Home Improvement – Piets Blog

Automating Your Pool Pump in Home Assistant Based on Daily Temperature

Smart Pool Pump Automation with Home Assistant Based on Daily Temperature
Learn how to automate your pool pump in Home Assistant using a simple rule: run it for one third of the daily maximum temperature (in hours). This guide walks you through creating dynamic template sensors and a Home Assistant automation that adjusts pump runtime based on weather conditions — saving energy and maintaining water quality. Ideal for smart home enthusiasts looking to optimize pool maintenance using Home Assistant, YAML templates, and weather-based logic.

Addicted to HomeAssistant

6. March 20256. March 2025Peter van ZeistDigital / DIY / Home Improvement / Nerd Stuff / Smart Home / SoftwareLeave a comment

My Three-Year Journey with Home Assistant: The Brain of My Smart Home Three years ago, my journey into the world of smart home automation started with a simple problem: my wife and daughter sometimes forgot to turn off the hallway and bathroom lights. We use Philips Hue lights, and while they offer plenty of convenience…

DIY NETWORK CABINET House Upgrade

8. March 20218. March 2021Peter van ZeistDigital / DIY / Home ImprovementLeave a comment

Last year, I wrote an article about a DIY Network cabinet for my flat. This should be a central hub for all network connections and a nice clean space for all network devices such as routers, switches and NAS. This perfectly worked out while living in our flat but needed some adjustments when we moved…

Home Automation Part 2: HMIP Glass and Window Sensor

6. March 20216. March 2021Peter van ZeistHome Improvement / Nerd StuffLeave a comment

As mentioned in my previous post, I am working on home automation (mainly) with HomeMatic IP (HMIP). Well, and one gap I could find in their quite extensive range of different sensors was, that they did not have a glass breakage sensor – only window/door opening sensors. But because I wanted to secure all windows…

Home Automation Part 1: HomeMatic IP

12. February 202114. March 2021Peter van ZeistHome ImprovementLeave a comment

Last year, we bought our own house. It is 15 years old and had a, for that time, quite modern equipment (electric window blinds, underfloor heating, electrical garage door etc.). But, of course, non of it was really ‘smart’. A fact that needed to be changed. Three major areas I wanted to tackle are: Window…