Air Con energy savers

Agencies and other headaches, keys and cleaners, running costs and contracts...in short, all the things we spend so much of our time doing behind the scenes.<br>
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PW in Polemi
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Post by PW in Polemi »

No but we're trying out new remote controls that can be set to specific temperatures to prevent guests from thinking they can cool the room quicker by setting the temp at 16C :shock:! (Who wants 16C? They'd soon complain if it was only 16C in the winter, so why aim so low in summer?)
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Mouse
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Post by Mouse »

Interesting. Our a/c is over 11 years old so I wonder if it would only work with more modern equipment.

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Casscat
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Post by Casscat »

I'm all in favour of devices which prevent people leaving the air con on and then spending the day on a sun lounger or away from the property, but I want to know that I am investing in a truly efficient device because there is money to be wasted getting it wrong. Also as someone who sleeps with the air con on low during the real height of a hot and muggy summer I don't want it turning off because I am sleeping so soundly that I am not wriggling around like an earthworm. Nothing is guaranteed to wake me up more annoyingly than being overheated!

The eco-energysavers product looks attractive, but I am a little put off by the rather amateurish appearance of their web site :? Probably shallow of me, but these days anyone can create an attractive web site, and if you are selling a product you have to entice.
mario
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Post by mario »

Yes I agree Casscat and I'm worried I can't find any reviews as well.
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Post by AndrewH »

An alternative air con. saver is the 'Ecosense 2000' ( http://www.ecosense.uk.com/ ). This is what their site says:

Ecosense uses Passive Infra Red (PIR) technology to scan the room for occupancy. PIR will only detect body heat and will not therefore be affected by items such as ceiling fans, curtains etc. When no movement is detected it will send a signal to the air conditioning (A/C) unit to switch it off. Ecosense also has a comfort night sensor, enabling the A/C to be used, if required, throughout hours of darkness. Ecosense 2000 is compatible with most A/C units.

Casscat, the "comfort night sensor" might be your answer. For this it appears that the device can detect the change in light levels between night time and day time. The idea being that at night it won't switch the air con. off, because it detects that it is still dark (or the curtains still drawn, perhaps). Presumably, the air con. just works manually, on or off, during the hours of darkness.

We have yet to install them (one for each unit), so I am sorry I can't comment on how well they work.
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Casscat
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Post by Casscat »

I liked the sound of the door sensor on the link that mario posted - switches off the air con when it knows the door has been left wide open with the scorching outside air coming into the chilling living areas.
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Post by mario »

I have emailed them to ask if there are any reviews, if they don't answer I won't consider them.
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kevsboredagain
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Post by kevsboredagain »

I'm using some which I found online but do not have night sensors. I use only in rooms which are not bedrooms. It's hard to tell if they've been effective as electricity keeps rising so fast. I guess I should compare meter readings rather than the cost of the bill.
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Post by mario »

Reply from website, sounds good

Hi Chris,

Thank you for your interest in our products.

Unfortunately because these are brand new products to the market we don’t as yet have any reviews for these products.

Both products have been thoroughly tested prior to manufacturing and have won European funding for their design and development.

Sorry that I cannot offer you user reviews at this stage but I’m sure that in the coming months we will be receiving reviews from end users.

Best regards

John Worby
www.eco-energysavers.co.uk
Sam V
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Post by Sam V »

I just found this thread and low, just last week I received this:

Dear Sam,

I came across your website researching villa owners in Portugal. We are marketing to villa owners like yourself an energy/money saving device for air conditioning which is manufactured here in the UK. We have just returned from a trip to the Algarve and stayed near your property at the Vidamar resort hotel. Having met with many property managers we realise there is a real problem with guests leaving the air conditioning running whilst they are out for the day or evening. The Attendant looks after this for you, when the room has been vacated for 15 minutes it switches the air con off. There are other features to this discreet, battery operated, retrofit device, please find a datasheet attached and an excel spreadsheet which will allow you to calculate your potential savings (with an example).


If you have any further questions or would like to request a price list, please do not hesitate to contact me.

PS. We have all of the installation instructions in Portugese, English and Spanish.

Kind regards,
Julie England
Director – WPS
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Post by Sam V »

We currently have the 'airconomy' system which is now pretty much redundant from its intended function.

It has a key fob system, allowing the units to be used when the fob is placed in the activation unit by the front door, the fob attached to the front door keys so the units are deactivated when the fob is removed. However, the air con circuit board kept breaking (coding in excess of £100 to replace) when guests replaced the fob and activated all the units at the same time, despite asking guests to make sure they had turned them off!

Now the fob is just permanently in the unit unless guests don't require air con. Sort of useful.

I'm considering initially trying out one of these movement units, but it is the installation (ease of?) and night time use availability that bothers me, oh, and the cost per unit, I'd need four, three bedrooms and living room in total. ..and which room first?
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mario
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Post by mario »

Sam what did it originally cost you for the system, I'm a bit worried that I would have to fork out £200 for 5 units but it would probably pay for itself in 6 months if it worked.
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Post by Sam V »

mario wrote:Sam what did it originally cost you for the system, I'm a bit worried that I would have to fork out £200 for 5 units but it would probably pay for itself in 6 months if it worked.
I cant recall exactly, but somewhere iro €2-300.

With my experience I would not recommend it unless you want to risk regularly blowing your air con circuit board
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