SmartAC Brings Its HVAC Intelligence Model to Every Service Call with New Gen2 Sensor

A low-cost sensor with no Wi-Fi and no wiring gives contractors visibility into far more of the homes they serve.

HOUSTON, Oct. 1, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- SmartAC, the AI-native HVAC intelligence platform built for residential HVAC, today introduced its purpose-built intelligence model and SmartAC Gen2 Sensor, the low-cost, single-sensor hardware that delivers it. Where contractors already use SmartAC, revenue per home is up nearly 20%, as reported in Contracting Business's September 2026 cover story. The new intelligence model and Gen2 hardware extend that visibility to homes that have been out of reach, including the nearly 80% of homeowners not enrolled in any maintenance or membership program, according to a SmartAC survey. SmartAC will showcase Gen2 at Pantheon, October 5 to 7 in Orlando.

The opportunity starts with the hardware. Gen2 streamlines SmartAC's footprint into one sensor that requires no Wi-Fi and no wiring, simple enough that a homeowner could install it, at $5 a month. Removing the cost and installation barriers means far more homes can be connected, and every connected home sends more data into the model, sharpening the intelligence available to every contractor on the platform.

The model rests on a foundation SmartAC spent more than three years building: real-world performance data from over 90,000 connected homes, with each sensor capturing roughly 15,000 data points a day. That data is what allowed the engineering team SmartAC began assembling in January to deliver, in under a year, what the company believes is the industry's first proprietary frontier model for residential HVAC, trained to reason about the physics, behavior, and operation of real-world HVAC systems.

That team is led by Chief Technology Officer Matt Robillard, with Vice President of Engineering Duy Vo, Head of Data Michael Tompkins, Lead Mobile Engineer Jim Puls, and Platform Architect Giel de Nijs, whose appointments the company announced in April.

Inferring how an entire HVAC system is performing from one sensor is a hard problem: no two homes share the same equipment, age, installation, or climate. Combining sensor data with context such as climate, home characteristics, and how comparable systems nearby are performing, the model goes beyond flagging that something seems off. From a single sensor, it characterizes how an HVAC system is actually performing and identifies problems as they form, before they become no-cool calls.

That reach matters because most homes are invisible to their contractor between visits. In a SmartAC survey of 998 homeowners conducted in August 2026, 78.8% were not enrolled in a maintenance or membership program. Gen2 gives contractors a low-cost way to stay connected to those homes, alongside their membership programs rather than in place of them. Each one becomes a potential home under management: a system they can see, a relationship they keep, and service demand that comes to them first. When a system starts to decline, the contractor knows before the homeowner calls anyone, turning early warnings into repair work, planned replacements, and membership conversations instead of emergency calls that may go to a competitor.

The launch builds on results SmartAC partners are already seeing. Their Gen1 systems in the field will run on the same intelligence model and benefit from the same improvements, and Gen2 gives them an additional, lower-cost way to expand the number of homes they have under management.

"For more than three years, SmartAC has been learning how residential HVAC systems perform in the real world. Our launch of Gen2 makes it easy to put in almost any home and turns that learning into actionable intelligence," said Josh Teekell, Founder and CEO of SmartAC. "Our mission is to perfect the experience of home comfort. For most homeowners, that still depends on luck. With Gen2, we can replace that with foresight in almost any home, at a price that works for the homeowner and the contractor alike."

"Characterizing how an entire HVAC system is performing from a single sensor is something new," said Matt Robillard, Chief Technology Officer of SmartAC. "It gives technicians better information before they arrive: what the system has been doing, how it compares, and where to look first. The diagnosis stays with the technician, and the homeowner gets a contractor who arrives prepared."

Gen2 is available now to SmartAC contractor partners. Contractors can learn more at smartac.com or visit SmartAC at Pantheon, October 5 to 7.

About SmartAC
SmartAC is the AI-native HVAC intelligence platform built for residential HVAC. Its proprietary intelligence model, trained on years of real-world data from connected homes, gives HVAC service providers a clear view of how every system they serve is performing - so they can act before small problems become emergencies and build service relationships grounded in trust and transparency. That visibility helps contractors improve service outcomes, increase customer conversion and retention, and build scalable recurring revenue programs, while homeowners get fewer surprise breakdowns and more reliable comfort year-round. By uniting connected technology with contractor-focused tools, SmartAC is elevating the future of home comfort. With SmartAC, Change is in the Air.

SOURCE SmartAC