Venstar’s Skyport Cloud Services Enables Remote Changes in Minutes
CHATSWORTH, Calif. — Venstar® announced that its Explorer® connected Wi-Fi® thermostats, Wireless Temperature Sensors and Skyport® Cloud Services are being used at the Boys & Girls Club of Camarillo, Calif., to remotely control indoor comfort and help control energy costs.
“Being able to remotely control our thermostats helps us reduce energy costs while keeping our club comfortable for all our visitors,” said Roberto Martinez, CEO Boys & Girls Club of Camarillo. “Using Venstar’s free Skyport Mobile App, I can easily check to make sure the HVAC is not left running when the facilities are unoccupied.”
Challenge: Remotely Control Thermostats and Control Energy Usage
Serving the Southern California community of Camarillo since 1967, Boys & Girls Club of Camarillo provides activities and programs for kids ages six to 18. Located north of Los Angeles, Camarillo has a daytime temperature range from lows in the 50s in the winter to highs in the 90s during the summer, so maintaining indoor comfort is very important.
The club’s 30,000-square-foot facility consists of a large auditorium, gymnasium, classrooms, a teen center and staff offices. In addition to being used daily by the club’s members, the facilities are also used by local service clubs, sports teams and other groups. Because it is used by so many organizations, the air conditioning and heating were often inadvertently left on, sometimes overnight or even over the weekend.
Solution: Venstar’s Explorer Thermostat
Roberto Martinez, the club’s CEO, chose Venstar’s Explorer thermostat (Model T4900) to control the club’s 10 rooftop HVAC units. Using Venstar’s Skyport Cloud Services, he and other authorized users remotely control the Explorer thermostats. They can turn the thermostats on or off, change the temperature settings and view usage, all from virtually anywhere they have Internet access.
Explorer thermostats met Martinez’s requirements for:
• Easy installation, programming and usage;
• Extensive programming option;
• Wi-Fi compatibility; and
• Remote control using Venstar’s free Skyport Mobile App.
The thermostats’ easy-to-read display has red and green indicator lights that show when the system is heating or cooling, making it easy to instantly see that the thermostats are doing their job to maintain indoor comfort.
Results: Remote Thermostat Management to Control Energy Use
Using Venstar’s free Skyport Mobile App, Martinez and his team can remotely control the thermostats, ensuring indoor comfort while managing energy usage and costs. Martinez especially appreciates the ability to remotely check the thermostats to make sure they are properly set for unoccupied periods.
Whether he is at home, in his truck or at the club, he can easily monitor and change the temperature settings using the mobile app on his phone. Having remote control of the 10 rooftop HVAC units also gives him an increased ability to ensure the health of the equipment by making sure they are not left running unnecessarily.
Martinez said, “Best of all, I can make sure that the club provides indoor comfort for the boys and girls and other groups who spend their time here.”
