vent covers for the new smart covers, set up the system, and let Flair take care of the airflow in your house. The A/C vent covers are replaced with Flair. When the temperature drops, the vents automatically open or close. A room-monitoring puck (sold separately) and a smart thermostat can be used in conjunction with it for even more ease (ecobee, Honeywell, or Nest).
What’s going on now?
The Smart Vents can be linked to a Puck to receive temperature information about the surrounding area as well as a preset target temperature, as previously mentioned. When an Ecobee system is set up for software integration, they can also get their marching orders from an Ecobee sensor. I used the Flair app to provide target temperature information to the Ecobee at first, but later switched to the Ecobee determining target temperature, and all of the Flair units used that information to determine whether to open or close.
Design and features
The Smart Vents from Flair are both attractive and well-made. The vent covers are made of metal and feature an attractive grill design that can be used in a variety of settings. Despite the fact that they’re all white, they’re not your typical cash registers. An LED light strip is attached to one side to aid setup, while the battery housing, louvers, and motors that control their open and shut positions are located on the opposite side.
What’s the Deal?
There aren’t any manual controls like there are on most vents, are there? Who in their right mind would climb a ladder to fix a vent? Vents are automatically opened and closed by Flair so that hot or cold air can pass through them. Use Flair smart vents to determine which rooms need them most. Flair does not require the replacement of every vent in your home, and it would be prohibitively expensive to do so. Flair recommends installing new vents near your air handler in order to improve airflow. Issue rooms don’t necessitate smart ventilation because they’re usually open.
Investigate the dimensions of your A/C vent covers if you don’t already know them. It is possible to use Flair smart vents with any standard-sized air conditioning vent. You’ll connect the vents to Flair and simply replace them in the rooms where they’re needed. Assign a Flair puck to each room that needs to be checked out (smart vents have built-in temperature sensors). Because of this, when temperatures rise or fall, the vents automatically close and reroute air to where it’s needed most. Instead of a central air conditioner, why not install a mini-split model? Additionally, a person’s sense of style might be beneficial. With their Smart Pucks, you can control them from afar via tiny split systems.
Automation room-by-room
The Flair Puck uses geofencing and sensors to set the temperature of each room. Bluetooth geofencing allows the Flair app to regulate the temperature based on who is in which room. Flair Puck doesn’t directly manage room temperature; it merely communicates with devices that do. The system tries to please numerous users at once.You can customize temperature settings for each room using Flair as the controller, based on the preferences of the residents. A true zoned HVAC system can cost thousands of dollars if you’re replacing existing ductwork in walls. Simply put, Flair’s solution is significantly less expensive than the competition’s, and it takes only a few minutes to set up.
Is it worth it???
Immediately, I saw that Flair smart vents were just what I was looking for in terms of ventilation. At 10 a.m. every summer day, I switch on the fan in my rear office (and early fall, here in Florida). Flair was able to keep the back room significantly colder throughout the day. My workplace, like many others, is at the “end of the line.” In order to keep my workplace cool, I had to crank up the A/C in the living room, which made it feel much colder than usual (I have an ecobee smart thermostat with a temperature sensor in the office). We’d have to clean up the remaining rooms and the laundry room next.
Flair vents have been installed in each of those rooms, allowing the system to recognize inhabitants and close the vents automatically. Flair vents are virtually undetectable once installed. The vent’s motor runs quietly when it’s open or closed. They also look prettier than the vents they replaced, which were made by the same company that built the house. The Flair app allows you to fine-tune your level of comfort by providing detailed, granular information on each item in your system. Alternatively, you can simply install it and then forget about it. My home’s temperature is always just right thanks to Flair vents and Ecobee. Thermostats and sensors from Honeywell and Nest are compatible with Flair.
Charts for each device are available, but I found the app’s interface to be a little too complicated to use. They have the feel of a mouse, not fingers. In order to properly utilize the Flair system, you do not need to use these extra features. They are there for data-obsessed users. I initially found the Flair app intimidating due to the complexity of setting up a multi-vent system. Flair worked like a charm once I got it working thanks to the Ecobee integration.
Where can I get it from, Exactly?
There is a $210 price tag for the Flair smart vent and puck combo. (You must have at least one puck to function as the system’s hub). Vents cost $100 each. While Flair isn’t the cheapest solution (a ladder and manually-controlled vent are), it gracefully solves an issue. It’s simple to use and requires minimal upkeep (two C batteries will power a vent for about 3-4 years). Flair pays for itself by reducing the overall energy consumption of your home’s air conditioning system.
There’s no need to think about the smart vents in this setup because they just do what they need to do to keep the temperature consistent and intelligently route heating and cooling. My nearly 100-year-old house has seen a significant increase in airflow, with the exception of a few non-standard, larger registers that can’t yet be Flair-equipped. The Pucks are not only well-designed, but also simple to use, with magnetic, stick-up, and screw-in installation options. Turning the bezel controls the temperature, and they can also be used as remote sensors if desired.
Finally, as a result of all of this, and in the end
Although it may appear that the position of individual registers has no bearing on the efficiency of a home’s HVAC system, my experience with Flair has shown that this is not the case. I initially concentrated on one area (the master bedroom), but I soon noticed a significant increase in both heating and cooling efficiency. Even if your central air and heating are already very effective in terms of consistency and power efficiency, the Flair system appears to be a wise upgrade.
