Phone Operates New Fuel Saver

Phone Operates New Fuel Saver ENERGY Fuel-Saving Devices 2-1-28 Latest new fuel saver is Enercon, an electronic device no bigger than a pack of cigarettes that controls theremostats or switches by telephone. Let's suppose you and your family are returning home from a trip. Within an hour from home, you pull off the highway to call home. Your call turns up the thermostat so that when you walk into the house its warm as toast. While you were gone, the thermostat was turned down to save fuel. Or, suppose it's your job to turn the furnace up early every Sunday morning in your rural church. Instead of having to drive over a couple of hours before church begins, you simply dial the church's number and turn up the thermostat by phone. There are dozens of other applications for Enercon. You can use it to turn crop dryers or irrigation motors on or off, or to control lights or fans in feedlots or barns - all by telephone. Enercon consists of a transmitter which you carry with you in your pocket, and a receiver which mounts on a wall close to the switch you want to turn on or off, or the thermostat you want to turn up or down. The transmitter's only function is to send out a tone which activates the receiver. When you telephone home to turn up the thermostat, for example, you dial the number. As soon as you hear that the phone at home is ringing, you hold the transmitter to the mouthpiece, then push its "transmit" button. The Enercon receiver at home acknowledges with its own tone signal to let you know that it "got the message". The receiver then proceeds to automatically turn up the thermostat to room temperature (or whatever setting you pre-selected before leaving home). The same phone call that turns up the thermostat in your home in winter can also be used to turn on the air conditioner in summer. Once you're home, the receiver is switched to "off" and the heating/cooling thermostat operates normally, and the phone, which operates in parallel with Enercon, rings normally. Installation of the system is relatively simple, according to Dan Souder, president of Enercon. The system works with most commonly used thermostats. Suggested retail of an Enercon transmitter and receiver set for operating thermostats is $160.00. Controlling appliances and larger motors by phone requires extra relays and a somewhat more elaborate hookup. For more details, contact FARM SHOW Followup, Enercon, c/o Fortess Hill Electronics, Route 3, Browerville, Mn. 56438 (ph. 612 594-6429).

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