Will the sort of home automation that was showcased at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas January 6-9 th give us slick and dependable products?

Once again, we all had our annual glimpse into the future of home electronics, with a daily dose of the next big thing in our newspapers and on the web.

I reckon that keeping warm (or for that matter cool) in our homes and doing it efficiently is a massive deal.

Any Engineer will tell you that controlling a home heating system should not be difficult. Is Google’s purchase of Nest going to move us all towards a horribly complicated world? I am surprisingly upbeat about this.

As the owner of two domestic heating controllers which simply do not work, I thought I was unlucky until somebody told me that three quarters of domestic “high tech” systems don’t actually work. The guy should know. Sorting them out is his job. It would appear that the more complicated they are, the higher risk that they don’t really work. The combination of locating and installing components correctly, wiring them properly, setting the system up and the user getting to grips with it make it a tall order to get results. If you mix together tradesmen rushing to finish a job, the difficulty in understanding a manual in four minutes flat, the inherent time lags in a heating system operating, indiscriminate tinkering by people and every instruction book describing a different operating procedure, are you on a hiding to nothing? Yes, I reckon so, unless you have a real professional sorting it out.

Does the experience of factory automation suggest an easy way to sort this out in the future? I have been told that it probably does not. The engineers who programme automation are bright people. Where Standards have been introduced, they take years to take root. Then individual manufacturers give them a “tweak” to suit themselves or address a perceived problem, which is not very helpful. Like any software, if you master it then don’t touch it for a year, you are inevitably starting again. Professional programmers do the job every day.

The Economist magazine recently ran an interesting article on “the internet everything really risking being the internet of nothing” The argument was that millions and millions of internet enabled devices in every corner of life will not be able to talk to each other for years due to myriad different standards.

Maybe the Google purchase of Nest will impose an easier to use method of programming, persuade other manufacturers to join the party and provide a pool of people who can programme home automation if homeowners or their contractors are struggling. If devices are wireless, you might be eliminating dodgy wiring of systems. Add to that an ability for the controller to learn how the user lives and tweak settings automatically and we could be moving into an exciting era.

Our Micropac hand pumps and pressure test equipment from Sarum Hydraulics seem pretty low –tech really in being as simple and dependable as you can get. Talk to us on 0044 1722 328388 or look at www.sarum-hydraulics.co.uk . Know exactly what you want? Buy on-line on www.pump-shop-pro.co.uk .