Question 1

What happens to my service if I lose connection to the internet?

Accepted Answer

Because Chrystal is a WiFi controller, it's important that it is setup in an area that has a good internet connectivity. If ever the internet drops, Chrystal is equipped with a reconnect feature that ensures it will not forget your wireless network.

If you lose internet in the middle of a heating cycle without losing power, your app will show you an offline status but the controller will maintain the signal or state it was in prior to the outage, and as soon as the internet is restored, it will resume the last state it was in and adjust it's state based on the weather network and algorithms.

For example : If you are heating your driveway and your home loses internet for a period of time, at the moment you've lost internet the driveway was heating and will continue to heat throughout the internet outage. As soon as the internet comes back on the app will be responsive again and as long as the algorithms continue to command the system to heat, your driveway will get back into heating mode, however, if during the period the internet was down, the weather changed and your system no longer requires heating, as soon as the internet is restored your controller will update it's command to stop heating.

Question 2

What happens to my service if I lose power?

Accepted Answer

Like any snow melting system, unless it is connected to a generator, for the duration that the power is lost, the system will not be working. However, Chrystal has a memory that ensures that whatever state the unit was in prior to the outage, it will return to it automatically and none of your settings or parameters will be lost.

Question 3

How does Chrystal work if it doesn't use a local sensor?

Accepted Answer

Chrystal is a Wifi Controller.Its designed to work without a local sensor! It is connected to a series of cloud servers who are constantly scanning the skies for real snow events. With a simple internet connection, Chrystal can effectively detect upcoming snow events and activate a heating cycle on any snow melting system!

Question 4

How does it know it's snowing where I am ?

Accepted Answer

Chrystal is connected to local weather servers and is registered to the geo location registered to your device. Upon device setup you will be required to enter a valid address. Any time there is a local precipitation at that precise address, Chrystal will activate the system and turn it off when required.

Question 5

What is your No snow accumulation guarantee?

Accepted Answer

The guarantee applies only to the clients that have subscribed to the Prescient or Astute Plan.

If you have used all of the available heating profiles and can demonstrate to our team that none of them have been able to prevent snow accumulation at the time the snow starts falling, we will credit you the cost of the subscription you paid and you'll keep the service until the end of that winter period.

We will then work hard on improving our algorithms to solve any current issues and therefore hopefully earn your business the following year.

Question 6

What if the weather forecast changes?

Accepted Answer

Chrystal is extremely responsive to the weather, in fact it verifies the weather every 15 minutes and only sends a command when the probability of snow is high! However, If and when the forecast changes, Chrystal changes it's command along with it.

For example, lets assume that your local climate requires 6 hours of preheating and it is currently 12am. If the forecast is expecting snow in at 8am, Chrystal will only start preheating at 2am to get your heated pavement warm enough by the time it snows.

BUT, if at 4 am, the forecast changed and now the snow isn't falling anymore, Chrystal will update it's command and stop heating.

or If at 4 am, the forecast changed and the snow is now only expected to fall at 11am instead of 8am, Chrystal will pause it's heating and resume it at 5am.

Question 7

The weather is so unpredictable, how can you rely on it?

Accepted Answer

We all know the weather forecast changes and is sometimes inaccurate. After all everyone is relying on actual weather events that are happening away from them, and are calculating wind speeds and directions to establish their local forecast. So we can all agree that looking 4 days ahead, its hard to calculate and be certain of any precipitation events because they are so far away...

But, if you look at the weather forecast 24h in advance and only consider high probability events, the likelihood of accuracy is high, and the closer you get to the actual event the more accurate it becomes. Especially if you use multiple weather sources to ensure consistency!

The most common preheating cycles in mild winter weather range between 6-12 hours, and for colder climates, it ranges between 12-24h. So you can see that we don't need to check further that 24h ahead.

And so far with our latest algorithm updates and multiple preheating profiles, we are proud to say that we have managed to tackle 95% of snow events and that we are continuously trying to improve our services to reach 99% accuracy.

Question 8

How much more am I heating if I choose to preheat?

Accepted Answer

In most applications, YOU ARE NOT HEATING MORE WHEN PREHEATING. Let me explain:

When it comes to heating and preheating its important to first understand how a typical traditional heating cycle works when not in Idle mode.

Once the snow is detected by a local sensor it triggers a heating cycle. 
The snow melting system will heat the entire duration it snows 
The sensor will stop detecting snow after once its dry it will trigger the end of snow event. But that sometimes takes a couple hours. 
At which point, An after run period will activate drying the surface. this is typically set to 4-8hrs. Sometimes even longer in cold climates.

If you are used to this kind of system, Chrystal will take the time usually allowed for the drying of the sensor and the after run period and will apply it to the beginning of the storm as opposed to the end.

Therefore, because we are preheating, as opposed to melting left over snow,  by the time the snow stops falling, we can stop heating immediately and after run periods are not required. Any blowing snow will be managed by your outdoor surface's retention of residual heat.

Therefore in most applications, especially while operating in the conservative profile, YOU ARE NOT HEATING MORE WHEN PREHEATING. as long as you reduced your after run period to 0 hours.

And if you are used to operating in idle mode, then in this case, you can expect to benefit from some major savings by preheating, because you can lower your idling temperature to -10! and let your preheating cycle give you the same effect, without breaking the bank! And that's even the case while operating the Aggressive preheating profile!

FAQ