THE TELEFREEZE: OBSOLETE TECHNOLOGY

02.05.09

Some years ago, before the advent of advanced telephone services' packages, a device called Telefreeze® was used by homeowners and oil supply companies, to moniter the "heat" condition in homes during the Winter heating season. It was a very simple and effective device that tapped into a home's (ground) phone line and would sound a busy signal to the caller if the house heat temperature fell below the pre-set safety limit.

Some are still in use today, but a recent "failure", resulting in a house freeze up with broken pipe. The cause of the failure lies in new phone company technology that causes calls to the device to by-pass direct contact with the Telefreeze®, making it impossible to know, from afar, the heat condition that may exist in the house.

My conclusion is that the Telefreeze® device, as I know it, is no longer an appropriate device to use to remotely check the heat condition in your residence. If there is a later generation of this device, I am not aware of it.

The problem lies with the telephone company services' packages that, in most cases includes call waiting which allows a caller to hear a ring if the party or a Telefreeze® unit is already on the line "talking". No longer is a busy signal heard by a caller; therefore you can’t determine what the Telefreeze® unit is monitoring any more. If the heat is off you would never know.

This was the apparent reason a Telefreeze® user failed to detect a no-heat condition in his/her house recently, only to find unfortunate damage upon a "live" visit to the house.

Solutions? A personal house checker, a central alarm system, or the alternative, "older" light in the (front) window gadget that was like a Telefreeze® , but requires visual checking from a "drive-by".

©2009 R. Leech features.