Smart Vents can track temperature, but unless your Keen Home app is connected to a smart thermostat, we still need you to help us determine if your home is in heating or cooling mode. At the top of the screen, just below the toggle for Manual or Balance mode, you see a menu with three options: Cooling, Off, and Heating. Tap one of these three options to tell your Smart Vents what mode your HVAC is in.
About the app
The Keen Home app lets you connect to, control, and monitor your Keen Home devices such as the Smart Vent, Smart Bridge, and upcoming Keen Home Smart Filter, as well as partner devices such as the Nest Learning Thermostat.
With the Keen Home app you can:
- Analyze your home to determine the right number of Smart Vents for comfort and efficiency.
- Activate your Keen Home Smart Bridge.
- Add and control Keen Home Smart Vents manually or in Balance mode (Beta).
- Add a Nest Learning Thermostat.
- Set occupancy schedules for each room of your home.
There is a demo on both our iOS and Android apps. Simply tap the hamburger icon (the three stacked lines in the top left corner of the app) and tap “Learn More”. Demo mode gives you a comprehensive overview of the Keen Home app and its features. View the video about the demo mode here.
Adding devices
- Add a room to associate the Smart Vent with.
- Either from the Home Controls screen or from within the Room Controls for that room, tap “Add Vent”.
- Follow the on-screen instructions to add you Smart Vent. We strongly recommend connecting one Smart Vent at a time.
- A window will pop up with a spinning status wheel. The app is looking for a Smart Vent.
- Check the circle next to the Smart Vent that appears during the search.
Smart Vents currently integrate with the Nest Learning Thermostat, but we are working on additional smart thermostat integrations for the near future. The instructions below apply to integrating with Nest, but will be similar for other thermostats in the future.
- Tap “Add Smart Thermostat” in the top right corner of the screen.
- Follow the onscreen instructions to sign into your Nest account and finish setup.
With your Nest Thermostat connected to your Smart Vents, you can control the base temperature of your home and you can switch your Nest Thermostat from Away to Home mode to preheat rooms on your way home from work. When your Smart Vents are set to Balance Mode (beta) while connected to a smart thermostat, they will automatically detect whether your home is being heated or cooled and will use the thermostat’s temperature setting as a base for temperature offset calculations.
Controlling Smart Vents
Manual mode is the easiest way to fine tune how open or closed your Smart Vents are. Press down on the circle in the middle of each room tile to activate the manual adjustment. Move the slider left or right to change the percent open each Smart Vent in the room should be.
To enable Manual Mode, move the slider at the top of the screen to the left.
Balance Mode takes manual control to the next level. Instead of controlling each room’s level, our Keen Balancing™ algorithms enable control over relative room temperature.
Why is this feature labeled ‘beta’?We are only scratching the surface of how useful this mode can be. For example, we have yet to fully utilize temperature sensors from other devices (such as Ecobee 3) to get a more accurate sense of home and room temperature. In the coming months, Balance mode will enable your Smart Vents to automatically adjust to maintain balance in your home, and to coordinate with each other to drive air to specific rooms. All the while, we will do our best to increase data transparency for users.
While Balance Mode is enabled, press down on the circles with ‘OK’ at the center to offset the temperature of a room. Tell your Smart Vent System whether your home is being heated or cooled, or connect your Nest Thermostat to share it automatically. Based on this information, your Smart Vents will automatically know whether to open or close to offset the temperature of the room and make it cooler or warmer.
From the Home Controls screen, enter your room of choice and then tap 'View Schedule' at the top of the screen. This takes you to your Occupancy Scheduler. From here you can specify days and blocks of time that the room will be occupied and unoccupied. When a room is unoccupied, the Smart Vents in the room will automatically close to 0%. When the room is occupied the Smart Vents in the room will open to the last level you set them to before the schedule executed.
The rings around the circular Manual and Balance mode controls, as well as the Smart Vent icons in Room Controls describe how open the Smart Vents in a room actually are. The percentage at the center of the circles represents how open you have set the Smart Vents to be in the app.
Analyze My Home
The “Analyze My Home” button at the bottom of the Keen Home app appears whenever you have added rooms but not added Smart Vents to those rooms. Analyze My Home takes into account the information you provided about the rooms when configuring them to recommend the ideal number of Smart Vents for your home to achieve greater efficiency or comfort.
When a room is listed as imbalance that means that the room is either too hot or too cold. We determine this based on your answer to the question “How does this room feel?” in the room’s Room Controls.
The colored squares represent the Smart Vents that are needed to achieve comfort or efficiency for a specific room. One square represents a single Smart Vent. Green means that the Smart Vent is for comfort and turquoise means that the Smart Vent is for efficiency.
We place a red ‘X’ next to a room to indicate that the room is frequently unoccupied. This is based on your answer to the question “Is this room frequently unoccupied?” in the room’s Room Controls.
Troubleshooting
If you see a red banner at the top of your screen that says “Smart Bridge Disconnected”, it means one of three things:
- Your Smart Bridge is currently unplugged from power.
- Your Smart Bridge is currently disconnected from your router.
- There is another error that caused your Smart Bridge to lose its connection with the internet.
If your Smart Bridge is plugged into power and connected to the internet but you still see the error message, unplug it, wait two minutes, and then plug it back in. Once your Smart Bridge is powered back on, the message should disappear.
We’re working on supporting room-level temperature data, but for now Balance mode lets you control how the temperature in a room will be offset to make it either warmer or cooler. We’ll be rolling out updates to Balance mode over time, so expect this feature to keep getting better!
Don’t panic! There may have been a momentary loss of connectivity because of network interference. To get your Smart Vents back online, power cycle it. To do so, just remove the battery pack, wait five seconds, and then replace it. Wait for the vent to go through its initialization cycle and then try to control it again.
Smart Vent Troubleshooting
- Double blinking green means the Smart Vent is attempting to pair with the Keen Home Smart Bridge or partner hub (like the Iris Smart Hub).
- Three quick green blinks means the Smart Vent has paired with a bridge or partner hub.
- Double blinking yellow means the Smart Vent is attempting to rejoin an already paired network.
- Double blinking white means a Smart Vent is being identified.
- Purple means Smart Vent activity
- Double blinking red means there is an obstruction. Check to see if something is obstructing the movement of the metal vanes. Clear the obstruction (you can move the vanes with the manual lever), remove the battery cartridge and replace it.
Unjoining from a bridge or hub
Press the black button on the back inside of the Smart Vent battery compartment five times. You will know that the Smart Vent has been properly reset when the LED starts double blinking green.
Hard reset (in app)
Simply remove a Smart Vent from within the Keen Home, Lowe’s IRIS, or SmartThings apps to reset it.
Soft reset (to resolve an obstruction)
Press down the battery release lever and fully remove the battery cartridge. Reinsert the battery cartridge to restart the Smart Vent. It will calibrate before returning to normal.
If your Smart Vent LED is flashing red, it has encountered an obstruction. Clear the obstruction, remove your Smart Vent's battery pack, and replace it. It should stop blinking red after that.
To reset your Smart Vent, remove the battery pack, and press the black button on the back of the Smart Vent three times to clear the capacitors.
Don’t panic! There may have been a momentary loss of connectivity because of network interference. To get your Smart Vents back online, power cycle it. To do so, remove the battery pack, press the black button on the back three times, and replace the battery pack. Wait for the vent to go through it's initialization cycle and then try to control it again.
Remove the battery pack, press the black button on the back of the vent three times, pull the batteries with the positive (+ / copper colored) side out just enough such that they stick out by a few millimeters. Reinsert the battery pack and your Smart Vent should start up.
Remove the battery pack from the battery pack from the Smart Vent, press the black button on the back five times, then reinsert the battery pack. This will trigger the Smart Vent to re-calibrate and fix the issue.
Your Smart Vent may have joined your Smart Bridge before we were able to display it in the app. To solve this do the following:
- Unplug your Smart Bridge.
- Press the button at the back of your Smart Vent five time rapidly to get it double blinking green again.
- Once you have verified that your Smart Vent is double blinking green, remove the battery cartridge.
- Plug your Smart Bridge back in and power it on.
- Tap “Add Smart Vent.”
- As soon the app starts searching for a Smart Vent, put the battery cartridge back into the Smart Vent to power it on.
If a Smart Vent is showing no activity (no lights or movement) upon installing the battery, or you notice the vent has become unresponsive to the app without any lights, the batteries may need to be reseated.
- Remove the battery pack from the Smart Vent.
- Position the battery pack so that the cells are facing you.
- Pull the two batteries where the copper end (+) is sticking out a small amount but not so much that they become loose or feel like they will fall out of the pack.
- Push on the two batteries where the (-) is facing out until they hit the bottom wall.
- Reinstall the battery back in the Smart Vent.
- The Smart Vent should go into self calibration; closing, opening and then double blinking green. It will triple blink green followed by no lights upon joining or rejoining the network.
Smart Vent Basics
- A high-speed internet connection such as DSL, Cable, Fiber, or Satellite.
- A smartphone (iOS 7.0+ or Android 4.4+).
- A forced air central heating or cooling system.
- A Connected Home Bridge/Hub from Keen Home, Lowe’s Iris, or SmartThings.
The Smart Vent is intended for use in rooms that are too cool in the summer or too warm in the winter, or in rooms that go unused for large portions of the day.
The Smart Vent dampens airflow to over-conditioned rooms and redirects it to rooms that need more cool or warm air. Smart Vents do not produce air on their own and do not have integrated fans.
- Screwdriver
- Stool (for ceiling vents)
What you'll need:
Plug your bridge/hub into your home router.
Still need a bridge or hub?
Launch the app associated with your hub or bridge and follow the on-screen setup instructions.
Remove the magnetic faceplate and pull the removeable green arrow tab to activate your Smart Vents. The Smart Vents will double blink green to indicate it is on and ready to pair with your hub.
Remove the existing floor, wall, or ceiling vent register where you want to install your Smart Vents.
Insert your Smart Vents in place of your old vent register and align the ceiling mounting clips included with the Smart Vents faceplate with the screw holes on the vent and in the wall.
Secure your Smart Vents using the two included screws if required.
Smart Vents work best when installed in rooms that go unused for large portions of the day or receive more hot or cold air than they need. Rooms that are too cold in the summer and too warm in the winter are great places to install Smart Vents.
To get the most out of the Smart Vent, we recommend installing a system with at least four vents, or 1/3 of the vents in your home, whichever is greater. You can replace every vent in your home with Smart Vents if you desire ultimate control.
Yes you can. We recommend replacing at least 1/3 of the vents in your home with Smart Vents, but if you do replace every vent, be sure to leave at least one Smart Vent open to keep air flowing through your heating and cooling system. If you don't replace every vent in your home with Smart Vents, we suggest leaving your standard vents open at all times.
You'll need a screwdriver and measuring tape to start. If your vents are high up or in the ceiling, you may also need a stool or ladder.
To measure your vents, first remove your "dumb" vent register, then measure the width and height of the duct opening.
We offer Smart Vent Trim Kits for the following sizes: 6"x14", 4"x14", 10"x10", 8"x10", 8"x12", 8"x14", and 12"x12".
- Remove your vent.
- If your air duct looks like this, Trim Kits will work for you without restricting airflow.
- If your air duct looks like this, Trim Kits won't work for you.
- Remove your old air vent.
- Install and secure your Trim Kit over your air duct. Install your Smart Vent into the Trim Kit.
Smart Vents come with four AA batteries that only need to be changed every 2 years.
You don't need a smart thermostat, but if you have one or are planning to buy one, our Smart Vents may integrate with your device. Keen Home is a Works with Nest partner and ecobee partner. Our Smart Vent also supports thermostats on the SmartThings and Lowe's Iris platforms. Integrations with brands like Honeywell's Lyric are upcoming.
In homes with programmable or non-programmable thermostats, Smart Vents work with the thermostat(s) in the same way standard vent registers do. The difference is with Smart Vents you have room-by-room control of the overall distribution of air throughout your home.
Keen Home Smart Vents work with SmartThings and Lowes Iris, and officially “Works With Nest”. We are constantly working on new partnerships, so more are on the way.
Closing off a couple vents in your home won’t harm your system, but we don’t recommend closing all of them at the same time. Rule of thumb: always leave at least one vent open at all times.
Faceplates are magnetically attached vent covers that you can easily interchange to match your home’s décor. Our polycarbonate Herringbone faceplates are impact resistant up over 500 lbs, dishwasher safe, and paintable. Our premium wooden faceplates are also easy to clean and are pre-finished.
Every home is different, but we typically recommend purchasing a second Smart Bridge to act as a signal repeater if you are installing eight or more Smart Vents. When you plug a second or third Smart Bridge into a power outlet, it will relay and amplify your Smart Vents' wireless signals. In order to properly operate in "repeater mode," additional Smart Bridges should not be connected to your home router.
Individual 4"x10" and 4"x12" Smart Vents are $84.99, and 6"x10" and 6"x12" Smart Vents are $89.99. Smart Bridges are $39.99. We are currently accepting pre-orders for Smart Vents, Smart Bridges, and Smart Filters, as well as Smart Vents + Trim Kits that fit larger size duct openings. Pre-orders are available for 15% off MSRP. You can pre-order your Smart Vent System and Smart Filters from our shop.
Smart Bridge Video Tutorials
Smart Bridge Troubleshooting
There are three LEDs on the Smart Bridge one on top and two on the back. When your Smart Bridge is powered on and working properly, the LED on top will consistently blink green. The LEDs on the back of the Smart Bridge blink green and yellow and indicate that it is connected to ethernet.
We can help you out with that. Contact customer service and provide your activation code and serial number from the product label.
If you see a red banner at the top of your screen that says “Smart Bridge Disconnected,” it means one of three things:
- Your Smart Bridge is currently unplugged from power.
- Your Smart Bridge is currently disconnected from your router.
- There is another error that caused your Smart Bridge to lose its connection with the internet.
Unplug the power cable to the Smart Bridge for 30 seconds and plug it back in. You can leave the ethernet cable plugged in while doing this.
We need to help you with this. Email us at help@keenhome.io for further assistance.
To use a Smart Bridge as a repeater, do not connect it to your router. Instead, simply plug the Smart Bridge into a power outlet to turn it on. You will know the Smart Bridge has powered on successfully when you see a blinking green light on the top of it. Once your bridge is powered on, open your Keen Home app and tap "Add Smart Devices" for the appropriate room in your app. Your bridge will appear as a repeater that you can add to your system just as you did your Smart Vents.
Smart Bridge Basics
The Keen Home Smart Bridge connects your Smart Vents to the internet. But that’s not all it does. The Smart Bridge also extends the capabilities of Smart Vents, allowing them to connect to other devices like the Nest Learning Thermostat. The Smart Bridge also allows your Smart Vents to receive continuous updates that help make your home more comfortable and more energy efficient over time.
It sure can. When you plug a second or third Smart Bridge into a power outlet, it will relay and amplify your Smart Vents' wireless signals. You can even use a Smart Bridge as a repeater on other ZigBee networks, even without Smart Vents. In order to properly operate in "repeater mode," additional Smart Bridges should not be connected to your home router.
In most cases, only one Smart Bridge is necessary. For homes with eight or more Smart Vents we recommend second Smart Bridge to act as a signal repeater.
If you are using one of our partner hubs, you will need to use the partner app to control your Smart Vents. In order to use the Keen Home App to control your Smart Vents, you will need the Keen Home Smart Vents.
Smart Filter Basics
The Keen Home Smart Filters purify the air in your home where it matters most: your air vents. They magnetically clip into your Smart Vent's removeable faceplate and last for 90-180, depending on Smart Vent usage. Smart Filters neutralize odors, harmful compounds, and allergens with their electrostatic, antimicrobial mesh and active carbon layer.
Keen Home Smart Filters work exclusively with Keen Home Smart Vents.
Smart Filters require Keen Home Smart Vents with Herringbone faceplates.
Smart Filters come in the same sizes as Smart Vents: 4”x10”, 4”x12”, 6”x10”, and 6”x12”.
Smart Filter Installation
Your Smart Filter magnetically clips into the steel bar in the center of your Smart Vent's Herringbone faceplate.
To add your Smart Filters to your Keen Home app, first make sure you have version 1.3.0 or later of the app.
Once you have the latest version of the app, tap into a room where you intend to install a Smart Filter. Tap “Add Smart Filter” below the appropriate Smart Vent to finish adding it.
We recommend at least two Smart Filters per home, depending on the number of Smart Vents installed. You can add Smart Filters to every Smart Vent in your home, or you can prioritize installing them only in specific rooms where air quality is a concern.
Smart Filters need to be replaced every 90-180 days, depending on usage. You can purchase one-off replacements or subscribe to Keen Air Care for only $99/year to receive 12 Smart Filters over the course of the year. Keen Air Care will launch in Fall 2016.
Effects of Smart Filters
Smart Filters utilize 3M’s advanced High Airflow Filtration (HAF) technology to ensure air filtration without sacrificing heating or cooling performance.
An individual Smart Filter costs $15 and a Keen Air Care subscription costs $99/year.
Our Smart Filter subscription service. By subscribing to Keen Air Care, you will automatically receive replacement Smart Filters every 90-180 days, depending on Smart Vent usage. Keen Air Care provides you with up to 12 Smart Filters a year and costs only $99/year.
We currently offer Trim Kits along with Smart Vents for 4”x14”, 6”x14”, 8”x10”, 8”x12”, 8”x14”, 10”x10”, and 12”x12” size duct openings.
You can order a Smart Vent System with a Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and other credit cards. We also accept Paypal, Google Wallet.
Reserving your Smart Vents and Smart Vent System now ensures that you will receive them as soon as they are back in stock. We anticipate delivery this summer.
We will only charge you for your reservation when your order is ready to leave our warehouse.
Reservations will be converted to regular orders and shipped this summer.
We currently ship Smart Vents anywhere in the US and Canada, but we hope to expand internationally soon!
Shipping is calculated based on the weight of an order, starting at $5 for orders shipping within the continental United States, and $10 for orders shipping to Alaska, Hawaii, and Canada.
You can cancel your order for a full refund any time before shipment, no questions asked. If you are not satisfied with your Smart Vents for any reason, you can return them for a full refund within 60 days after purchase. Learn more.
ecobee Setup Guide
Integration Basics
An ecobee3 and ecobee3 room sensors integrated with a Keen Home Smart Vent System gives you ultimate control over comfort and energy usage in your home. Data is shared cloud to cloud between the ecobee3 and Keen Home platforms, allowing your Smart Vents to respond intelligently to temperature limits. The Keen Home app supports multiple ecobee3 thermostats and as many sensors as you need.
Integrating your ecobee3 with your Smart Vents system gets you three new features in the Keen Home app:
- Temperature limits: we use data from your ecobee and room sensors to understand your household target temperature and HVAC mode and state. By integrating your ecobee3 and ecobee3 room sensors give you access to a new feature called “Temperature Limit”. With Temperature Limit, you set a target temperature for each room and your Smart Vents will automatically close when that target is reached. This prevents rooms from being overheated and overcooled, and redirects air towards rooms that need it more.
- Set “hold” temperature: configure your ecobee’s hold temperature right from the Keen Home app. This is useful for pre-heating your home while you are away or cooling down the upstair bedroom before bed in the summer.
- Multiple thermostats: add multiple ecobee thermostats and an additional “not connected” thermostat zone.
- Group and assign zones: group rooms by zones and assign the zones to distinct ecobee3 thermostats.
Yes, a Keen Home Smart Bridge is needed to integrate with ecobee3.
You need the following to start:
- A Keen Home Smart Bridge
- Smart Vents for each room you want to control
- An ecobee3 thermostat or ecobee3 lite
- An ecobee3 room sensor for each room that you would like to use Temperature Limit (ecobee3 standard only)
Depends on what you want to do. Do you have enough room sensors to cover each room where you have Smart Vents? Rooms that do not have sensors cannot use the Temperature Limit feature.
No. Smart Vents detect HVAC duct temperature, which is used to understand HVAC state and safety. Ecobee’s room sensors detect room temperature in relation to wherever they are mounted.
No. The primary difference between our temperature limit and a traditional thermostat zone is that temperature limit will not “call for heat.” In other words, for heating mode, you temperature limit is the maximum temperature your system will allow for the room before your Smart Vents close to dampen airflow to it. This does not change whole-home temperature at your ecobee3.
You use the Keen Home app to manage this integration.
Yes, with the ecobee integration, you can add multiple ecobee thermostats. Our app also support an additional “not connected” thermostat zone.
Your Keen Home Smart Vents will work with your ecobee3 and ecobee lite, but we do not officially support other ecobee thermostat models.
Integration Support
Temperature limit is our new feature that allows you to use your Smart Vents and ecobee3 room sensors like a room-by-room thermostat. When you have a room with a Smart Vent and room sensors, you can set a temperature limit at which the Smart Vent will automatically open or close to prevent overshooting the target temperature. This redirects air to rooms that have not hit their limit and reduces HVAC run time overall. It balances room temperatures and lets each room be treated like an independent zone. In our testing, temperature limit can shift room temperature by 4-8 degrees.
This is likely due to one or two things:
- Your HVAC system is off. Smart Vents do not move when your home is not being actively heated or cooled.
- You have a schedule set that has triggered your vents to be opened or closed.
Ecobee uses setbacks to save energy by not running the HVAC when you aren’t home. It also has separate temperature setting for bedtime or other “comfort settings.” Since rooms schedules such as the one we use for Smart Vents have to do with room occupancy (not home occupancy like ecobee) the two schedules serve different purposes. We are working on a new feature called “Keen Follow Me” that uses the motion sensors in ecobee room sensors to automatically mark rooms as unoccupied when they are empty.
Temperature limits let you set temperature thresholds that trigger a response from your Smart Vents when a given limit is reached. Balance mode takes into account how you want airflow distributed throughout your home and coordinates your Smart Vents meet your needs. For example, if it is winter and you tell your Smart Vents to warm your bedroom while in balance mode, the vents in your bedroom would all open to maximize airflow, while all of the other vents in your home would close slightly to drive more air to your bedroom.
- Go to your connected devices list and tap “Add Device”.
- Tap “Ecobee Thermostat” in the addable devices list.
- Follow the on-screen instructions to authenticate your Keen Home account with your ecobee account. We will automatically pull in all information about other ecobees and room sensors in your home.
- If you have multiple ecobee3s in your home, choose which ones to add to Keen Home.
- Once your ecobee3 is added, organize the rooms of your home into their appropriate zones in the Keen Home app.
We automatically pull your room sensors into the Keen Home app when you authenticate your Keen Home account with your ecobee account. All you have to do is assign each sensor to their appropriate room. To do this, tap on “connected devices” from the left hand menu and select each sensor that does not have a room assigned. Tap on the room field and select the correct room or create a new room.
Room schedules function differently than home schedules, so for now the schedules you set for rooms in your Keen Home app do not interact with your ecobee3 home schedule. We do plan to leverage room sensor data to inform room schedules in the near future.
Ecobee sensors report temperature every 3 minutes or when there is a large change in sensor state. Because of this, the Keen Home app may be a few minutes behind the ecobee app.
There are two scenarios in which you may not be able to add your ecobee3 account to the Keen Home app:
- Your username or password are incorrect. Double check your ecobee login credentials and try again.
- Your network is down. Try turning your router off and then back on again.
