Remote power reset ideas?
 

On the coldest day of the winter our furnace failed, of course.
When we got home all it required was a power reset.

Does anybody have any suggestions how I could set up a remote power reset (110V)?
I have a couple of old macs and PC's sitting around doing nothing.
I'm not a fan of X10 modules. I have one on a dust collector and it's not very reliable.

Do you have to power reset all the time? Maybe you need to have it service?

Oddly enough the same thing just happend at my parents last week when they were away. On the really cold day we had I went to check on the house and the furnace was off. Power was applied, but the whole thing was in an off (no power) state.

Had to off/on the power switch in the furnace room.

Lots of different devices out there for remote toggling of power, from IP capable to simple telephone (Powerstone) and could monitor temperature remotely with a device like this to see when there's a problem. For some flaky field equipment we have, was just simpler (and way cheaper) to put on a timer to turn off and on once a day. Could also run through a controller that if the temperature drops below a valve, it would do a reset, some are PC cards.

Do know where you coming from though with your furnace. Mine has required a few resets in the last 5 years. I understand it's hard to troubleshoot a intermittent fault (specially one that can be a year apart, like mine) but called up a few different furnance repairs shops. Got basically even with the fault code they would basically be swapping parts for hundreds of dollar and no guarantee of repair.

I have a Davis weather station that I think I can program to send me an email alert for low interior temperature.

That unit you mentioned Mark, may do the trick, thanks.

It doesn't matter why it shut down, if all it needs is a reset.
One failure where things get damaged by freezing will make a small preventative investment like that pay for itself. Good thing I have a supplemental solar heating system. Our greenhouse temp was at 3 celcius. We have a misting system and other plumbing in there.
I imagine insurance would cover damages like that, but nobody wants all that hassle.