.@Robin4
Rob, the main heating used by guests in my BnB is A/C, along with a wall panel heater in the kitchen and heat lamps in the bathroom. The timer switch in the photo
was at one stage installed in my school to avoid wastage with lights left on in vacant rooms, overnight, over weekends or even over holidays. I salvaged a couple when some refurbishment occurred. I'd love to have one on the A/C and I'm sure it would be quite straight forward for an electrician to put one in between the circuit breaker for the A/C and the A/C itself. Would greatly appreciate any other ideas. I'm not always home when guests check out and it's frustrating to find all the heating, including even the towel rail, and all the lights merrily chewing up kilowatts some time after the guests have left.
Cheers .. Michael
Michael, you will notice if you hit the @ symbol a drop down box will appear with the various contributors in the conversation thread.All you do is tag the contributor you want from that box and that contributor will get a notification alert that you are contacting them with a response. I haven't answered sooner because I was not aware you had replied to me!
Michael you can turn your property into a full home automation system if you want to go that far.
Firstly lets concentrate on your Air conditioning. I am still not sure what sort of a/c you have but, if it is a ducted or ceiling system, I control mine in two ways!
Michael there is a national electronics distributor called Jaycar. Now it's possible your nearest Jaycar outlet would be in Wollongong. There may be a Jaycar agent closer to you but Wollongong would be your nearest major outlet that would stock anything you might need so these are the items I am recommending! Michael click on these images to enlarge.
1/......If a guest wants to be warmer than 24c (75f) in the winter time or cooler than 20c (68f) in the summer, they won't do it at my expense and the above unit takes control of this.
It is a programmable temperature controller and only allows my a/c unit to heat to 24c and cool to 20c!
The guest can set the wall controller to anything they like but in reality the unit will only operate in that 4c temperature band!
You will need an electronics person to fit it but installation is quick and simple and as you can see, the device costs less than $10, you should be able to get the whole thing in and running for less than $100 so it will pay for itself in no time!
2/......Now the second method I use is to stop guest energy wastage by running the a/c when they are not there. I have also included this auto remote controller (once again from Jaycar) into my system.....
Now, how this operates, it turns the a/c off and on from a remote sensor!
What happens I have a mini transmitter in the cottage key-ring.....like the remote un-locker for your car.....
When the guest walks out through the front gate and takes the cottage key with them it sends a signal that triggers a wired sensor at the front gate.......
That sensor is wired back to the a/c unit and as soon as the guest walks through the gate and triggers it, that activates a 5 minute delay timer which then turns the a/c unit off!
As soon as the guest returns through the gate the sensor automatically turns the a/c unit back on again.
Guests have on odd occasions mentioned they expected the cottage to be warmer when they returned but nobody has ever dinged me for it.....and let me tell you Michael, it has saved me a heap of energy dollars!
3/.......If you are using a wall split a/c/ unit which already has a wireless remote controller you can also replace that controller with one of these......
This Michael is also available from Jaycar, and costs around $55. It can be programmed to any a/c that uses a remote control and you can also set the temperature band that it will operate within just as I do with my in ceiling unit.
The only thing I have not pursued at this stage is remote power off when the guest checks out and leaves the keys in the premises. That hasn't been a major issue for me, but once again it would not be difficult for me to achieve given my working background.
Michael, beating the environmental vandals is not hard and it doesn't have to be expensive. If you need any further info just post here or send me a DM.
Cheers........Rob
@Laurelle3 Hello Laurelle. Thanks for contributing and lovely to hear from you. I do have energy tips in my guide booklet but a reminder near the door is a great idea and I will have to do that sooner rather than later. With the A/C, I put the temp to a reasonable setting as well as the fan speed. Invariably after check out I find the temp has been set ridiculously high or low (depending on the season) and the fan speed on maximum. Unfortunately the "I've paid for it so I'll crank it up" mentality is one of the bigger obstacles in fostering a greater awareness of energy conservation, and, ultimately, minimising costs for hosts and guests. Looking forward to seeing tips from .@Robin4
Yes, the bakery has some history. Still going in the '60s but like the general store, the butcher, and the fruit and veg store (with petrol bowser!),
all victims of the supermarkets in the bigger towns nearby.
@Emilia42 Hello Emilia, and yes, exactly! And thanks for joining this discussion. My last guests arrived mid afternoon for one night, turned on all the heating (incl. A/C), all the lights and then left for a gathering nearby. They returned around 2am. Yes, they are paying for the stay but the issue is much bigger than just economics. I'd love to make use of one of these but maybe not for lighting as chances are the moment it cut the lights, an
accident would occur and a legal issue would arise. I can't see any problem though with having it wired into the A/C circuit.
