Air Conditioning Management

Here in Hawaii, air conditioning through mini-split systems is usually one of the  largest expenses a vacation rental can have.  Guests are busy having a great time on their vacation and the last thing they are worrying about is your electric bill.  And many times they are not used to the warmth of our magical Hawaiian sunshine and turn the thermostat to "Arctic Blast" right before leaving the door open as they head out to the pool deck.  

And honestly, they should be more focused on their vacation than your home's utility costs.  Try as you might, it's tough to convince guests to remember to turn down the air conditioning when they are out during the day, to keep the doors and windows closed when it is on and to not run it at the lowest temperature possible.

Rather than hope that your guests will read and follow those signs you put all over your home to be responsible with the thermostats, let us put the control back in your hands.  Hotels learned a long time ago that they needed to at the least turn off air conditioning when the sliding glass doors to the guest room were open.  Aside from the enormous financial cost, it also isn't taking good care of our beautiful islands by wasting so much energy.

Now you can certain do what the big hotels do and add switches in all your doors and windows that are connected back to your air conditioning such that it will turn off whenever a door or window is open.  But that is really only the first step and can be extremely costly, unsightly or both to run wires where they need to go.  And while these switches certainly will help reduce wasted energy, they can't, for example, allow you to turn off/down your air conditioning remotely after the guest has left.  Or turn on the air conditioning at your preferred settings remotely in advance of a guest's arrival.

Our technology can give you the best of both worlds and include:

Wireless sensors -  Running wires is a thing of the past and gives you more flexibility than just turning the AC unit on or off. 

Flexible Responses - Based on which doors or windows are open, we can adjust the air conditioners nearby however you prefer.  Turn them off, turn them down, flip them into fan-only operation, whatever you prefer.  And when the opening is closed again, we can restore the air conditioning to its previous settings or whatever you prefer.  

Preferred Temperature Range - We can limit operation to only the temperature range you prefer (e.g., 68F to 80F), even if the guests use the local remote control to change it.  

Preferred Operational Settings - Modern air conditioners have many different settings to increase efficiency and reliability.  All of these settings are usually available on local remote controls, however, so they can get changed over time.  For example, you may prefer to keep the units in the "economy mode" many manufacturers offer to keep operating costs down.  We can make sure the units always stay in Economy Mode if you prefer, for example, even when someone in the house turns it off.  The rules are entirely up to you and you and your property manager have full control wherever you are.

Usage Reporting - By managing your air conditioners with our technology, we can provide very detailed operational data as well as current and historical charts of how long each unit has been running each day, what mode, temperature, fan speed and many other parameters.  Using this information you, along with your HVAC professional can review the performance of your system and identify opportunities for further savings.

Health Monitoring - Where supported by the manufacturer, we can also monitor any health data and/or fault codes your AC units may report.  You, your property manager or even your HVAC service can be automatically notified whenever a problem is reported, probably before your guests even notice there is an issue.

Works With All Major Manufacturers - There are a lot of manufacturers out there making minisplit AC systems.  Some are very advanced in how easily they can be managed through automation, some are still working on it.  The good news is we can generally add our automation capability to most brands and models available today and those that have been in service already for years.  Our goal is always to work with the equipment manufacturer you choose to be the best for your needs and find a way to manage their devices as much as possible.  If you are not sure about air conditioning equipment you currently own or perhaps are considering purchasing, we would be happy to advise you on how well they will work with our automation system.

Transparent To Your Guests - While this all might sound complicated and high tech, one of our goals at Home Automation of Hawai'i is to make everything we do as low impact and hidden as possible from your guests.  They won't even know how sophisticated your home automation is because they will never interact with it if that's your choice.  Or we can provide voice control, touchscreen control and many other options to expose just as much as you want of your smart home automation to them.