Los Suenos Bay Residence first gEye subscriber

GeckoTech has been working with Hardy Realestate Group (HRG) for the past few years to help them apply technologies that can improve a rental property’s operating efficiency.  Specifically gEye Energy conservation systems as a managed service.   As of the writing of this post HRG has roughly 5 properties under its care that enjoy the benefits of gEye.   In early May, HRG decided to take the plunge and deploy gEye to one of it Bay Residence properties.  The gEye system is a single thermostat system that should save the property roughly 30% of its AC operational costs annually.

The overall intent of HRG is to deploy gEye into the majority of its properties.  Not only to help save the property owner money, but to provide virtual management of the properties’ single biggest energy consumer.

Vista Mar’s gEye subscriber base continues to grow

As the Vista Mar condo owners continue to talk among themselves there seems to be one recurring theme:  Energy Costs in Costa Rica and frustrations managing these costs.   This singular postscript to this dialogue is GeckoTech and its GeckoEye energy management system.   This standard scenario was no different for the new owner of condo 4D.   Mr. Chip Christianson knew that with energy costs on the rise he needed to be proactive in managing them.  He knew, after talking with countless other condo owners at VistaMar, that he needed gEye to control his AC and thermostats.   Mr. Christianson then took it few steps further.  He knew and appreciated that value-add of automation and remote access to systems he could monitor/control via the internet.  As such Mr. Christianson also subscribed to GeckoTech’s gWatch (video surveillance on main door) and gAccess (electronic locks for main door).   Now Mr. Christianson has the piece of mind knowing he can login to a web portal day or night to see what is happening real time or what has happened historically.

Another Vista Mar unit follows suit….

You just can’t keep “a good idea down.”   This has proven the case at Vista Mar where gEye continues to “carry its weight”.

Unit owners continue to converse among themselves about high energy bills and how to manage them.   GeckoTech’s gEye energy conservation system is always one of the “hot topics”.  New unit owners are not waiting for the ICE rates to bite them.    As is the case in GeckoTech’s newest gEye subscriber, Unit 4D.  This unit owner has heard the horror stories about $2,000 electric bills with nominal occupancy.  He has also heard wonderful things about gEye:  How it reduces energy consumption.  How it allows remote monitoring of thermostats, doors and occupancy via the web.   etc…    Needless to say, the new owner of Vista Mar 4D is now able to relax knowing his gEye system is keeping a vigil on air conditioning units and ensuring his guests do not abuse their rights to enjoy them.

gEye and gPhoto installed for VistaMar 1A, 5A and 7B

Savings and Security.  What more could one ask for.  Especially when the former pays for the latter.   with a little change to spare.  Such is the case for 3 rental units at Vista Mar that recently became subscribers to GeckoTech’s services:  GeckoEye and GeckoWatch.  Vista Mar. situated in Jaco, is one of Jaco’s first developments.   The owners were experiencing brisk occupancy, but were having their rental income gobbled up by ICE.   So they turned to GeckoTech to help lower their AC operational costs relative to ICE power.   GeckoTech answered their “cry for help” by installing GeckoEye.   The gEye system not only lowered the owner’s AC operational costs by 30% but also allowed them remote managing and monitoring of doors/windows/thermostats.   The subsequent savings afforded them the option to install gPhoto at the front door to track all pedestrian traffic in and out of his rental unit.   gPhoto takes successive photos on one second intervals and sends them to a web service where the subscriber can review up to 30 days of photos.   Gone are the days of wondering if their units are rented..   All three unit owners are now in complete control of their properties even though they might be 1000s of miles away.

GeckoEye deployed into Los Suenos Colina

After years of hearing about the savings realized by GeckoEye (gEye), a unit owner of a rental property at Los Suenos, has finally “bitten the bullet” and subscribed to gEye.  For those who do not know, gEye is a service that mitigates renter abuse of the property’s Air Conditioner.  Specifically, gEye turns OFF the Air Handler when designated doors are open for more than 2 minutes, and adjusts SET temperatures UP when guests are gone on all-day fishing trips. The particular unit owner of this latest installation was experiencing $300-$400 for nominal occupancy.  We predict this unit owner will experience savings of about $100/mo thus resulting in a $1200 year savings annually (assuming he maintains occupancy).   His ROI will be 12 months…  Everyone is a winner with gEye..  Yee Haw!!

Vista Mar adds another GeckoEye to its rental inventory

This month Vista Mar added its 5th GeckoEye (gEye)  subscriber.  Vista Mar is a multi-tenant condo located in the heart of Jaco.   This newest subscriber had heard about the phenomenal savings being realized by other Vista Mar owners and decided to get on the band wagon.   He was tired of funding ICE with wasteful renters. GeckoTech deployed a two thermostat gEye system that is expected to lower overall energy operational costs by 20% and 40% in this particular condo.   Furthermore, the property owner’s property manager can now monitor the condo remotely and through his/her iPhone.  Double win for everyone.

Casa Ponte deploys GeckoCheck to fine tune Energy Savings

GeckoCheck (gCheck), is GeckoTech’s Energy Measuring/recording system.  GeckoCheck basically monitors all the circuits in a rental property’s circuit breaker box and records all power consumption to the web.   This allows the property owner or manager to log in and see historical and realtime power consumption patterns.  gCheck is often a “hard sell” because it does not have a quantifiable ROI at time of install.  However, in every installation of gCheck there was an immediate recognised ROI within 24-72 hours of its installation.   This is because gCheck will immediately identify “heavy consumers” and over time will identify trends.   Such was the case at Casa Ponte, where GeckoTech had already (2 years ago) installed GeckoEye (energy conservation).   Within 72 hours, the property owner was able to quickly isolate one of his primary air handlers as being “money hemorrhage point”.  It turns out that for years the return duct had been improperly sized and thus the AC was running twice as hard as any other AC.   In a matter of days the AC’s installation flaw was fixed.   gCheck’s ROI will be less than 4 months!!  gCheck is also monitoring the 11 other ACs, 2 stoves, 3 water heaters, 1 dryer, assorted room’s outlets, etc…  Go GeckoCheck

GeckoEye GeckoBee Re-up for Acqua beach front unit

For four years an Acqua beachfront unit enjoyed significant savings due to GeckoEye (gEye) and GeckoBee (gBee) tehcnologies..    When the unit changed hands a year ago, the new owner was not aware of that his new unit had these energy savings technologies installed, and the systems were disabled.   After comparing energy operational costs with gEye against energy operational costs without gEye, the new unit owner was able to “see the light”.   Sometimes experience is the best lesson.   We are glad to have this property back in our folds, and reducing Jaco’s carbon footprint..  Oh yeah, let us not forget the savings!!

Quality Services deploys first GeckoBee

Quality Services, a 10 year old maintenance/service company focusing on high end rental properties, has deployed its first GeckoBee intelligent thermostat. Quality hopes to extend its service offering to include real-time monitoring and reporting relative the health of compressors and air-handlers currently under support. The idea is to offer GeckoBee thermostat for those clients contracting with Quality for AC support services so that the Air Conditioner components (Compressor and Air Handler) can be monitored 7×24 thus allowing a more proactive support for its clients/subscribers.

Los Altos deploy’s 2nd GeckoEye

Los Altos, a premium property in Manuel Antonio, has deployed its second GeckoEye energy savings system. It is hoped that in the next 60-90 days they will see enough savings to justify the capital expenditure necessary to deploy GeckoEye in the remaining 22 units. It is anticipated that GeckoEye will save Los Altos in excess of $20,000 per year once the entire property is retrofitted. There is additional in-direct ROI resulting from management and control.