About Tripp

AirScape App for iPhone and iPad now Available.

UPDATE: The controls referenced below are currently only available as an upgrade on Sierra units. For more information please call us at 866.448.4187.

Our app for iPhone® and iPad® is now available from the App Store. We released our app for Android devices about a year ago, and are incredibly excited to offer the same great functionality to our customers with Apple® devices.

With this FREE app, homeowners with AirScape whole house fans can:iOS_Blog_iPhone

  • Scan their network to find all AirScape whole house fans connected to it;
  • Assign custom names to each fan on the network for easy identification;
  • Control a connected fan through the app’s interface, which is identical to that on our wall switches and wireless remotes; and,
  • View a fan’s status, indoor and attic temperatures, as well as any SafeSpeed™ notifications if this accessory has been installed.

To operate a fan using this app, both your fan and iPhone or iPad need to be connected to the same local area network (“LAN”)—your fan using a CAT-5 cable between its control box and your router, and your iPhone or iPad using Wi-Fi. For safety purposes this app cannot operate fans over the internet or your cellular network. If, for example, you’ve got access to the internet using your local coffee shop’s network or your phone’s 3G/4G service, our app will not be able to connect to your home’s fan.

Fans that are not connected to a network cannot be controlled using this app. Also, this app is compatible with only AirScape whole house fans with 2nd generation controls (sold 2013 to present).

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Now Introducing… Solar-powered Whole House Fans!

Not really. The headline above is a little tongue-in-cheek. Readers of this blog will know our fans are designed to be run at night, when cool outdoor temperatures can be drawn indoors. Since photovoltaic cells can’t generate electricity at night, directly powering a whole house fan with solar generated electricity isn’t possible—unless, of course, one wants to run their fan during the day, which would heat the home rather than cool it!

We do, however, frequently receive calls from homeowners wanting to know if they can run a whole house fan directly off of their home solar array. We wish they could. Because they’re a more efficient substitute for mechanical air conditioning, whole house fans greatly compliment solar by reducing the size of array needed to provide the same cooling. But again, photovoltaics don’t work at night.

To operate a whole house fan with electricity generated by a solar array, homeowners need some sort of energy storage device that would allow them to store electricity they generate but do not use during the day. Then, this stored electricity could be drawn down through the night to power the whole house fan.

In short, they need a battery—which is why we’ve followed Tesla’s recent announcement of their new Powerwall home battery system with great interest. Home battery systems have been available for some time now. But they have never been as prominent in the popular discourse as they are now, makings this the ideal moment for a blog post “back of the envelope” analysis about using a home battery to operate an AirScape fan.

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