How to beat the energy vandals!

[Robin4]

Power wastage is a never ending problem with guests.

Although we produce most of our own energy on the property, whatever gets used on the property is energy I can’t export back to the grid and get paid for! So whichever way it goes, guests wasting power is costing me money.

You can ask guests not to run appliances like air conditioning when they are not present but, they just ignore you, so, not wishing to upset them, I gave up trying.

To this point automatic air conditioning off controls are activated by motion sensors within the property, and that can be an issue at times when the guest is there but there is no movement. The guest gets annoyed having to turn the a/c back on again all the time, I know, I have tried that approach!

My first step at control was to use a master a/c controller that would not allow the temperature to be increased above 23c (73f) on heating, or below 20c (68f) on cooling, and that overcame the problem of those guests that will leave the cottage for the afternoon and evening on a cold afternoon, after winding the temp up to 30c so it would be toasty warm to come back to......they figure they are paying for it so, they might as well put it to good use!

This control is available in the US for less than $50 and is a really good investment!

Sometimes they will ask why we do this, and I just say with the price of electricity being what it is here, for my listing amount of $90 per night we have to set the limit somewhere….and they accept that. Well none have marked me down for it yet!

But, they still steadfastly refused to turn the a/c off when they were not there.

Oh joy of joys, I have at last got them beaten, and my solution was really cheap to make up, and install!

I purchased a cheap frequency transmitter which is on the cottage keyring........

I then bought a motion/receiver relay which I have installed on the front gate...........

This relay is hooked up to the air conditioning power circuit and as soon as the guest leaves the property the air/con system will turn off, and as soon as they come in from the street, the air/con will start again and within 5 minutes will have the cottage up to temperature again!  

If the guest just wants to get something from the car, the air/con will stop as soon as they leave the driveway but, turns on again as soon as they re-enter the property and as far as they are concerned there has been no interuption to the a/c operation.

The only major challenge I could not solve myself was the situation where the guest would actually turn the a/c off before leaving the premises. I didn't want the situation where their leaving would actually activate the unit so I had a local electronics guy install a sensor circuit that would detect when current was not being used by the a/c on leaving or entering the property, and bypass the gate sensor!

So far it is working like a gem and will pay for itself within a couple of months.

Available equipment may vary from country to country but, everything I used is wisely available off the shelf products  so, where possible, if anyone wants the details of how this has been accomplished I will gladly supply to interested hosts!

Cheers......Rob

[Daphne70]

@Rob4  that is a brilliant solution. I am going to ask my son who is knowledgeable about all things tech if there is a way we could do something similar. All our overhead lights and ceiling fans for our entire home run off  batteries charged by solar panels and so often guests go out for the day leaving the bathroom light and extractor fan running and the bedroom ceiling fan spinning which unneccessarily runs down the batteries. Now it's winter and the oil heater in the guest unit is consuming electricity units at an alarming rate, current guests spent all day in the room yesterday and have likely left it running while they are out today. I fully realise that guests are on unfamiliar territory and may not be able to remember all instructions even if they are repeated in various ways so a "fool/guest proof" solution is an elegant fix that should not offend any guest.

[Robin4]

@Daphne70 

Here in South Australia we lead the world in green energy! Most of the year this state not only supplies all it's own needs but is a net exporter of renewable energy. Now all this comes at a cost.....it is still basically sunrise technology. We have literally thousands of wind turbines dotted around the state in high wind areas. But it is a cruel fact, not one of those turbines will produce enough electricity over it's entire working life to cover the cost of building it, installing it, maintaining it and disposing of it when eventually passes it's use by date. A Wind turbine is simply not cost efficient.

Because of this reliance on wind and solar we as state consumers pay over 40c per kilowatt hour for our electricity. The upside is, I get 60c per Kilowatt hour for electricity I feed back to the grid!

So it is in my interests to stop power wastage in any way I can. For the bathroom strip heater I have one of those pnuematic push switches like you see in building stairwells. Push the big knob and you get 10 minutes of heat. It stops wastage. The hot water heater is an 80 litre electric.....gives about 12 minutes of mains pressure water before it starts to go cold!  Lights are all LED's ....I make my power go as far as possible .

The major issue I had was guests making sure they used what was available. I had a couple from Singapore who on a 25c (77f) minimum night ran the airconditioning on 15c (59f) all night long because they wanted to experience what it was like to sleep under a blanket and quilt. 

You have to take the wastage element out of their hands....they don't do it in their own homes, why should they expect to in someone elses!

Daphne, if your son is technology motivated, he will have absolutely no problem installing something similar to what I have done here.....God, I am 75 and I achieved it! 

And I am sure all the componentary would be available readily in South Africa. If he wants to get in touch with me via a private message here on the CC I will gladly give him a catalogue of the components used.

Cheers......Rob

[Amy-and-Brian0]

@Robin4 We have a smart thermostat called an Ecobee installed in one of our condos. It allows for you to set a range that the guests can't change (like you did) but it also allows for you to set a schedule. So we have the temp run the air conditioning at 74 at night for sleeping and 77 during the day. (Orlando doesn't need heat so much - but the thermostat allows for it)

The guests can override the temp temporarily, down to 72, but only while they are there. Once they leave, the schedule kicks in and the temp goes back to what is in the program. You can make complex schedules if you'd like. And it's on WiFi, so we can adjust remotely if something goes wrong. 

It also sends alerts to email if the guests leave the doors open and the air is running but the temperature or humidity is going up. That's our biggest waster...people air conditioning the outdoors. 

Anyway, you're right about controlling the guests ability to use unlimited electricity. Those bills add up!

[Robin4]

@Amy-and-Brian0 

Yes Amy, the Ecobee is probably the best unit on the market and has a lot going for it. I chose the Aircon-off because it was cheap ($47) and suited what I wanted to do. I still use the Aircon-off to control temperature but now, I have solved the problem of what guests use when they are not their.

And Amy, you would know from experience, many guests use more power when they are not in the property than when they are!

I held my breath for the first month of operation to see how this was going to work....and as we are in the middle of winter here, this was a good time to assess. 

It has been a great success. I see the guests leave with their bags and coats for the day and they no sooner hit the street and the air/con turns off......bloody brilliant!

Cheers......Rob

[Ana1971]

I feel your pain of guests leaving things turned on when they leave for a whole day. We had a guest who would open the window, turn the AC on full blast (it's hot in Arizona) and then leave! Why? No idea. But that guest made us realize we needed to take control of what the guests could and couldn't control.

[Ana1971]

Thanks for the tip on the Ecobee thermostat. Going to research that tomorrow.

[Teresita-Java0]

@Robin4 A us$6,- Power Saving Key Card like this,  in each room solved the power consumption problem. But I already prepared the wiring when we build our guesthouse, otherwise maybe not so easy to install for the whole room. If its only for the aircon it would not be complicated.

***Per Java***

[Robin4]

@Teresita-Java0 

Yes Teresita, hotels and motels use this almost exclusively but there are too many restrictions with that and although hotel guests just accept that......hosting guests do not. With hosting you need to be a bit more subtle.

Cheers......Rob

[Daphne70]

@Robin4  Electricity is also very expensive here in SA thanks to government corruption. Our national electricity supplier Eskom is unstable financially and in generating capacity but the political will to move away from coal to greener energy is vehemently resisted by the trade unions who are trying to protect jobs.  We are not allowed to feed electricity back into the grid and when Eskom experiences failures we have to endure "load shedding" which is a black out by another name, although there is a schedule that allows one to plan around the shedding albeit with considerable inconvenience. South Africans with the means to supplement their electricity supply or go off grid completely continue to do so which in turn lowers the demand for power and pushes the price up. Current national demand is the same as it was 15 years ago as businesses hold back on expansion, foreign investors pull out and consumers become more independent of Eskom.  But paying guests expect all the comforts of home and then some so any means that we can employ to curtail excess need to be employed.

[Kira32]

That's so clever!

[Ann489]

@Robin4   I simply use a wifi thermostat that I can control from my phone...  😉

[Robin4]

@Ann489 

Yes Ann I did look into all these scenarios, using the app! I looked at the Nest and the Ecobee 3  and the Honeywell 6580 as a cheap option!

But much of my day is not spent here, and I don't......and have no intention,  of 'tracking' my guests movements. And I have found that very few guests actually give me a schedule of their movements 😉

I felt trying to control the air/con use that way was not going to be of any benefit to me.

This way I don't have to think about it any more,.....I can be in Outer Mongolia, the guest automatically triggers the a/c use, not me.

There is method in my madness Ann!

Cheers......Rob

[Ann489]

@Robin4   I have no intention, to track my guests either, but I also don't want them to crank my AC down to 65 and then leave, sigh. 

The wifi thermostat we use is password protected and can lock most functions and set a minimum and maximum temp.  Since we are onsite hosts I feel that this is sufficient.  I can also check and adjust it from my phone if necessary.    If I were an off-site host though, I'd definitely consult with you, Robin....it seems like a great set-up! Happy hosting!  🙂

[Kelly149]

@Ann489 yep, 65 degrees. What in the world?

I'm comfortable cleaning the space at 74, but they need it to be 65 to sit and watch TV?!?

Grrrrrrr

At least the wifi controls can be adjusted from anywhere in the world