I’m currently building an IoT device that will automatically start fires in my traditional chimney at scheduled times during cold winter days. The idea is to start a fire one hour before I wake up, while I’m still asleep, to warm up the house. Unlike a smart stove, a traditional fireplace can’t be controlled remotely. It’s old-school with a twist of AI, code, and electronics. Everything is getting automated! Here are the first two videos showing the progress of my side project.


This video shows that I’m able to remote start a fire using my smartphone


This video shows that a camera detects the fire has successfully started using AI

I’m planning to use two existing surveillance cameras I already have at home. The first one will detect whether the fire has successfully started. If it does, I’ll immediately cut the power supply used to ignite the fire, for safety reasons. The second camera will trigger an alarm in case anything goes wrong, like a fire spreading or any unexpected incident. This is, of course, a simplified version to keep the article concise. In reality, the system is much more sophisticated than that.


More videos will be shared in future articles…