Guests and air conditioning

[Marco65]

Are your guests normally free to use air conditioning at any temperature and throughout the year? What is the temperature you consider appropriate inside the house? Have you ever had problems with guests and air conditioning?

I ask because in the past guests used to put the air conditioning at 66 degrees F, and once they destroyed my air conditioning engine and I had to close the house for seven days and replace the engine. 

Now I use remote controls that limit the use in accordance with the law on energy saving but I see that this creates discontent and retaliation in my evaluations.

[Captain-Jason0]

I’m not sure if your ac has this or not, but have you considered putting your air conditioner set to dry mode? I also live in the deep south, and this can remedy a lot of moisture in the house.

[Pete69]

Yes I had guests who would leave for the day while keeping the AC on, and it seemed to be running constantly. Even though I don't share any space with my guests I can hear the rumble of the AC. My rules say not to leave the AC (or any other appliance) on while gone. So I emailed them to remind them. They ignored my email until the next day and didn't even address the AC issue when replying. That 2nd day they were gone for about 11 hours... with the AC running!

The next day when they checked out I discovered the AC thermostat was set to 67 degrees! They also left the coffee machine on and the fan in the bathroom on. So they were just all around irresponsible guests.

After this guest experience I now keep the remote control.  I'm also going to be replacing the bathroom fan and heater on/off switches with countdown timers. In my listing I now discourage guests from staying who want a really cold room.

[Marco65]

@Pete69 

Pete, I recently discovered that there are devices that automatically turn off the air conditioning when there is no one at home, I plan to buy them for the new year. If you keep the remotes, don't the guests react badly? So you handle everything remotely? 

[Paul154]

@Marco65 

The options for remote control are many.

On my remote, I can split the difference.

That is, I let the guest increase the temperature for "a period" After that period, the heating will reset back to the automatic settings.

It gives the guest the impression they are in control, yet prevents runaway costs.

[Pete69]

They can control the AC unit itself. Remote is just a 2nd way of controlling it.

Automatic shutoff device? Post a link to this device if you can.

[Alice595]

@Pete69 @Marco65 I have Ecobee Smart Thermostat installed. I set it up not allowing tempering it with a password.

I put one temperature sensor in each bedroom. It senses the presence of a person. I set the thermostat to run a schedule. But there there are nobody in the house, the temperature will be set an Away mode.

It helps to save energy while still keep the guests comfortable. But still you cannot avoid those difficult unreasonable guests from complaining. It will be sufficient to make those reasonable guests staying in a comfortable environment.

[Marco65]

@Alice595This sensor seems interesting to me, but the price, at least in Italy, is really very high, I do not know if it costs you so. Could you tell me how you set up your schedule?

[Marco65]

@Pete69 

https://www.aervirdis.it/praesentia-sensore-presenza-spegni-condizionatori-con-stanza-vuota/

It is a presence sensor that switches off the air conditioners when the room is empty. You can translate the page with google and send them, if you want, a message. I bought a lot of things in the U.S. with an online service called Parcl and it works all over the world, if it can come in handy.

[Pete69]

That's a great product and AFAIKT nobody sells such a product in the US. I've been in communication with the company. They had me do some tests on my LG portable AC and it looks like it is indeed compatible. It basically works like your remote control does. When it senses (via infrared) that nobody has been in the room for a period of time (I guess), it will send an OFF signal to the AC unit.

Looks like it's about $100 US dollars plus shipping.

[Marco65]

@Pete69 Glad you could use it! For years I've been looking for a similar product and then I accidentally ran into their site and it was a godsend.

[Andrea-and-Francis0]

We have an Ecobee Smart Thermostat so we can control it on our phone from anywhere. This feature is extremely useful 🙂

[Ben138]

When the temperature is below 60 degrees, the lubricant oil in the compressor can move quickly, causing the coils to ice up. Both scenarios can cause damage to your machine.

[Marie8425]

@Marco65 

Maybe you should post under your Host account so we could see the reviews you mention.