The summer is hot; few contest this. Our planet is ending due to us using too much energy, among many other things; some contest this but they have absolutely zero facts on their side and so are not worth paying attention to at all. We all feel like we are losing control and are always in need of some sort of way to take care of ourselves; no one contests this. Therefore, connect your air conditioner to your Wi-Fi.
You actually do not have to buy a special Wi-Fi enabled “smart” AC; any AC that plugs into a wall can be made Wi-Fi (it’s not exactly the same, obviously, but you probably don’t need all that a real Wi-Fi one does). These plugs used to be very bulky and very expensive; now they are less bulky and still too expensive but less than leaving your air conditioner on all day by accident.
First, buy one Wi-Fi plug, or several, I’m not the boss of you. I got these.* When you plug it into the wall, you download an app (the app for these plugs is called Smart Life). The app collects your Wi-Fi network info, and then does all the work of telling the plug, which has no interface, about it. You can “name” the plug whatever you want. “AC” or some such would make sense. If you wanted to go with “Linda,” again, it’s your house. Plug your AC into the plug that is plugged into the wall.
Now, turn your AC on. You no longer control your AC through its buttons, only through the app on your phone, I guess unless there is some sort of emergency where your phone is dead. The app interface is very simple: tap a single button to turn it on. Tap to turn it off. You can leave your AC on whatever settings you want, but a modest temp and fan setting is what I choose. Now when I’m about to head home from work or whatever, I open my app and turn the AC on, so when I get to my apartment, it is not like a furnace. There is also no longer such thing as “forgetting to turn the AC off,” because you can turn it off from anywhere on God’s green earth, which will stay all the greener now that you can never accidentally leave your AC on.
As a bonus, an Amazon Alexa or similar can also detect this Wi-Fi plug, so that if you forget to turn on your AC in advance on your way home and you storm into your apartment and it is still like a furnace you can yell “Alexa turn on the AC” as if it were her fault, though it isn’t, and she will do it even though you are being eminently rude. Alexa will also do the nice one-button interface, so when you wake up in the morning and it’s no longer hot, you can turn the AC off from your bed. If this sounds nice, that’s because it is.
*If you have a very large air conditioner, like 12,000 BTU or more, or just want to play it safe, you may need a plug with a higher amperage and/or wattage. For instance, my 10,000 BTU air conditioner draws 820 watts and 7.7 amps, according to its manual; the plug linked above is rated to 16 amps and 2000 watts. Please check your air conditioner’s manual to compare its wattage to that of the plug you want to buy and don’t do anything that will cause a fire, ok, thank you.
