What are the benefits of having a Wi-Fi controlled system?

What are they?

A Wi-Fi controlled air conditioning system is a air conditioning system whose functions can be controlled via Wi-Fi through an app or smart device, such as your phone or tablet. Controlling our appliances through technology is a concept designed to make our lives easier. As well as saving us time and increasing convenience, we can also more easily control our air conditioning usage thereby saving on energy and forgo expensive electric bills.

Wifi control can be utilised to cool down the home before we arrive back from work or holidays. Rather than being restricted to adjusting your home climate through a wall control or remote, each room can be adjusted from the convenience of one device with a Wi-Fi connection. Through smart devices such as apps, Google and Amazon we can control when a Wi-Fi enabled system is turned off and on, even when we’re not home.

One such system is Polyaire’s integrated AirTouch 2. This control system was made with busy households in mind and will allow you to adjust air distribution in any room you choose. It works in 10% increments for maximum efficiency. What this means is that your whole family can be comfortable, even if they are in different rooms or levels of the house at the same time and prefer different types of air flow. All without you needing to be there.

A system such as Polyair’s AirTouch 2 can control two units, reaching up to 16 zones in your home from a central point. In the long run this can also assist in keeping a more maintained air conditioner in the smallest to largest of homes.

What are the benefits?

Wi-fi technology has a number of benefits. The main one relates to control and convenience, which leads to benefits such as increased comfort and smarter energy use. In terms of air conditioning, benefits include:

Control, Comfort and Convenience:

• Set it and go: Through a Wi-Fi device you can schedule your air conditioning to turn on at certain times, which is especially convenient when coming home to a closed up house on a severely hot day. This information can be stored in your device or app so it can occur on a daily basis around your schedule.
• Having control of multiple units in your house means you can adjust how or if areas are cooled depending on your circumstances. So if the kids are away at school camp you can change your scheduled controls to only cool the rooms that require it.
• Individualised flows: a Wi-Fi system can not only control temperature and when the air conditioning comes on but it can also adjust the type of flow to different zones in the house, allowing for more personalised comfort.
• Should an unforseen weather event occur you could adjust the controls appropriately from your phone or tablet.
• You can use Wi-Fi apps on different platforms such as Android and iPhone.

Financial and Environmental Savings:

• With non-Wi-Fi systems if you’ve run out of a morning to get to work on time and realise you’ve left the air conditioning on you won’t be able to fix that until someone is home. This means you’re paying for energy that isn’t being utilized. With a Wi-Fi controlled system you cannot only check the app to see if the unit is on, you can also easily turn it off if needs be. Why pay for power you’re not home to enjoy?
• Being able to set a point temperature and manage air conditioning zones throughout your home may decrease your energy use and electric bills, making your unit work smarter rather than harder.
• If your kids or pets get to the control panel or remote in your home and inadvertently turn the air con on full blast you can be alerted through the app. This means you can set the unit back to save yourself a surprise bill or coming home to a chewed up remote.
• In monitoring energy usage a smartphone app can inform you of any maintenance required as well as letting you know how your units are performing.

Which options are available?

An app or device that links into your Wi-Fi and air-conditioning system is less of an outlay than a completely new smart air-conditioning unit or installation of a wall control unit. These can turn technology you already have at your fingertips into a remote control and monitoring system for your home or work air conditioner.

Depending on what brand of air conditioner you have there are a number of Wi-Fi devices that can turn an older unit into a smart one. These devices can range in price from an Amazon Echo Dot 3rd Gen Charcoal at around $49.00 to the Google Assistant at $109 and the Sensibo Wi-Fi Air Conditioner Controller, retailing at approximately $159. These are units that can be easily installed in your home without expert assistance, matched to older devices and have compatible apps. When buying it’s always wise to ask the sales staff if your unit is compatible and questions such as can the device control more than one unit throughout your home. Amazon and Googles’ devices can also be voice controlled.

This means you don’t even need to get out of bed to adjust the temperature (so it’s good for sick days). Controls can be accessed on your phone, tablet and through apps with little need for replacing worn remote controls or flat batteries.

Some systems also send climate control alerts that let owners know if temperatures need adjusting prior to returning home.

Our recommendation

Having researched a number of Wi-Fi control options we believe Polyaire to be one of the best providers in terms of value and variety of controls. It also offers more personalised control than self-installed devices.

Their Airtouch 2 System covers an impressively wide area within a home. It is also great for smaller areas such as apartments and multi-storeyed structures. Importantly the system is easy to use and can be accessed through a 3G/4G network by both Apple and Android products. You can use it to set up and save personalised comfort profiles for members of your household. The unit sends out handy periodic reminders to get your air conditioner serviced when needed and it can be used with most major brands.

Due to the wide coverage provided by Polyaire’s system you can adjust the environmental controls not only to the weather but also to the comfort of the individual in the environment, solving the issue of different preferences. Saving and adjusting these preferences using the convenience of Wi-Fi may help not only in reducing your bills but also in keeping the household happy and comfortable.