Patent ID: 7547863

Claim:
A system for heating or cooling an environment, comprising: a primary appliance, comprising: a switch component that receives an input from an external control device to activate the primary appliance; a monitoring device component that senses an operation level and the operation time of the primary appliance; and a controller component that sends an activation signal to a supplemental appliance when the operation level and the operation time of the appliance exceeds a predetermined value; and a second appliance comprising: a switch component that receives an input from the primary appliance to activate the supplemental appliance; a monitoring device component that senses an operation level and the operation time of the primary appliance; and a controller component that sends an activation signal to another supplemental appliance when the operation level and the operation time of the appliance exceeds a predetermined value, wherein the primary appliance is independently operable for control solely by the external control device, and the second appliance is operable by itself to be controlled solely by the external control device, and wherein the primary appliance and the second appliance can be linked to each other so that the primary appliance is controlled by the external control device and the secondary appliance is controlled by the controller component of the primary appliance.