You would think by now that there would be no pagers in use – it seems like everyone has a mobile phone. In fact, traditional pagers and paging services are on the decline, but there is valuable paging bandwidth that can be used for other purposes — like the CoolSentry program. Today, a technician from SolvIt stopped by the house and installed CoolSentry devices on the compressors of our air conditioning system.
Like many parts of America, Connecticut has an electrical distribution system that is not designed to cope with the increased demands that are placed on it from growth of business and residential needs. In the event of a surge in demand, such as during a blistering hot summer afternoon, the result can be a blackout. The CoolSentry program is designed to help prevent blackouts through better management of electrical usage. If a surge in demand occurs during the summer, the power company will use a paging signal to activate the devices attached to air conditioning compressors and turn off the compressor for 20 minutes per hour. Some power is left running to keep the compressor fan turning even though the compressor itself is not running. The result is less electrical demand in the system with little or no noticeable effect on the air conditioning. The installation technician told me that he and eight other technicians were each doing 10-15 homes per day. CoolSentry is a good example of wireless technology at work to stave off potentially very negative problems. Paging lives on even if the pagers don’t!.