Posted by Heidi Schwartz
This week’s question comes from the IFMA group on LinkedIn.
I am looking for feedback on WiFi enabled thermostats. Does anyone have experience or insights on this technology that they’d be willing to share?
Aaron Vakula
Facilities Manager
Seneca
Syracuse, NY
Share your feedback and suggestions in the LEAVE A COMMENT section below.
I have had significant benefits for using a product manufactured by Entouch Controls. Perfectly designed for mid size commercial and meets all the needs described by James Walton above. We are converting from 200 stand alone thermostats and doing the work all in-house. Six months into it and we have 100 done so far. Very easy to install and capable of loading all stats into one webportal. Our application is using the campus wifi and IT has been okay with it so far. Some areas don’t have sufficient wifi services so we will use the cellular version in those areas until IT can meet the need. We are seeing significant savings and nothing stands in the way to finish.
There are many WiFi stats that have come on the market in recent years with a varying degree cost and capabilities. The question comes down to what are you looking to accomplish and the user interface can be key. Typically the WiFi stats that you find in the Home Depots of the world work great for one to two homes but do not handle multi-site locations without multiple accounts. Plus, the security protocols are significantly different from those focused on commercial applications. Also for main corporate locations WiFi stats present potential issues for IT departments and there are other stats such as LAN cable version and Cellular backhaul versions that can help reduce the IT departments concerns.