Home is where the AC’s on: Keep it cool with a smart air conditioner from GE

By Jon Martindale June 23, 2016

Most of your house is getting smarter, so why shouldn’t your AC? It may be time to dump that old window unit and put in one of General Electric’s new connected air conditioners, so you can turn it on with your phone before you get home and stroll into a nice chilled house or apartment instead of a hotbox.

GE’s new AEC12AV and AED10AV window air conditioners work in much the same way as air conditioners of the past. The difference is that they connect to your local Wi-Fi network, which means wherever you are in the world, if you have internet access, you can use the GE app to control your air temperature at home.

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But that doesn’t just mean you can turn it on when you’re on the way home — you don’t need to be quite so manual if you don’t want to be. You can also set up your own cooling schedule, having the AC kick in at a time that’s convenient and comfortable for you.

For those that want even more of a hands-off approach, there are also preset cooling modes, and the app will even send you reminders when it’s time to change filters.

As you might expect from a pair of modern air conditioners, GE’s new models are also Energy Star compliant, and quite efficient with their electricity usage. There’s also a remote control for those that could do without the smartphone functionality altogether — though there are probably cheaper units out there if that is not something you’re interested in.

You can buy the new connected air conditioners today — at 10,000 or 12,050Btu — with prices starting at $350 and ranging up to $450.

Of course, there are other smart AC units on the market. Do a bit of shopping around before you throw your money at these ones. We even have cooling solutions for those who would rather do without.

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