Home > Consumer Reviews > Control Products FA-D2 Deluxe Freeze Alarm

Great concept with the ability to remotely toggle thermostats (and temperature settings)with a phone. However, after two units, neither were able to work with my Ooma based VoIP phone system. Everything worked fine calling out to the designated numbers during an alarm condition, but I was never able to call into the unit and access the main menu. This is a pricey unit and I would have expected that this type of bug would have been worked out. Their technical assistance was not very helpful who fell back on the standard line "you must have noise in your telephone line."

It's really nice to be able to control and monitor a location by telephone. The install was easy and it functions perfectly. I only wish I had purchased it years ago.

My rating of "3" is the average of "5" for potential benefit/ease of use and "1" because I got a defective unit. A friend recommended the Intermediate model; he has used it for 2 winters and is very happy with it. I bought the Deluxe model because of its call-ahead feature, so we could turn up the heat by phone before we arrived at our cottage. (That is not so easy, BTW. You must add a 2nd thermostat wired in parallel, and connect the monitor unit to each so it can switch from one to the other when you call.) The instructions are clear; setup was reasonably easy; and the low-temperature test worked as advertised (more on that below). After driving home from our cottage, we had an odd experience. The freeze alarm called us about 12 hrs later -- at 4:00 am -- saying the *high-temp* limit (100 deg) had been exceeded. I suspected the alarm was faulty, but couldn't be sure, so drove 100 mi back to our cottage to check. Fortunately everything was normal -- except for the bogus high-temp alarm which still continued even though the actual temp was only 60 deg. Over 2 hrs, the reported temp varied from 95 to 105 while the actual temp remained steady at 60. I suspect this was just bad luck due to a random defective unit. Everything else worked nicely, including the ability to reprogram the unit and its settings remotely by phone. I do plan to order another unit... but this time will get the Intermediate model. Amazon was easy to deal with for the return and refund. My advice to anyone buying a freeze alarm is to try it in your main residence for a couple of days, so you can be sure it is working properly before you leave it in your cottage or anyplace a long distance from home. Another word of advice is to test it in water at 2 or 3 known temperatures -- say, 5 deg above and below the alarm point -- so you can be sure the alarm goes off close to the desired temp. (Use a thermometer to measure the water temp, and add hot water or ice to adjust the temp up or down. Then insert the sensor.) If you just stick the sensor in ice water as the instructions suggest, you will know the alarm goes off at 32, but you won't know how far above 32 it gets triggered.

I installed this in our second home two years ago. I love it. Our second home is in Northern Minnesota where winter temps get to 50 below.

This freeze alarm has saved us twice when our furnace conked out. It also offers us peace of mind to be able to call up and get the temperature in our house.

Aside from emergencies, it is also practical. In those cold temps, it takes the house a while to warm up from the lower setting on the second thermostat. We simply call up and switch the day before we get there to arrive at a cozy warm house.

Works great. I own a vacation home in Maine and it is peace of mind to know that I can call my telephone number and know what the temperature is in the house.