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Insteon is the most cost effective solution. http://www.smarthome.com/
Second place is Zwave. Check out Open Zwave http://www.openzwave.com/

The rest are twice the price of these two. Control4 even quoted me $270,000 to automate my house. That ridiculous quote went right into the trash can. I have a large Insteon system that costs less than 1/10th of that Control4 quote.

Insteon is not 100% reliable, it is about 98% reliable. So sometimes when you turn things off/on you have to do it twice. I have also had many units fail over the years but the newer ones seem to be lasting longer.

What is the point of "wireless"? You still need to power the lights.

You haven't said just what kind of "LED lights" you want to control. You mean a string of lights from CVS or Home Depot? You mean some individually-addressible, color-changing lights? Something else?

Since I have Insteon in home home, I'd just use these to control strings of lights:

http://www.smarthome.com/inste...

That is simply not true. These guys have been offering third party monitoring for DIY home security for over a decade.

http://www.smarthome.com/alarm...

Why can't my washing machine/dryer/microwave send my cellphone an alert when it's done and I'm in another room?

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.samsung.washer&hl=en

Why can't I turn on the lights at home from the grocery store so I don't have to carry my groceries in while it's dark?

http://www.smarthome.com/android_apps.html

Why can't I turn on the jacuzzi during a rough day at work so it's ready when I get home?

http://www.balboawatergroup.com/iphone-Application

Why can't my DVD player turn off my lights and close my blinds when it's time to watch a movie and then turn the lights back on when I pause it to get a drink?

DVD player? What decade are you living in?
http://wiki.team-mediaportal.com/1_MEDIAPORTAL_1/15_Customization/Home_Automation

Why can't my refrigerator detect what's in it and suggest recipes and tell me what's expired?

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/50364798/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/

Why can't I check to see if I forgot to turn the stove off after I left the house?

http://www.theverge.com/2012/2/22/2816405/samsung-smart-oven-android-app-control

Why can't my sprinklers check the weather forcast and put off watering if it's supposed to rain?

http://gigaom.com/2013/10/10/smart-lawn-sprinklers-cut-down-on-water-waste/

Why can't my blinds and windows automatically open and close to regulate the temperature in the house?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_glass

Are there any other inventions of the past 20 years that you missed and want me to google for you? Or do you think you've got it now? Tech tip: Put the world "Smart" in front of whichever thing you're looking for in your search and generally the first link will be the one you want.

Those are utter crap. I have bought and returned two.

http://www.smarthome.com/21680WH/Cooper-Wiring-TR7745-W-Dual-USB-Charger-with-15A-Duplex-Tamper-Resistant-Receptacle-White/p.aspx

This one however works flawlessly with an iphone, ipad, nexus7 and a Nexus 4.

Putting it in the bulb allows for simpler installation. Insteon allows for powerline and RF connectivity this way and makes just such a bulb.

That is a big advantage if you're renting and can't make wiring changes.

Finally, the LIFX and Hue bulbs allow for different colors, which you can't do with the controller in the switch.

I can't wait for these things.

That's very good because you don't need to wait, or to pay at Kickstarter.

In the fine print:
"Important Note
When in use, INSTEON LED Bulb emits a subtle buzzing noise that is barely noticeable. However, when several bulbs are installed in a single location, the buzzing may become more apparent."

So my house will sound like a swarm of angry bulbs???

I can't wait for these things.

That's very good because you don't need to wait, or to pay at Kickstarter.

While not WiFi, Smarthome has had a network connected LED bulb for over a year now. In my opinion, it is better suited for home automation than the WiFi bulb in the OP because it utilizes the Insteon Protocol, which is the replacement for X10.

problem with x10 has always been, modules can't report status.

Two way modules have been available for at least a decade:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X10_(industry_standard)#Physical_layer_details

Later developments (1997) of hardware are improvements of the native X10 hardware. This is called "Advanced X10" or A10. These devices contain improved hardware with a receiver and transmitter allowing two-way communication between the devices

Here's an example: http://www.smarthome.com/2001TW/2-Way-X10-Appliance-Modules-with-Status-Request-AM14A-PAM21/p.aspx

I was using 2 way modules back in 2001.

Maintaining the infrastructure of an ISP is challenging over the long term, especially in an environment where your "expert" may sell her/his unit and leave. So you don't want to own any servers. However, it's a damn good idea to wire every unit to a common DMZ/patch bay in a secured space. I'd recommend running some sort of combo cable up to each unit (Cat 5, multimode fiber and RG6), something like this: http://www.smarthome.com/868241J/2-Cat-5e-2-RG6-Quad-Cable-Jacket-500-Feet-RG6-Coax-Cable/p.aspx Each subscriber can then decide how they want to access the Internet, and what they way to pay, and you don't get somebody knocking holes in your walls trying to run cable. You could even designate one of the Cat5 drops as a common net that you put cameras on, if you need to.

Drop in a full size 2 post rack, add in a few shelves (one for each ISP), and make power available. Done.

That isn't really what he was asking for. He doesn't want to cool all that water by constantly running it through a radiator. He also doesn't want to heat his house by turning his plumbing into a radiator that is always running full blast.

You are right that he can do it though.

This will pump the cold water out of the hot water pipe into the cold water pipe for $169.92:
http://www.smarthome.com/54001/Chilipepper-Sales-Inc-CP6000-Hot-Water-Demand-Pump/p.aspx

And this will make it happen when you enter the room for $34.99:
http://www.smarthome.com/2420M/Skylink-Wireless-INSTEON-Motion-Occupancy-Sensor/p.aspx

That isn't really what he was asking for. He doesn't want to cool all that water by constantly running it through a radiator. He also doesn't want to heat his house by turning his plumbing into a radiator that is always running full blast.

You are right that he can do it though.

This will pump the cold water out of the hot water pipe into the cold water pipe for $169.92:
http://www.smarthome.com/54001/Chilipepper-Sales-Inc-CP6000-Hot-Water-Demand-Pump/p.aspx

And this will make it happen when you enter the room for $34.99:
http://www.smarthome.com/2420M/Skylink-Wireless-INSTEON-Motion-Occupancy-Sensor/p.aspx

You mean like this:

http://www.smarthome.com/81271/HDMI-Cable-with-Secure-Connection-Screw-in-Fastener-15-Feet/p.aspx

This is somewhat common in the A/V industry, especially on projectors. HDMI has gotten better, though, and don't fall out quite as easily. Still, DVI is better for overhead or hanging installation than HDMI.

One concern I have with HDMI are the connectors in PC's and how they are fairly easy to disconnect and damage. Also one of my HDMI cables became damaged because of a sharp angle. Sure there are adapters and alternative cables like these http://www.smarthome.com/81271/HDMI-Cable-with-Secure-Connection-Screw-in-Fastener-15-Feet/p.aspx , but they are not the standard. I've never really had a problem with screwing in VGA or DVI connectors except for the random stripped screw.

Plenty of those exists. No flexible processor necessary. http://www.smarthome.com/_/ProductResults.aspx?Ntt=freeze

http://www.smarthome.com/iphone_apps.html

Yes, you can do it with Android too.

http://www.smarthome.com/77964/Stop-Adjusting-the-Volume-Every-Few-Minutes/p.aspx

http://www.amazon.com/DCT-6S-Television-Leveling-Featuring-TruVolume/dp/B003H4QR3K

There are more... but I'll spare you all the links.

Well where's the damn solution? I hate having to change the volume every 7-12 minutes, then 2-5 minutes after that, in an endless cycle. I can't go to sleep at night. I, no lie, TRIED BUYING a TV one month ago with this feature, and the guy at the store had no idea what I was talking about.

I've been waiting for the free market to solve the problem. It hasn't yet.

Why would you ask a TV salesman? Just google for it. Here's a $30 solution that doesn't involve buying a new TV. As for TV's with the feature built-in, just about every manufacturer offers it. Magnavox calls it "Smart Sound", other manufacturers call it different things.

P.S. Technically this law does restrict the freedom of the TV/cable/advertisers, but in the same way that a dairy farmer is restricted in his or her freedom from selling you milk that has been left out in the sun for a week.

Really? The same way? The advertisers are taking money from you with the promise to sell you ads at correct volumes, but giving you loud ads instead, which could put you in the hospital if you listen to it?

Mama has to watch the morning show in Bombay using one of these? http://www.smarthome.com/7656L/Leapfrog-Wireless-Audio-Video-Transmitter-and-Receiver-System-LF-30S/p.aspx

If what you're after is a cell phone extender, then I can highly recommend the Wireless Extender Cell Phone Signal Booster from SmartHome. They are NOT cheap (> $200 single band. >300 for the dual band unit). But, after laying my money down and running the wireless antenna up into my attic with the repeater system and antenna down in the basement, I can honestly say, I've got a better cell phone signal in my basement than upstairs on the main floor or even the second floor. Be mindful that you get the right unit for your band / service. I got one that works with Sprint and I love it. Works with my 3G data network and data card from them as well (as would be expected - it's just cellular). Comes with enough cable to span two stories up into an attic from a basement.

Works with all 800 MHz cellular phone systems (Verizon)
http://www.smarthome.com/9625C/Wireless-Extender-zBoost-Cell-Phone-Signal-Booster-for-CEL-Phones-YX500-CEL/p.aspx

Works with all 1900 MHz PCS-based phone systems (Sprint, NexTel)
http://www.smarthome.com/9625/Cell-Phone-Signal-Booster-YX500-PCS/p.aspx

Works with both 1900 MHz PCS-based phones AND 800 MHz cell-based phones
http://www.smarthome.com/9631/Wireless-Extender-zBoost-Home-Office-Cell-Phone-Signal-Booster-Unit/p.aspx

If what you're after is a cell phone extender, then I can highly recommend the Wireless Extender Cell Phone Signal Booster from SmartHome. They are NOT cheap (> $200 single band. >300 for the dual band unit). But, after laying my money down and running the wireless antenna up into my attic with the repeater system and antenna down in the basement, I can honestly say, I've got a better cell phone signal in my basement than upstairs on the main floor or even the second floor. Be mindful that you get the right unit for your band / service. I got one that works with Sprint and I love it. Works with my 3G data network and data card from them as well (as would be expected - it's just cellular). Comes with enough cable to span two stories up into an attic from a basement.

Works with all 800 MHz cellular phone systems (Verizon)
http://www.smarthome.com/9625C/Wireless-Extender-zBoost-Cell-Phone-Signal-Booster-for-CEL-Phones-YX500-CEL/p.aspx

Works with all 1900 MHz PCS-based phone systems (Sprint, NexTel)
http://www.smarthome.com/9625/Cell-Phone-Signal-Booster-YX500-PCS/p.aspx

Works with both 1900 MHz PCS-based phones AND 800 MHz cell-based phones
http://www.smarthome.com/9631/Wireless-Extender-zBoost-Home-Office-Cell-Phone-Signal-Booster-Unit/p.aspx

If what you're after is a cell phone extender, then I can highly recommend the Wireless Extender Cell Phone Signal Booster from SmartHome. They are NOT cheap (> $200 single band. >300 for the dual band unit). But, after laying my money down and running the wireless antenna up into my attic with the repeater system and antenna down in the basement, I can honestly say, I've got a better cell phone signal in my basement than upstairs on the main floor or even the second floor. Be mindful that you get the right unit for your band / service. I got one that works with Sprint and I love it. Works with my 3G data network and data card from them as well (as would be expected - it's just cellular). Comes with enough cable to span two stories up into an attic from a basement.

Works with all 800 MHz cellular phone systems (Verizon)
http://www.smarthome.com/9625C/Wireless-Extender-zBoost-Cell-Phone-Signal-Booster-for-CEL-Phones-YX500-CEL/p.aspx

Works with all 1900 MHz PCS-based phone systems (Sprint, NexTel)
http://www.smarthome.com/9625/Cell-Phone-Signal-Booster-YX500-PCS/p.aspx

Works with both 1900 MHz PCS-based phones AND 800 MHz cell-based phones
http://www.smarthome.com/9631/Wireless-Extender-zBoost-Home-Office-Cell-Phone-Signal-Booster-Unit/p.aspx

You don't need to buy 'fake' stickers. There are plenty of stickers that don't have a specific companies name on them. This is because security systems are not generally made by the monitoring company. Companies like Brinks probably don't want you to realize that they just buy off the shelf equipment and then sell it at 1000% markup. Anyone interested should check out http://www.smarthome.com./ They sell the same stuff as the monitoring companies. They also have partnered with a monitoring company that will happily work with self installers. It is dramatically cheaper. Obviously, this is only advice for those that are comfortable setting up their own electronics. It isn't hard, but you do have to read the directions.

For those those that just want the sticker, they can buy the stickers there too. There is nothing 'fake' about the stickers. Brinks and their like don't have a patent on putting a sticker on your window to say that you have a security system.

That being said. Actual as I said, you are right, actual burglars have told me that 90% of an alarm's effectiveness is in the stickers.

In the U.S., 220v is generally available for the appliances that need it; electrically heated central heater, clothes dryer, water heater, oven/stove. The plugs for this are much more substantial than the common 110v lamp cord shown in TFA. Here is an example http://salestores.com/monste21.html Gas is commonly used for these purposes, and in that case 110v is plenty for the fans/electrial motors. The washing machine and dish washer don't need 220v, because they use the central hot water source. If they do heat water, it is only to give a slight increase to the available hot water source. If an induction stove running on 220v has 7000W available, a similar amperage on 110V would provide 3500V, which is enough for most of your other examples. My 220V service provides 50A for the oven/stove, 40A for the AC, 30A for the dryer. It seems like the induction stove referenced would work fine in the U.S. The only situation I have seen the 110V service being a limitation is for higher-end consumer espresso machines, which want a 20A service to allow dual boilers to operate at the same time. This is also available in newer kitchens in the U.S., with a funny plug to prevent use in an ordinary outlet. See the plug here http://www.made-in-china.com/image/2f0j00cMUQTSRBqLoGM/Us-Straight-Blade-Plug-YGA-020-.jpg and the socket here http://cache.smarthome.com/images/4271bi.jpg

The result is going to be a bunch of speakers wired in parallel, reducing the load across the amp down to less than an ohm, just go ahead and short your amp output now and save yourself the time of getting it all hooked up before you burn it up.

As I posted in another part of this discussion - use these $35 impedance matching volume controls to handle the problem of running a bunch of speakers in parallel from one source. They will s support up to 16 or 32 pairs of speakers depending on if the amp does 8 or 4 ohms.

Running wires to each room in the house would be both cheaper and have sound quality independent of network quality.

Yep, and with a handful of these $35 impedeance matching volume-controls, he can use a regular old stereo receiver to drive multiple rooms - note that you have to buy at least two (and do two rooms) with this model.

There's actually several devices that support computer control, either via wireless or powerline ethernet, and a great many examples out there on the Internet of automated houses.

A quick Google search also reveals several outfits like these folks who make a living at selling stuff for so-called smart houses. While I can't remember the link off the top of my head, there was even a story here on Slashdot a few years ago about a guy who'd hooked up his Christmas lights to a compupter, and put that computer on the Internet along with a live webcam of the lights; he set up an interface allowing people to turn his lights on/off and was inviting the world to try it out.

Yes, I know I shouldn't really be replying to an AC, but when said AC is calling somebody a 'tard and is clearly ignorant of what the OP was talking about... >.

Agreed. Either it needs BPL or it needs Wi-Fi. Most people don't put an ethernet jack wherever they have a power connection, making this somewhat less than ideal for home automation purposes. I'd also like to see it have a relay to switch on and off a power outlet, but maybe that's just me.

Certainly somewhere in your house you have an ethernet jack near power.. this thing is a server, it doesn't matter WHERE it goes, so long as it is on the same network as anything it needs to connect to. The fact that it is called a "plug computer" and has a form factor that plugs in like a wall-wart is not the draw here - the draw is the low cost, low power consumption, and small footprint.

For home automation, it would be very cool to integrate this into an insteon interface. Then it can control other insteon/X10 devices over that network, and you can tell it to control that stuff by connecting to it over ethernet.

FWIW, I believe you could work-around this problem by putting a resistor across the clapper's output in parallel with the load. You need to use the highest value resistor that will still allow the clapper to function.

If I'm wrong, then it's because the resistor value must be so low for the clapper to work that it winds up being an inefficient heat-dump when the thing is on (potentially even a fire hazard).

If I were going to try it, I'd try it with a 1 watt 25 k-ohm resistor. If that doesn't work, then forget it.

I bought a timer switch once upon a time for some lights in the driveway. This particular timer is nice because you tell it your latitude and longitude and the date and it knows what time sunset and sunrise is. It is, however, designed to work in 3-way switch configurations, which means that it requires a conductive load, just like the clappers do.

Fortunately, the CFLs that I use (apparently) understand this dilemma and offer a resistive load when turned off, since the whole thing still works correctly.

I bought another one of these switches for working the outdoor low-voltage lights, but this time bought the one that is set up for higher power switching. That one requires access to both the hot and neutral, but has the virtue that it continues to work with no load attached. I used an outlet box to rig up a sort of ghetto power strip, but with sun-timer control. Worked very well.

You can already hook your PC up to a TV with a dirt cheap video out card. Most video cards have svideo out these days. Problem is, it's going to look like crap at any workable resolution. If you just want to emulate your c64, it'll do great. If you want to surf the web, it's going to suck pretty bad.

If you wanted to do it wirelessly, you can do that too.

http://www.smarthome.com/31262.html

We also sell them in my hardware store but I don't want to link to my own site and crash the server. :)

They work great, just wear rain gear when standing underneath while using it.

Yes. My last round of upgrades for the various computers around my home were done to reduce power usage. It turns out that the lower wattage systems also ran at about twice the speed of our old systems. The old systems were actually just fine for our usage, but the power issue gave me a good excuse for upgrading.

Using a Kill-a-Watt I calculated that between the lower power consumption, the much improved sleep support, and the $0.23/kwh I pay for electricity, it will take about 8 months for my system to pay for itself and about 6 months for my wifes system and son's system to pay for themselves.

Actually there's a pretty good market in home installations now, with media centers, automatic systems, and remote control like X10 being installed. I've seen 3 or 4 magazines that focus on these like "Smart Homeowner" and "Electronic House". Falcon

Either get a dog or an alarm system. Criminals don't like either and it's quite a deterrent for them, they'll rather skip to another neighborhood than messing with it. Alarm systems need to be armed though so you'll have to keep it up, but once it goes off, the criminal will run. It only costs $10-50/month and takes a big chunk out of your homeowners (depending on your neighborhood) and can possibly be brought into your taxes if you have a home office. If you're a DIY: http://www.smarthome.com/alarm.html, if not, go to the big boys like ADT or Brinks.

I let the power company install a deal on my A/C, and they can cause it to not cycle on for short periods during high use. For this they give me a rate decrease for the summer months.

I can see the benefit along the same lines with dishwashers as well as clothes washing equipment. Perhaps you could time everything to not start untill 11:00 with out a web screen on your own, but how would the power company know?

I was reading about IP ovens; you can download recipes directly to it. I can see baker sof the future having compex step baking recipes.

A few companies have IP based thermostats - I'm waiting for the price to decrease to get one! http://www.smarthome.com/3053t.html.

I recently bought a Watts-Up Pro Power Analyzer/Power Meter from SMARTHOME and have been going through my house and office, measuring the consumption of various devices. What I found, was surprising.

First and foremost, my 21" Hitachi CRT from about 9 years ago, draws 70W-75W while powered on and displaying white pixels or any varied background.

I compared that with my 24" Gateway FPD2485W, and it is consuming 90W with any setting, even on the lowest brightness setting. Yes, my LCD draws 20W MORE than my CRT.

My dehumidifier consumes 600W when its on full tilt.

My toaster oven consumes 1300W while cooking 2 slices on the toast setting.

My office fan consumes 140W on speed setting 3.

My entire office, including all chargers, devices, an AMD64/4600+ machine, Palm, flatbed scanner, speakers, iPod, etc. draws 282W total. 90W of that is the 24" LCD.

This myth that using black pixels is going to save money is simply not true... and definitely not true on LCD screens, which consume more watts than similarly-sized CRTs.

I highly recommend picking up a Watts-Up Pro (over the Kill-A-Watt, because the Kill-a-Watt can't work with devices using inverters or generators), and look at your power consumption. My monthly power bill is $180 here, and I'm looking to reduce that as much as I can. I've already replaced every bulb in the house and office with CFLs, which dropped the cost quite a bit. Then the town decided to increase the cost of power, which negated the whole CFL push. Sigh.

Watts-Up can show me exactly what my devices are using, graphed over time, and it can display the actual cost of each watt I consume, in real-time. Definitely worth the purchase price.

I have ipcop running on a pentium 133 laptop as my gateway/firewall. The battery holds enough charge to stay up for a few minutes when the power flickers. With the display built right in I don't need a monitor sitting there. I can turn off the display when I don't need it. I leave it on 24/7. It consumes about 13 watts of power at idle (via Killawatt*). It's a little pokey on the web pages, but uses very little CPU otherwise.

I was using a P266 laptop behind the 133 for a while and stripped down a knoppix install to run:
- httpd
- sshd
- samba
- openvpn
- fetchmail
- dovecot
- spamassassin

I adjusted most of the config files to lighten the load on the 256M of ram, but as I added more services it was just too much for it and stuff was getting sniped by OOM killer; nice experiment for a couple years though. Linux is adjustable for old crappy hardware which cant be said for windows (or apple for that matter).

[*] - http://www.smarthome.com/9034.html

When you say “need incandescent lighting”, I presume you're speaking of the quality and responsiveness of the light source, not of the need for an excited wire filament inside a vacuum-sealed glass orb. (clearly more efficient as a heat source than a light source... evidenced by the common Lava Lamp®)

I mean really, what's the need about? Is it about a strong-and-steady flow of photons? Is it about a light source that can be analog-controlled to dim and brighten in smooth steps?

I may not be speaking for everyone, but for those of us that are prone to the affliction, enduring the 60-66Hz “hummm” and the barely-perceptible flicker of fluorescent is a condition I will trade-in for just about anything.

I've seen a lot of lighting fads come and go. Fluorescent seems to stay just because it's so ergonomically attractive against vis-a-vis Heat Lamps. CF is about the same, just in a smaller package. Cold-cathode lamps are nifty, but they're about as useful as Xmas Lights, and cost ten times more. (with current Consumer Offerings) My bet is on up-and-coming technologies like bright LED and HID (High Intensity Discharge; the son of the Arc Lamp) lighting.

Just this past year, I've noticed an abundance of LED lighting technologies— not in the news, but in my hand. To me, that means a lot more than “coming soon”.

Butane lighters with a small LED flashlight are now common give-away items, as are just simple promotional pocket-lights. Battery-operated LED Xmas Lighting is now just about everywhere, and in many colors. (most popular, of course, is pure-white) When a technology becomes commonplace, that is when you know its about to come into its own.

Look at cellphones and GPS; both were considered Luxury or High End at first, then the price dropped enough that everyone found a reason to buy one. When everyone on the block has the same technology, the industry is pressured to make it better. As soon as cellphones became common, it was a race to make The Best Cellphone. Though there are clear leaders, that race is still on.

You watch; this will come to the Lighting Industry as well. As the knock-off CF and LED lighting floods the market, the leaders have to come-up with innovations to make their offering (seem) better than the others. (Note the implied reservation) Though I don't doubt their ability to innovate, I do doubt their veracity in purporting innovation.

There's already a remarkable offering of Consumer LED Lighting. Compact Fluorescents already have their well-earned niche, although I personally have distaste for them. As for high-end needs, such as photography and “spectacle” uses, (WARNING: token Wiki articles) HID is slowly emerging into its own. Your street may soon be lit with HID, rather than sodium vapor. (for example)

If General Electric can make a better light bulb, I say let them. If Australia never makes it legal to use one in your home when it would be just as viable as CF, it's their loss. I think a greater question is, how long is the “better light bulb” supposed to last? (LED “bulbs” are edging towards offering Lifetime Guarantees—and by that, meaning the lifetime of the consumer! W

Probably California and other places who want to ban incandescents causing GE to put more money into this type of R&D. They probably were looking into it a little while CFL's were first starting to gain real marketshare, but this is probably pushing them well along.

CFL's have been doing their little turn on R&D as well, with Full Spectrum and dimmable now available, incandescents have only a few advantages left over CFL's, and CFL's have some notable advantages over incandescents as well so the choice quickly turns into either price or preference. I'd gladly pay a few extra $$$'s just to not have to replace the light bulb so often, and with the CFL's I have I haven't replaced them in years.

But I can't exactly put the ceiling fixtures on a surge protector. :P

But I can't exactly put the ceiling fixtures on a surge protector

Actually, you can. When I had my fuse panel replaced with circuit breakers, I had them install whole-house surge supression. (they're installed in two of the circuit breaker slots, one for each leg)

There are also suppressors that don't go in the circuit panel

Either way, you're going to need an electrician, but it is possible.

I just thought of something that would make a great patent. A light switch that only stays on for a specified period of time, say 10 minutes.

You mean like the timer switches that are widely available?

sdb

Here ya go. Of course, at $49.99/ea, they'd be VERY expensive to deploy over the whole house..

I've seen versions at my local home depot, but here is an example of one: 2-5-10-15 Minute Switch. There are also some that are 15/30/45/60, and some that you press once for 15 minutes, twice for 30, etc., until 5 presses (or press and hold) when it is on until turning off.

Alex

I think a year or two ago. But I've heard they're pretty bad, maybe the new ones are better. Heck, they used to start at $55 for dimmable if memory serves, for $18 I need to try. Google Helps Too.

Everything you are looking for, and more you will find here. Goto the "Temp Control" section, they have all sorts of sensors, and transmitters, and there are flood sensors on there too.

As many have posted already, having a friend or relative either housesit or periodically check can be the best non-tech solution. When I had to be away for an extended time, I had an old friend live in my house, which worked out well.

Another time, I drained the pipes and radiators, opened the faucets, cancelled the mail and papers, disconnected the power and gave the keys to a neighbor. (I am a trusting soul and lived in an area where trusting your neighbor is perfectly sensible.) That also worked fine, though the house was quite musty when I returned.

Obviously those solutions depend on your area and level of trust. New England ranges from urban and such concerns to the Great Northern Woods, where your concerns would mainly be bears, heavy snow and extended power loss. I knew someone in the northern woods who simply had the local snowmobile club stop by when they were grooming the trails. It all depends on your circumstances.

Tech

In other circumstances, I've also used monitoring equipment from SmartHome (http://www.smarthome.com/), which has a good selection of various detectors (including freeze, water, alarm, fire, etc.), phone dialers, and Internet-accessible home automation/control solutions.

I've devised and assembled functional solutions for a friend's house and for a museum for which I was the curator for a time. In the former instance, simulated lighting patterns, temperature & water monitor, and two webcams (one pointed to the driveway to make sure the snowplow guy came by :-) worked fine. (Of course, stopping the mail, papers and milk is mandatory.) For the museum, it was simply to call me if any of the sensors went off or out of range. There was no Internet service there. This was adequate. The Sensaphone, which others have mentioned, is a good choice for that scenario.

http://w3.misterhouse.net:81/

... and here's a site for automation hardware -- I'm sure there are others:

http://www.smarthome.com/

I usually don't like advertising a site, but just about everything you are looking to do can be done with stuff found on www.smarthome.com. From automatic water-pipe cut-off devices, to intricated temperature and environmental controls. Just look around. It can and will get expensive, but the water-pipe cut-offs are worth it the first time they engage and stop a problem before it is a problem.