The connected lamp allows you to control your wood stove from anywhere in the house

Winter is approaching in much of the world and millions of households are preparing to light up their wood stoves to stay warm. Every year, unattended stoves and fireplaces contribute to home fires, so keeping an eye on them is extremely important. A new Kickstarter project called Oru is designed to monitor the fire and offer peace of mind to those who are constantly worried.

There are already technologies that allow you to control your wood stove from another room, but most rely solely on smartphone apps. Basically, that means you should actively keep an eye on your phone instead of the stove. Oru (not to be confused with the origami kayak of the same name) takes a different approach.

The device only consists of two main components: a lamp and a sensor.

The lamp has a minimalist design with a wooden base. A magnetic sensor connects to the stove pipe and monitors its temperature. The lamp communicates different temperature ranges through a colored light: amber means the stove is burning well, yellow means it’s time to recharge, and red means it’s getting too hot and you should check it immediately. The lamp does not make any sound and communicates exclusively through color changes.

A lit lamp placed on your desk or coffee table is much harder to miss than a phone notification. And that’s the main idea behind Oru: making important information visible without needing to check your phone or return to the fireplace every 15 minutes. I just wish someone would come up with something similar for cooking stoves and irons.

If you like numbers, you can see the actual temperature through a companion app; yes, there is also an application, available for both iOS and Android. Phone notifications can also be enabled through the app, even when your phone is in Do Not Disturb mode.

Both the sensor and the lamp are powered by USB-C and have no built-in batteries, so they must remain connected to a power source at all times. The sensor box should be placed 3 to 4 feet away from the stove (about 1 meter) and both components require Wi-Fi connectivity. The lamp itself can be placed anywhere in the house, as long as it is within Wi-Fi range.

Since every stove is different, the app allows you to adjust temperature thresholds to establish your own combustion zones. You can also select the type of stove pipe, including older stove configurations and double-wall stove pipes. The app then guides you through a brief calibration process to make sure everything is set up correctly. If you are installing the sensor in a chimney, the magnetic sensor goes directly into the body of the chimney instead of into the pipe.

In summer, or when you don’t need to keep an eye on your stove, Oru can be used in lamp mode. You can choose the color, adjust the brightness, and turn it on or off directly through the app since there are no physical buttons on the lamp.

The early pledge price on Kickstarter is $225, while the expected retail price is $299. Assuming everything goes as planned, shipping is expected to begin in November.

Sources: Kickstarter, Oru